Munitions Empire

"For some reason, part of the opposing warships have slowed down..." The chief of staff said to Bernard, "It could be a deliberate rear guard or a rescue mission."

"The other side is passing through the area where they had previously sunk warships, which might be because of rescuing people." Bernard glanced at the sea chart and spoke to the chief of staff.

"The satellite can pass overhead in another 17 minutes, and we might receive photos transmitted back by the satellite." The officer in charge of intelligence collection reported.

After years of development, satellites of the Great Tang Empire no longer need to return to the surface and provide intelligence in the form of film.

Now they can transmit images via signals, though the resolution is quite touching. By today's standards, it's practically no different from being pixelated.

Nevertheless, to other countries' commanders, this is "super high-tech" beyond their wildest dreams. At least the commanders of the Great Tang Empire can overlook the entire war zone from a god's eye view.

"The third batch of attack aircraft reported that several enemy Destroyers are recovering the stranded overboard... No injured enemy aircraft carriers or battleships found."

"Didn't hit any high-value targets?" Bernard was beginning to doubt his luck: he had launched attacks in two batches, but the results seemed unimpressive.

He couldn't immediately know that two aircraft carriers had quickly sunk. In his view, aircraft carriers are rather sturdy sea fortresses and generally aren't easily sunk.

In truth, he didn't realize that the Harpoon Anti-Ship Missile's power was a bit too cruel for opponents of this era. Moreover, the design of the opposing aircraft carriers... wasn't particularly impressive either.

At this very moment, the Allied Fleet's Commander John Cleves was counting his losses; three of his aircraft carriers were now unable to continue fighting, and approximately three battleships were severely damaged.

Under such circumstances, the Allied Fleet had essentially lost combat capability unless he could successfully use his carrier aircraft to launch a counterattack and destroy the Great Tang Empire Navy's fleet main force; otherwise, he would lose this naval battle.

As time ticked by, John Cleves gradually became more certain of the information. By now, he wasn't completely in the dark anymore.

The Northwest and Northeast of the Allied Fleet were evidently becoming safer, as the Great Tang Empire's fleet couldn't get too close to Shu Country's coastline.

The possibility of the Great Tang Empire fleet appearing from the Southwest was lowest, so to John Cleves, the opponent's fleet should probably be in the Southeast direction.

However, John Cleves had no way to retaliate now; the previous rash actions had deprived the Allied Fleet of the ability to counterattack.

The first wave of Fighter Jet troops had already landed; these Pirate Fighters were in a depleted fuel state and needed refueling, and pilots also needed rest to continue participating in battle.

The first batch of Stuka Dive Bombers had just been recovered, and these planes also required refueling to take off once again.

With prior lessons learned, these torpedo-equipped Stukas couldn't be casually placed in hangars for refueling because they'd easily be hit by missiles and explode sacrificially, along with the aircraft carrier.

Thus, the first batch of attack aircraft could only refuel on the deck, which clearly wasn't a quick process.

The second batch of Stukas was running out of fuel, and they needed to land as well. But in reality, there wasn't much space left on the seven remaining aircraft carriers of the Allied Fleet for them to land.

No other choice, the first batch of Stukas was still on deck, so for the second batch to land... they could only move the first batch forward on the deck, which meant all aircraft carriers would give up the ability to launch planes.

The trouble was, three aircraft carriers had already lost the ability to recover their planes; two carriers had already sunk, and another had an elevator malfunction, with a large hole on the deck, on fire, and unable to recover planes.

Clearly, the option of not launching new planes wasn't possible; John Cleves couldn't do that. The reason is simple: counterattack was his only chance to protect himself now.

Another issue troubling the Allied Fleet was: at this moment, there weren't even escort fighters over their fleet!

After the first batch of fighters returned, the fleet was busy recovering the fuel-exhausted Stukas, leaving no time to launch enough fighters.

Coupled with communication issues, John Cleves was slow in both recovering and launching aircraft, exposing the fleet's temporary improvisation flaws, causing the whole fleet to edge toward chaos slowly.

"Commander!" An officer approached, looking grim as he stood at attention and saluted before reporting, "The Qin Country fleet on rear guard was attacked, it's missiles..."

Due to the proximity, communication between warships somewhat improved. Intermittently, many messages reached John Cleves.

The decelerated rescuing Qin Country fleet was attacked by Tang Army missiles, resulting in severe losses; both Qin Country battleships were hit, caught fire, and looked miserable.

The Cruisers and Destroyers fared even worse; after struggling to rescue allies from the water, before they could escape, they were hit by missiles, cracking and sinking.

Soldiers who had been rescued from the sea hadn't even dried their clothes before jumping back into the water, floating alongside the rescuing allies, helplessly amused.

The Qin Country fleet was more or less done for, except for a few Destroyers escaping with the Allied Fleet and their escorting three aircraft carriers; the rest of the warships incorporated in the Allied Fleet were basically lost.

Even if not sunk, these warships could only return to shipyard docks for major repairs, unable to continue fighting.

Whether they could hold out, reaching the harbor depended entirely on the mood of the Tang Country Navy's carrier aircraft unit.

"Caught up?" John Cleves gritted his teeth, clenched his fist, and forced out a question upon hearing the Qin Country fleet attacked.

He hadn't expected the Tang Army to dare pursue him; as long as he pinpointed the Tang Army fleet's location, he could deploy carrier aircraft for a counterattack... and this was the opportunity he'd been anxiously waiting for all day.

The third batch of Stuka may lack fuel, but he still had a fourth batch of Stukas that could take off to engage in battle!