HMS Warspite, that gruff old lady you can't quite get rid of.

This week I'll be looking at the new premium ship the HMS Warspite of the Royal Navy. This ship has a long history of combat seeing more combat honors of any other ship ever in the Royal Navy, participating in as many as 15 separate combat scenarios (7 of which were major engagements in the World Wars). The HMS Warspite was commissioned in 1912 as a part of the Queen Elizabeth class Super Dreadnoughts in response to the rumored development of German battleships sporting 14 inch guns.

At the time of her designing Germany and the United Kingdom were having a naval race which increase tensions between the two nations in the lead up to World War 1. On the date of her official intoduction into Royal Navy the HSM Warspite was arguably one of the most powerful ship to exist to date. 

HSM Warspite resilience was legendary being able to take punishment in large quantities. This was proved in the Battle of Jutland (1916) and in Crete (1941) where Warspite took huge amounts of damage and was able to return in a repairable state. Her reputation of the Warspite earned her the nickname 'Grand Old Lady' from her crew and with her 15 inch guns and feared reputation on the seas. HMS Warspite holds the one of the longest known hits in a gunnery duel from a moving ship to a moving target, smacking the Italian ship Giulio Cesar at a range of 24km in the battle of Calabria in 1940.

After 2 refits in her service in the Royal Navy she was a considerable force on the open seas with 14 inch belt armor and bristling with guns and improved engines modernising her for current state of sea faring battles. In World of Warships introduction of the 'Grand Old Lady' I hoped that Wargaming had done a good job in introducing their first British Royal Navy Ship into the game.

The entrance of the HMS Warspite has caused quite a bit of talk on the forums in World of Warships when first people looked at the stats, this prominently comes down to the gun armament rotation speed and range of the 15 inch guns. 

Another Mighty Jingles Video on the Grand Old Lady

All is not lost however as for a battleship the Warspite has a 14km visual spotting distance which is very good for a Battleship, that's pretty much cruiser styles spotting distances. The turning circle is incredible enabling you to be aggressive with your evasive maneuvers. This agile movements and the combination of the thick hide makes the Warspite fun to captain whilst being able to output the damage with you big ass guns. I find that I can consistently do decent damage with this ship having good shot dispersion in comparison to the Imperial Japanese fleets Battleships and large caliber of gun for its teir.

I mentioned that the turret range and rotation speed were pretty terrible and to be fair for battleship... it is pretty terrible. 50-60 seconds to rotate the turrets 180 degrees is down heatedly bad to say the least and combined with its shell range of just over 16km I can see why when people are looking at the stats of the Fuso and the Warspite are just shoving their noses up and raging.  

I feel that people are really overlooking the advantages of this British  Legend of a battleship. This ship was designed to take a beating and dish a proverbial crap ton back and you will have to come to terms with taking damage whilst being clever in your engagements. Getting into gun range to deal damage in the initial stages of the game is important but there is no use powering into the fleet of enemy ships and getting focused down. This Battleship is really meant for the experienced player who can read the flow of the battle and use the accuracy of the big guns to deal consistent high damage to your foes. Once within range of other battleship they are committed to engage you due to Warspite matching most of the equivalent Battleships speeds.

Citadel Hits don't really happen that often with the Warspite. The citadel seems to be sunk bellow the waterline and the kind of engagements you are likely to have will be at a range where the shell trajectory will be too shallow to penetrate to lower vital areas that will cause massive damage. The massive torpedo bulges ensure a massive reduction of damage when torpedoes find their mark. The secondary armament of this ship is deadly to light ships unwary of the massive bulk of this ship powering up to them and can surprise many with their damage output.

In summary for this ship I feel there is a certain amount of experience needed to really benefit from this ship. Looking past its short comings and looking at its advantages really helps you to focus on how to play this ship more effectively. Using this ship you will really notice the turning speed and how you can use it evasively and also to make up for the really bad turret traverse. You can respond to threats effectively with this maneuverability and if not know that your thick 330 mm armor  can weather the storm. It's taken me some time to get used to and love the Warspite even if I was initially disappointed. I do fear this ship will suffer the same fate as the Lowe tank in World of Tanks where people playing for a few hours buy this ship and really suck at it because its geared towards the experienced/intelligent player.