>>6110882The emissions are abruptly cut down to a fraction of what they were.
When a distant steel-on-glass screech of pain reaches your E-2 you breathe a deep sigh of relief. It had worked. It had *worked!* The missiles had done their job. In just a few short minutes you’d have sixty-four SLAM-ERs headed their way, and they’re going to be hard-pressed to stop them with a crippled AD network.
The big question now was how quickly the Enemy CV could sortie its fighters. Assuming that you hadn’t just put their carrier out of action, they would be throwing every available airframe off the deck at this very moment. This presented two dangers. One was that their own CAP would arrive on station in time to intercept your strike mission and prevent them from launching their cruise missiles or take the missiles out partway. The F-18s would not be defenceless with two AIM-9Xes and two AIM-120Cs each, and the cruise missiles’ impressive range and numbers would help a lot in preventing this outcome, but the problem was not insignificant. The other danger was that they would throw everything against Prinz Eugen and Searchlight, as those were their only available targets. If they did, the chances that you could stop a full alpha strike was low, even with twenty fighters dedicated to defence.
The answer comes around the time you’re finishing up launching event 3. They have nearly matched you, it seems. Searchlight picks up a large blob of aerial contacts bearing down on Prinz Eugen, dozens, at least, which look like they’ll arrive just minutes after your CAP is on station… but they’re not coming from the fleet you just attacked. No, Searchlight is close enough to see that fleet clearly now, and the only aerial contacts there number perhaps six, just as Gamma Flight detected originally. This group is coming up from further south, from the direction of Majuro. Almost at the same moment you detect them they begin radiating freely in search of victims.
You kicked the hornet’s nest. You had thought to simply soften their fleet up for an attack, and had succeeded. But either the fleet you attacked had not contained their carrier, or you had managed to put one out of action, but not the other.
Looking at the distances and timing involved, though, you begin to get a better picture of the scene. That second carrier couldn’t be far from where its planes had been picked up. It was close enough that one of the two strike missions against Fleet 1 could be retasked to attack Fleet 2 without any real change in overall mission profile. That would represent a significant reduction in massed force against either fleet. On the other hand, the first fleet was already weakened, and this second fleet lacked AWACS cover, or if they did it was still fully passive. Even a mere 32 sea-skimming cruise missiles could be devastating without adequate advance warning.
