From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 381 As long as the unmanned fleet launches an attack
If someone had told Guterres before that plasma torpedoes alone could cause more than 50% casualties to a main fleet in a battle, he would definitely think that this person had a problem with his brain or did not understand fleet warfare.

If this person is one of his men, or a student of his when he was a visiting professor at the Federal Naval Academy, Guterres would even pick him up and swing him around to see if he is in a clear mind.
But now, if someone says this again, Guterres will definitely nod in agreement, and say excitedly and seriously:
"Yes, this is all true! My fleet lost 50% of its combat effectiveness because of a large wave of plasma torpedoes!"

On this basis, Guterres was told that the first and second commanders of the Atlas Fleet opposite him had once attended his open class at the Command Department of the Federal Naval University - and that class was about "Tactical Theoretical Thinking of Large-Scale Fleet Battles". It is unknown what this Federal Navy Vice Admiral would think.

Of course, although Randall and Cleves knew that the commander of the opposite federal fleet was Vice Admiral Guterres, they had actually long forgotten that they had ever attended the class of this visiting professor at the academy.
At this moment, with the last plasma torpedo being intercepted and detonated, the "cosmic fireworks" within the formation of the Federation's Thirteenth Fleet have also been set off.

Looking at the 52% fleet loss data given by the shipboard control personality on the main screen of the bridge, Vice Admiral Guterres felt a pang in his heart.

It should be noted that among the 52% losses, 45% were permanent losses such as being sunk. Although the remaining 7% of damaged ships did not reach the level of "everyone abandons ship", Guterres estimated that if the damage control could not be controlled, it would only be a matter of time before "everyone abandons ship".

These are just the obvious losses, and almost all the remaining ships in the fleet are also damaged.

Although some of the plasma torpedoes were eventually intercepted and detonated, the melting damage caused by the high-temperature plasma fireballs on the ship's armor plates also caused real damage.

These damaged areas were quickly controlled by the ship's damage control and would not affect routine navigation and combat, but if long-distance jumps were to be carried out, they would have to be carefully considered.

This is also the issue that Guterres is most worried about now.
The Pella Galaxy is not an important galaxy under the rule of the Star Dragon Empire, so the infrastructure construction is really just infrastructure.

There are only so many docks and spaceports capable of carrying out capital ship-level repairs and maintenance, and most of them are near the colonized planet of Pella IV.

If he and the 13th Fleet were defeated and lost control of the sky, they would have to evacuate to other galaxies.

In that case, many ships that have "risks of jump disintegration" due to damage to the hull and cannot be repaired immediately will have to choose to abandon the ship.

"Your Excellency, Lieutenant General, should we consider disengaging from the battle first?"

The fleet operations staff's words suddenly brought Guterres back from the shock of the heavy damage suffered by the fleet.

"We can't just disengage from the battle like this or we'll be forced to abandon more ships!"

Guterres shook his head, and his impression of the new fleet operations chief became even worse.

Compared with the previous staff officer who retired to the rear due to illness, the energy invested by the new staff officer in building leadership relationships and enriching his personal resume far exceeds his investment in his job as a fleet staff officer.

In terms of courage and insight, they are far from being comparable to the former.

Considering that the former was from an ordinary family, which was extremely rare among the fleet commanders, and the latter was the son of a senator, and that he was transferred here just after the 13th Fleet withdrew from the most intense battle line.
Guterres even suspected that the departure of the fleet operations staff officer might not be as simple as "due to illness".

Of course, Guterres also knew that now was not the time to consider these issues, so he did not get angry, but continued:

"We currently still have nearly half of our ships capable of combat, and we still have 30 battleships and heavy cruisers combined. If we really engage in an artillery battle, the total power of the fleet may not be lower than that of the enemy, and we may not really be at a disadvantage! Moreover, the unmanned fleet had already entered the jump before the battle began."

Guterres thought of the three unmanned fleets that were transferred to the Pella IV galaxy in advance. Although they were the first three fleets to be launched, code-named "The Big Three", and had suffered certain losses in the war, they also had the most combat experience.

With such a new force, Guterres can't imagine how he can lose.

He admitted that Atlas' fleet, especially their fleet commander, was indeed quite capable, but this command ability was not enough to make up for the gap in the fleet's hard power.

Perhaps relying on this kind of command ability can indeed defeat a fleet with the weak, but no matter what, it is impossible to complete the myth of "one against three" without a capital ship. Otherwise, countries would not need to launch so many fleets. Wouldn't it be enough to mass-produce a fleet of "military gods" and use it as three fleets?
"As long as the unmanned fleet launches an attack, everything will be fine."

Before Guterres finished speaking, the ship's onboard control personality of the Fate suddenly issued a warning.

"Warning! Space collapse detected!"

"Warning! Abnormal mass growth in space has been detected!"

"It is determined that a small fleet is leaving the jump!"

Such a warning was like a heavy hammer hitting Guterres' heart. He stared at the main screen of the bridge. The lens of the optical infrared sensor on it was pointing to the direction where the space collapse phenomenon was detected.

Obviously, this is not support from the Federation.

A small fleet was more likely to come from the remnants of the Empire, or a support force from Atlas.

In the current situation, Guterres' judgment is more inclined towards the latter.

Enemy support is arriving faster than friendly support, which is not good news.

And after seeing the unprecedented huge battleship that appeared in the universe after the space collapse phenomenon ended, Guterres' face became even worse.
-
"The Infinity fleet is here to support us. We salute you, Commander Cleves!"

"Thank you for your support. I won't say much. Start networking and join the fleet!"

"Yes, sir!"

When he saw the slightly nervous Roma temporary captain wearing the Atlas fleet uniform on the main screen, Cleves breathed a sigh of relief.

He was previously worried that the Infinity, which had not completed all the tests, would encounter problems during the support process, but now it seems that he does not need to worry about this for the time being.

Looking out the panoramic porthole at the huge ship that was nearly 6 kilometers long and looked like a giant beast among the stars, and thinking that he was about to see the "debut" of Atlas' current masterpiece up close, Cliffs couldn't help but feel a little excited.

In fact, he should be the first captain of the Infinity, and this battleship will also become the new flagship of the Atlas fleet.

However, since the Infinity was still in the dock when the fleet set out, and was only dispatched on an emergency basis, it could only allow a group of Roma crew members who had just finished training and their instructors - the group of old human crew members in their seventies and eighties - to become the first crew members of the Infinity.

This was one of the reasons why Cleves was a little worried at first.
At this time, the Infinity's bridge was still maintaining direct communication. Before 'quantum entanglement communication' became more and more popular and provided services to other forces, Atlas' combat forces and fleets were the first units to use this communication technology.

"The battleship's fusion furnace energy group is working normally, the psychic core is working normally, all indicators of the psychic converter are normal, and the super-heavy purification beam generator has completed attack preparations!"

"Commander Cleves?"

"Begin the attack, all fleets, attention, forward three! Prepare for the assault, shipboard HCPs on deck! After the Infinity is finished illuminating, assault the enemy fleet!"

"Yes, super heavy essence beam generator, five seconds of irradiation, start!"

(End of this chapter)