Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology - Chapter 1141

Chapter 1141: Greek war: Overwhelmed!! (5)
Looking at the sinking Ujwal, Amarinder’s eyes were bloodshot.

“Damn it.”

“God Damn it.”

He had his doubts about Surya’s plan, but he didn’t think they could not hold out even for a few hours.

“Since you want to play like this, I will play with you guys.” A cruel glint appeared in his eyes. “Don’t you want to kill us all? Good, then I will let more of you be buried with us.” The viciousness in his words was not concealed.

He ordered his executive officer without leaving room for doubt, “Pull back the southern battle group. Let them position right at the port.”

The order was quickly passed, and the ships began to move.

Back at the port.

Brigadier General Aditya Malhotra lowered his binoculars and let out a deep, turbulent breath, ‘Things are not looking good,’ he muttered. He looked around at the defences that had been almost set up, with all the battalions and companies taking up their posts and manning the weapons. Only the heavy Artillery Company was in the middle of debugging and setting up the cannons, culverins, and howitzers.

But even with all this firepower, he was not too sure he could take down the enemy. Originally, he came to the port thinking that he would be defending against a landing operation, but he now understood the truth, that he was there to support the Navy and take some of the burden off the Navy. He only controlled a brigade; how much strength could he muster?

Thinking about all this, he finally made up his mind. “Karan,” he called out.

Lieutenant Colonel Karan Singh appeared before the Brigadier General and stomped his foot with a salute, “Sir!”

No one knows what Aditya Malhotra told the lieutenant colonel, but after hearing the general’s words, Karan’s eyes took on a worried look that was soon replaced by a hint of viciousness and determination.

Armata Federazione Italiana.

Aboard the capital ship, Supreme Commander Marco Antonio Giustiniani cursed angrily after receiving the intelligence about what the Bharatiya Navy’s next move was.

“Bastards, can’t they simply admit defeat!”

Usually, it was not easy for him to lose his temper, but once doubt took root in his heart about whether the Federal Emperor had made the right decision, anything that strayed from his expectations irritated him far more than it should have. The influence of that doubt was so subtle that he did not even notice how petulant he had become.

Under his anger, his first in command, Francisco Clanci, his second in command, Giovanni Andrea Doria, and his commander of the light forces, Alessandro Farnese, all stayed silent without uttering a word. They could understand the annoyance of the commander. The original plan was to capture the Delhi-class battleships and the naval ships of the Bharatiya’s once they surrendered, so that it would be useful for future missions, but unexpectedly the Bharatiya’s decided to take a last stand, fighting to the bitter end. Although they had no doubt about their victory, the victory would be painful.

“Fine, have it your way.” Marco clenched his fist and decided, “Send all the battleships forward at a time, we’ll go all out to crush the enemy at the fastest speed.”

Souda Bay.

“Captain, the Italians are approaching. They once again used the Bharatiya ships as the spearhead,” the lookout informed.

Amarinder was disgusted by the shamelessness of the Italians. “Do not hesitate, fire at will,” he ordered, as his eyes blazed with anger.

As the Italian fleet came into the range of the naval cannons of the Bharatiya Empire, as if they already knew what was coming, they did everything to brace for impact. All the sailors heard the order on deck and moved indoors. Even the angle of the sails was changed in order to minimise the damage as much as possible, but was that enough?

“BOOM!” “BOOM!” “BOOM!”

The Northern Battle Group, with the battleship ‘Ujwal’ among its ranks, had been able to severely damage three Delhi-class battleships of the Italian Navy on its own. Now, with two Delhi-class battleships, each equipped with advanced weaponry, the amount of firepower they could unleash was exactly as expected.

Like an angry dragon unleashing its reign of inferno, the artillery shells crashed down on the Italian navy relentlessly.

For the sailors of the Italian ships, this was the most horrific moment of their lives. One moment they were alive, the very next they were dead. As wood began to disintegrate and blood evaporated due to the searing heat, an air of desolation began to set in.

“Fire, Fire, Fire!”

Finally closing in on range, the Italians began to counterattack, and their attacks were much denser.

The frigates and clippers disengaged from the main battle group and began to dance on the sea, reaping lives left, right, and centre.

The light clippers of the Bharatiya Empire, equipped with Gatling guns, went berserk on the enemy fleet.

“Take this, bastards.”

A Gatling gun operator on a Kolkata Class Clipper, who still felt the heat of blood from his companion smeared all over his hand, growled in a hoarse voice mixed with rage and sadness.

“Pha” “Pha” “Pha” “Pha” “Pha” “Pha”

When the attack on the Northern Battle Group began, the frigates and clippers remained untouched, fully shielded by the battleships that absorbed the brunt of the damage. Now, however, the Italians did not have enough battleships to afford their own frigates and clippers the same protection.

The frigates of the Bharatiya Empire were like great white sharks stalking their prey and strategically hunting it down. As per the clippers, they were like a group of orcas, the wolf packs of the sea, swarming the enemy one at a time until they were completely obliterated.

Due to the battle, the sea churned violently, and the smell of gunpowder permeated throughout the port.

“Fire, Fire, Fire.”

On the shore, Brigadier General Aditya roared until his voice turned hoarse.

He had neither a clear view of the enemy nor could he hear them. All he could see was his own navy rocking violently on the sea, relentlessly unleashing battery after battery, the barrels smoking even as they absorbed heavy punishment. Still, he received coordinates via the telegram relayed by the lookout stationed in the tower at the rear.

The fire support company and the forward suppression company were of limited use, as their speciality lay in suppressing land-based enemies. In contrast, the heavy artillery company and the mortar platoons unleashed hellfire upon the enemy.

Marco, looking at everything from behind, clenched his fist and roared, “Split into two battle groups and fucking unleash everything you got.”

He could see that they were unloading hell onto the Bharatiya Navy, but the Bharatiya were still hitting back.

On the other side, Amarinder looked around and could see only six or seven ships that were still operational. Frustration welled up in his bloodshot eyes. ‘If only we could hold on a bit longer,’ he thought to himself, but in the end, not all wishes come true.

“Have the remaining people evacuate to the shore.”

The Executive Officer nodded with a grave expression, but he hesitated, “You will not be evacuating, Captain?”

Amarinder did not turn his head. “Follow the orders, XO.”

Tears welled up in the executive officer’s eyes, and he resolutely saluted, “It was a pleasure serving with you, sir!” He moved ahead, no longer turning back.

Amarinder took a deep breath and muttered under his breath, “The pleasure is all mine.”

After the Bharatiya ships stopped firing, the sailors on the battered and bruised Italian ships started to rejoice.

“Great Italy, oh my motherland, the greatest land of the greatest people.”

They began to sing their new victory song, and the sound of it reverberated across the port, forcing the remaining Bharatiya sailors to bow their heads in shame. But the Italians missed one crucial thing. They forgot that a lion is most dangerous when it is wounded.

Amarinder seized the helm himself and manually unfurled the sails.

Although the sails were badly tattered, riddled with gunshots and cannonball tares, thanks to the sails having been partially furled earlier, they were still operational.

The half-submerged capital ship of the Bharatiya Crete Sauda battle group moved forward like a dying old man.

Looking at it, the Italians who were singing happily about their victory were confused. What were the Bharatiya doing? Marco asked a similar question, but once he saw that the last operational battleship of the Bharatiya Empire was actually coming straight toward a pair of tattered Delhi-class battleships, he had a bad feeling in his heart.

“Quickly shoot it down, don’t let it get close,” he roared, with slight panic inevitably appearing on his face.

Amarinder had already left the deck and gone under the ship. He sat by the mast pillar, holding four threads in his hand, as he began to smoke a cigarette. Usually, he wouldn’t smoke on duty, but now was the best time there ever was.

He was gripping the trigger wires he had manually attached to the ship’s four torpedo tubes, a newly integrated weapon system. He had avoided using it earlier, as its aim was erratic and accurate targeting was nearly impossible. In a bay barely three kilometres wide, the density of ships had been too high, and firing it then would have risked hitting his own vessels. Because of that, he had not touched the weapon at all.

But now, that concern was gone. Everywhere ahead lay only the enemy, and there was no longer any fear of accidentally striking one of his own ships.

“Boom!”

With the resumed attack of the Italians, the ship began to shake violently, and its momentum slowed down by a lot. Even a cannonball passed not too far away from him. He could even feel the heat emanating from his cheek, but maybe God did not want him to die without fulfilling his wish. Many cannon shots tore through the ceiling, but none came close to him.

The water began drenching his body, but thankfully, the torpedo tubes could work even within water.

Feeling that the ship had come to a complete halt and was gradually sinking, he knew that it was time. Without hesitation, he pulled the wires.

The compressed air within the torpedo tubes was immediately let go, and the turbines of the torpedoes spun at a fast speed, breaking out of the torpedo tubes and launching into the water like sharks.

The last capital ship of the Bharatiya Navy finally tilted and began submerging, but as a final roar, the underwater monsters it unleashed created three spectacular explosions under the sea, making three battleships tremble and tilt uncharacteristically.