The muzzle velocity of ordinary artillery shells generally does not exceed two kilometers per second. The naval guns of the expedition fleet have not undergone any special strengthening, but in the vacuum environment of the universe, the muzzle velocity has a certain bonus, which is about 2,400 meters per second.
Moreover, what the expedition fleet fired were not ordinary artillery shells, but rocket-accelerating shells.
This thing is actually an ordinary rocket-extended range projectile, but there is no resistance in space. As long as the projectile misses the target, it can fly down indefinitely. There is no range limit, and the role of the rocket can only be to increase speed, so it was renamed the speed-increasing projectile.
The speed of the cannonball itself plus the rocket bonus, the speed exceeded three kilometers per second six seconds later. The red cannonball tore through the dark space and turned into dozens of rainbow lights and rushed towards Callisto.
Compared with the speed of a battleship, which can easily reach dozens of kilometers per second, the speed of a cannonball is really nothing. To put it bluntly, even if the expedition fleet pushes the barrel of the alien warship against the butt, the shells fired will not be able to catch up.
Target.
But dead data on paper is of little use in combat. The really important data is the relative speed between the expedition fleet and the target!
The position of the Second Fleet is a full seven to eight hundred kilometers away from Callisto, and it always maintains this distance. Once it detects signs of the alien fleet approaching, it will immediately retreat.
This is because the effective range of thin light is about 600 to 700 kilometers!
The range of the thin light is not calculated casually, but is calculated based on the combat data of the first fleet and the combat experience of the second fleet during this period. I cannot say that it is absolutely accurate, but it is not too far off.
This is the bad thing about directed energy weapons. The power drops sharply at a slightly farther distance. This is true for human lasers, and the same is true for aliens' thin lights. On the contrary, missiles and artillery shells do not have so many restrictions.
What Gao Kai bullies is the lack of range of the fine light.
A cannonball with a speed of more than 3,000 meters per second takes about four minutes to fly to the target. If the target is an alien warship, by the time the cannonball reaches the local warship, it will already be gone. But Callisto is a satellite.
Satellites with fixed speeds and orbits are inescapable and unavoidable, making them perfect artillery targets.
At this moment, the core of the battlefield is neither the expedition fleet nor the alien fleet, but the alien fleet occupying Callisto. The relative speeds of the enemy and ourselves are very low. The speed of more than three thousand meters per second has exceeded the reaction speed of both parties.
The cannonball flew close to Jupiter, and hundreds of alien warships simultaneously shot out dense thin lights.
The defense net composed of fine lights could not stop the flying cannonballs at all. The cannonballs passed through the gaps in the light net, and after hitting Callisto, they set off dazzling nuclear lights.
The nuclear light illuminated the dark space, and also illuminated the alien fleet floating near Callisto. Dozens of cannonballs all exploded in just a few seconds, and the space was once again shrouded in darkness, except for the fragments on Callisto.
The rocks, sand and dust are flying in all directions, but nothing else seems to have changed.
Callisto has a diameter of 170 kilometers, and the yield of nuclear bombs is relatively small. Let alone dozens of them, even if tens of thousands of them are tied together and smashed on it, it will not do anything to Callisto.
However, the success of this batch of artillery shells opened a door for the expedition fleet and confirmed that the alien fleet's defense network could not block artillery shells with a speed of more than three kilometers per second.
With this result, the goal of this battle has been achieved. Gao Kai glanced at several comrades: "How is it?"
"It should be no problem." Lu Zuo said.
"Then let's get started!"
"Yes, order the formation to set off!"
There is a row of "machine nests" on the left and right sides of the Kunlun. Each cabin is equipped with a carrier-based aircraft. After receiving the order to set off, all the cabin doors are opened, and it seems that there are two rows of super-large aircraft on both sides of the warship.
wooden windows.
Then a stream of flames burst out of every window, and more than seventy fighter planes popped out of the ship at the same time. The well-trained pilots accelerated towards Callisto while dividing them into six groups as planned, each group containing exactly twelve fighter planes.
.
The six formations quickly dispersed and then rushed towards Callisto at the fastest speed.
A distance of more than 700 kilometers is enough for the fleet to reach a speed of three kilometers per second.
At the same time, the Penglai, which was hundreds of kilometers away, also released all the warships, and the target was also Callisto.
In order to prevent the fighter planes from being sniped by alien warships, Gao Kai issued a saturation strike order to the fleet as soon as the fleet set off. The ten warships headed by the Kunlun immediately poured out artillery fire on the alien fleet at the highest rate of fire.
The turrets placed on the belly of the aerospace carrier were at full fire, with a gun ejected from the chamber every two seconds; missiles flew out one after another from the honeycomb-like improved missile nest under the belly of the ship.
The escorting Type 024 B had most of its laser turrets removed and replaced them with ordinary naval guns. The bow of the ship was facing the eight turrets of the Type 024 in turn firing at Callisto. Each shot was like a dazzling fireworks display.
The artillery fire at Level 026 became even more intense, with shells fired from dozens of cannons coming one after another like a flood.
The fleet's firepower was so intense that in less than a minute, ten warships fired more than 3,000 tons of cannonballs at the enemy!
If it were on the ground, three thousand tons of artillery shells would really be nothing, but the artillery shells and missiles used by the space fleet are improved versions that take into account the lack of resistance in the vacuum environment. The fuel of the missile and the propellant of the artillery shells are reduced to a minimum. These three
Most of the kiloton artillery shells are actual artillery shells, not shell propellants.
This only counts artillery shells, not missiles.
For this battle, Gao Kai really spent a lot of money. This burst of bombardment alone used up a quarter of the fleet's ammunition reserves.
The speed of artillery shells is the fastest, followed by missiles, but they are both much faster than fighter planes. Gao Kai did not expect the artillery shells and missiles to kill many enemies, but to find something for the aliens to do, so as not to keep them from staring.
The aircraft fleet that penetrated the defense.
The saturation attack of the Second Fleet immediately detonated the alien fleet. Each ship fired thin beams at an unprecedented speed. Vertical and horizontal beams flew up and down, cutting incoming artillery shells and missiles.
The missiles with limited speed were inevitably cut apart by the thin light, and some of the artillery shells were also cut by the thin light. The beam of light quickly passed through the void, like a huge lightsaber, cutting back and forth again and again.
There were too many thin lights and too dense. As soon as the fleet entered the fine light range, more than a dozen of them were destroyed by the flying thin lights.
The atmosphere in the headquarters suddenly became much more solemn.
The fighter planes are depleted too quickly. If this trend continues, before the fleet can break through the alien fleet's defense network, they will all be destroyed by the aliens.
If that happens, the space carrier may follow in the footsteps of the gunboats.
Warships in human history have had various combat modes, but space battles have only appeared in science fiction works. No one can tell how to arrange the space fleet in the right direction.
Gunboats and motherships are the most mature combat modes of mankind. If these two modes cannot defeat aliens, I am afraid no one really knows what to do.
