Chapter 1463 - Battle On The Caribbean Sea (1/2)

The time returned to two hours ago.

On the Caribbean Sea, lightning flashed, thunder roared, and the waves raged.

Heavy rainfall splashed onto the deck; the broad bow split the waves into half. Surrounded by eleven ships, the majestic Ford Aircraft Carrier sailed smoothly in the surging Caribbean Sea as it cruised around the northern coast of Colombia.

With a total of twelve warships, the expanded Ford Aircraft Carrier Battle Group possessed more beyond visual range strike and anti-submarine capabilities. Due to the added emphasis on the ability to support ground forces, the flagship was changed from a guided-missile frigate to the Ford Aircraft Carrier. The commander of the aircraft carrier battle group was still Major Admiral Hogg. While he served as the captain of the Ford, he also served as the commander of the aircraft carrier battle group.

An F-35 landed on the runway through the curtain of rain. After it was hooked by the arresting cable, it gradually came to a stop. The ground crew in red, yellow, and green jogged forward while the pilot wearing a helmet jumped out of the cockpit, wiped the rain off his face, and walked aside.

The violent storm in the past few days had brought a lot of trouble to the Ford Aircraft Carrier Battle Group responsible for supporting NATO Coalition Force operations. Not only did the difficulty and risk of taking flight increase, but the airstrike effectiveness also decreased exponentially.

Of course, there was also an advantage.

The advantage was that from the beginning of the war to now, the carrier-based fighters on the Ford had performed fifteen airstrike missions, and none of them were intercepted by Aurora-20s. Perhaps it could be that Celestial Trade’s fighters were not designed to deal with severe weather conditions, apart from this reason, Hogg could not rationalize any other thoughts.

Inside the Ford bridge.

Like a sculpture, Hogg stood in front of the window of the bridge with his hands behind his back and his eagle-like eyes were fixated on the fighter that had just landed. It was impossible to tell what was going on inside his mind. The crew members inside the bridge were also busy in their respective posts. Except for the occasional work communication, there were no other voices.

“This damned weather,” Lieutenant Captain Griffin complained in a low voice as he looked out the window, “I wonder when it will end.”

If the weather condition did not improve, they would not be able to launch airstrikes against the defense force at Medellin and Bucaramanga, and the current situation would remain in a stalemate.

“How is the situation on the front line?”

“It’s still the same. Our people are pinned to the outskirts of Medellin. I heard that it’s worse on the ground, with visibility of fewer than 20 meters. Attacks in this kind of weather are too difficult. Not only do we have to beware of snipers from South Colombia, but we also have to watch out for mudslides that may happen at any time.”

“It’s not this that is even more worrying,” Griffin paused and continued, “I don’t know what Celestial Trade is doing. After the war began, other than the raid they launched in Barranquilla, the majority of the force seemed to be stuck at Tumaco.”

“This is indeed concerning,” Hogg nodded thoughtfully, then looked out the window, “I hope this storm will stop soon.”

Celestial Trade’s abnormal decision to keep its force stationary was concerning. For the NATO Coalition Force, the most critical point was to take Medellin in a blitz. As long as they controlled Medellin, no matter what Celestial Trade was plotting, they would have won half of the war.

However, instead of stopping, the storm seemed to be turning more severe.

Just as Hogg was about to sit down on the chair next to him, a string of dazzling red dots suddenly flashed on the radar screen.

As the incident happened so abruptly, everyone was caught off-guard for a second.

Major Admiral Hogg’s expression changed dramatically as he grabbed the radio on the table and shouted.

“Attention all units! Enemy aircrafts spotted!”

“Fighters take off immediately! Anti-aircraft firepower on standby!”

“…”

“Damnit, when did they approach us?!” After a series of orders were issued, Hogg slapped the radio down, then walked behind the radio observer as he stared at the screen and cursed fiercely.

A typical dual aircraft carrier battle group usually would adopt a three-tier system of offensive, defensive, and fire-fighting capabilities. The first and second tiers were used to attack the enemy and protect the entire aircraft carrier formation. The third tier was the defensive capabilities of each combat unit inside the battle group.

The first layer was the so-called outer defense zone. It was two hundred to four hundred kilometers away from the mothership. It was served by the SPY-4A carrier-borne long-range air search radar, military reconnaissance satellites, and E-2C early warning aircraft in the battle group. In the second layer of the middle defense zone, the shipborne SPY-1A phased array radar, as well as SPS-43, 49 and other long-range sea-to-air search radars serve as goalkeepers.

However, now, Celestial Trade’s fighters had directly penetrated through their first and second layers of defense, and they didn’t realize it until they appeared in front of their faces!

Obviously, Celestial Trade had upgraded their invisible materials; this situation had never occurred before!

The carrier-based fighters parked on the deck took off in an emergency.