amaotonovel Chapter 243 The Fleet Before Departure
Chapter 243 The Fleet Before Departure
"Goodbye, Mom. I'm leaving home for the peninsula we've always talked about. Please don't cry for me."
"Goodbye, Dad. I hope we come back alive. I hate war, but we hate being threatened by war even more than war itself."
"Goodbye, sister. I am about to enter the battlefield. It won't be too difficult. See you later."
The pen flew across the letter. It should be said that Amelansi's literacy campaign was so effective that the illiterate rate in the army had long since dropped to zero.
The soldier wrote crooked, illegible characters on the letter, and looking around, everyone else in the cabin was doing the same. In front of each person were two pieces of paper: one was a letter to their family, which would be sent immediately, and the other was a will, which would be sent back to the soldier after their death, along with their belongings and compensation.
"What's wrong, kid? Can't keep writing?"
The sergeant looked at the private in front of him and joked. The young private couldn't write anything on the suicide note for a long time. The sergeant patted his head and said, "Don't think about anything else. Just write down what you haven't finished telling me."
The Amerlane Third Fleet Strike Group is sailing in the central ocean. The flagship of this fleet is the Essex-class aircraft carrier, whose fleet command center has become the core of the Third Fleet and the only fleet in the Amerlane Navy equipped with an aircraft carrier.
Its latest model, the F4U Corsair, has a beautiful gull-shaped wing. After its mass production, the Navy simply transferred the F3F fighter jet to the aircraft carrier force of the Aerospace Force.
Apart from thirty transport ships of various types, the main combat ships of the fleet consisted of one Essex-class aircraft carrier (CV-16 RNS Essex), one North Carolina-class battleship (BB-27 RNS President Alice), two Atlanta-class light cruisers responsible for air defense, and five Fletcher-class destroyers.
The Third Fleet's ships were all new vessels launched after 658, and most of their equipment was the latest technology, some of which was unstable. Moreover, according to the naval tactics regulations of this era, there was a lack of battleships.
However, for most countries, this was still a fleet capable of destroying nations, with its core Essex-class aircraft carriers and North Carolina-class battleships making it virtually the dominant force on the seas.
Even the long-established naval power of Burnia described it as "Amerlane's arrogance."
If the emergence of the Essex-class aircraft carriers merely made people marvel at the advanced nature of the Amerlane shipbuilding industry, then the birth of the North Carolina-class battleships was a terrifying prospect that was impossible to look at directly.
With a length of 222 meters, a beam of 30 meters, and three triple-mounted main guns totaling nine 406 mm/45 caliber guns, its appearance profoundly changed the future development path of the world's navies.
"Gentlemen, I have repeatedly emphasized that the navy is of utmost importance to the kingdom. Look at that beautiful battleship!"
The Burnians, who learned and purchased armored warship technology from Amerlane, built their own new warships—the Nelson-class—based on Amerlane's Sovereign-class battleships. These pre-dreadnoughts integrated many of the Burnians' most advanced technologies, but their gun barrels were still ordered from Amerlane.
The Burnians, for the sake of their dignity, did not order the entire warship, but still purchased a large amount of military technology from Amerlane.
"What a beautiful warship, the President Alice, what a lovely name, just like our Nelson-class."
Burnia's propulsion technology is inferior to that of Amerlansie, but fortunately, they are not the only country accompanying the Amerlansie fleet. A military observer group dispatched by the Tuscan Federation is also following them, traveling on a Catamarca-class destroyer.
The Republic of Brittany's Navy dispatched its main warship, the Chakabuko-class protected cruiser, the Chakabuko.
The Republic of Corsica dispatched the Minotaur-class ironclad warship Corsica, which it had purchased and modernized.
A massive combined fleet of dozens of ships assembled in the central ocean and then headed toward Naples. The Church, of course, learned of this news. None of the ships there could withstand the Church. The Church's only modern warship—the Goddess-class ironclad warship overseen by saints—was only one.
No one can beat him.
Alice stood on the bridge of the Essex-class ship, surrounded by a noisy yet orderly scene. Officers and technicians were busy at work, and the electromagnetic waves of radar scanned the entire sea surface, but there was nothing that excited them.
This was practically an armed voyage. For the navy, their target was only the coastline. Apart from naval aviation, the fleet was only responsible for providing artillery fire for military operations along the coast. The church's fleet could not even be described as a fleet in the traditional sense.
"Who could have imagined this day would come? Hmph, Church, we're back!"
Alice gazed at the horizon, where sunlight shone on the waves of the Central Ocean, casting a brilliant golden glow. The greyish-white giant ship glided through the golden waves, as if piercing the seemingly holy glory of the church.
Instead, thick black smoke filled the entire fleet, the sailors' commands and the noise of waves crashing against armor. The glory of steel, along with the black smoke and the roar of cannons, was heavily etched into this world, revealing the fragility of the Church.
The true nature of the behemoth has been revealed, and the church, united by religious faith, is now powerless to deal with the industrial-age behemoth brought by Alice.
The young man who was once hunted out of the Holy Line by the Church is now the president of the vampire clan, leading the steel torrent she forged to seek revenge on the peninsula.
Alice was filled with surging emotions. This was not just a military operation, but an operation to completely destroy the Church. Alice would no longer show mercy. She wanted this behemoth called the Church to disappear completely into the river of time.
The propellers roared as ground crew in brightly colored uniforms fueled and loaded ammunition onto the deep blue mechanical bird, the tricolor concentric circle emblem on the wings gleaming.
"Essex VF League, prepare for takeoff! Repeat, prepare for takeoff!"
"Against the wind! Let the birds fly!"
A strong wind howled on the deck as pilots entered the cockpit of their F4U fighter jets one by one, giving the ground crew a thumbs-up. Then, the landing gear blocks were removed, and one after another, the fighter jets gradually accelerated, pulled up, and took off into the blue sky.
"This is Essex Air Command. Mission codename: Cut the Lifeline. Repeat, mission codename: Cut the Lifeline!"
"VF-1 Squadron, received!"
"VF-2 Squadron, received!"
"VF-3 Squadron, received!"
Three squadrons of 69 F4U fighters took to the skies. As naval carrier-based multi-role fighters, these aircraft were equipped with bombs or rockets. The remaining squadron consisted of SBD-4 Dauntless dive bombers. This metal-bodied, low-wing propeller dive bomber was the first bomber to officially enter service in the Amerlane Naval Air Force, with a total of 28 aircraft divided into two squadrons.
As the SBD-4 took to the skies, the world's first military operation carried out by naval aviation began.