Chapter 1463 - Battle On The Caribbean Sea
Chapter 1463: Battle On The Caribbean Sea
The time returned to two hours ago.
On the Caribbean Sea, lightning flashed, thunder roared, and the waves raged.
Heavy rainfall splashed onto the deck; the broad bow split the waves into half. Surrounded by eleven ships, the majestic Ford Aircraft Carrier sailed smoothly in the surging Caribbean Sea as it cruised around the northern coast of Colombia.
With a total of twelve warships, the expanded Ford Aircraft Carrier Battle Group possessed more beyond visual range strike and anti-submarine capabilities. Due to the added emphasis on the ability to support ground forces, the flagship was changed from a guided-missile frigate to the Ford Aircraft Carrier. The commander of the aircraft carrier battle group was still Major Admiral Hogg. While he served as the captain of the Ford, he also served as the commander of the aircraft carrier battle group.
An F-35 landed on the runway through the curtain of rain. After it was hooked by the arresting cable, it gradually came to a stop. The ground crew in red, yellow, and green jogged forward while the pilot wearing a helmet jumped out of the cockpit, wiped the rain off his face, and walked aside.
The violent storm in the past few days had brought a lot of trouble to the Ford Aircraft Carrier Battle Group responsible for supporting NATO Coalition Force operations. Not only did the difficulty and risk of taking flight increase, but the airstrike effectiveness also decreased exponentially.
Of course, there was also an advantage.
The advantage was that from the beginning of the war to now, the carrier-based fighters on the Ford had performed fifteen airstrike missions, and none of them were intercepted by Aurora-20s. Perhaps it could be that Celestial Trade’s fighters were not designed to deal with severe weather conditions, apart from this reason, Hogg could not rationalize any other thoughts.
Inside the Ford bridge.
Like a sculpture, Hogg stood in front of the window of the bridge with his hands behind his back and his eagle-like eyes were fixated on the fighter that had just landed. It was impossible to tell what was going on inside his mind. The crew members inside the bridge were also busy in their respective posts. Except for the occasional work communication, there were no other voices.
“This damned weather,” Lieutenant Captain Griffin complained in a low voice as he looked out the window, “I wonder when it will end.”
If the weather condition did not improve, they would not be able to launch airstrikes against the defense force at Medellin and Bucaramanga, and the current situation would remain in a stalemate.
“How is the situation on the front line?”
“It’s still the same. Our people are pinned to the outskirts of Medellin. I heard that it’s worse on the ground, with visibility of fewer than 20 meters. Attacks in this kind of weather are too difficult. Not only do we have to beware of snipers from South Colombia, but we also have to watch out for mudslides that may happen at any time.”
“It’s not this that is even more worrying,” Griffin paused and continued, “I don’t know what Celestial Trade is doing. After the war began, other than the raid they launched in Barranquilla, the majority of the force seemed to be stuck at Tumaco.”
“This is indeed concerning,” Hogg nodded thoughtfully, then looked out the window, “I hope this storm will stop soon.”
Celestial Trade’s abnormal decision to keep its force stationary was concerning. For the NATO Coalition Force, the most critical point was to take Medellin in a blitz. As long as they controlled Medellin, no matter what Celestial Trade was plotting, they would have won half of the war.
However, instead of stopping, the storm seemed to be turning more severe.
Just as Hogg was about to sit down on the chair next to him, a string of dazzling red dots suddenly flashed on the radar screen.
As the incident happened so abruptly, everyone was caught off-guard for a second.
Major Admiral Hogg’s expression changed dramatically as he grabbed the radio on the table and shouted.
“Attention all units! Enemy aircrafts spotted!”
“Fighters take off immediately! Anti-aircraft firepower on standby!”
“…”
“Damnit, when did they approach us?!” After a series of orders were issued, Hogg slapped the radio down, then walked behind the radio observer as he stared at the screen and cursed fiercely.
A typical dual aircraft carrier battle group usually would adopt a three-tier system of offensive, defensive, and fire-fighting capabilities. The first and second tiers were used to attack the enemy and protect the entire aircraft carrier formation. The third tier was the defensive capabilities of each combat unit inside the battle group.
The first layer was the so-called outer defense zone. It was two hundred to four hundred kilometers away from the mothership. It was served by the SPY-4A carrier-borne long-range air search radar, military reconnaissance satellites, and E-2C early warning aircraft in the battle group. In the second layer of the middle defense zone, the shipborne SPY-1A phased array radar, as well as SPS-43, 49 and other long-range sea-to-air search radars serve as goalkeepers.
However, now, Celestial Trade’s fighters had directly penetrated through their first and second layers of defense, and they didn’t realize it until they appeared in front of their faces!
Obviously, Celestial Trade had upgraded their invisible materials; this situation had never occurred before!
The carrier-based fighters parked on the deck took off in an emergency.
On the other side, at the end of the deck, a series of white mist sprayed. Dragging the tail flames, countless air-to-air missiles galloped into the air, the defense turrets fired into the stormy sky, and layers of fire powers were sent into the curtain of rain.
On the radar screen, rows of red dots separated from the aircraft carrier approached the red dots that marked the Celestial Trade’s battle formation, then they collided together without any suspense.
The hit rate far exceeded Hogg’s expectations, and more than half of Celestial Trade’s “fighters” were hit by missiles!
However, what happened next made everyone widen their eyes. The rows of red dots stopped for a second before they continued forward as if nothing happened—
The fighters that were hit went unscathed!
The god-forsaken Celestial Trade! Are their planes made of steel?!
Hogg stood there dumbfoundedly, and it was the only thought left in his mind.
Fighters were not made with steel, but the NS-90s were.
In addition to being made out of titanium alloy armor, the disposable armor on the outside of NS-90 was entirely made of Grade-A steel doped with graphene materials. Not to mention the anti-aircraft turrets and air-to-air missiles on the USS Ford, even if it was Celestial Trade’s own electromagnetic rapid-fire cannon, the shots had a ricochet rate of 70%.
And even if the outer layer of armor was damaged, it did not matter, since it was designed to be “taken off” after it landed!
Mixed in the NS-90 formation were eleven “Wings of Freedom” and 24 Aurora-20s, when the battle formation was two kilometers away from the edge of the aircraft carrier battle group, the fighters began to separate from the NS-90. They avoided the incoming anti-aircraft firepower and rushed directly to the fighter squadron on the Ford Aircraft Carrier that had yet to finish taking off.
A dog fight was immediately set off.
The combat distance was compressed to its limit from the very beginning, and the flashing flares were like fireworks blooming in the rain.
The two sides were like line infantries. They exchanged the air-to-air missiles and anti-ship missiles mounted under the wings immediately, then with the weights removed, they fought head-to-head with their guns and entered the bloodiest close combat.
Flames of the explosion connected in the air.
The trajectory of the bullets danced up and down in the heavy storm, and the broken wings and plane wreckages scattered down from the air from time to time.
On the other side, the NS-90s that landed on the deck of the Ford pushed away the damaged disposable armor, and locked onto the Marine Corp soldiers who fired back with their spindle-shaped heads. Inside the silent retina, a crimson light known as slaughter was awakened.
Without the obstruction of heavy armor, the NS-90s on the deck were like the sickle of the grim reaper. They unleashed their firepower through the heavy machine gun in their hands and harvested the life of the soldiers desperately trying to surround them.
For a moment, a bloody storm was also brewing on the deck.
“All land combat units on the ship, head to the deck immediately! WE NEED TO RETAKE OUR RUNWAY! QUICK!” Major Admiral Hogg roared into the radio.
NS-90!
The culprit who attacked the Barranquilla Military Base!
Hogg did not expect that this machine was not only capable of airborne ground operations but also could be used for raids on aircraft carriers.
At this moment, a brilliant ball of flame suddenly exploded in the middle of a missile frigate not far from the Ford.
The black plume of smoke floated up, and the entire ship was like a broken chopstick, breaking apart from the middle in a series of deafening cracking sounds. The seawater rushed in through the fracture but couldn’t swallow the burning flames. The sailors on the deck dived into the water, and they didn’t even have time to put on a lifebuoy. After a while, the guided-missile frigate was swallowed by the tumbling waves…
Inside the previously noisy bridge, the sudden silence was terrifying.
Major Admiral Hogg and Lieutenant Captain Griffin looked out the window dumbfoundedly. They both were at a loss for words.
They were momentarily lost, but the screaming report that echoed in the room finally pulled everyone in the bridge back into reality…
“OUR GUIDED-MISSILE FRIGATE SUNK! DAMN IT, it’s a Celestial Trade submarine!”