Warhammer: Hail to the Void Lords!.

Chapter 386 05.0385: "Horatio's Fleet Battle Plan"

Whoosh whoosh!
The bright flames at the tail of the plane looked like a meteor cutting through the darkness.

According to Horatio's plan, the first wave of fighters will take off first, and their main task is to intercept enemy aircraft and fart missiles.

The main task of the second wave of aircraft deployed immediately afterwards was to provide escort for the fleet.

Based on the interception effect feedback from the first echelon, it will be decided whether the second echelon should also join the interception mission or continue to accompany the escort.

Horatio stood in front of the huge glazed porthole more than 30 meters high on the aviation command bridge, watching the blue fireflies of the fighter planes gradually fade away until they disappeared into the dark and cold void.

Lieutenant Archie Cuthbert Collingwood watched the holographic air situation warning map in real time.

The greenskin fleet is very fast, and its tactical intentions are not common sense and remain unknown.

In the high-level command chain channel, the naval captains were talking, exercising the right of suggestion granted to them by the Imperial Navy. They spoke in turn and discussed the greenskins' tactical intentions.

Naval captains are different from midshipmen and other lieutenants.

As the top personnel in a warship's command chain, they are on the same real-time communication command channel as the captain and the lord captain.

The Imperial Navy's disciplinary decrees allowed them to put forward their suggestions in a timely manner, subject to compliance with communication discipline, for the captains and lord lieutenants to hear and adopt without having to go through layers of approval.

Moreover, naval captains pay more attention to all-round quality training.

As mid- and senior-level officers on the ship who are eligible for promotion to captain, the suggestions they make are not limited to the departments they are in charge of.

Each department, each situation, and even tactics and strategy are areas where they can provide advice.

But the final decision always lies in the hands of the captain.

A strict authoritarian democracy.

"It doesn't look like they are going to proceed step by step. They won't first engage in a decisive battle with the Gothic 25th Squadron that has entered the outer orbit, and then defeat the inner fleet after defeating the outer fleet." The second mate, the captain of the operations department, analyzed the greenskins' behavior.

"It's like... it's going to rush directly into the planet's suborbital, and smash down with the garbage ship." Horatio added. What he saw from the omen fragments was that the garbage ship fell into the atmosphere and rushed to the ground like a meteor with fire.

"If that's the case, then we must stop them," said Brigadier General Peru.

"Captain, the scout ship reports that the Chaos rebel ship is heading towards our unit from direction 297.

I think we can try to disrupt this battle, and when we are in chaos, let Chaos and the Greenskins become more chaotic. At this time, our organization and discipline will help us gain the upper hand. "

"But we don't know the enemy fleet's movement and direction yet." The captain of the navigation department objected.

"According to the judgment of the reconnaissance aircraft and the current situation, I believe that at 9:27 Terra time, the Chaos Fleet should penetrate our line from the 270 direction in an oblique line. And if nothing unexpected happens, we will be maneuvering towards the 345 direction at this time."

Horatio gave a very detailed answer, down to the millisecond.

No one knew where he got this exact number, but this general course did match what Captain Peru had in mind, so he did not interrupt Horatio.

"Go on, Captain Horatio."

“Although both sides of our battle line can fire at the same time and attack the enemies on both sides, by doing so, we will also face the situation of fighting on two fronts, and we will inevitably suffer heavy losses.

My suggestion is to deceive the Chaos fleet with our original false track before the enemy can surround us on both sides.

When the Chaos Fleet is heading towards the center of our fleet, we will make a large turn in front of the enemy and have the escort ships and destroyers use torpedoes to force the Chaos Fleet to be unable to maneuver and counter our turn in front of the enemy.

This way, the Chaos fleet would have to maintain its course, or sail 70-80 degrees towards us, but no matter how they tried to evade, they would be hit head-on by the Greenskin fleet.

In this way, in our turning fleet, the cruisers in the front squadron can use heavy firepower to engage in artillery fire against the Chaos fleet, and the light cruisers in the rear squadron can use flexible maneuvers and rapid-fire artillery to engage in combat with the green-skinned garbage ships.

Also, there is the Defiant-class light cruiser. We must not use her as a proper light cruiser.

When turning, we need to make it drive to the inside of the turning radius to avoid it, so that the dreadnought light cruisers that are coming from the rear to support the Karl-Duniyash fleet can speed up and catch up with the queue. "

The captains were silent. On the one hand, they really didn't know how the battle would develop and were still in the stage of guessing and analyzing the enemy's movements. On the other hand, if the situation described by the new captain really occurred, then his response would undoubtedly be the best solution.

Brigadier General Peru and Captain Lord Sterling looked at each other, and the captain nodded.

"Thank you for your speech, Captain Horatio Cochrane. Your suggestion will be incorporated into the plan and recorded in the log. If the battle situation is really as you said, we will adopt your suggestion." Captain Sterling said. "Yes, Captain."

The next officer spoke.

While the Imperial Navy command was brainstorming, the fleet's void ships had already passed through the fortified channels, out of the defensive minefields surrounding the planet, and reached the outer orbit.

Here, firing shells in the direction of a planet requires additional consideration of the planet's gravity, which can affect the incoming firepower.

With the planet Fal as its backdrop, the Imperial Navy’s huge broadsides and light spears were pointed at the icy and chilly void.

The 25th Gothic Squadron was led by the Moon-class cruiser Lord Darros, with the flagship Doomsday-class battlecruiser Indefatigable following closely behind.

Behind them were the Tenacity-class light cruisers equipped with cruiser-level lance cannons, the Diligence-class light cruisers equipped with cruiser-level large-caliber macro cannons, the Defiance-class light cruiser carrier, and finally the escort of the Dreadnaught-class light cruisers supported by two Karl-Duniyash squadrons.

The destroyer and escort ship divisions were divided into groups according to those with torpedoes and those without torpedoes. They shuttled through the dark void and engaged in firepower confrontation with the enemy's small attack ships in advance.

A fifty-kilometer-long battle line has been assembled on the outer track and is ready for battle. Commander Brigadier General Edward Peru will conduct mobile command of the fleet based on the enemy's movements.

In the inner orbit of the planet, Karl-Duniyash and the Extreme Star Region Naval Headquarters fleet have also been lined up.

Unlike the Gothic Fleet, the ships of the Karl-Duniyash Fleet did not form a battle line, but instead relied on star fortresses to deploy firepower blockades on the entrances and exits where there were sparse anchor mines.

Several light cruisers pointed their broadsides toward the entrance to the passage.

The star fortress was deflected from its orbit by the commanding officer and blocked the front channel of the gap. The crew inside was loading and preparing the macro cannons distributed in a ring inside.

The Mars-class battlecruiser "Wrath of Mondayas" was facing the outer orbit head-on, so that its nova guns could provide fire reinforcement to the Gothic fleet, while the side guns could also fire a salvo at uninvited guests that rushed into the inner orbit.

"This is Skyhawk Squadron. We have visually confirmed the enemy's high-speed aerial target." Fasha's voice came from the channel.

"Show no mercy, make sure they are all destroyed." Horatio gave permission to attack.

"As you wish, we will, little captain. All of them, let go!"

At Fasha's command, all fighter jets exited silent navigation mode and released almost all the divination radar-indexed missiles they carried.

Due to the great distance between the two sides, which was tens of thousands of kilometers apart, even Horatio, with the observation device with the longest detection distance, could only see a faint, small, dim fire exploding in the void.

The two squadrons did not linger in the fight. After releasing all their effective long-range weapons, they immediately turned around and rushed forward.

A Cobra Widowmaker-class destroyer sailing silently reported the aerial results to the Indefatigable's aviation department:

"About 6% of the enemy's small aircraft have been destroyed, and the remaining enemy aircraft are continuing to attack forward."

Soon, the Cobra Widowmaker-class destroyer conducted its first round of scans using the tower-type experimental scanning equipment at the bow of the ship.

This class of destroyers is a variant of the Cobra destroyer.

Its name 'Widowmaker' originated from the 24th Destroyer Squadron of the Gothic Fleet, the 'Widowmaker' Squadron, which was equipped with this advanced experimental scanner during the Gothic War.

After the victory of the Gothic War, in order to commend the heroic performance of the 24th Destroyer Squadron in the war, the Imperial Navy named the destroyers equipped with this type of advanced scanner equipment as the "Cobra Widowmaker" class. This type of advanced scanner can scan and detect targets within a spherical radius of approximately 2000 kilometers.

After the detection content was transmitted back, Horatio noticed the holographic image transmitted from the Thinker array in front of him.

The officers in the CIC war room made a reference classification based on the size, dimensions and specifications of the green garbage ships discovered and the Imperial Navy's classification standards.

4 cruiser-class hulls, including one 'Big Stone'.

7 light cruiser class hulls, two of which are 'The Rock'.

There were dozens of gunboats, attack boats, and bumper boats.

There were so many of these dazzling small junk ships that the officers were unable to count them before the detection waves lost data.

Moreover, no one can guarantee that those detected so far are all of them.

(End of this chapter)