stonecrandall Chapter 125 Long-Range Strike Ready
Chapter 125 Long-Range Strike Ready
Lorraine connected the designed superstructure with the modified lower hull and made some modifications to the details.
"Completed."
Lorraine handed over the completed ship design to Cleveland for review and simulation testing.
[Under review... 4 minor issues found, currently being corrected.]
[Modifications complete, simulation testing in progress, estimated time 20 minutes.]
While waiting for the tests to complete, Lorraine turned the newly designed hull around, lost in thought.
At this moment, Ouyang Nian also stood next to Lorraine, intently studying the superstructure of the warship, learning Lorraine's design language and ideas.
[Simulation tests completed. The new ship can navigate normally in sea state 6. The bridge height has been reduced to 7 meters, the ship's weight has been reduced by more than 400 tons, and the maximum displacement remains unchanged at more than 14,000 tons.]
Maximum speed increased to 37 knots, and maximum range at maximum speed increased to 5000 nautical miles.
The main gun ammunition storage space remains unchanged, while the loitering munition ammunition reserve is 72 rounds.
The ship's power supply is overflowing; the propulsion system can be replaced and laser weapons can be installed.
At this moment, two laser weapons of the same type as those on the flagship appeared on the top of the bridge of the Sea Knight, positioned at the bow and stern respectively.
"The modification plan has been confirmed; we will begin calculating the required materials."
The design has been saved; existing materials are currently being checked.
Cleveland not only searched the materials stored in the fleet, but also the materials in the warehouses at the neighboring dock.
When Cleveland revealed the materials and sources needed to modify the Sea Knight, Ouyang Nian gasped in shock.
"Are we really that many materials needed? Doesn't that mean we'll have to use up all the materials stored at the port next door?"
Lorraine did not answer, but instead began to look up the sources of the required materials.
"Cleveland, include the finished equipment stored at the naval base, and optimize the replication of the Sea Knight's propulsion system."
After Cleveland resumed its search, Lorraine finally replied to Ouyang Nian's question.
"The Sea Knight has two more hulls installed, plus a heavy connecting bridge, so the materials consumed must be considerable. But it certainly won't use up all the materials stored in the neighboring port."
"So all the materials she dismantled were used for the refitting of the new ship?"
Lorraine shook his head and pointed to the turret of the triple 152mm gun at the stern of the Sea Knight.
"I plan to disassemble the cannon on this turret into three single-mounted guns and install them on land for use as coastal defense artillery."
Ouyang Nian nodded, then pointed to the two cantilevered missile racks.
"This has already been converted into raw materials. After all, the missiles it can carry have all been retired from service, and there are no such missiles in stock on this land."
[Search complete. Power system cannot be optimized. The naval base only has two GT-4000 heavy-duty gas turbines stored, which cannot effectively increase the ship's speed.]
To further increase the ship's speed, it is estimated that four GT-4000 heavy-duty gas turbines would be needed, directly connected to the drive shaft, to raise the maximum speed of the Sea Knight to forty-one knots.
"Besides changing the power source, is there any other way to increase the speed?"
Upon hearing Lorraine's question, Cleveland fell silent again, as if searching for something.
[Search complete. The ship's propulsion system can be replaced.]
Replacing the four propellers with superconducting magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) thrusters can significantly increase the ship's speed while also greatly reducing mechanical noise during navigation.
Upon hearing this, Lorraine opened the secondary database and began searching for relevant technologies.
"Tsk"
Clearly, this technology is not recorded in the secondary database.
However, the Sea Knight still needs another week to complete its maintenance, so Lorraine could only suppress her frustration and prepare to go elsewhere to find more advanced equipment.
Lorraine opened the intelligence system and saw the information recorded on it.
[1. Refresh countdown: 2 days, 1 hour, 15 seconds]
[2. There is a small mine located 508.7 kilometers north-northeast. Its warehouse contains a batch of intelligent mining equipment, but an unknown danger lurks within.]
[3. 69.8 nautical miles east of the coastline, there is a high-tech industrial base with access to a large number of manned and unmanned vehicles, but there are certain risks within it.]
4. Countdown: 1 day, 14 hours, and 38 minutes
"Since we're just idling around anyway, let's explore the industrial base in the east and see if we can acquire some advanced technology."
After finalizing the action plan, Lorraine disembarked from the flagship, boarded the Vanguard transport ship, and drove one of the communications vehicles off the ship, handing it over to Liu Haiyang, a former Marine Corps platoon leader.
"This communications vehicle is equipped with two communication systems and one electronic warfare system, which can provide efficient data transmission within visual range and also conduct long-range beyond-visual-range communications."
"Its electronic warfare system can suppress enemy communication systems and interfere with enemy drones at close range, while also ensuring that its own communication channels remain unobstructed."
After Liu Haiyang made some adjustments, the communication vehicle successfully established a communication channel with the flagship.
After confirming that communication was working smoothly, Luo Lin handed Liu Haiyang a list of materials and asked him to allocate personnel to transport supplies back from the neighboring port.
Afterwards, Lorraine returned to the flagship. By this time, all the nutrient solution Lin Shu needed was in place. After confirming that everyone was in position, the fleet set sail again, heading towards the naval base.
An hour later, the two warships stopped at their original berths, and Lorraine began resupplying them with ammunition and fuel through the base's control system.
Soon, the two warships were fully fueled and armed, and left the base, heading towards the high-tech industrial base 38 nautical miles away.
Because Lorraine had learned from the intelligence system that there was a certain crisis within the industrial base, he had already prepared an action plan on his way there.
When the flagship reached a point 30 kilometers from the high-tech industrial base, Lorraine first launched four anti-tank loitering munitions to conduct reconnaissance.
After the four anti-tank loitering munitions were ejected, they flew at a low altitude of 50 meters to avoid potential observation.
As they approached the industrial base, four loitering munitions took off in two groups, conducting reconnaissance at altitudes of 200 meters and 800 meters respectively.
The images transmitted back by the photoelectric probe were sent directly to Cleveland, allowing artificial intelligence to conduct in-depth analysis of the area and create a detailed map.
After four loitering munitions circled over the industrial base, Cleveland still found no potential danger in the transmitted images.
Lorraine acted decisively, reducing the anti-tank loitering munition's flight altitude to 60 meters, allowing the buzzing sound of the high-speed propellers to reach the ground in an attempt to draw out the danger on the ground.
Ten minutes later, the four loitering munitions still had not detected any suspicious targets.
With only half an hour of flight time remaining, Lorraine ordered all three loitering munitions to descend to 30 meters and fly close to the top of the factory for reconnaissance.
The other loitering munition descended to an altitude of 500 meters, providing a panoramic view while remaining ready to attack any suspicious targets on the ground.
This time, the low-flying loitering munition successfully attracted a suspicious target.
But what happened next was like a heavy blow, completely shattering Lorraine's inner peace.
A bullet or a steel nail, leaving a red line in the silent sky, shattered the engine of a loitering munition.
The loitering munition experienced a dramatic change in its flight status, but thanks to its advanced flight control system, it quickly returned to normal flight status and then rapidly decreased its altitude to fly away into the distance to neutralize itself.
At that moment, the loitering munition high in the sky, under the command of the chip, quickly began to dive and crash into the strange and suspicious target.
Information transmitted from the other two loitering munitions showed that a dark cloud rose up near a truss-like building. Subsequently, the two loitering munitions, which had risen to an altitude of 200 meters, discovered a suspicious target that was still moving.
Another dark cloud rose, and according to the images transmitted back by the last loitering munition, the suspicious target had completely stopped moving.
[Commander, the suspicious target has been confirmed destroyed.]
Lorraine looked at Platinum, hoping to hear her opinion.
"I'm preparing to fire two more loitering munitions for reconnaissance. What do you think?"
"Four, I guess. Anyway, these loitering munitions can be recovered, and once fully charged, they can be used for missions again."
As soon as Platinum finished speaking, four more loitering munitions were launched from the launcher located on the stern helipad.
Lorraine then glanced at the intelligence system, checked the information displayed on it, and found that the crisis was still not over.
"Cleveland, these four loitering munitions are conducting low-altitude reconnaissance at an altitude of 50 meters, and two more loitering munitions are being launched to cruise at an altitude of 600 meters."
[Instruction received, in progress.]
The two loitering munitions that were subsequently launched quickly climbed to an altitude of 600 meters before leveling off and flying towards the industrial base.
Four loitering munitions conducting low-altitude reconnaissance are cruising at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour, with their endurance reduced to half an hour.
Time passed minute by minute, and Platinum had already donned his equipment and led the Pivot Squad to the mission cabin, ready to board the landing craft and carry out the landing operation at any time.
However, no second suspicious target has appeared at the base.
When the loitering munitions cruising at low altitude had 10 minutes of flight time remaining, Lorraine decisively ordered them to return to base and fired six more loitering munitions.
This time, however, Lorraine divided the six loitering munitions into three batches, which cruised at altitudes of 50 meters, 200 meters, and 500 meters respectively, and set the return time of these loitering munitions to 10 minutes.
To lower its guard, Lorraine reduced the speed of the six loitering munitions to a minimum.
Furthermore, these six loitering munitions were internally networked, and all the information they detected was not transmitted back to the flagship in real time, but was analyzed through the internal network.