344: Chapter 344 The Myth of Aircraft Carriers Shattered

But this couldn't have been independently developed by Persia. Persia had never before publicly displayed an anti-ship ballistic missile with a terminal speed exceeding Mach 10. Even if their scientists had the capability for theoretical design, moving from theory to engineering, and from engineering to combat deployment, would take at least a decade. Yet now, just forty-eight hours after the USA declared war on Persia, such a missile had appeared.

Someone had given them the technology. Or rather, someone had allowed them to acquire it.

Houssa knew who that person was. He even knew why that person was doing it—not to help Persia, but to have Persia help him. The cost of a single 'Persian Gulf-3' was roughly between twenty to thirty million dollars, but its strategic value was infinite. This was because it shattered the myth of the aircraft carrier's invincibility. And that myth was one of the core pillars of the USA's global military hegemony. When this pillar loosened, every country in the world that had been threatened by USA carriers—including the Dragon Kingdom, Russia, Persia, and many Third World nations that remained silent on the surface but were waiting for this moment in their hearts—would quietly recalculate the balance of power.

Houssa picked up his teacup again. He didn't need to recalculate. He had known the true equation of the power balance from the beginning. Because at the very bottom of the equation, it wasn't missiles, carriers, chips, or rare earths; it was the man sitting in the secret room of the Presidential Palace in Naypyidaw, signing off on ten thousand points every day.

"Adil," he said, "how many DF-21D missiles do we have left ready for launch?"

"Eight, President. Additionally, there are twelve YJ-18 supersonic anti-ship missiles."

"Maintain combat readiness." Houssa drained his tea in one gulp. "The Persian Gulf is very lively right now, but our battlefield is here—the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Once they've exhausted all their attention on the Persian Plateau, we will completely lock down the Red Sea."

Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip.

Inside the 'Rock' command post thirty meters underground, Marshal Sinwar was leaning over a tactical sand table, using a red pencil to mark troop deployments on a map of the Squid Nation's southern border. Standing to his left and right were six commanders—three local Resistance Organization leaders and three Death Soldier brigade-level commanders. The dense blue markings on the sand table represented the newly formed 2nd Brigade and the remaining main forces of the 1st Brigade of the Gaza Liberation Army, while the red markings indicated the defensive line positions of the three remaining brigades of the Squid Nation's Southern Military District.

Four screens hung on the wall. The two on the left were broadcasting reports on the Persian Gulf conflict from CNN and Al Jazeera—the footage of the hole in the carrier deck was replayed every few minutes, and thick smoke rose from the burning fuel depots at Prince Sultan Air Base into the desert sky. The two on the right showed real-time situational maps of southern Squid Nation, provided by the Spider and 'Lens' drone teams.

The news from the Persian Gulf sent morale in the command post to an all-time high. Khalid, a local Resistance Organization leader, clenched his fist in excitement: "The USA's carrier was bombed! Their base is burning! Allahu Akbar!"

Sinwar did not join the cheering. He simply stared at the satellite photo of the carrier wreckage for a few seconds, then placed his pencil on the edge of the sand table and said in a clear, steady voice: "They have helped us share the pressure. Now, continue the fight."

There was no emotional fluctuation in his voice. It wasn't cold-bloodedness, but rather the statement of a fact. Of the two aircraft carrier strike groups the USA had originally deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean, one had already been diverted to the Persian Gulf to fill the gap left by the withdrawal of the USS carl vinson; although the other remained in the Eastern Mediterranean, its carrier air wing had received orders to prepare for airstrikes on missile launch sites in western Persia if necessary. The Squid Nation had lost its most critical redundancy in air support.

And what about the Squid Nation's own air force? During the first round of 'Blade of Dawn,' Sinwar's anti-tank missile teams and drone Swarms had already destroyed at least thirty merkava tanks, and used meter-wave radars and Voroshilov-2 anti-aircraft missiles to shoot down six F-35s and four F-16s. The Israeli Air Force's fighter jets were not infinite, and their pilots even less so. Every loss meant one less bomb the enemy could drop on the future battlefield.

"Khalid," Sinwar called out to the former physical education teacher. Khalid immediately straightened his back.

"What is the combat readiness of the troops in the eastern section of the Old City that you are responsible for?"

"The 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Brigade has completed its reorganization," Khalid said, tracing the narrow alleys of the eastern Old City on the sand table with his finger. "We captured three operational merkavas and are using one of them to set up an anti-tank ambush at the corner of Ali Road. Additionally, two hundred new recruits have finished basic operational training and can assist with ammunition transport and casualty evacuation during urban combat."

Sinwar nodded and turned to a Death Soldier commander: "What is the progress of the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 2nd Brigade?"

"Marshal, the 1st Battalion occupied all seven former settlement sites in the northern Gaza Strip last night and is currently reinforcing the defensive lines. The 2nd Battalion is advancing west along the coastal highway and made contact at dawn today with President Houssa's forces infiltrating from the direction of Yemen—they have established a forward outpost about thirty kilometers north of the Port of Eilat, controlling a section of the coastal road."

Sinwar's pencil found that location on the map and drew a blue circle. "Tell Houssa's people that the Gaza Liberation Army will launch a general offensive on the Port of Eilat within the next forty-eight hours. If we can cut off Eilat's connection to the outside world, the Squid Nation will lose its last outlet to the Red Sea. By then, all supplies—food, fuel, ammunition—can only be brought in through Haifa and the Port of Ashdod on the Mediterranean. And those two ports are already within range of Persian missiles."

He straightened up and placed the pencil on the edge of the sand table. "Notify all units: we will end this war here. Not at a negotiation table in Washington, not with a ceasefire agreement in Cairo, but on the docks of Eilat. When our flag is planted on the cranes of the Port of Eilat, they will know they have lost. Completely lost."

The command post fell silent for a moment, then everyone snapped to attention simultaneously: "Yes!"

Persian Gulf, Day Four.

Global public opinion regarding the massive hole blown in the deck of the USS carl vinson continued to ferment. Although the USA Ministry of Defense repeatedly emphasized that the carrier had 'not lost its combat capability,' military commentators from major news outlets pointed out that the catapults and arresting wires on the flight deck are the core facilities for carrier-based aircraft operations. Even if a through-hole in the deck doesn't directly damage the catapults, it could affect the overall structural integrity of the deck, thereby limiting aircraft takeoff and landing operations under heavy loads. Under normal circumstances, emergency repair of a deck hole requires cutting away damaged steel plates, welding replacement materials, and reapplying anti-skid coating—a process that takes days to weeks on land and is an unprecedented challenge when performed at sea.

For Persia, the strategic value of this outcome far outweighed its tactical significance. They hadn't sunk the carrier, nor had they even caused serious casualties. But with a missile that cost at most thirty million dollars, they had successfully punctured a myth that had been repeatedly reinforced for eighty years: that aircraft carriers were invulnerable. Once this myth was shattered, it would be very difficult to repair. Persia's Supreme Leader delivered a national televised speech that morning, calling the 'Persian Gulf-3' missile 'the sword bestowed by Allah upon Muslims.' He claimed that Persia had successfully developed and deployed dozens of such missiles, enough to 'sink all invading enemies' in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea.