73 Chapter 73 - First Operation Part 1

Floating on the wide empty expanse of the sea is the CV-6 USS Enterprise. On the flight deck are the shipgirls assembled as they arrived at the sector where the fleets of mass produced Siren ships were located.

"Is this going to be alright? Few, including Illustrious and Amagi, the assigned flagship of their individual fleet, asked with a very concerned look.

"Yes. I did it a lot of times and this method allows us to basically strike the Siren on an ambush and provide us with a very favorable advantage with the right tactics applied." Enterprise stated as the matter of fact since she personally created and popularized the tactic of airdropping shipgirls into battle to catch the Sirens off guard and the fun thing is the tactic is especially effective on the basic Siren ships that are controlled by basic AIs only and in capable to react to the surprise airdrop.

"Well, it is indeed unorthodox as we are used to actually naval warfare tactics and usually don't think much outside the box." Belfast admitted. "And I can see how this tactic would be very effective." Belfast gave her the green light. Sheffield had no comments while Illustrious was reluctantly onboard with the idea which was followed by Unicorn.

Then Enterprise and New Jersey turn to the Sakura Empire for their opinion. Seeing this, Amagi wanted to gave her answer but was cut ahead by the eager Takao.

"I had agree to follow the Commander's order for the duration of the operation and if this is his decision then I had nothing to object." She said while clutching hard at her sheathed katana on her hip.

"Indeed. If this is his order then we had nothing to object. Well said, Takao." Akagi nods at Takao's statement along with the rest and the bitter looking Amagi to have her limelight stolen by her cheeky little sister.

Replacing her bitter look, Amagi faked a few coughs before she said, "Indeed. As my sisters had said. We have no objections as long as it is his order."

NJ nods before turning to Enterprise and gives her a thumbs up. "Alright! Then, Enterprise. I leave it to you."

Enterprise nods and commands a squadron of jet fighters to be prepared for the launch before she addresses the vanguard team.

"Remember, after the planes drop their bombs, they will lower themselves to the water. Jump only when it gets low enough." Enterprise explains.

"Uhm… Actually, how much is low enough?" Cleveland asked despite not being part of the airdrop team.

"I don't actually know. Usually I jump from as high as 500 meters and my hull is strong enough to land safely. Though I don't know about other hull sized ships." Enterprise answered unsurely and some already started to have second thoughts but Enterprise suddenly launched the jet squadron and everyone instinctively held the planes tightly as they launched up into the sky by the electromagnetic rail catapult.

Multiple screams were heard as the vanguards were launched up to the sky. As for the main fleet team, they follow NJ jumping off Enterprise's ship to get to position.

NJ turns on the communication device and is instantly connected to Adam via AR visuals that shows Adam's on the small screen hovering over her eyes which are connected to the earpiece.

"We are almost in position, Commander." New Jersey no longer sounded playful as ever and her body language turned tense.

Even though New Jersey is the legendary Iowa-Class Battleship, this is the first real and official battle between KANSEN and Siren. Even if her instinct tells that those small fries are nothing to her magnificent cannons, she doesn't dare to slack off and relax even a little because they cannot afford to mess up their first battle when there are many things at stake. Mainly the credibility of the KANSEN project. If they fail, there is a big probability the people on top will try to shaft or axe the project. Also, the credibility of Adam as the Commander is also at stake. There is more still but New Jersey didn't have time to dwell in it.

"Vanguard team got visuals on the targets. Payloads are being dropped. We will land in a few more seconds." The comms opened up and Belfast quickly gave her an update. "I saw two Aircraft Carriers and five Battleships."

"Roger that." New Jersey nods before turning to the rest of the shipgirls following her. "Ladies, it's our turn now."

Akagi and Kaga look at one another before nodding. "Leave it to us. If there is one thing we are confident about is our launching speed." The fox duo smiled as blackish red and bluish flame burst out from their tails to form two similar coloured flight decks and several shikigami talismans that turned into planes when thrown which swiftly raced towards the battlefield.

Meanwhile, on the vanguard side of the battle.

Once they dropped down from their air taxi, they were immediately greeted with dozens of mass produced vanguard Siren ships.

The aforementioned Aircraft Carriers were launching absurd amounts of planes. At least a dozen every five seconds. Not even the jet planes squadron were able to keep them suppressed and eventually suffered defeat after being besieged by planes and AA's from the Siren Battleships and other vanguard ships.

"Target the gunboats first. The friendly planes are inbound soon." Belfast informed everyone as they did their best to attack the Siren Light Cruisers.

Then they saw two barrages of shells covered the sky and rained down on the Battleships position very accurately at almost pinpoint accuracy level with Commander's guidance and assistance.

"HaAH!" Takao roared as she cleaved a destroyer's hull with her blade alone before she tiredly gasped for a moment. At that moment, she saw the barrages laid waste to the enemy Battleships that were giving her and her sisters trouble. But they were decimated by the infamous Black Dragon's barrage. "All enemy Battleships confirmed sunk." Takao and Atago informed as they laid against each other's backs, fending off the enemy ships that were relentlessly assaulting them.

As the Vanguard team is still in a pinch and besieged by the remaining Siren ships and their Aircraft Carriers, they heard the iconic roars of planes engines.

"Friendly planes!"

The planes drop their first payloads, the bombs on the dense clusters of enemies as the planes continue their course and soon reach the Aircraft Carriers before the iconic torpedo bomber, Aichi B7A drop their guided torpedo on the helpless Aircraft Carriers that couldn't dodge in time and got their broadsides ripped open a gaping hole that swiftly buried them into the depth of the sea.

The remnants were easily swept up once the enemy's main ships were no longer present to suppress them.

"Great job ladies. Although, our battle is still far from over. Commander ordered us to regroup back to the main fleet to rest before moving on to another sector. We have a total of 14 sectors to sweep through." Belfast said.

Their initial reaction is joy for their victory but listening they have to do it more than a dozen times over, it does get demoralizing.

"Fourteen more…" Indianapolis mutters in a depressed manner and no one blames her for it.

———

On the Orbital Fortress, Adam and a few others were watching the battle unfold on a massive screen.

"It's a relief they won without many injuries." Yorktown and Vestal expressed their relief.

"Well, they were simply unlucky to meet one of the few Main Fleet at the start of the battle." Adam explained and pulled up the imaging of the entire sector before he started explaining. "Most of the enemy fleets are Light fleets consisting of Destroyers and Light Cruisers only. Nine Light Fleets, three Main Fleets, one Carrier Fleet and one Boss Fleet which have the enemy Flagship present."

"The usual tactic I would go for is to eliminate the Main and Carrier Fleets first before sweeping the other fleets. This is because of the limited ammunition." Adam answered decisively to bring his explanation to its climax. "At the start of any sortie, that's the moment where they have the most abundant ammunition and can fight without worry. But toward the end, they would struggle with the dwindling ammunition. Hence, that's why attacking the Main and Carrier Fleets first is my usual go to tactic." He ended his explanation with a satisfied sigh.

"I can see the reasoning indeed. However, such a plan is normally not applicable because we couldn't always accurately know how many and what type of enemies we are up to… Well, until I learned the Commander had this in store." Yorktown turns to the screen that can provide very detailed information on the surface. It's to the level of being able to clearly see each of the shipgirl's face and expressions all the way from Earth's low orbit.

"Yeah… We had something like this in my previous world." Adam lied. He can't exactly explain the game interface allowing him to basically get a look over the entire battle and all the enemy information.

"This device is indeed a game changer. With it, they can fight safer and get back home from every battle alive." Vestal said before turning to Adam. "You have no idea how grateful I am to you, Commander, for this. Not just as a nurse but also as myself. It's heartbreaking to know that every time we send my fellow sisters out, there's a chance they could get sunk in battle. But with this, my heart and mind can feel relieved that they will never enter a battle unprepared or surprised."

"You have my deepest gratitude, Commander." Vestal solemnly held her palm over her chest and bowed to Adam.

"I am too, Commander." Yorktown too joined Vestal.

If Adam is still him from the beginning, he might already flustered at their actions. But Adam instead waved his hand at them and said, "I didn't do it for your gratitude. No matter what. All of you are now my responsibility and keeping everyone safe is one of them. I will do anything to fulfill my responsibility and that includes this." Adam said but the truth in his mind was he ain't gonna let his shipfus get trashed by the Siren or anyone. Not under his watch. Is he possessive? Yes. He considered them all his own, the shipgirls he painstakingly collected and raised and now god rewarded him for his hard work with this. Or else, how would one explain the sheer coincidence for him to be in Azur Lane world and obtain Enterprise from his own timeline?

So, he didn't help no body. He is helping himself by keeping his boat waifu safe.

Anyway, once Vestal and Yorktown stop thanking him. He noticed the girls on the surface had taken care of the first of the fourteen fleets and he immediately contacted New Jersey who is the flagship for the combined fleet of this operation.

"Good job, NJ. Now regroup and head to the coordinate I send. Eliminate that Carrier Fleet next." Adam ordered and received a confirmation, "Roger, Commander!" from the excited New Jersey and she also added, "Also, my nickname is Big J. Not NJ." But Adam didn't follow her request and preferred NJ because that's what he had been using for the longest.

As the surface fleet is regrouping and moving to their next coordinate, Adam continues to monitor the reaction of other nations because they were clearly observing the entire battle through their own means, with Agent's help as she basically invaded the entire network of the world which is still on the 2010 level and hadn't accelerate yet because they hadn't realize Siren is a treasure trove of futuristic black technology.

Though, this is for the best. If they still hadn't been convinced with Project KANSEN and they acquired those technologies, they might scrap Project KANSEN entirely and build Mobile Suit Gundam or something else.

—————

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