Chapter 186: Not Enough Time

Although Qin Ge said so, night battle training was not rushed at this time. Thus the second day stayed the same as before, and he continued to act as the referee.

Perhaps because the first day's match gave some commanders inspiration, the second day's match was more intense than the first. Moreover, various fancy tactics also made Qin Ge very interested.

Although these tactics had various weaknesses, some basically just exposed their own weak points, yet these flawed tactics also gave Qin Ge many hints, so his interest as referee grew the more he oversaw them.

This afternoon, Wang Yueqin, a member of Qin Ge's Star Sea Grand Fleet, also began her match; her opponent was a second-year student.

Whether by luck or other reasons, Wang Yueqin, who commanded two light cruisers, faced a second-year commander whose subordinates were an aircraft carrier shipgirl and a destroyer shipgirl.

On the battlefield, one could see Wang Yueqin's Atlanta and Phoenix nimbly dodging torpedoes fired by the enemy destroyer, while unleashing full anti-air fire to shoot down all carrier aircraft launched by the enemy carrier shipgirl.

Subsequently, Atlanta and Phoenix, relying on steady tactics, directly sank the two enemy shipgirls.

Seeing this, Qin Ge also smiled; after all, they often conducted joint exercises, and Yueqin's Atlanta essentially guaranteed the anti-air firepower for the rest of their grand fleet.

After all, the Atlanta-class was a famed anti-air cruiser of the White Eagle faction in World War II, a distinguished warship in the White Eagle Navy; among them, the Saint Diego of this class earned the most honors of any light cruiser in the entire war, and even among all warships it ranked second only to Enterprise.

Therefore, encountering an enemy carrier shipgirl this time was sheer bad luck for them; although Atlanta's own damage output was not high, her anti-air capability was extremely strong.

Furthermore, Phoenix was also a very strong anti-air shipgirl, so the enemy carrier basically lost combat capability; two light cruisers versus one destroyer posed no pressure at all.

Nevertheless, because of this, today's battles ended relatively early; having already fought eleven matches yesterday, today only needed eight more to finish the first round of the Exercise League.

After the Exercise League ended, Qin Ge did not immediately take his shipgirls back to his reception house; since today ended early, he brought his shipgirls to the Prince of Wales instead.

Upon Qin Ge's arrival, the Prince of Wales was rather surprised: "Qin Ge, you just finished the match—why aren't you resting? What do you want from me?"

"I have a matter I wish to ask the Dean about," Qin Ge said to the Prince of Wales.

"What is it? Speak," the Prince of Wales smiled at Qin Ge.

"Regarding night battles, I don't know how the Dean views them," Qin Ge asked the Prince of Wales.

Hearing Qin Ge's question, the Prince of Wales immediately understood, and she smiled at him: "Do you feel those commanders still have very poor night battle experience with their shipgirls, making you worry about the combat they might encounter at night?"

"Huh? Does the Dean know about this?" Qin Ge looked at the Prince of Wales, somewhat surprised.

"Don't forget I am the Dean of this school; how could I not know this? After all, I've been at this academy much longer than you," the Prince of Wales laughed at Qin Ge.

"But since the Dean knows, why not arrange a night battle course? After all, Sirens' attacks are not limited to daytime; they can also occur at night. We can't just sortie by day and huddle in the harbor at night," Qin Ge asked the Prince of Wales, puzzled.

The Prince of Wales shook her head: "Qin Ge, you are an exception, so I'm not surprised you'd ask this, but I must tell you—we have no time."

"You once told me that training a true naval commander where you're from takes four years or more, but do you know why here it only takes two years?"

"No time?" Qin Ge said, puzzled.

The Prince of Wales nodded: "Exactly, we have no time. Perhaps the purpose of the Commander Academy is simply to give a brief temporary training, instructing commanders how to fight, turning those who know nothing of war into those who do."

Within these two years, they spend one year learning basic knowledge, and the other year they must begin adapting to the battlefield. That is why in the second year they can take on missions to familiarize themselves with the battlefield environment.

Actually, night battles are easy to understand; although they differ somewhat from daytime combat, the basic combat theory still follows naval warfare principles, the only difference being visibility.

Therefore, such battles can only be mastered through long‑term experience summation. Thus, when considering whether to add night battle education, we collectively agreed to omit this item, later squeezing out more time for commanders to study more comprehensive naval warfare knowledge.

Afterwards we consulted with the Navy Ministry and the Maritime Affairs Bureau, allocating more night‑related missions. Such missions would help them understand night battles and accumulate related knowledge.

The Prince of Wales' words made Qin Ge suddenly realize; he had been viewing these commanders from his own perspective, but he forgot that their education differed from the systematic training he had received.

Before becoming true commanders, these individuals were merely merchants, fishermen, or people from other professions. To make those who never understood war comprehend it, only cramming education and focusing on key points works.

Evidently the Prince of Wales and her colleagues chose to focus on key points, hence the current situation. After all, only by sending new commanders to the front and coastal cities every two years can we offset the attrition of veteran commanders—this is nearly an unsolvable process.

"Still, I'm glad you noticed this; if you're willing, you could write a night battle manual for them based on what you've learned—I believe that would be better than anything," the Prince of Wales told Qin Ge, a smile appearing on her brow.

As Qin Ge was about to agree, he suddenly felt something was off, so he jerked his head up and looked at the Prince of Wales, asking, "So why are you asking me to write a book again?"

At that moment, the shipgirls behind Qin Ge laughed together…