Azur Lane: Dragon Rising

Ch28: The Battle of Sulu (1)

The battle began around an hour ago with our surprise attack on the American fleet. To my delight, we really did catch them unawares and were able to land a few solid hits but to their credit, they defended themselves pretty well and, without air support, drove off our attack fairly quickly. Despite being caught out, they didn't lose a single ship to our blitz thanks to their AA defences and the sheer number of ships they had present with said technology. Still, this didn't stop various ships from being hit but none suffered critical damage.

Much as my aircraft had reported, they were indeed within Philippine waters within the Sulu Sea. They were positioned with their carriers in the midst of their formation but not close enough to one another to be easily hit by carpet bombing. Despite all the information my planes had gathered, however, nothing could prepare me for what this many ships actually looked like up close.

As anticipated, they haven't detected me even though I am now within a few miles. Even without being detected, however, it's immediately clear that this battle will be a harder than expected one. With this in mind, I open fire on the nearest destroyer. Now that I am in my KANSEN form, my missiles are much smaller but pack even more of a punch and a few hits later, the destroyer begins sinking. As it does, I'm surprised to hear the enemy's communications.

From this new source of information, I learn that the ship I just attacked is called the USS Bainbridge. Staying hidden up close to an uninhabited part of the shore of one of the islands within the Sulu province of the Philippines, I watch as other ships move up to assist. As expected, they try to prevent the ship from sinking completely whilst also rescuing survivors. This, under normal circumstances, would be the best option but as it stands this only gives me the perfect opportunity to launch my second wave of attacks.

Still snugly located along the shore, I fire a large barrage of missiles at my targets before quickly relocating. They try to shoot my missiles down but their efforts prove ineffective and before long, the radio is filled with chatter about two other ships also sinking, particularly the USS Benfold and USS Gonzalez.

As expected, they spotted the position I fired from and quickly rain missiles and gunfire down onto the position but I'm long gone. The resulting damage from their attack, however, is staggering. To think they would attack their supposed ally's land like that.

Liang: [Our Air Wing just made it back but we haven't been attacked as yet. What's going on down there?]

I don't immediately answer her, instead, focusing on the fleet before me. If her fleet wasn't attacked or located by their planes or hit by the missiles they were firing off before I started attacking then there's only one possibility. The missing planes are heading back here.

The minute I realize this, I have my fighters begin searching for the enemy's planes. If they can get to them in time, it'll be a decisive victory for me. At the same time, I notice that the allied fleet before me has started to deploy their helicopters which seem to be trying to locate me. Smiling, I have my 8 HQ-11s lock-on before firing. Each is capable of firing 18 missiles at one or multiple targets and with 144 missiles now locked on to individual targets, I can only watch in glee as every last helicopter in the sky gets blown to pieces. The missiles that remain head straight for one of their cruisers.

BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM...

????: [The enemy's a woman! She's...]

Thanks to my earlier breakthrough in decoding their transmissions, I am alerted that they've spotted me and manage to relocate before the first volley of shells reaches my location. Seeing that there's no further reason to try to stay hidden, I move to the second phase of my plan. At the same time, my planes finally locate theirs and an aerial battle begins. Thanks to prior planning, my planes all had AA missiles and easily knock their counterparts out of the sky who have completely exhausted their munitions whilst fighting our land forces.