Seven Seas Beacon Fire

After all, everyone knows that although Colombia was theoretically a victorious nation in the last World War, their navy gave the impression that, apart from its considerable size, it seemed that apart from achieving a remarkable victory by relying on the Royal Victoria Navy, it was forced to a stalemate by the Tang army in the later stages of the war despite holding a significant advantage. This naturally led many countries to underestimate the Colombian navy.

For Colombia, which aspires to have a greater voice on the international stage, it is extremely important to reverse this impression. It is unlikely that it can reverse this image in the short term through its performance in a new war. Therefore, the Colombian Navy is preparing to use the strategy of the Great White Fleet again, which is to say that it can make a living by fighting in Korea.

This time, they not only dispatched their most powerful battleships, the USS South Dakota and the USS Lexington, but also, although at this time the USS South Dakota and the USS Lexington did not actually have full combat capability. If evaluated according to NATO standards in the future, this could only be considered as having formed initial combat capability at most. However, this did not prevent these two giant ships from setting sail to show off their power.

For this purpose, the Colombian Navy even specially painted the battleship USS South Dakota, the battlecruiser USS Lexington, and the two accompanying Omaha-class cruisers with the same white retro paint scheme as the Big White Fleet.

As the former "suzerain state" of Bharat, the fundamental reason why the Bharat Federation was able to break away from the Victoria Empire was that the Victoria Empire had suffered too much loss in the world war and its national strength could no longer suppress the independent forces within Bharat.

However, at least on the surface, the Victorian Empire handled the independence of the Barat Commonwealth very well, making it a fairly respectable "peaceful separation." Moreover, the Barat Commonwealth maintained good relations and close ties with the Victorian Empire after independence and continued to consider itself a member of the Commonwealth of Britain.

Therefore, the Victorian Empire also dispatched a high-profile fleet this time, with two Admiral-class battlecruisers that can be considered the pride and face of the current Victorian Royal Navy naturally taking the lead.

However, perhaps considering that no matter how much the two Admiral-class battlecruisers were hailed as the perfect balance cats, they were still carrying 15-inch guns, before the next generation of battleships equipped with 18-inch guns were completed, the Victorian Empire chose to add two Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, making a total of four capital ships equipped with 15-inch guns to remind the world who had the most 15-inch guns in the world.

The most powerful battleship in the Gallic Navy's arsenal, the Lyon-class, is currently under slow construction and will not be completed in the short term. At the Honolulu Naval Conference, the Gallic Navy dispatched its Normandy-class battleship. However, the Gallic Navy also knows that the last time it dispatched the Normandy-class battleship, it was completely outclassed by the larger and more powerful warships of other countries.

Previously, the Gallic navy could accept that it did not have much prestige in front of the top three powers, after all, the strength and status of the country were there, and European countries were generally very good at talking "from the perspective of national strength and status".

However, this time, during the naval review of the Bharat Federation, the Bharat, a country like this, actually had two Bavarian battleships, named Virat and Vishnu, which had greater combat power and larger caliber guns than any capital ship in the entire Gallic Navy.

In fact, some in the Gallic Navy believed that even the 3-ton Lyon-class battleships, armed with 16 340mm guns, were not necessarily stronger than the 28,000-ton Bavaria-class battleships.

If the Gallic navy couldn't compare to the ships of the top three, it would be acceptable. But if it couldn't compare to the ships of the Balat navy, it would be somewhat unacceptable to the Gallic navy. Even if they deployed the Normandy battleship, it would be clearly inferior to the two Bavarian-class battleships when compared side by side.

In this situation, the Gallic Navy finally had a brilliant idea. They chose to send the battleship "Voltaire," one of the three warships that the Gallic Navy had acquired from the Leitanian Empire. It was originally a King-class battleship of the Leitanian Empire's High Seas Fleet.

Although the two King-class battleships of the Yingzhou Navy were easily defeated by the Longyuan-class battleships, the most powerful ships in the hands of the Tang Dynasty Royal Navy, in the first half of this year, it is not shameful for a battleship like the King to lose to a super battleship like the Longyuan. Moreover, the fact that the Gallic Navy brought the spoils of the Letanian Empire to participate in the naval review of the Barat Navy can be regarded as a victory for the Gallic Kingdom.

Although they used this somewhat opportunistic method to save face, the Gallic Navy was always particularly envious of the Syracuse Navy at such times. Although the overall average quality of the Gallic Navy's ships was significantly better than that of the Syracuse Navy, the Syracuse Navy had Caracciolos. They could sail Caracciolos to the Balatian Navy's naval review, which was no less impressive than that of the Bavarian Navy. They didn't need to resort to these fancy tricks.

Compared to those European and American countries that either demonstrated their strength or resorted to opportunistic tactics, the Tang Dynasty only dispatched two ships: a battleship and a light cruiser. After all, the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and Barat was quite delicate. Although there was no prior enmity between the two sides, Barat was clearly willing to align itself with the Victorian Empire. Therefore, the Barat Navy could be considered a semi-hypothetical enemy of the Tang Dynasty's Royal Navy.

The Tang Dynasty only sent two ships to deal with this hypothetical enemy because they were not familiar with each other and therefore would not be particularly enthusiastic. However, the battleship sent was Longyuan, which represented a warning from the Tang Dynasty to some extent—don't think that having two Bavarian Indian Ocean ships means you belong to them. What is Bavaria in front of Longyuan?

Although the Great Tang is the only country in the Balat Federation that borders it among all these countries, the journey by sea is indeed longer than those that go directly through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal. In other words, it is a longer journey than Colombia, which has to cross at least one ocean. However, he had already decided to cosplay as the Great White Fleet and parade around the city. The longer the journey, the better the advertising effect.

Therefore, when the battleship Longyuan finally arrived in Calcutta, the visiting fleet from the Tang Dynasty discovered that they were the second to last to arrive.

What? You're asking which one is last? Do you even need to ask?

In other words, during the war, the Royal Victoria Navy carried out a major expansion project on the port of Calcutta and dredged the waterways to meet the needs of war preparation. Otherwise, it would have been a pipe dream for so many naval vessels from various countries to be able to dock in the port during this fleet review.

Even so, the entire naval port was already packed to capacity. Apart from the few berths reserved for the Colombian Navy, the Tang Dynasty Royal Navy's warships and patrols had to make do with stopping in a corner of the port.

It's important to know that three of the Bharat Navy's four main battleships are not in Kolkata Port today, in order to make room for ships from other countries. The only Bharat Navy battleship in the port today is the HMS Agni, also known as the famous HMS Agincourt, a relic of the multi-turreted cult with seven main gun turrets.

"To be honest, from the perspective of a newly established country, the Bharat Navy has really taken a leap forward. If it continues to develop like this, it will inevitably cause us a lot of trouble in the Indian Ocean in the future."

As the Longyuan docked at the port, a captain of the Tang Dynasty Royal Navy gazed at the Agni battleship, now adorned with the camouflage of the Balat Navy, and at the numerous modern facilities within the port. He and another officer beside him began discussing the Balat Navy with considerable emotion, expressing strong affirmation of its future development and the threats it posed.

"They're just picking up leftovers from the Victorian Empire, and they're the ones causing us trouble?" However, beside him, Major General Zhang, the commander of this small visiting fleet, had appeared at some point after hearing the exchange between the two and naturally joined their conversation: "Given the quality of the officers and soldiers in the Bharat Navy now, I'd be happy if their ships didn't catch fire in the future."

"General, aren't you being a bit too dismissive of the Bharat Navy?"

"That's right. When our navy was first established, our conditions weren't as good as theirs. Although we're currently limited to four capital ships by treaty, the future development speed and strength of the Bharat Navy cannot be ignored..."

"They washed the deck with kerosene."

"........."

"........."

General Zhang's words left the two instructors speechless. Were these Barat sailors really trained by the Victorian Empire? Their style seemed more like that of the Ursus Empire.

Kerosene is excellent for cleaning decks; it's incredibly effective at cleaning deck panels. The Russians love using it, whether they're from this world or another. As a result, it's no surprise that the Russian Navy has one of the highest rates of fire accidents among all the world's navies.

As an aside, it's precisely because of this long-standing practice of the Russian Navy that it's still difficult to say exactly how the Moskva cruiser sank. This isn't to defend the Russians, because dying at the hands of an enemy anti-ship missile is certainly more worthy of death than dying because one's own sailors started a fire while smoking in the ammunition depot and burned the ship down.

Are these Bharat Navy sailors who clean the deck in this way really trained in military construction, fire protection, and damage control?

However, as if there was some kind of magic in General Zhang's words, the next moment, someone noticed that there seemed to be black smoke coming from the berths at the port of Calcutta.

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P.S.: I've posted the answer about chicken nuggets below. I'll edit the main content and post it later. If you don't see it, please refresh the page.

The following is Comrade Chicken Nuggets' sharp commentary on the J10CE Leather Rafale:

Actually, if we analyze this from a systemic perspective, this line of thinking is correct.

However, when it comes to analyzing systems, such as the ZDK-03 + J-10C being superior to the EMB-145 + Rafale, it's all about analyzing the equipment hardware. This is a common mistake among military enthusiasts when they enter a professional field, where they habitually reveal their ignorance.

Actually, the most crucial thing in this matter is not the early warning aircraft, but the RWS (Rapid Firewall).

The Rafale's SPECTRA integrated electronic warfare system is actually a very good thing.

The complete system includes:

3 laser sensors covering 120°

Three radar signal detectors covering 120° (two in front of the canard and one at the tail).

Two infrared missile warning detectors

Three electronic jammers using active electronically scanned antennas (two in front of the air intakes and one at the bottom of the vertical tail).

A 4-module chaff deployment system (the chaff length can be adjusted to counter the radar wavelengths required).

*But the problem is that electronic warfare relies not only on hardware but also on software.

Hardware is the skeleton, the muscles, and it's very important, but even the best hardware needs software as its nerve bundles and blood vessels to function.

The reason why the US military remains a "strong enemy" and a difficult opponent is that the US military has always maintained high-intensity contact with PLAAF/PLANAF in the Yellow Sea/East China Sea/South China Sea. In this high-intensity contact, the US military has aircraft such as RC-135U and EA-18G carrying NGJ pods, which can collect radar signals from our aircraft and record frequency band signals and spectrum characteristics.

This collection is like building a "fingerprint database," which is then processed by the rear spectrum operations squadron to transform the fingerprint database into database information that can be recognized by the onboard computer and loaded into the forward combat aircraft.

In the current AI era, this processing method can be used to process observed data based on big data, obtain the likelihood function, and finally infer the spectrum and radar waveform characteristics on the battlefield.

This is essentially a military AI confrontation between top powers. The Indian army doesn't have it, nor does the French army. It only requires the simplest machine processing. The SPECTRA system has not had its hardware upgraded in more than ten years since it was delivered.

The U.S. military can currently provide updated spectrum database information to the front lines approximately every 10 days, ensuring that frontline troops can accurately identify the spectrum signals of enemy aircraft and missile radars in "e-sports" and gain the initiative in combat.

Since the widespread adoption of AESA radar, the LPI search mode has been widely used due to its features such as beam agility, power adjustable according to reconnaissance needs, and even dual-band radar hardware on some advanced fighter jets. Compared to the single-target tracking/search-while-follow modes of traditional radar, LPI search makes the main lobe of the search radar more difficult to track and more difficult to interfere with.

In other words, if the J-20 were a fighter jet operating in night combat, and you were using a flashlight—a normal flashlight with a bright bulb—you would simultaneously use your radar to spot the enemy and become a beacon in the night sky. But the J-20's flashlight is an invisible laser. Equipped with advanced thermal imaging equipment, it can see a red dot pointing at you, while you cannot see it.

At this point, you need the dynamically updated database of RWS to capture the specific characteristics of the J-20's "invisible laser" and then adjust the radar warning parameters to try to detect the J-20's radar as early as possible.

This is the process of the dynamic evolution of electronic warfare.

Why does the US military talk about spectrum warfare, and how powerful, brilliant, crucial, and worthwhile this concept is to invest in it? It's not just about getting money. It's because the complexity of modern warfare has long determined that spectrum is the deciding factor. If you can't win electronic warfare, then no matter what hardware you have, you can forget about winning.

Thanks to the US military, NATO, including the French military, should share a spectrum database. This spectrum database information may come from our military's forward contacts or from espionage. In any case, it requires years or even decades of contact and tracking, recording, interpreting, classifying and organizing the other side's electronic warfare and radar reconnaissance methods until finally becoming "familiar" with them, and collecting so much data that it forms a "database".

However, the Indian Air Force certainly cannot access NATO's spectrum library.

When we sell you Rafale fighters, we're selling you the hardware we provided at the time. The database might be there, but it would be a stripped-down version. NATO's confidential information would never be released to India.

Given the Indian Air Force's track record with arms purchases, they must have saved money on software updates for French or even Russian-made fighter jets—because the Indians thought it wasn't important and could be cut back on.

Yes, in ordinary times, it doesn't seem like a political achievement, lacking the so-called glamorous hardware.

What about during wartime?

Therefore, the same Rafale, under the NATO system, not only has NATO hardware, such as the E-3 and a bunch of other electronic warfare aircraft, but also has the experience and database system formed in thousands of aerial combats/encounters, a complete spectrum operations squadron, and a dynamic upgrade mechanism for RWS programs... In short, it is an air combat support system that only a truly powerful country can support.

Does India have it?

Could programmers at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) update the radar signatures of all IAF aircraft every 10 days, just like the US military's spectrum operations squadrons?

Can the Indian military grasp the signal characteristics and operational procedures of China's advanced AESA radar using LPI mode to guide PL-15E missiles at ultra-long range, and formulate electronic warfare countermeasures and counter-countermeasures against it?

Oh, their early warning aircraft always have their transponders on when they take off, so they definitely don't have them.

Therefore, the J-10C fighter jets under the PAF's guidance, using AESA radar and LPI mode, can silently hunt down enemy aircraft, ultimately achieving a "fourth-generation fighter against a third-generation fighter" effect, effectively shaving their heads clean.

As a result, the French army has become so insecure due to the Indian army's actions that they are starting to doubt the effectiveness of their SPECTRA system.

Au moins unavion Rafale and unmirage 2000 de l'armée de l'air indienne, lancés dans des frappes au Pakistan, ont été abattus dans la nuit du 6 au 7 mai. Surrounded by robustness and son système Spectra, ferret lance de la guerre électronique francaise.

This is because PAF is essentially backed by the Chinese Air Force and China, the world's largest technology innovation entity. Therefore, they are even able to directly eavesdrop on conversations between Indian Air Force pilots and use this to confirm that they shot down the Rafale.

Modern warfare is a game for true superpowers—and those so-called “regional powers” ​​who are putting on a show of strength may have decent hardware, and some may even be as well-equipped as they are with large and expensive units like early warning aircraft.

However, compared to the decades-long effort required to develop a spectrum library and a massive dynamic software upgrade mechanism, this kind of simple hardware accumulation is as ridiculous as a kindergarten child buying a remote-controlled airplane toy.

Technological upgrades always bring ever higher barriers to entry.

that's it.

Chapter 344 Isn't it normal for Barratra to pull a big one? (2)

The Bharat Navy is in the spotlight.

Under the beautiful glow of the sunset, abnormal black smoke began to billow from the mid-stern section of the battleship Agni.

It's not surprising if a warship only emits black smoke. In fact, for a considerable period of time, capital ships had to emit the thickest black smoke to conform to mainstream aesthetics. Although there are no Photoshop tools for taking pictures these days, countries still have a penchant for manually adjusting the colors in post-processing when taking photos of their own warships to make the smoke from the smokestacks appear darker.

This is particularly evident in the famous photograph of the Great White Fleet's departure.

Moreover, putting that aside, even if all four of the Bharat Navy's main warships are coal-fired, and even if they are upgraded to oil-fired boilers in the future, or even if the warships are equipped with diesel engines or gas turbines, they will still emit black smoke from incomplete combustion when the main engine is idling at low speed.

But normal black smoke should come out of the chimney.

You're seeing black smoke coming out of the warship's ventilation intake... Even a fool could tell something's wrong.

At this moment, the harbor was quite crowded with ships. After all, although Calcutta was the largest naval port in Bharat, there were too many countries participating in the naval review. Several major naval powers had sent warships, and the Victoria Empire sent quite a few, even to the point of being suspected of overshadowing the main event. Even the Ursus Federation might have sent warships if it hadn't been embroiled in war.

Besides these major naval powers, many other countries also sent warships to participate in the Bharat Federation's national day naval review, including many South American countries.

For the three major South American naval powers (ABC), the Bharat Federation was a Third World country that had won national independence from European powers through its own means, which was indeed worthy of celebration. Moreover, the Bharat Federation still had many accolades at the moment—the world's second most populous country, and the sixth largest country in the world in terms of land area (note that at this time, the largest country in the world was the Victorian Empire, because Canada and Australia were still autonomous territories and had not yet gained independence).

Moreover, it possesses a powerful regional navy built up by the Victorian Empire, and a transportation network and industrial base left behind by the Victorian Empire that are the envy of many countries in the world.

This is not a country that started from scratch.

Therefore, when a country like this holds such a grand event on its first anniversary, almost every invited country will give it face, which is why the port of Kolkata is almost full today.

Even the Kingdom of Kii, a nation fearing that its ships might encounter the Tang Dynasty and be ambushed after setting sail, did not send any of its four capital ships. Instead, they dispatched their largest cruiser—an Omaha-like cruiser built in their own shipyard in Yingzhou during the later stages of World War II, based on blueprints and equipment provided by Columbia.

Only one of these cruisers was ever built. When it was first built, Colombia wanted to test whether the shipbuilding industry in Yingzhou could build some secondary surface warships and use their production capacity to further increase their bargaining power in the war. The results of the test were naturally satisfactory. With the support of external resources, Yingzhou's shipbuilding industry had great potential, and the level of its industrial workers was also quite satisfactory. However, by the time this ship was completed, the armistice agreement had already been signed a week earlier.

Due to a shortage of berths, the cruiser representing Yingzhou happened to be moored right next to the battleship Agni. The two ships were very close together, so when the battleship Agni started emitting abnormal black smoke, the light cruiser Yoshino of the Yingzhou Navy was the first to notice it and immediately notified the port authorities of the abnormal situation on the battleship Agni.

However, although the situation was reported, Bharat's response to this emergency was like that of a patient with dementia.

There was no other way; Kolkata had never before seen so many warships dock at once. Not only were the berths in the port extremely crowded, but traffic on the shore was also very congested. At the time of the incident, sailors from various countries were having a blast in the bars on the shore, or even setting up bonfires in open spaces, preparing to sing and dance after sunset.

Now that a fire has apparently broken out, the fire department is unable to arrive in time. On one hand, the firefighters are also celebrating, and on the other hand... the bonfire is even piled up on the light rail in the port, and the small train used for firefighting can't get through at all.

In fact, even if the fire brigade arrives, its role in controlling the initial fire is limited, because the fire is not on the surface of the ship, but inside the hull. At this point, the only thing that can save the ship is the damage control team composed of sailors on board.

But can the Bharat Federation Navy, which has only been established for a year, really have a high-quality damage control team?

Soon, flames began to rise from the bottom of the aft bridge of the battleship Agni. At this moment, the billowing black smoke was as conspicuous as the smoke from a beacon tower, and everyone in the port noticed the emergency situation of this sacred relic of the multi-turreted cult.

Because the captain was not on board at the moment (no one knew where the captain was), while the officers and men on the battleship Agni were still like headless flies, the sailors on the Yoshino had already begun to use their own fire hoses to help put out the fire. Their damage control team had even climbed onto the Agni using rope ladders to help put out the fire, and many other ships moored around also used their own fire hoses to help.

However, the fire hoses of this era are far from being as powerful as the coast guard vessels of a certain country in another world, which are capable of dismantling monkeys. The spray distance of the hoses is relatively limited.

Therefore, apart from the Yoshino and the Royal Navy heavy cruiser HMS Hawkins, which was moored outside the Yoshino, the water cannons on the other warships could hardly reach the fire. Even if they tried to pressurize the water and spray it in this direction, the effect seemed to be more like artificial localized rain to physically cool down the sailors fighting the fire on the deck. The atmosphere group's role was greater than the actual effect.

When the captain of the cruiser Yoshino saw flames starting to leap from under the hull, he turned pale. The Yoshino was no longer simply moored next to the battleship Agni, because the heavy cruiser Hawkins was also moored outside the Yoshino. The Yoshino was now truly trapped and unable to get out.

At that moment, any sailor from Yingzhou, looking at the two twin 12-inch main guns in front of the fire, located amidships, and then at the three twin 12-inch main guns behind the fire, considering the five turrets alone located amidships and aft, and thinking of the ammunition magazines inevitably below, would fear that this ship was about to become one of the most dazzling fireworks in the history of naval warfare.

If the flames were to burn into the ammunition magazine and cause an explosion, the battleship Agni would certainly be blown to pieces, but the Yoshino of the Japanese Navy would most likely also perish along with it. After all, hundreds of 12-inch shells and thousands of propellant charges wrapped up together are no joke.

Why were the officers and men on the Yoshino more proactive in putting out the fire than the sailors of the Bharat Navy? Well, it's because they're all in the same boat now.

At this point, the Yoshino could only try its best to have its sailors help the Balat Navy put out the fire, while quickly contacting the Hawkins, which was anchored nearby—if this explodes, we will both die. Why stay here instead of getting away quickly?

The heavy cruiser USS Hawkins certainly wanted to escape, but after the ship had traveled a long way to Calcutta and stopped, the boilers on board had been shut off. The ship was originally scheduled to conduct a routine inspection of the boilers tonight and then restart them before leaving port for the naval review tomorrow. Who would have thought that it would encounter such a fire?

Although modern steam turbines and new boilers have greatly shortened the time for warships to ignite and set sail, from several hours in the era of triple-expansion steam engines and round boilers to about half an hour now, it still takes half an hour, doesn't it?

The quickest way was to have the tugboats in the harbor tow the Hawkins and Yoshino further away, but at this time the tugboats in the harbor were afraid of the fire and dared not approach, which made the officers and men of the Royal Navy on the Hawkins so angry that they wished they could use their 7.5-inch cannons to send all the tugboats into the sky one by one.

"If the fire gets out of control, open the sea valve on the ammunition depot first!"

In this critical moment, Rear Admiral Zhang Nanhai directly radioed the battleship Agni. After observing for a while, he spotted the Viraat. The naval officers and men's composure in this emergency was even more impressive than expected. Although everyone actually wanted to see the ship explode and blow up the cruiser from Yingzhou as well, basic professional ethics dictated that in peacetime, one couldn't simply stand by and watch it perish.

Moreover, the port is currently in a state of "ship congestion," with many small countries' naval vessels anchored there. The quality of the officers and soldiers on these small countries' navies may be comparable to that of the officers and soldiers on the Bharat Navy. If a major explosion were to occur and affect the surrounding warships, causing the fire to spread, it is hard to guarantee that a fire like the Battle of Red Cliffs could not be staged in modern society, reminiscent of the burning of Calcutta.

After observing for a while, Rear Admiral Zhang Nanhai gave the most crucial suggestion of the evening. In fact, few people on the battleship Agni, which was already in complete chaos, noticed that someone was sending a radio signal, but the Yoshino and Hawkins received it.