Azur Lane: Leipzig Missile Cruiser Class

Doomed from the start

Sea of Okhotsk

1st Air Squadron

Time: 1300 hours

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The Air Squadrons were the pinnacle of the Sakurans' dream of superiority and bravery. They are also the ones who fly directly into the anti-aircraft fire to fight the enemy of the Emperor, his subjects, and their homeland. While many in the artillery and torpedo factions are adamant that they are the best, they don't realize the iron will of the pilots, who are ruthlessly selected from the best during their rigorous pilot training, to fly fearlessly from the deck, knowing that the next takeoff may be their last.

This is still true today, with the Sakuran pilots of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Air Fleets at the forefront of this air assault, while the 5th Air Fleet is simply tasked with defending their fleet and floating airfield. The 5th Air Fleet and its Air Complement are greenhorns and thus lower on the food chain (less respected). The respect that the 1st and 2nd Air Fleets have earned through their training and combat prowess, not to mention the fact that they are the flagship of the entire Sakuran Navy and the current fleet, shows that thousands of eyes are watching them alone.

Failure is not an option.

With the desperate yet cunning move of having the air attacks come in three waves, ready to drop their complement of bombs and torpedoes and shoot down any enemy fighters, not only was this a risky idea. With the destruction of an enemy submarine, it was now clear that the Sirens would come at them with all the force and dirty tricks they had up their sleeves.

But surely the presumed number of enemy ships and planes won't be a problem. So far, their losses have been so meager that some have begun to refer to it as a shooting gallery. With the supposed numbers of superiority, many have begun to doubt the effectiveness of quantity. This has led many, including the Admirals themselves, to believe that their quality is far superior to what even the Americans could produce and procure in a short time.

What the pilots thought to be only a stupid air complement of the Siren Jets is unfortunately not the fact. With the introduction of the Missile Cruisers, the Sirens have begun to update the AI of the Queens and their Air Squadrons to be more effective and cunning. After all, why fight in a dogfight when the enemy can just shoot them down without any remorse?

Soon the reconnaissance planes further ahead reported something strange. "Ehh... be advised, something is approaching our locations. It seems to be smaller aircraft, shaped like a... I don't know how to describe it perfectly... a stick with fins attached to the back?]"

This caused some confusion between the first and second wave, who are able to see the spread-out Recon Aircrafts suddenly making garbled mess of intel through the radio. The best pilots with the best eyesights, even though night, were picked out to recon ahead of the other squadrons. What they didn't know was, that would be fatal mistake in not knowing the enemy's complement of weapons. Because the Sirens have shown that no one is safe.

Soon a shriek through the radio was heard and the Formation ahead of the 1st Wave tried to evade something, but it was too late.

BOOM
BOOM
BOOM

Out of nowhere, three planes were engulfed in a fireball, with torn pieces of wood and metal frames falling out and crashing into the ocean. The pilots of the other planes near the fireballs still tried to evade, but unfortunately it was futile.

Soon they joined their comrades to meet their maker, never quite knowing what had hit them. The first wave soon joined them, many of their pilots not knowing what had happened. Some saw death coming before their eyes, but no matter what maneuvers were drilled into their brains during training and mock battles, they knew they couldn't help them against something that could follow every move of a monoplane, too slow to evade a Mach 0.7 air-to-air missile.