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The scene of the vertical-launched anti-aircraft missile defense system was as magnificent as a scene from a Hollywood blockbuster. It was a sight that could make any man's blood boil!
"Aim and fire the main cannons!"
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The 130mm cannons on each ship continuously fired shells at the incoming missile swarm, hoping to prevent as many missiles as possible from hitting the joint fleet.
However, just as the South Korean and French fleets were desperately trying to intercept the Russian missiles, the screaming missile swarm suddenly, without warning, began to nosedive and fall into the sea! It was like a scene of dumplings being dropped into a pot—plop, plop, plop—as they fell straight into the water.
Then, in an instant, the first missiles to hit the water exploded. (The missiles' speed and the height of their fall made the water's surface as hard as concrete, so the warheads exploded the moment they made contact.)
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The earth-shattering chain of explosions detonated across the sea in a carpet-like pattern. The terrifying force of 270 short-range missiles created hundreds of towering water columns! The sight was spectacular, like a wizard from a movie casting a spell that combined water and fire. It left everyone in awe.
"What's going on? Weren't these missiles supposed to have locked onto us? Why did they suddenly go into the sea?" Captain Le Gof of the French fleet stared blankly from his command room, unable to make sense of the situation.
Besides feeling a sense of relief for being alive, he was completely baffled by the Russian missiles' sudden fall. He had been expecting their anti-aircraft missiles and main cannons to successfully intercept the swarm.
But now, he saw that his country's and South Korea's missiles were all still flying high in the sky, as were the cannonballs. But the Russian missile swarm had all mysteriously fallen into the sea. What in the world was going on?!
That's what the French fleet commander was thinking. But his subordinates were all smiling with relief, grateful to have survived. They didn't care why the missiles had suddenly fallen into the sea. All they knew was that they were safe. They didn't have to write a will, and they were going to celebrate tonight by drinking until they passed out.
"Captain Le Gof, maybe there was a malfunction in the Russian missiles' guidance system. Or maybe they were just trying to scare us?" the first mate said after a moment's thought. He was too relieved to care what had actually happened. Thankfully, they had managed to get out of the Russians' line of fire.
Otherwise, the chain of explosions, like a tsunami, would have been death itself. Come to think of it... they had used up all of their anti-aircraft missiles and many of their 130mm cannon shells. Not a single one had successfully intercepted a missile. Just like the Russian missiles, they all fell into the sea after flying for hundreds of kilometers, effectively "fishing" with their explosives.
In the distance, brave war journalists in helicopters watched the entire scene through binoculars. They were just as confused, unable to figure out what the Russians were doing. Were they even fighting seriously?
If they were fighting seriously, at least one French or South Korean warship should have been hit! But instead, everything was used to blow up the sea and the fish. What kind of grudge did the marine life have against Russia that they were always the ones to suffer?
"What the heck is this? How am I supposed to write this news report? 'Russians Make a Blunder? 300 Ballistic Missiles All Fall into the Far East Sea'?" a journalist inside the helicopter said, feeling a sense of unreality.
"You'd better add a line that the anti-aircraft missiles of the joint South Korean and French fleet also all fell into the sea, and in the end, only innocent marine life was sacrificed for nothing," another journalist joked.
What happened was a life-or-death situation for the ships on the water. Warships can only reach a top speed of 30 knots, which is less than 60 kilometers per hour. But for a helicopter traveling at around 300 kilometers per hour, as long as they detected the missile swarm in advance, they had plenty of time to get out of the way.
After all, these missiles came from over 600 kilometers away. They weren't launched at close range, which would have been impossible to escape.
In reality, they didn't know that the 270 missiles launched from the Russian Vladivostok military base were not short-range ballistic missiles or even medium-range ones. They were Mavi's ultra-long-range self-propelled rocket artillery, developed by Russian scientists.
That's right, rocket artillery, with a range of 650 kilometers. It was accurately guided within 100 kilometers, but the precision dropped significantly after 120 kilometers. When the rockets flew over 300 kilometers, they became completely uncontrollable, with a margin of error of over a kilometer.
That's why they fell into the sea so abruptly when they were about to approach the French and South Korean fleets. However, the Russian military had launched these self-propelled rockets for this military exercise in the Far East. In short, it was a test of the rockets, not an attack on the two fleets.
It was the South Koreans and French who were at fault for trespassing into the Russian military exercise zone and nearly getting caught in the indiscriminate attack from their rocket artillery.
"Mr. Mavi, our Smerch self-propelled rocket artillery was a successful test launch. The number of French warships hit was zero. The number of South Korean warships hit was also zero," the Russian Army Major General in charge of the operation said, breaking his usual stoic demeanor to deliver a joke to Mavi.
Mavi wasn't sure whether to laugh or not at this Russian-style humor. While the rocket artillery's target area had been meticulously calculated by the scientists, there was a 98% chance that they wouldn't hit the two fleets (they were intentionally not trying to hit them, as that would have caused a huge problem).
But there was still a 2% chance due to uncontrollable factors like extreme weather and wind direction. What if the wind on the sea today was a bit stronger than expected, causing the rockets' margin of error to be even greater? A single mistake could have resulted in a rocket hitting a South Korean or French ship, and the consequences and chain reactions that would have followed were unimaginable.
It could have very well triggered a war between three countries.
"Thank goodness. We should celebrate the Smerch's 270 rounds and zero-hit rate," Mavi said, offering a joke of his own, in very Russian fashion.