Chapter 4

As the rotating shells whistled by, the first shell grazed the window of the flight control room on the island and fell into the sea, creating a splash over ten meters high with a "boom"; the second shell struck the center of the landing deck heavily, triggering the fuse and causing the hundreds of kilograms of high explosives inside to detonate instantly. The powerful shockwave carried shrapnel and fragments of the shell casing, instantly severing two arresting wires and even melting a small section of the deck with the intense heat; the third shell hit a depth charge mounted on the side of the ship, altering its trajectory as it triggered the fuse upon impact. The shell exploded in mid-air on the catapult, shattering the catapult and leaving the launch deck pockmarked like a broken sieve...

When the shells exploded on the aircraft carrier, Lin Yuan could hardly believe his eyes. From the day he joined the navy, he knew that the biggest enemy of an aircraft carrier was anti-ship missiles and heavy torpedoes. His nightmare was a missile traveling at four, five, or even ten times the speed of sound, quietly rushing towards the carrier. Because it was supersonic, the sound it produced would reach the ears of the people on the carrier only after it had already struck. If they were still alive, the missile would tear through the outer armor, penetrate the carrier's hull, and explode, triggering the fuel and ammunition stores and the nuclear reactor, causing the carrier to sink into the sea in a series of explosions... Heavy torpedoes were another inescapable nightmare. Unlike the ostentatious missiles, they were more like silent killers in the night, capable of tearing through most of the watertight compartments with their one-ton warheads, causing the carrier to sink rapidly like a weight...

But today's situation was unexpected. Their warship was China's most advanced aircraft carrier, with a defensive perimeter of 800 kilometers. The anti-aircraft missiles on the dozen or so destroyers and frigates in the outer defense circle were enough to handle a simultaneous attack from all the missiles of a medium-sized country! Today, they were actually hit by naval gunfire! They were actually attacked by naval guns with a range of less than 50 kilometers!

Lin Yuan immediately thought: The Japanese have opened fire! The war has begun! But he quickly dismissed the idea. First, the outbreak of war would not be without warning. There would be a series of political and economic conflicts before the warring parties engaged. In reality, although China and Japan had ongoing disputes, they were not at the point of war. Second, how could a warship bypass a defensive perimeter of over a thousand kilometers and get close enough to the carrier to launch naval gunfire? Even if it did get that close, why use naval guns? Wouldn't heavy torpedoes be better?

But the reality was that a warship several kilometers away was bombarding their aircraft carrier with naval gunfire, and the dozen or so escorting destroyers and frigates were nowhere to be seen. Various measures to counter the enemy warship flashed through Lin Yuan's mind: first, the carrier-based aircraft, the carrier's most powerful weapon, but the aircraft could not take off because the deck was damaged; second, anti-ship missiles, but the carrier did not have any installed, as the anti-ship and air defense tasks were assigned to the outer escort fleet. The "Beijing" aircraft carrier did not even have anti-aircraft missiles like the American "Nimitz"-class carriers; finally, the close-in weapon systems (CIWS), which, although unable to strike the enemy warship, could intercept incoming shells to some extent.

Lin Yuan quickly ordered, "All hands to battle stations! This is not a drill! CIWS, prepare to engage!"

Through the advanced command system, the entire warship sprang to life, and everyone rushed to their nearest battle stations. However, due to the successful completion of the test mission, the ship was preparing to return to the home port, and the crew, who had been on high alert for a long time, were ready to relax. Some units had even organized showers for the crew. When the combat order was issued, some soldiers rushed out without even finishing dressing.

Before the shells arrived, the gunners at the CIWS stations had already noticed something strange. The fire control radar screens suddenly went blank, but the gunners, who were operators rather than engineers, were at a loss. Just as they were about to report, the shells exploded on the deck. The well-trained gunners, though unsure of the source of the shells, immediately powered up the systems and entered combat mode, ready to unleash a rain of death at a rate of 10,000 rounds per minute at the command.

The "Beijing" carrier's 1030 CIWS system, equipped with ten 30mm barrels, used both radar and electro-optical guidance, serving as the last line of defense against enemy missiles and aircraft.

Upon receiving the order to engage, the gunners immediately brought the guns into attack mode. With the radar malfunctioning, they switched to electro-optical targeting. The gun barrels spat fire, and the incoming shells were intercepted and exploded mid-air, like blooming fireworks. However, the number of incoming shells suddenly increased.

From the time Lin Yuan walked to the radar room to the time he issued the combat order, the aircraft carrier had been cruising at an economical speed of 18 knots along its course. Suddenly, Lin Yuan noticed another warship attacking from a distance. He realized that the enemy warships were in a line formation, and the one that had just attacked was at the end of the line. The carrier's speed was faster than the enemy warships, so continuing on the original course would expose it to more gun barrels. Lin Yuan quickly ordered, "Hard to starboard, course 135, both engines ahead full."

"Hard to starboard" meant the ship would turn at maximum speed; "course 135" referred to the direction, with 0 being due north and the circle divided into 0-359 degrees. He quickly calculated that course 135 would allow the carrier to escape the enemy's range the fastest. The "Beijing" was equipped with two pressurized water reactors and four steam turbines, with two turbines on each side, designated as the left and right engines. "Ahead full" meant maximum speed.

Upon receiving the order, the reactors went to full power, the cooling water intake valves opened to their maximum, and the desalination system began to operate. The enormous heat generated by the nuclear reactions instantly turned hundreds of tons of desalinated seawater into steam, which drove the turbines. The main shafts connected to the propellers began to spin rapidly, generating tremendous thrust. The 100,000-ton giant slowly turned.

However, the carrier was too large, and the inertia of its 100,000 tons could not be overcome quickly. As the carrier turned, another warship detected it, and the gun barrels slowly turned towards it.

Lin Yuan was in a panic because the ship's island, which housed all the radar equipment, was now facing the enemy's gun barrels. If the equipment was damaged, the carrier would become deaf and blind. More terrifyingly, the radar operators and combat staff on the island could be killed by the enemy's gunfire! The carrier carried over 70 aircraft, but the hangar could only accommodate half of them. Thirty J-24 fighters were parked on the deck next to the island, and the gunfire could render them useless. Without these aircraft, the carrier would be left with fewer than ten J-24s and various less capable early warning and anti-submarine aircraft, effectively crippling it.

If only the J-24s were back, the three enemy warships would lose their combat capability within minutes under the aircraft's attack. Lin Yuan thought this, but he knew that the carrier could not contact the aircraft's position. The only thing they could do was wait!

Suddenly, the sound of an aircraft's engines roared over the carrier, and everyone cheered. It was the carrier-based aircraft they had been waiting for!

It was their war god, soaring through the sky!