Reincarnated as an Imperial Prince

At the briefing room of the Petropavlovsk Class Aircraft Carrier, fighter pilots and dive bomber pilots were filling up the leather seats as the commanding officer in charge of the squadron was pinning a map on the board, preparing for his debriefing,

Notes and pens were on the hands of the pilots as they tensely watched the commanding officer of the squadron finish up his work on the board.

Some even engaged in a brief conversation, regaling how their days went or how they miss being on the ground after a long month’s voyage. Much to their disappointment or dismay, a war broke out between the Ruthenian Empire and the Yamato Empire, thus effectively making them a component of the war that needed to serve their motherland.

What could’ve been a vacation in the Far East, doing simulated battle exercises turned out to be a deployment in a real war.

“Okay!” the commanding officer clapped his hand, shutting the mouths of the pilots and prompting them to sit straight. “May I have your attention please. I am Lieutenant Command Markus Lappalainen from Finland. I am in charge of this squadron whose task is to sink as many battleships of the Yamatos,” after his introduction, Markus turned around and began encircling the map with a red marker.

“Now, the First Imperial Fleet is currently charging at us at a speed of 10 knots. They are wiggling to evade the artillery from our Battleship Imperator Aleksandr IV. There are forty-five surface warships, and one of them was sunk from the first salvo. Our goal is to sink half of them, the more the better. We will fly a grid on bearing one seven five and once we make contact with the enemy fleet, the dive bomber group will dive and unleash hell on their ships, and the fighters will provide a smoke screen for torpedo bombers will make their runs. Now if you have any questions, feel free to raise them up.”

Concluding his debriefing, he glanced at the pilots, waiting for them to raise their hands. One of the pilots seated at the last row raised his hand tentatively while all eyes in the room were fixed on him.

“Lieutenant Aaron,” Markus beckoned him to stand up. “What’s your question?”

“Sir, why are we not using the Wraith Fighter Aircraft? It’s fast and impossible to be shot down by Yamato’s anti-aircraft guns. Why do we have to use dive bombers when we can fire a missile at them?”

“That’s a good question, Lieutenant. Allow me to answer that. The pilots of the Ruthenian Armed Forces are getting complacent nowadays, putting all the rest on their guidance and radar systems and forgetting their training on how to dogfight. Well, that’s understandable if you were to think about it. After all, why do we have to practice dogfighting if we can shoot down our enemy before they even knew what hit them? For the Army, Navy, and Air Force, that’s a bad mindset. Consider this operation as your practice. Dodge as many anti-aircraft rounds as you can until you destroy their ships. Then return home safely. Which I believe you will because we were trained to be the best.”

Lieutenant Aaron was speechless but nodded his head nonetheless. He returned to his seat, closing his pocketbook and tucking them in his breast pocket, as did everyone else around him.

“No more questions?” Lieutenant Markus asked once again.

“What type of resistance should we expect on this operation?”

“A plethora of anti-aircraft guns but no aircraft. The Yamato Empire as of right now doesn’t have an operational aircraft carrier so don’t expect a dogfight. Any more questions? None? Okay, let’s meet at the flight deck. Our planes have already been armed and fueled.”

Everyone stood from their seats and made their way out to the exit. Lieutenant Markus followed them to the flight deck.

The morning breeze blew gently over the sea, ruffling the navy uniforms of the pilots as they walked towards their respective planes.

Lieutenant Commander Markus arrived on his plane. It’s a copy of the Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber from the United States of America. An iconic plane is known for sinking the four Japanese aircraft carriers.

Alexander wasn’t sure if the United States of this world is developing the SBD Dauntless at this time of the year. Because if they do, that would be one heck of an infringement of intellectual property. Well, most of his inventions came from the United States as it was once his homeland, and has well-versed in knowledge when it comes to their military software and hardware. So, if they do develop a dive bomber like this, then he’ll probably let it go.

After all, this is not their main fighting force, to begin with. They are using the prop planes so that the Yamato Empire won’t freak out. If the Ruthenian Empire used a jet engine aircraft, then the Yamato Empire will stop making aggressive actions and instead adopt a cautious and reserved approach as well. The Ruthenian Empire wanted them to make mistakes after mistakes until they realized in the end that they were fighting a superior force.

Funny enough, even though the Ruthenians have already used a jet engine aircraft in the war, the high command of the Yamato Empire still denies its existence. It seems like they are the type of men who believe in the quote “seeing is believing.”

The pilots hopped in their aircraft. The aircraft that will be used in this operation are as follows. 10 Douglas SBD Dauntless, 10 Grumman TBF Avenger, and 10 North American P-51 Mustang.

The air boss of the aircraft carrier started guiding the pilots from the bridge.  One by one, the aircraft was launched into the air.

They flew in formation as they headed straight to the First Imperial Yamato Fleet.

Ten minutes later, from over fifteen thousand feet, they finally arrived at the enemy fleet’s location. Lieutenant Commander Markus peered through his binoculars, confirming the presence of the battleships.

They are really sailing in a zigzag pattern. Columns of water rose up from the sea as another salvo was fired from the Imperator Aleksandr IV. It struck two warships but didn’t suffer significant damage thanks to its defensive maneuver.

“Okay boys, targets have been sighted. You already know what to do so don’t fuck up,” he said through the radio.

“Do you think they have seen us?” one of the pilots raised.

“Well, if they did, they’ll start shooting at us right now—”

—A bullet grazed the armor of the aircraft Lieutenant Commander Markus was flying.

“Shit, they’ve found us. Let’s initiate a dive bomb and close the canopy!” Markus barked through his radio, prompting the pilots to close their canopy and initiate a dive-bombing sequence.

Lieutenant Markus could feel himself floating as his plane plummeted through a stream of tracer bullets that aimed to shoot them down. He made a skillful maneuver to dodge and evade the anti-aircraft rounds.

He activated the dive break, causing the speed of his descent to slow down. He got a bead on one of the battleships. Based on the design alone, he can tell that it is a Kongo Class Battlecruiser.

3,000 feet…2,000 feet…1,000 feet. Markus pulled the lever that released the 1,020 kilograms of ordnance. It whistled as it fell down to the wooden deck of the Kongou.

Markus, with all his might, pulled the yoke towards him, making the plane ascend into the air.

He could feel his plane rattle from the blast behind him. He threw a cursory glance and found out that he had scored a hit. His comrades scored a hit as well and left the scene with minimal damage.

Meanwhile, the ten P-51 Mustang fulfilled their job by putting down a smokescreen to mask the approach of the torpedo bombers.

Amidst the incessant shower of anti-aircraft rounds from 40 surface warships, the men were unfazed and focused on the job.

They just need to line themselves and push a button that will release the torpedo. And that’s what they did. The torpedo bomber aircrafts released their torpedoes, dropping them on the water.

It swam under the waves, leaving a trail of bubbles that was visible to Yamamoto’s eyes.

“Right full rudder!” Yamamoto ordered.

“Right full rudder,” The flagship’s Helman repeated his word as he turned the helm to the right.

Yamamoto, with his wishful thinking, believes that he avoided it. He knew that torpedoes only sail in a straight line. Unbeknownst to him, it wasn’t a simple torpedo used widely by the world powers. It is an acoustic-homing torpedo that follows a sound of a specific acoustic signature.

The Morzh Class Submarines provided the Petropavlovsk with the acoustic data of the flagship and in turn, the engineers on board the aircraft carrier programmed the torpedo, feeding it with the acoustic signature of the Amagi Class Battlecruiser.

Yamamoto’s eyes widened in horror when he noticed the torpedo changed its course.

“Brace for impact!” Yamamoto clutched onto the railings near him as the torpedo approached.

Seconds later,  the torpedo hit the hull of the battleship directly on its port bow. The ship began to list to the right and buck violently from both sides.

Yamamoto’s vision for future naval warfare was true all along. Magnificent battleships are useless against planes.