Chapter 217 The Imperial Fleet was discovered right in front of our unit!
In the process of intensive preparations by various departments of Atlas, the time finally came to May 7, 589 in the New Calendar.
With the cooperation of the intelligence analysis team and Lilith, Mary Bay Industries, Yaoguang Defense and the Timler family firmly believe that the boss of Atlas will visit the asteroid belt in the near future.
And each of them obtained the specific date and relatively accurate coordinates of the asteroid belt through the 'inner ghost' they hooked up with.
For this reason, they also paid huge 'favor fees' to the insider.
So in the past few days, the joint fleet composed of Mary Bay Industries and Yaoguang Defense, as well as the Timler family fleet, set off from their respective assembly ports.
They split into two groups and began to advance towards the asteroid belt where Atlas Mining was mining.
And arrived at the outer edge of the asteroid belt on May 7.
The combined fleet of Mary Bay Industries and Yaoguang Defense is basically consistent in size with the predictions of the Atlas Intelligence Analysis Team.
The entire fleet has a total of 18 ships.
The flagship of the fleet is the Griffin-class light cruiser 'Financial Freedom', the flagship of the Mary Bay Industrial Mobile Fleet.
In addition, there are 7 destroyers and 10 frigates. These ships include the previous generation of warships of the Federation Navy, as well as contemporary ships that have just been retired.
It can be said that Mary Bay Industries and Yaoguang Defense are determined to kill Atlas this time.
While restoring the company's image, restoring investor confidence and raising the stock price, it can also be regarded as killing the chicken to show the monkey, and deter other competitors who are ready to make a move.
On the other side, the number of fleets of the Timler family is similar to the predictions of the intelligence analysis team.
However, there was still a slight deviation in the composition of the fleet.
The total fleet is 15 ships, with 5 destroyers and 8 frigates, which is slightly less than Mary Bay Industrial.
But the most important thing is that the Timler family directly dispatched two Apocalypse-class light cruisers. Among them, the flagship 'Timler Glory' has been modified, which suddenly widened the gap between the two sides. Battleship's firepower gap.
On the one hand, it has an advantage in fleet quantity, and on the other hand, it has advantages in ship performance and number of light cruisers.
At this time, the fleets of both sides were in two different directions, each more than 400,000 kilometers away from the asteroid codenamed 'A. Bawa Ku' in Atlas.
The small reconnaissance boats sent by each side discovered the operating base attached to the asteroid through optical detection equipment after closing the distance, and transmitted relevant information and images back to their respective fleets.
Since professional combat reconnaissance ships will not be sold to private companies, this kind of private combat fleet can only conduct close-in reconnaissance through small two-seater or three-seater reconnaissance boats.
This small reconnaissance boat with a central axis length of less than 20 meters can be carried by ships of destroyer level and above.
It can also be stored in the Gnaku at ordinary times. When it needs to be dispatched, it can also be dispatched through the electromagnetic ejection track.
For this kind of unit that is still very marginalized at this stage, Amber has actually asked Orns to work on "technical reserves" alone.
Although his research direction is not here, he still has friends in the industry who are engaged in design in this area, and he can contact them in advance.
However, Oens was actually puzzled when he received Amber's request.
He couldn't figure out why Amber was so interested in this marginalized unit.
But since the boss who gave the money has made demands, Oens will naturally not shirk the blame.
Perhaps in this universe at this moment, only Amber knows that in future battles, this small reconnaissance boat will gradually appear on the stage in another form.
From a small reconnaissance unit that can be bullied by anyone, to a 30-meter-class heavy-armored high-speed predator, the rules of the game on the battlefield have changed again
On the bridge of the Financial Freedom, the commander of the combined fleet Antonio Malvern was sitting on the captain's seat, looking at the information compiled by CIC based on the reconnaissance intelligence.
Atlas's mining operation base has been discovered. This type of operation base is indeed common in the Star Dragon Empire, and there are also traces of mining on the asteroids attached to it.
This information shows that this is indeed the opponent's asteroid mining area. But what makes Antonio a little confused is that so far, the reconnaissance boats have not found any trace of the opponent's warships.
Although it is indeed easy for ships to hide in this large asteroid belt, it is normal for the reconnaissance boats to be unable to search for a while.
But Antonio still felt a little unsure for some reason.
"Perhaps the opponent's ships are training in other locations in the asteroid belt, or are being inspected by the opponent's boss? Didn't this point also be mentioned in the intelligence we obtained before?"
Sitting on the side of the captain's seat, Commander Raven from Yaoguang Defense said.
Yaoguang Defense sent 3 destroyers and 5 frigates this time, as well as a fleet commander named Raven to coordinate operations.
"The intelligence is indeed right. Forget it, dismantle this operational base first. Then the other party will naturally be unable to sit still."
As Cliffs said, Antonio is relatively radical in fleet command. Yes, they prefer to take the initiative to seize the initiative on the battlefield.
This time is no exception.
“The entire fleet, synchronize the battle speed of the flagship, and launch according to the standard bombardment formation. Let us first close the distance and hit a round of fixed targets!”
Antonio waved his hand, Mary Bay Industrial and The combined fleet of Yaoguang Defense took the lead in launching the operation.
The 18 warships lit up the propulsion arrays on their sterns and rushed toward the asteroid where the operational base was located.
A distance of more than one light second would take almost an hour and a half for these battleships.
Although they can reach relative speeds of up to 100 kilometers per second, the acceleration and deceleration stages still take some time.
However, for fixed targets, it does not necessarily have to be as close as the conventional combat distance of 10,000 to 20,000 kilometers.
Especially for fixed units like operational bases, which are basically unprotected, they can fire from a distance of 70,000 to 80,000 kilometers.
That is to say, as the combined fleet continued to approach, the reconnaissance boat in front sent back a piece of news that caused everyone on the bridge to explode.
"The Imperial Fleet was discovered in the reconnaissance direction! There are 15 of them, and they are maneuvering towards the target area!"
Just when Antonio and Raven changed their faces because of this news, and began to discuss urgently at the same time.
On the bridge of Timler's Glory, the voice of the tactical information coordinator also came:
"The forward reconnaissance boat reported that traces of the federal fleet were found in the reconnaissance direction! Number 18, Heading towards the target area at high speed! ”
"Fuck, this is a trap!"
Paul, who was sitting on the side of the captain's seat, slammed the armrest angrily.
But after seeing that the family fleet commander on the captain's seat and the family head Ryan Timler on the other side remained calm, he quickly shut his mouth.
"No problem, prepare to fight."
Ryan Timler calmly ordered.
"Yes, my lord."
The family fleet commander on the captain's seat nodded, and then said loudly:
"The entire fleet, enter combat status!"
(End of this chapter)