Munitions Empire

How he is going to explain to His Majesty The Emperor of the Dorne Empire, he does not know, as that is a matter within his own country. But if the Qin Country's fleet is destroyed under his watch, that's another matter altogether in explaining to the Emperor of the Qin Country.

Just as John Cleves watched the Aircraft Carrier Taren's get hit and explode by Harpoon Anti-Ship Missile, elsewhere, the joint fleet's carrier Xilun's was also struck by a Harpoon missile.

Taren and Xilun were previously Kingdoms, annexed by the Dorne Empire during its expansion, aided by the Empire's dual heroes Bolton and Strauss under Dorne the First.

Now these two areas are the Dorne Empire's hinterland. After more than a decade of rule, they have become vital industrial regions of the Dorne Empire.

Hence, the latest aircraft carriers produced by the Dorne Empire, designed based on the Essex-class Aircraft Carrier, boasting outstanding combat power with warships close to 40,000 tons, are named after these two places.

The Taren's is already burning and beginning to sink, and Xilun's is not much better; it too has exploded, with mixed oil and ammunition, hit by the anti-ship missile, making the situation hardly optimistic.

This also highlights several issues: the design of an aircraft carrier absolutely requires attention to detail. Every detail needs to be repeatedly scrutinized and pondered, seeking optimal solutions in practical use.

The Dorne carriers, built referencing Essex-class carriers, didn't actually fully grasp the essence. The pipeline routes and fuel systems of the entire carrier were not particularly scientific, hence issues arising at critical times.

These problems are usually invisible, only emerging at critical junctures, which are pivotal in deciding victory.

The main reason the Neon Country's carrier fleet was easily shattered during World War II was due to neglecting many detailed aspects. Purely pursuing combat power, armor protection, speed, deck size, and aircraft quantity.

Consequently, these metrics indeed looked good, but in battles, issues would cause chain reactions, leading to irreversible catastrophic outcomes.

Similarly, Maoxiong's tanks are such; looking at design metrics, each is indeed intimidating: IS-2 tank's armor protection, power, and artillery power are top-tier individually, but actually faced awkward defeat more than victory against San Dezi's big cats.

It's actually many overlooked details, issues arising for cost savings. From a strategic viewpoint, doing this poses no problem, but for soldiers on the front lines operating these tanks, they become less perfect.

The more humans develop, the more technology advances, the more advanced weapons become, and the more expensive they are. Walking along this path, weapons require more refinement and closer to perfection.

When development reaches a point where only dozens of fighter jets can be procured in a year, only one carrier can be launched, ignoring details is seeking one's own demise.

In Xilun's carrier hangar, the remaining aircraft are relatively safe, except the missile hit fueling equipment, igniting aviation fuel, and causing a major fire.

Damage control personnel are strenuously attempting rescue, continually spraying seawater on burning equipment and pipelines, the floor already full of water, with repair efforts apparently effective.

Fortunately, there were not many airplanes with mounted munitions left in the hangar because many were released for a second strike.

Aircraft for the third strike were just lifted to the flight deck by an elevator, unaffected by the missile.

However, on the other side, the Taren's carrier wasn't as fortunate; it is burning! Truly burning! The massive fire swallowed Taren's carrier bridge, the entire warship covered in black smoke.

A distant Dorne destroyer attempted to approach Taren's, wanting to assist with its sprinkling fire suppression device.

But all efforts were in vain; as the destroyer approached about 100 meters from Taren's Aircraft Carrier, it found it could not get closer.

The scorching flames made contact extremely dangerous, constant explosions on the carrier, the entire warship severely listing to one side.

From the destroyer, the extent of damage on the carrier was unclear, but the other side was evidently severely flooded, all beyond control.

Oil was floating on the sea surface, dangerously susceptible to ignition at any moment, so the Dorne destroyer hastily fished out 20 lucky ones from the sea, then turned away from the carrier likely to explode again.

A few minutes later, Taren's Aircraft Carrier exploded again massively, this time its bridge enveloped in smoke was beyond recognition...

John Cleves stood on the bridge of Dorne Empire's Long Live Aircraft Carrier, watching Taren's demise. His carrier had approached Taren's and Xilun's, but the distance remained over 4 kilometers.

Due to the exaggerated billowing smoke, now one could confirm Taren's position without binoculars. Xilun's beside it also emitted black smoke, but lacked the visual impact compared to Taren's fireworks-like display.

The joint fleet's good luck seemed depleted; the first carrier sunk was the fleet's weakest, now the two carriers lost were among the fleet's strongest.

"Report! We couldn't connect with Taren's Aircraft Carrier; we couldn't see semaphore nor light signals… sent telegrams receive no response from Taren's." The liaison officer reported the fleet's damages to John Cleves.

After reporting the already sinking Taren's, he mentioned another damaged carrier with a better condition: "Xilun's severely damaged, hangar penetrated, fuel system leaking, unable to refuel aircraft, midsection elevator broken due to fire, incapable of aircraft takeoff..."

Dorne's seven carriers now have only 4 remaining operational, two procured from the Great Tang Empire Essex-class Aircraft Carrier, and the remaining two are flagships Dorne Empire's Long Live, along with Sea God Blessed Dorne's.

These carriers' names indicate high expectations, but due to early construction and near-complete Essex-class replication, they carry fewer aircraft than Xilun's and Taren's.

"Haven't found the enemy fleet yet?" Watching his fleet losing nearly half, the agitated John Cleves asked the aviation troops commander.