MTLNOVEL Chapter 433: Burning Archipelago (6K)
The sudden anti-ship missile attack threw the Indian Navy into chaos. Some navy soldiers were stunned on the spot, while others screamed loudly.
Due to a lack of training, many navy soldiers didn't know what to do at this moment.
"Start the ship immediately, get it moving."
"Maneuver the rapid-firing cannon and close-in defense gun, shoot down those missiles."
"Contact the shore-based missile defense units and launch air defense missiles."
"Release chaff, disrupt the accuracy of those anti-ship missiles."
"Stop running aimlessly, get to the ship's controls quickly."
Some Indian naval officers on site maintained their professionalism. The navy, requiring highly technical knowledge, had many personnel who had studied in Europe and America.
It's undeniable that some were incompetent leeches, but some officers maintained the appropriate combat skills.
A few soldiers, under the command of officers, hurriedly went to operate the weapons, trying to use air defense missiles and close-in weapons, but it was too late.
In the pitch-black night, the piercing air raid sirens resounded.
Anti-ship missiles surged rapidly, launching crazy destruction on the warships docked at the piers and wharfs. Explosions occurred throughout the entire naval port.
4:38 AM!
A Swordfish supersonic anti-ship missile pierced through the 36,000-ton Jodi Supply Ship. The large but thin-hulled supply ship was loaded with vast amounts of supplies, storing 10,500 tons of fuel, 250 tons of water, and 880 tons of ammunition.
This Jodi Supply Ship was specifically for supplying the Vikramaditya Carrier, and much of the fuel was aviation fuel for the carrier-based fighter jets.
As luck would have it, this Swordfish anti-ship missile struck exactly in the fuel storage area of the supply ship.
Or perhaps because most of the supply ship's space was used for fuel, it was harder to miss the critical spot than to hit it.
When the anti-ship missile exploded, it immediately ignited this aviation fuel, creating an unprecedentedly spectacular explosion.
Starting from the bow, the Jodi Supply Ship began to burn explosively section by section. The 36,000-ton warship had almost its entire superstructure blown off in the violent explosions, with flames reaching over 400 meters high, like a fiery volcano. Not a single one of the more than 200 navy soldiers aboard the supply ship survived.
4:41 AM!
A Flying Fish subsonic anti-ship missile skimmed the sea surface and pierced the bow of a thousand-ton Kora-class Frigate.
The anti-ship missile warhead's hundreds of kilograms of high-intensity TNT explosive proved to be unbearable for the mere thousand-ton Frigate.
Just one anti-ship missile blew away most of the bow of this thousand-ton Kora-class Frigate, exposing internal lines sparking with electricity and twisted steel.
Seawater surged into the hull, the stern rising high, and propellers exposed above the water. In just a few minutes, the warship disappeared below the surface of the sea.
4:48 AM!
The Mumbai Destroyer urgently started up. This 6,700-ton destroyer had its propellers churning water, and the 100mm main gun at the bow fired anti-aircraft shells. With the water-cooled system, it could maintain a firing rate of dozens of rounds per minute.
Four 30mm anti-aircraft rapid-firing guns positioned fore and aft also fired continuously, engaging the incoming anti-ship missiles relentlessly. The air defense missiles were also in the final stages of launch preparation, soon forming an even stronger anti-air firepower net.
The dense rounds of bullets fell like rain, continuously shooting down three subsonic Flying Fish anti-ship missiles, but there were too many incoming anti-ship missiles.
A Swordfish supersonic anti-ship missile advanced at high speed, and the Mumbai Destroyer fought desperately.
However, hitting a supersonic anti-ship missile was significantly more challenging, especially since this Swordfish anti-ship missile also had terminal maneuvering capability.
The Swordfish anti-ship missile weaved serpentine through the barrage of bullets and then suddenly ascended at a distance of two kilometers. Rocketing upwards at a steep angle to 300 meters altitude, it followed a parabolic trajectory, bypassing all the ship cannons' and close-in weapons systems' firepower nets, and then plunged down, hitting the dead angle of the anti-air firepower net.
The navy soldiers on the Mumbai Destroyer looked on in terror and despair, seeing the Swordfish anti-ship missile dive almost vertically down. Their first reaction was to grab onto nearby objects to secure themselves.
Whoosh!
The Swordfish anti-ship missile plunged from above, piercing through the deck and penetrating multiple steel plates, reaching the ammunition depot.
In the ammunition depot, ship-launched missiles, shells, torpedoes, and anti-submarine deep bombs were neatly stacked. The Swordfish anti-ship missile crashed down, knocking over ammunition racks, causing missiles and deep bombs to drop and roll on the ground.
Several Indian navy soldiers working nervously in the ammunition depot turned their heads upon hearing the noise. They saw this scene unfold with their own eyes, and their hearts chilled, watching the Swordfish anti-ship missile fall in like seeing the Grim Reaper grin at them.
BOOM!
With the delayed fuse ceasing, the Mumbai Destroyer seemed to be stomped by a giant. Under the magnificent fireworks of the ammunition depot's catastrophic explosion, the warship was blasted in half. The enormous fireball from the explosion shot up to 150 meters high, engulfing innumerable soldiers before they even had time to scream.
This 163-meter-long warship was severely twisted and deformed, the hull fractured. In the loud sounds of the catastrophic explosion, within less than five minutes, the 360-man crew Mumbai-class destroyer sank into the sea, with only half a mast emerging from the water. Ultimately, only 13 people on the entire ship survived.