Previous Chapter: The One They Call the God of War 2
Aegis destroyer Chōkai, 4th Escort Flotilla, the ocean west of the Nahanath Kingdom
Breaking the waves, a fleet of steel advances forth. Designed like a web of lines, almost like polygons, the fleet would look powerful in the eyes of other magical civilizations. In contrast, a person who has seen a Gra Valkas Empire fleet wouldn’t be impressed by the sight of this fleet.
The 4th Escort Flotilla, with the Aegis destroyer Chōkai at the front, advanced in a single file.
“Up ahead! Lone enemy ship advancing towards us!”
Captain Chizuki glared at the super colossal battleship. Ever since he entered the JSDF, he never once thought that he’d engage in an artillery battle with a Yamato-class battleship.
How far can we go in an artillery battle against a battleship that’s strikingly similar to the unsinkable battleship of legend?
Everything must be settled in this artillery battle. He doesn’t want to get within torpedo range under the hail of enemy shells.
Will our bombardment go through that monster of a ship, resembling the Yamato, the ultimate embodiment of a ship specialized in naval gunnery and the epitome of the big ship, big gun doctrine during World War II?
Sweat flowed from Chizuki’s forehead.
“Prepare for artillery battle!!! Target: enemy battleship dead ahead!!!”
“Preparing!!! 14 minutes till we’re within range!!!”
They have to get within 13km of the enemy, far within their enemy’s range. Sweat further drenched Chizuki’s forehead.
・・・
Grade Atlastar
A colossal ship, measuring 263m long and 38.9m wide and displacing 72809 tons, advances through the sea. It moves at a top speed far faster than the old Yamato battleship at 30 knots (~55km/h). It is armed with 9 46cm guns triple mounted in 3 turrets for its main armament. The frontmost was knocked out by an anti-ship missile but the other 2 were still fine, sporting massive cannons that represent the technological superiority of the empire.
Commander Caesar speaks to Captain Luxtal.
“Captain, Japan’s technological might is far more than we anticipated… Are you confident about this?”
“Up to this point, Japan has struck us from far outside our range and we had to fight not knowing where they are. However, they are now within a range where we can see them. The enemy will soon enter within the range of our guns. The Grade Atlastar… She isn’t a ship that will lose in a decisive battle… Right, gunnery captain Meyl?”
“Yes… I don’t think we’ll lose when they’re within range of our attacks. With the world’s most powerful guns at our disposal, we will pulverize the enemy to smithereens!!!”
With the achievements of countless victories, including the feat of having shot down an aerial battleship under their belt, they were brimming with absolute confidence.
Gunnery captain Meyl, a man on the cusp of retirement and sporting a white, receding hairline, answers Captain Luxtal with absolute confidence.
They all thanked their gods for letting them have the chance to enter into a kantai kessen.
In the old world, the doctrine of kantai kessen was getting more and more obsolete. The aircraft carrier had become the primary force of a fleet and some were even pointing out that the principle of big ship, big guns was a relic of the past. However, with their transfer to the New World, the battleship found new life.
No air force could get past their proximity fuze-armed anti-aircraft gun rounds. A single hit from their battleships’ main batteries can lay waste to their enemies’ ships like they were gods of destruction. Their strength, more than well-deserved to be called overwhelming, sapped their enemies’ will to counterattack. By becoming the embodiment of absolute victory to the Gra Valkas Empire and terror to their enemies, the worth of keeping a battleship was re-examined. The principle of big ship, big guns once more dominated the mindset within the Imperial Navy.
However, their current naval engagement with Japan ran shockwaves through everyone.
Japan has easily destroyed their aircraft carriers and has landed attack after attack on their battleships from a position far from sight. They were a foe that nullified any doctrine that they had adopted. However, at least the battleship proved itself far more capable of taking a hit from the enemy’s powerful attacks than their aircraft carriers.
Blood dripped from the hands clenching the frustration of being one-sidedly screwed over by an enemy they cannot see. Frustration had piled upon frustration, but now the enemy finally appeared before their eyes. They’ve been desperately waiting for this moment. The enemy had finally come within range of their fangs.
To utilize the rear turret, the ship gradually turned. They’ve caught the enemy in their sights.
Light shines in Captain Luxtal’s eyes.
“Prepare to fire the main batteries!!!”
Giant rounds, measuring 2m long and weighing 1460kg, were loaded into the guns. They measured the distance to their enemy and calculated the necessary things through their top speed. At a rate of 10 degrees per second, the guns adjusted their angle of elevation, stopping at 45 degrees.
They were about 40km from the enemy.
“Ready to fire!!!”
“FIRE!!!”
Massive blasts bigger than their ship appeared. Their power reverberated as shock waves, shaking the ocean surface. 3 gigantic shells fired at 2808km/h drew a parabolic arc as they flew.
The nearly 1.5ton shells flew up to an altitude higher than Mount Fuji at 11,900m above sea level.
“Enemy fleet is splitting into two!!!”
Since there is quite a distance in between them, it would take 50 seconds after firing to reach their targets. Before the shells could land, the enemy fleet approaching them in a single file split up, taking to the right and left of the Grade Atlastar.
“Hohohohoho!!!”
“We broke apart their fleet!!!”
Their enemy seemingly broke apart their formation as if to run away from the advancing lone battleship. The Grade Atlastar pushes forward.
“Only weaklings run away!!!”
The bridge cheered at what seemed to have been their enemy getting intimidated.
3 massive columns of water jutted out from the ocean.
The landing points were measured right away and necessary corrections were made. While the calculations were done, the next shells were loaded in.
“We’ll also fire the rear turret!”
The main batteries slowly turned and caught their enemy.
“FIRE!!!”
Destruction appeared over the sea once more.
・・・
Aegis destroyer Chōkai, 4th Escort Flotilla
“The enemy has fired their second salvo! Out of the 6 incoming shells, 1 has a chance of near-missing us!!!”
“Huh??? They’ve already connected their shots after just one salvo?!?!”
At this rate, there’s a chance they will receive a near-miss. It would be difficult to land a near-miss after the first salvo had they used the surveying methods from World War II. Doubts arise in his head whether they had an FCS that allowed them to achieve such a feat. A near-miss from a massive 46cm shell, even if it weren’t a direct hit, would still cause substantial damage to unarmored sections of their ships. They had the option of avoiding it.
However…
“We’ll intercept it! Launch a SAM!!!”
Their fire control radar has already been tracking the shell. The lid on the Mk41 vertical launch system opened and an arrow of light was launched into the air following an intense column of smoke. The Aegis destroyer Chōkai has launched a ship-to-air guided missile.
・・・
Grade Atlastar
“The enemy is… blowing up?!”
The enemy they were targeting was momentarily engulfed in smoke.
“Did we hit it??? No, did it’s ammo go off??? Our shells should still be in the-Huh?!?!?!”
An arrow of light was launched into the air from the enemy ship. The smoke didn’t come from a hit but rather from the launch of a rocket.
“A rocket?!?! Enemy attack incoming!!! Anti-air units, give ’em hell!!!”
It seemed that they still had more of those powerful rockets. Cold sweat ran down Luxtal’s forehead.
The following moment, a bright flash of light emanated from the sky.
Kaboom…
The ship-to-air guided missile landed directly on the 46cm shell midair, setting off the shell’s fuse and letting off an intense fireball in the sky.
The sound of the explosion reverberated across the vicinity.
Dozens of seconds later, the 5 shells from the Grade Atlastar landed in the ocean, producing big columns of water.
“What?! Why?! Why did only 5 shells land in the water?!”
Cold sweat dripped from gunnery captain Meyl’s forehead as he let out an astonished remark. When the single explosion roared overhead, he had an inkling of something.
No… No way…!!!
“They… intercepted the shell mid-flight?!”
It was impossible. No, it was something that shouldn’t be happening. The shell, flying at speeds where it can’t be seen, was intercepted. The fact was that they didn’t stop it with their armor or avoid it with speed, but they intercepted it in midair. At the same time he realized that their enemy can block their hands, he was reminded that they were hopeless in terms of air power.
It was the kind of shock that seemed to overturn the basis of all their strategies. In this battlefield where they put their lives on the line, what happened proved to them that the enemy wielded a spear that had an impossibly long range and a shield that could intercept their attacks with unbelievable precision.
What do we do…?
Gunnery chief Meyl felt the tingle of a fear he had never felt before.
“Don’t get flustered now, Meyl! The enemy only intercepted one shell. That just means that they can’t intercept all of them!”
The conversation continues.
“Seeing that the enemy hasn’t fired their main cannons yet, we probably haven’t entered their range yet. The caliber of their guns are far smaller than even our secondary armament. By the time their main guns could fire at us, our secondary armaments will have already been firing at them. We will push through with might!!!”
The JMSDF destroyers only intercepted the shells which had a possibility of damaging their own ships, but the Imperial sailors didn’t think that such precision shooting was possible.
As the distance between them narrowed, their main batteries fired once more.
・・・
Aerial battleship Pal Chimera
The aerial battleship has commenced its attack on Fleet 88, reliably landing shot after shot on them by sticking to their own safe zone away from the range of their enemy’s guns. At the same time, Meteos was watching the fight between Japan’s destroyers and the Gra Valkas Empire’s Grade Atlastar.
“The Grade Atlastar has fired another salvo of 6 shells from her main batteries. Calculating the shells’ trajectories… 3 shells have a chance of landing a hit.”
A monotonous voice reports.
“The Japanese fleet released 3 objects similar to guided magic light munitions… Hit confirmed… Hit confirmed… Hit confirmed… All 3 shells with a chance of landing a hit have been intercepted.”
The sight of the shells exploding midair due to the interception by the anti-air guided missiles launched by the Japanese destroyers was displayed on the monitor floating in the bridge. Meteos’s eyes widened underneath his mask.
“What do I even say here… You’re telling me that, they immediately calculate the shells’ trajectories right after they fire, select the ones that have a high degree of threat, release airborne target-countering guided magic light munitions, and then intercept them midair?”
“I also can’t believe it…”
Airborne target-countering guided magic light munitions…
They were described in legends about the ancient sorcerous empire, the Ravernal Empire, yet the Holy Mirishial Empire is still yet to understand and even comprehend the mechanisms behind it. Despite the empire having pressed into service excavated aerial battleships from the ancient sorcerous empire, they were witnessing a technology they could hardly even understand being used in battle right in front of them.
They no longer had any room to doubt Japan’s strength. Meteos, as member of the super elite Antiquities Department of Ancient Arms Analysis Tactical Operations of the Holy Mirishial Empire, the greatest and strongest superpower in the world, felt his pride shatter into pieces.
Previous Chapter: The One They Call the God of War 2
Aegis destroyer Chōkai, 4th Escort Flotilla, the ocean west of the Nahanath Kingdom
Breaking the waves, a fleet of steel advances forth. Designed like a web of lines, almost like polygons, the fleet would look powerful in the eyes of other magical civilizations. In contrast, a person who has seen a Gra Valkas Empire fleet wouldn’t be impressed by the sight of this fleet.
The 4th Escort Flotilla, with the Aegis destroyer Chōkai at the front, advanced in a single file.
“Up ahead! Lone enemy ship advancing towards us!”
Captain Chizuki glared at the super colossal battleship. Ever since he entered the JSDF, he never once thought that he’d engage in an artillery battle with a Yamato-class battleship.
How far can we go in an artillery battle against a battleship that’s strikingly similar to the unsinkable battleship of legend?
Everything must be settled in this artillery battle. He doesn’t want to get within torpedo range under the hail of enemy shells.
Will our bombardment go through that monster of a ship, resembling the Yamato, the ultimate embodiment of a ship specialized in naval gunnery and the epitome of the big ship, big gun doctrine during World War II?
Sweat flowed from Chizuki’s forehead.
“Prepare for artillery battle!!! Target: enemy battleship dead ahead!!!”
“Preparing!!! 14 minutes till we’re within range!!!”
They have to get within 13km of the enemy, far within their enemy’s range. Sweat further drenched Chizuki’s forehead.
・・・
Grade Atlastar
A colossal ship, measuring 263m long and 38.9m wide and displacing 72809 tons, advances through the sea. It moves at a top speed far faster than the old Yamato battleship at 30 knots (~55km/h). It is armed with 9 46cm guns triple mounted in 3 turrets for its main armament. The frontmost was knocked out by an anti-ship missile but the other 2 were still fine, sporting massive cannons that represent the technological superiority of the empire.
Commander Caesar speaks to Captain Luxtal.
“Captain, Japan’s technological might is far more than we anticipated… Are you confident about this?”
“Up to this point, Japan has struck us from far outside our range and we had to fight not knowing where they are. However, they are now within a range where we can see them. The enemy will soon enter within the range of our guns. The Grade Atlastar… She isn’t a ship that will lose in a decisive battle… Right, gunnery captain Meyl?”
“Yes… I don’t think we’ll lose when they’re within range of our attacks. With the world’s most powerful guns at our disposal, we will pulverize the enemy to smithereens!!!”
With the achievements of countless victories, including the feat of having shot down an aerial battleship under their belt, they were brimming with absolute confidence.
Gunnery captain Meyl, a man on the cusp of retirement and sporting a white, receding hairline, answers Captain Luxtal with absolute confidence.
They all thanked their gods for letting them have the chance to enter into a kantai kessen.
In the old world, the doctrine of kantai kessen was getting more and more obsolete. The aircraft carrier had become the primary force of a fleet and some were even pointing out that the principle of big ship, big guns was a relic of the past. However, with their transfer to the New World, the battleship found new life.
No air force could get past their proximity fuze-armed anti-aircraft gun rounds. A single hit from their battleships’ main batteries can lay waste to their enemies’ ships like they were gods of destruction. Their strength, more than well-deserved to be called overwhelming, sapped their enemies’ will to counterattack. By becoming the embodiment of absolute victory to the Gra Valkas Empire and terror to their enemies, the worth of keeping a battleship was re-examined. The principle of big ship, big guns once more dominated the mindset within the Imperial Navy.
However, their current naval engagement with Japan ran shockwaves through everyone.
Japan has easily destroyed their aircraft carriers and has landed attack after attack on their battleships from a position far from sight. They were a foe that nullified any doctrine that they had adopted. However, at least the battleship proved itself far more capable of taking a hit from the enemy’s powerful attacks than their aircraft carriers.
Blood dripped from the hands clenching the frustration of being one-sidedly screwed over by an enemy they cannot see. Frustration had piled upon frustration, but now the enemy finally appeared before their eyes. They’ve been desperately waiting for this moment. The enemy had finally come within range of their fangs.
To utilize the rear turret, the ship gradually turned. They’ve caught the enemy in their sights.
Light shines in Captain Luxtal’s eyes.
“Prepare to fire the main batteries!!!”
Giant rounds, measuring 2m long and weighing 1460kg, were loaded into the guns. They measured the distance to their enemy and calculated the necessary things through their top speed. At a rate of 10 degrees per second, the guns adjusted their angle of elevation, stopping at 45 degrees.
They were about 40km from the enemy.
“Ready to fire!!!”
“FIRE!!!”
Massive blasts bigger than their ship appeared. Their power reverberated as shock waves, shaking the ocean surface. 3 gigantic shells fired at 2808km/h drew a parabolic arc as they flew.
The nearly 1.5ton shells flew up to an altitude higher than Mount Fuji at 11,900m above sea level.
“Enemy fleet is splitting into two!!!”
Since there is quite a distance in between them, it would take 50 seconds after firing to reach their targets. Before the shells could land, the enemy fleet approaching them in a single file split up, taking to the right and left of the Grade Atlastar.
“Hohohohoho!!!”
“We broke apart their fleet!!!”
Their enemy seemingly broke apart their formation as if to run away from the advancing lone battleship. The Grade Atlastar pushes forward.
“Only weaklings run away!!!”
The bridge cheered at what seemed to have been their enemy getting intimidated.
3 massive columns of water jutted out from the ocean.
The landing points were measured right away and necessary corrections were made. While the calculations were done, the next shells were loaded in.
“We’ll also fire the rear turret!”
The main batteries slowly turned and caught their enemy.
“FIRE!!!”
Destruction appeared over the sea once more.
・・・
Aegis destroyer Chōkai, 4th Escort Flotilla
“The enemy has fired their second salvo! Out of the 6 incoming shells, 1 has a chance of near-missing us!!!”
“Huh??? They’ve already connected their shots after just one salvo?!?!”
At this rate, there’s a chance they will receive a near-miss. It would be difficult to land a near-miss after the first salvo had they used the surveying methods from World War II. Doubts arise in his head whether they had an FCS that allowed them to achieve such a feat. A near-miss from a massive 46cm shell, even if it weren’t a direct hit, would still cause substantial damage to unarmored sections of their ships. They had the option of avoiding it.
However…
“We’ll intercept it! Launch a SAM!!!”
Their fire control radar has already been tracking the shell. The lid on the Mk41 vertical launch system opened and an arrow of light was launched into the air following an intense column of smoke. The Aegis destroyer Chōkai has launched a ship-to-air guided missile.
・・・
Grade Atlastar
“The enemy is… blowing up?!”
The enemy they were targeting was momentarily engulfed in smoke.
“Did we hit it??? No, did it’s ammo go off??? Our shells should still be in the-Huh?!?!?!”
An arrow of light was launched into the air from the enemy ship. The smoke didn’t come from a hit but rather from the launch of a rocket.
“A rocket?!?! Enemy attack incoming!!! Anti-air units, give ’em hell!!!”
It seemed that they still had more of those powerful rockets. Cold sweat ran down Luxtal’s forehead.
The following moment, a bright flash of light emanated from the sky.
Kaboom…
The ship-to-air guided missile landed directly on the 46cm shell midair, setting off the shell’s fuse and letting off an intense fireball in the sky.
The sound of the explosion reverberated across the vicinity.
Dozens of seconds later, the 5 shells from the Grade Atlastar landed in the ocean, producing big columns of water.
“What?! Why?! Why did only 5 shells land in the water?!”
Cold sweat dripped from gunnery captain Meyl’s forehead as he let out an astonished remark. When the single explosion roared overhead, he had an inkling of something.
No… No way…!!!
“They… intercepted the shell mid-flight?!”
It was impossible. No, it was something that shouldn’t be happening. The shell, flying at speeds where it can’t be seen, was intercepted. The fact was that they didn’t stop it with their armor or avoid it with speed, but they intercepted it in midair. At the same time he realized that their enemy can block their hands, he was reminded that they were hopeless in terms of air power.
It was the kind of shock that seemed to overturn the basis of all their strategies. In this battlefield where they put their lives on the line, what happened proved to them that the enemy wielded a spear that had an impossibly long range and a shield that could intercept their attacks with unbelievable precision.
What do we do…?
Gunnery chief Meyl felt the tingle of a fear he had never felt before.
“Don’t get flustered now, Meyl! The enemy only intercepted one shell. That just means that they can’t intercept all of them!”
The conversation continues.
“Seeing that the enemy hasn’t fired their main cannons yet, we probably haven’t entered their range yet. The caliber of their guns are far smaller than even our secondary armament. By the time their main guns could fire at us, our secondary armaments will have already been firing at them. We will push through with might!!!”
The JMSDF destroyers only intercepted the shells which had a possibility of damaging their own ships, but the Imperial sailors didn’t think that such precision shooting was possible.
As the distance between them narrowed, their main batteries fired once more.
・・・
Aerial battleship Pal Chimera
The aerial battleship has commenced its attack on Fleet 88, reliably landing shot after shot on them by sticking to their own safe zone away from the range of their enemy’s guns. At the same time, Meteos was watching the fight between Japan’s destroyers and the Gra Valkas Empire’s Grade Atlastar.
“The Grade Atlastar has fired another salvo of 6 shells from her main batteries. Calculating the shells’ trajectories… 3 shells have a chance of landing a hit.”
A monotonous voice reports.
“The Japanese fleet released 3 objects similar to guided magic light munitions… Hit confirmed… Hit confirmed… Hit confirmed… All 3 shells with a chance of landing a hit have been intercepted.”
The sight of the shells exploding midair due to the interception by the anti-air guided missiles launched by the Japanese destroyers was displayed on the monitor floating in the bridge. Meteos’s eyes widened underneath his mask.
“What do I even say here… You’re telling me that, they immediately calculate the shells’ trajectories right after they fire, select the ones that have a high degree of threat, release airborne target-countering guided magic light munitions, and then intercept them midair?”
“I also can’t believe it…”
Airborne target-countering guided magic light munitions…
They were described in legends about the ancient sorcerous empire, the Ravernal Empire, yet the Holy Mirishial Empire is still yet to understand and even comprehend the mechanisms behind it. Despite the empire having pressed into service excavated aerial battleships from the ancient sorcerous empire, they were witnessing a technology they could hardly even understand being used in battle right in front of them.
They no longer had any room to doubt Japan’s strength. Meteos, as member of the super elite Antiquities Department of Ancient Arms Analysis Tactical Operations of the Holy Mirishial Empire, the greatest and strongest superpower in the world, felt his pride shatter into pieces.
