Thunder Over the Sea

One late autumn, bitter winds swept across the East China Sea. Low, leaden clouds hung overhead, and waves pounded the hull with a dull roar. The Chinese Alliance Navy's comprehensive supply ship Zhiyuan cut through the waves, steadily following its planned course. Its main mission was to resupply the Type 055 destroyers deployed ahead. Along the way, it would also deliver equipment and fresh water for deep-sea research to the research vessel Explorer.

The Feiling Kingdom's Mogami-class destroyer Kumano used the East China Sea's difficult conditions and the cover of the islands to conceal itself, maintaining radio silence as it quietly approached to within 120 kilometers. As a mainstay of the Feiling Kingdom Maritime Self-Defense Force, the ship was equipped with a 16-cell vertical launch system and Type 17 anti-ship missiles, and could launch up to eight anti-ship missiles at once. Its Type 17 missiles had now been loaded, and satellite relay guidance had locked onto both the supply ship and the research vessel.