Chapter 185: The Exposed Problem

The exercise league continued, with commander after commander bringing their shipgirls to participate in the match.

Qin Ge conscientiously carried out his duties, but although this exercise league's venue was small and the process was quick, after finishing the fourth match it was already noon.

Thus the league entered a brief break; as the head cook of the Commander Academy, Yixian had already brought the prepared boxed meals to the venue and distributed them to each commander and shipgirl.

After all, each region must conduct 19 exercise matches to finish the first round of the exercise league; the second round follows immediately, determined by redrawing lots among the first-round winners.

In this way, each sector must conduct over thirty exercises, and these over thirty exercises must be completed within three days.

Because after that the total remaining personnel of ten sectors are added together for a redraw promotion race; not to mention the team competition afterward, so basically each exercise league requires nearly a week or more.

"Commander Qin Ge, this is your meal, this is Hai Lun Na's." After Yixian and the staff pushed the cart over, they handed Qin Ge his lunchbox and also gave Hai Lun Na, who stood beside him, a lunchbox.

"Thank you for the trouble, Yixian." After Qin Ge took the lunchbox, he smiled at Yixian.

"There's nothing troublesome about it, after all our cafeteria is just for this. Actually speaking, this time it's still a bother to you; previously the school always asked the Maritime Affairs Bureau or Donghuang Command to send people to act as referees, this year they're using you, so the hardship is on you all." Yixian said with a smile.

"Hehe, I am originally a school instructor; if I can help the school, it's naturally my duty. Moreover, letting me serve as a referee is also a sign of trust, so there's nothing hard about it." Qin Ge replied with a smile.

"I knew you'd say that; hurry up and eat, after eating you still have to continue supervising the match." Yixian smiled.

"Mm." Qin Ge nodded, then turned and went with Hai Lun Na to a nearby table to start eating.

After everyone finished eating and cleared the utensils, another round of exercise matches began.

Thus, from noon onward with no rest, the competitors remained in high-intensity matches. After five matches in the afternoon, it was mealtime again; after eating, they continued with the confrontation exercise.

At this time the sky gradually darkened, the pier where personnel gathered turned on its searchlights, and the battle was about to begin, entering night combat.

The first to engage in night combat were two first-year students; however, since neither had conducted night exercises before, this fight turned into a complete mess.

In Qin Ge's dedicated night vision goggles, both sides' shipgirls almost all used radar to locate the enemy's direction and then launched attacks, but such attacks were almost ineffective.

Because the shells they fired and the torpedoes they launched all missed, their combat power obviously dropped greatly compared to daytime.

Even several times during exchanges, they simultaneously lost track of each other's position; then, on the sea like headless flies, they fired wildly everywhere.

Seeing this, Qin Ge couldn't help but frown; indeed, it was because the first-year students' understanding of night combat was shallow and they had very little night combat training, resulting in this situation.

Although there were only two shipgirls, the duration of this exercise was longer than that of the daytime duel between two second-year students with four shipgirls.

In the end, the two shipgirls only determined the winner through close-range gunnery duels and torpedo duels.

On the way back in her small boat, Hai Lun Na saw Qin Ge's somewhat solemn brow and asked doubtfully, "Commander, what's wrong? Why are your brows furrowed like that?"

Qin Ge told Hai Lun Na, "I've discovered something, but I still need to observe a bit more before I can draw a conclusion."

Hai Lun Na nodded half-understandingly, "Oh."

However, she knew that if Qin Ge spoke so seriously, it must be very important; therefore she didn't ask, knowing Qin Ge would tell her later.

Right after Qin Ge docked, the next two opposing students were both second-year graduates; their abilities were not bad, each possessing three shipgirls.

After following the normal procedure once, Qin Ge returned to the judges' area aboard Hai Lun Na's small boat; this time he observed more carefully.

Possibly because the second-year students were on duty, their shipgirls' reactions to nighttime were much more composed than those of the first-years; although their attack methods weren't as reckless as the first-years' shipgirls, they also leaned toward conservatism.

Often they would ensure they tracked other shipgirls for a while before attacking; overall they took more time and hesitated more compared to daytime attacks.

One, they feared revealing their position; two, because nighttime darkness obscured the sea, torpedoes were basically very hard to spot; three, due to the drills, but usually lacking tracer devices, in the vast night it was extremely difficult to discern the direction from which enemy shells came.

Thus, they took longer than previous shipgirls; when the outcome was decided, the first day's exercise league also drew its curtain.

After Qin Ge met with the others, he greeted Anshan and a few people, then took his shipgirls back to the reception house.

On the way, Qin Ge asked his shipgirls, "I have a question I want to ask you."

"Oh, Commander, if you have any questions, please ask; if we know, we'll surely tell you everything." Guanghui said to Qin Ge.

"What do you think of tonight's night battle?" Qin Ge directly asked the question he wanted to ask.

Several shipgirls exchanged glances, all shook their heads, and finally Guanghui said to Qin Ge, "It's terrible; first-year commanders basically have no night combat experience, including their shipgirls.

"Thus at sea they're like headless flies; some with more sensitive radar can still catch targets, while others can only shoot based on feeling."

"My situation is the same as Guanghui's senior; their reconnaissance means are limited, and even second-year commanders have a very limited grasp of night combat." Banrenma said to Qin Ge.

"Mine is the same." Nengdai nodded and said.

"Mine is the same as well, Master." Belfast said.

Qin Ge nodded, "It seems we should add some night combat subject training; after all, those Sirens won't only come in daytime—they'll also appear at night. Rather than let them suffer some pain before grasping the true essence of night combat, it would be better for me to later communicate with the Prince of Wales Dean."