met free Chapter 72 Operation Overlord — ． ． －－－
Chapter 72 Operation Overlord — ． ． －－－
12.1 Bonus Chapter for Rich Guy's Donation (7/3)
As the fleet drew closer to Caro Bay, Alice raised her binoculars. The vampires' excellent night vision allowed her to see very clearly. Caro Bay was filled with warships, with many three-masted battleships anchored in the bay. The Goddess of Glory was the most conspicuous—anchored right in the center, surrounded by several second-class battleships as escorts.
The church was extremely confident; they clearly didn't believe anyone could stop their invincible fleet. Alice glanced around; the ships' positions matched the agent's intelligence. She looked through her binoculars; the deck was pitch black, but the sailors' extensive vitamin C supplementation gave them night vision superior to most people, and they wouldn't suffer from sepsis.
The "Feiyun" raised its signal flags and simultaneously used signal lights to notify each squadron of the fleet to operate in a single column. In the dim darkness, a black panther lurked within, its sharp teeth already bared. With just a small signal, this black panther would immediately launch an attack on the church.
At 0445, the "Feiyun" issued the order: Advance! The enemy is in Caro Bay!
At 0447, the 122mm main guns of the three Hiun-class cruisers, "Hiun," "Jinqian," and "Shidai," fired first from 2 nautical miles away. The roar of the giant guns broke the normalcy in the harbor. Subsequently, the eleven Type 90 escort ships opened fire in turn. The booming guns broke the hazy scene in the harbor, and the shells flew towards the harbor as they cut through the seawater.
"what happened?"
"It's thundering?"
"No...no no no! Enemy troops! The enemy is outside the harbor!"
The roaring sound, accompanied by the whistling sound of something cutting through the air, came towards the church's fleet. From this angle, only the firelight outside the harbor could be seen. One of the church's guard fleets was the first to raise its sails and weigh anchor, but the level 90 firepower was aimed at them.
Three third-rate battleships burst into flames as their 75mm Dahlgren guns unleashed a barrage of high-explosive shells. Amidst the deafening roar of death, the ships were torn apart. The deck of the third-rate battleship HMS Valiant, covered in magic crystal gunpowder, was instantly detonated by the shells. Smoke billowed from the hull, and the keel cracked with a terrifying sound. The two ships broke in two, and the sailors who were lucky enough to survive the shells fell from the deck into the sea, letting out heart-wrenching screams.
In the hazy darkness, the HMS Forward's shipboard searchlights were turned on, a beam of light cleaving through the darkness and pointing at a ship. The light then stopped flickering, and after a few flashes of orange-red light from the source, the second-class battleship was instantly reduced to a burning wreck. Wooden fragments and bronze cannons were thrown up by the explosion and then fell heavily back down into the cold waters of the harbor.
"Goddess above! What is that?"
"Oh my goodness!"
The church sailors raised fearful questions, and some priests, seeing this, immediately raised their crosses to urge the sailors to move and raise the sails. The oarsmen began to row, as the unidentified fleet outside the harbor was now the most important thing.
"Damn it, the heroine isn't here!"
"No, you should be glad the heroine isn't here. If she had been killed by the cannon fire, we would have gone to hell and been reborn as demons!"
The bombardment of the church fleet briefly ceased after the first salvo, as the fire control room adjusted the bombardment data. Their target was the Tier III battleship "Glory Goddess," which was not only a powerful warship but also the best target to undermine the church's prestige.
The Church fleet was not simply being attacked unilaterally, but the Church's commonly equipped 18-pounder smoothbore guns and Caron guns were utterly ineffective at this distance. Alice's push for the complete conversion of the navy to rifled guns paid off at this moment, as the range and accuracy of the rifled guns completely overwhelmed the Church's broadside guns.
As the battlefield gradually brightened, Alice directed the fleet to open fire. The width of the battlefield had become clear, and Alice immediately ordered: "Continue firing, maintain the rate of fire!"
The 122mm Dahlgren main gun of the Flying Cloud roared, and the gunners immediately took gun brushes to clean the gun barrel. The linen fixed gun propellant packs played a great role, pushing the shells into the breech and inserting the firing tube into the touch hole.
Each 75mm cannon shot was like the beat of a war drum, creating an orderly rhythm, while the roar of the 122mm main gun was the timpani of this melody. With each shot, the Feiyun would sway gently, white smoke and muzzle flashes sweeping through the air and seawater. The sailors' adrenaline surged, and they shouted excitedly. Their white clothes and blue and white striped sailor shirts were blackened by the smoke from the cannons.
A pungent sea breeze blew by, and Alice raised her binoculars. The enemy fleet was trying to sail out of the harbor and close the distance with the First Task Force, but the fleet maintained a favorable T-shaped position and attacked the ships in the harbor. The Church Fleet, which had been arrogant with its naval gun range since yesterday afternoon, was now enjoying the feeling of being part of the Republican Army.
The boilers roared, the seawater was cleaved by the bow, the cannons roared and the enemy ships burned and exploded, all of which excited Alice. This symphony of sounds formed a powerful and resounding symphony of the steam age, nailing the coffin lid of industry to the previous era.
As time passed and the sun rose, the searchlights were turned off, and the Hiun raised the signal flag for "free fire from all ships." The fire controllers continuously corrected the trajectory data based on the water jets from the shells and indicated the targets. The cannons became more and more accurate, and ships were constantly being hit. Every accurate hit from the First Task Force, which widely used high-explosive shells, caused devastating damage to enemy ships. Shells also kept flying in from the Church Fleet, but most of them fell into the sea. Occasionally, a shell would hit the Hiun-class, but due to the loss of kinetic energy, these round shells were bounced back into the sea by the heavy wooden conning towers.
A terrifying grenade exploded on the deck of a second-class battleship. The shockwave swept across the hull, and metal fragments and shattered wood pieces turned into horrific shrapnel. These high-speed, high-energy shrapnel sliced through the bodies of church sailors, leaving blood and flesh flowing freely. The deck instantly became a scene of horror.
Because the church had only recently mastered the magic crystal gunpowder technology, its understanding of gunpowder was insufficient, and it had no awareness of the control of dangerous materials, which led to the normalization of secondary explosions. Gunpowder canisters placed on the deck were often triggered by shells and exploded, causing secondary damage to the ships.
The Church's fleet quickly sank a third of its length and entered the seabed. The Glory Goddess, protected by two second-class battleships, was only slightly affected. The Church's fleet finally reacted, and the ships carrying infantry desperately rowed towards the shore, while the remaining ships hoisted their sails—but the problem was that the wind was extremely weak today!
But the enemy fleet was different. Those black ships spewed black smoke and sailed swiftly on the calm sea. If the hero were here, he would recognize it as a steam fleet and immediately sentence the church's fleet to death.
But the hero had already been sent ashore and led his troops to conquer the city of Carlo.