"Gather the fleet and order the Gray Knights not to pursue."
After hearing Soshyan's instructions, Mark nodded, but as soon as he turned around, he returned after hesitating for a moment and whispered:
"Chapter Commander, but on the side of the Man-Eating Shark..."
Soshyan shook his head.
"There is no chance. Huron would rather shake the battle line but also open a distance, which means that he does not intend to give anyone a chance to get close to his flagship. The main force of the Red Pirate Fleet is still there. Even if Huron cannot defeat it, it is still very easy to escape. What's more, just the fleet of the Man-Eating Shark will probably have a hard time breaking through the interception firepower composed of the large red pirate warships... Send a message to the Man-Eating Shark, don't pursue the enemy, I hope they will listen."
Facts also proved Soshyan's judgment. Although the man-eating shark was menacing, Huron was determined to avoid the fight, just like a real shark with brute strength and sharp teeth, but could not catch a slippery old shark. At this time, the separated fleets of the Red Pirates gradually gathered together. Due to the huge loss of fighter planes and the pressure of continuous air strikes, the Red Pirates' capital ship immediately used ferocious artillery fire to stun the Man-Eating Shark Fleet. At that time, One cruiser was destroyed and two frigates were damaged.
Realizing that it was no longer possible to carry out a surprise beheading, the shark fleet had to give up the charge and join the bombardment of the imperial fleet.
At this time, many of the Red Pirates were still evacuating, and the sky was full of swaying landing craft, gunboats, and even lifeboats.
During the attack, Zhu Fu specially arranged for people to occupy two escape areas that were not very critical. At this time, it played a huge role. Many red pirates who did not have escape tools quickly escaped with the help of the escape areas controlled by Zhu Fu, and because they were The escape vehicle of the Star Fortress was recognized as a friendly mark in the fire control system of the Imperial warship, and was not easily targeted by automatic weapons. After learning this after the war, Soshyan couldn't help but lament that this was the case in the Red Pirates. Commander, I'm afraid the battle ahead won't be easy to fight either.
After that, the exchange of fire between the two sides continued for more than an hour. In the end, the Red Pirates quickly broke away from the battle after they were convinced that they could no longer recover more people.
The second naval battle of Angstrom, which lasted for a full 14 hours, came to an end.
It can be said that both sides of this naval battle tried their best, but the casualties were far less disparate than the first battle.
According to post-war statistics, the Red Corsairs were sunk 1 Emperor-class battleship Death Marsh, 1 battlecruiser, 3 large/heavy cruisers, 6 strike cruisers/light cruisers, and about 80 small ships. In terms of ships, In terms of losses, it was similar to the first naval battle.
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On the Empire's side, the fleet led by Soshiyan alone was sunk 1 heavy cruiser (the Astral Knight's Atonement), 3 strike cruisers (including the Astral Knight's Endeavor and Resolute), and 4 light cruisers. The cruiser, 30 small ships, and the Mechanicum's battleship Alloy Truth were also destroyed and almost sunk, and were also invaded by demons. Half of the gun deck was destroyed, a third of the engine was destroyed, and a quarter of the crew and Technical personnel were sacrificed, and it would take about 5-10 years to repair. In addition, 2 large and medium-sized ships, 11 small ships, and 1 cruiser lost by the Shark Fleet were also lost.
The Empire only took a small advantage in terms of the number of losses, but the Blessing Barrier is basically in disrepair. According to conservative estimates, it will need at least two years of mooring and repair to restore basic movement and combat capabilities. If it is to be completely repaired, it may take 10 years, which is equivalent to saying this There is a high probability that there will be no other battles behind the Star Castle. In addition, more than 10,000 fighter planes participated in the battle were lost. A considerable number of them were destroyed by subspace forces and could not even be recovered.
It can be seen that the victory of the last naval battle relied to a large extent on the defensive power of the planet Angstrom. Once it left the scope of the planet's orbital defense, even with two star forts and a large number of air forces, it was still not enough to eliminate the conflict between the two sides. There is a huge gap between the battleships. Once the Red Pirate Fleet forces its way up to shoot at close range, the advantage of its heavy armored cannon is still very large. However, the defense of the Star Castle is deployed in all directions, and the firepower in a single area is actually very limited.
For example, the Red Corsair Retribution-class battleship Desperate Invocation, with a third of its deck destroyed, was still able to continuously sink the Astral Knights Endeavor and Atonement with powerful main gun salvos, even during the evacuation Because the void shield was overloaded, it used its solid hull and armor to withstand the firepower harassment of the empire's small battleships and rushed out.
It was precisely because he saw that the Red Pirates' battleships with heavy armor and cannons were still capable of fighting that Soshyan did not intend to fight Huron to the point of death. After all, the Word Bearers were the Red Pirates' trouble now, but If there were no Red Pirates, the empire would immediately be in trouble. Occam doesn't have much information about their strength now, but as an ancient rebel army, the traitors of Galmyk should not be underestimated. Don't let both sides suffer and be defeated by others. It would be ridiculous if people took advantage.
In addition to the loss of the fleet, it was the human losses in this battle that really made Soshyan heartbroken.
Only 49 soldiers died in the last battle, but this time in the brutal naval battle and star fort defense, 102 people were killed in the third, fourth, sixth and tenth companies of the Astral Knights alone!
Among them, 19 people were killed in the third company, 28 people were killed in the fourth company, 24 people were killed in the sixth company, and 31 people were killed in the tenth company.
The situation of other chapters was not good either. The Flesh Tearers lost 85 people, the Ascetics lost 134 people, the Ranger Warriors lost 48 people, the Imperial Fists also lost 17 people, and the Gray Knights lost 9 warriors. In total, 395 Imperial Space Marines died!
You must know that there are not many Space Marines in the entire expeditionary force. Counting the losses in the previous series of battles, according to the casualties reported by various theaters and battle groups, nearly a thousand Space Marines have been killed from the beginning of the expedition to the present. The entire expeditionary force The number of troops was reduced by almost one-fifth.
However, there are still many tough battles to be fought that can be seen with the naked eye. Soshyan has no idea what the final number of casualties will be.
In addition, the Mechanicus and the State Church suffered great sacrifices. Three governing sages died in the battle, 11 data craftsmen died in the battle, and more than 200 priests who accompanied the army sacrificed their lives for the God of Machines, and more than 60 Ten thousand Skitarii and nearly 3,000 combat robots of various types were destroyed in the battle. In addition, more than 100,000 Ecclesiastical combatants and 61 battle nuns, including Skitarii and mercenaries, were martyred.
As for the sacrifice of crew members due to the sinking of the ship and the gang jumping, it is a huge number. It is estimated that at least two million crew members and non-combatants were killed.
As for the Red Pirates, the number of Chaos Space Marines that could be counted was about 3,000. The actual number was up to 5,000, which was about the same as the first naval battle of Angstrom, but the intensity of the war was not. They can't be compared at all. It can be seen that the first victory was also due to the poor command of the Red Pirates commander. This time, a smart frontline commander was replaced, and the effect was immediately different.
Facts have proved that the Red Corsairs are not really soft persimmons who can be pinched at will, but they have many internal problems that prevent those Chaos Space Marines from truly displaying their fierce individual strength.
Therefore, Soshyan could only pray that those internal problems would continue to trouble the Red Pirates. It was also because of this mentality that he did not really murder Huron, otherwise it would have been possible to capture this guy with a desperate attack.
As for those cultists, demons, etc., there is no way to count them, and there is no statistical significance.
In addition, the battle report also mentioned some special things.
