World of Warships New Premium The Tirpitz Battleship, The Efficient German

Hi all and welcome back for another Ship review for World of Warships!

The Incredible Opening Trailer for World of Warships

This week I will be featuring the new German Addition to World of Warships the Tirpitz. There has been a lot of hype leading up to this ships release along side the German tech tree. Now this ship has had little over a week to bed into the game, I though this would be a perfect time to give a little on the ships history development and express my opinions on the ship in game.

The Tirpitz didn't have a very exciting service history but the lengths that the British went to to destroy the Tirpitz from its construction to its sinking were extraordinary and are definitely worth of some mention (or alot as this is my longest post to date).

Shore Shot of the Finished Tirpitz

The Tirpitz began its life as a small cog in the wheel of what was known as 'Plan Z' that was developed by Erich Raeder throughout 1938. After World War 1 and the following restrictions laid down by the 'Treaty of Versailles' made sure that German Naval power was extremely limited as to avoid something simular to WW1 to ever happen again. 'Plan Z' was essentially a naval power development program whose goal was to re-equip the German Navy with enough power to challenge the British Navy.

Within the founding design of Plan Z The Bizmark and the Tirpitz were just the start to this grand design to rebuild the German naval fleet. Proceed these ships were plans to build larger more aggressive battleships that the world have never known before. These were the H Class battleships.  These designs only existed in blueprints but they were set to dwarf all known designs of battleship ever conceived, even the mighty Japanese battleship Yamato. The largest of the H designs was the H44 that would have weighed a estimated 155,000 tonnes, been 400 meters long and house eight gigantic 508mm guns.

The Gigantic H44 Design Battleship

The Tirpitz was laid down in 1936 and launched in 1941. At the time of her launch she was 25% bigger than what the Treaty of Versailles allowed. After wartime modifications she was the heaviest battleship ever built by a European Navy. The ship at the time of her launch was impressively armoured and equip for war. She was fast being able to reach speeds of almost 40mph and was able to fire her projectiles over 20 miles. To the British having already faced off with the Bizmark knew the threat that the Tirpitz posed to a Island nation of Britain. The sinking of HMS Hood stood testament to that. A ship like the Tirpitz having the ability to strike with high speed with big guns,  if left unmolested or allowed to break out into the Atlantic Ocean could reek havoc in the shipping lanes. These lanes were the lifeline that supplied the UK with enough food and materials to not be starved into surrender. Churchill saw the Tirpitz as one the biggest threats to the UK and was determined to disrupt or destroy the Battleship at all costs.

The Tirpitz 

March the 28th 1942 saw one of the boldest operations in the British offensive to disrupt the Tirpitz. The mission was simple, knock out the only dock large enough to repair or service a ship of that size in sailing range of the Atlantic Ocean. By destroying this base it would effectively limit the operation area of which the Tirpitz could be a threat to Britain in. 600 British Commandos moved towards the Harbour against a defending force of over 6000 troops disguised as a German flotilla. This was inevitably going to be a one way trip for many of the troops with the odds so heavily stacked against them and no way of being able to retreat. The flotilla ruse worked in allowing the Commandos entrance to the harbour where they beginning their attack. In the Action the Campbeltown Destroyer I42 rammed the dry dock of the Saint-Nazaire harbour allowing the commando's landing quick landing onto the dock but disabling the ship. After the intense fighting between the Germans and British Commandos the fighting came to an end by either the capturing killing or capturing of British troops. The Campbeltown sat firmly in the in the wall of the dry dock harbour and the German forces boarder to search the ship. After the all clear was given the german troops settled down to celebrate their victory.

The Campbletown Wedged Firmly into the Harbour Wall

The search of the Campbeltown was not thorough enough and missed the large amounts of explosives hidden deep within her hull. Just before noon 4 tonnes of high explosives erupted in a massive mushroom cloud, sowing panic and either killing or wounding over 200 German solders near the ship. The explosion had completely destroyed the dry dock rendering the harbours ability to be able to be a base for the Tirpitz's intended battles in the Atlantic.

Following this set back and a few further unsuccessful brutish air attacks the Tirpitz was ordered to Kaafiord in Norway to put her out of reach from any British Air attack launched from within the UK. The ships new position was ideally situated to strike at convoys travelling between Britain and Russia, something the Russians sorely needed to stay open to aid their fight against the German. The Brits decided to take a new approach at tackling the German menace that had thus far avoided any serious damage from numerous air raids. The decision was made for a more stealthier approach, a under water strike with manned vessels.

Following Britains first failed operation using submersible torpedoes called 'chariots' to attach explosive charges to the Tirpitz hull, a new operation was initiated using Midget subs or X Craft. The Tirpitz by this point was defended a vast array of field guns, machine gun nests and torpedo nets in a bay that gave the defenders a natural fortress.

Torpedo Nets Can Be Seen from Aerial Shots.

When the Operation was in progress and the subs were approaching the mission area only 2 of the 3 X Craft launched made it to strike the Tirpitz.  After the 2 X Craft snook into the bay behind a smaller patrol vessel the crews found themselves behind the Torpedo nets and with the Tirpitz clearly in sight. Explosives were successfully attached to the Tirptiz's hull before the crews allowed themselves be captured. The proceeding detonations caused crippling damage to the ships infrastructure, buckling the hull of the ship. The turbines had been destroyed in the blast and the the rudder was severely damaged. Not only did this mean a lengthy period of repair work following the X Craft attack, it was a huge moral set back for her crew. For a ship that many hoped would be at the forefront of glory and German supremacy she had so far only fired her guns in anger once at shore targets.

A Midget Sub or X Craft Sub

Following this attack Churchill ordered a huge air attack on the Tirpitz on the 3rd of April 1944 with 41 new Barracuda dive bombers with Corsair escort to which little effect was done. Churchill was at wits end. Every attack sent failed to deliver the decisive blow he craved to secure waters around Britain. Churchill turned to Barnes Wallice, the infamous inventor of the bouncing bomb, for a final solution the would end danger imposed by the Tirpitz. Barnes Wallace's response to this challenge was the invention of the impressive but truly terrifying 'Tall Boy' Bomb.

The Tall Boy was 20 ft long and weighed in at about 12,000 lb (5443 Kg). The blast craters left in testing were up to 100 ft wide and 35 ft deep, a purely destructive weapon perfect for destroying any target it would hit. Churchill called on the infamous 617 squadron to carry out this risky precision bombing exercise on the Tirpitz. This squadron had already made a name for itself after successfully carrying out the famous bouncing bomb run that destroyed the dams in Germany's Ruhr Valley.

The Famous Bouncing Bomb

On the first bombing attempt 27 Lancaster Bombers from the 617 had to travel to a remote Russian Air Base to be within striking distance of the Tirpitz in Norway and await clear weather. When the operation was green lit and the 617 squadron was  approach the bay where the Tirpitz was sleeping, the defensive smoke generators were activated in response to the incoming air attack. The smoke released had almost covered the Tirpitz and the bay in smoke making bombing the Tirpitz even more difficult. The Tall boy was extremely expensive so the crews were told only to drop the bomb if they thought it could hit the intended target. Many of the 27 Lancaster bombers didn't drop their payload but from the ones that did one tall boy hit its mark near the bow of the ship. The blast was huge leaving a mangled gaping hole where the bomb had struck. This hit had rendered the ship more or less useless as a sea vessel due to the extensive structural damage sustained and the decision was made to move the ship to a a static location where she could act as floating artillery.

The Tirpitz was moved to Tromso and was placed in shallow waters to act as a floating artillery platform. Special bed on the bay were constructed so that if the ship was to take on water and sink she would just rest on the bottom and still be able to fight. This move to Tromso was a vital mistake put her within striking distance of Lancaster bombers launched from the UK. On near perfect conditions on 12th of November 1944 the 617 squadron set out again. The Luffwafer air base set up near the Tirpitz to defend her in the event of a air attack scrambled in response to the incoming attack but went to the wrong location leaving the Bomber a clear attack run to hit the Tirpitz.

Tall Boys Explode Around the Tirpitz During the Attack

29 Tallboy's were dropped and the ship took 2 direct hits and one near miss. Several of the Tallboys hit close enough to disrupt the sea bed and the sand bank specifically built to cushion the Tirpitz in the even that she was to sink. The first hit struck the deck between turrets Anton and Bruno but failed to explode. The second hit amid ships between the catapult and  funnel ripping open a huge hole and causing massive damage to the ship. The blast had ripped a hole from the side of the ship to the bottom; an entire section of belt armour had been obliterated by the blast.  The third seemed to have struck to the port side of Turret Caesar blasting more holes below the water line. The ferocious bombing cause the ship gradually list to port. As the list increase further and approached 45 degrees and as the ship looked as if she would stabilise, the Turret Caeser detonated blasting the turret roof and parts 25 meters into the air that landed back into the water ontop of a group of men swimming to safety. The damage sustained had exceeded the threshold that the mighty Tirpitz could handle in a final explosive show of fury, the once monstrous beast rolled over capsizing in surrender.

The Hull of the Tirpitz after Her Capsizing

Over 5 years the ship was attacked over 40 times and never got to achieve the glorious nature she was built for. The dogged determination and grit of the British had finally made the ship succumb. The Tirpitz's service to the German nation never more strategic than that of actual battle, tying up available ships that would have otherwise been used else where to defend British interests. Churchill's main concern was worried that she may interfere with the D Day landings due to her location in Norway. In the end, like most of the biggest Battleships of the second world war, the ship succumbed to relentless air attack. 

Wow that was a bit of a mouthful but this ship is definitely worth the time it took to rustle up the history on this ship. It cause a real headache for the British Navy and Air force and even though its service history in the was lacking a heroic battle. The plans to sink her couldn't have been more interesting to read so I Just couldn't miss them out in telling the story of the Tirpitz.

So down to the Business of talking about how this ship performs in World of Warship. What are my initial thoughts on this ship? The Tirpitz can boast that it is the best well rounded ship I have played to date in World of Warships. All being said this ship is on sale for little over £40 and in my opinion that is way too much regardless of how good this ship is.

Since leaving the Closed Beta battleships have just not been that fun for me. Shooting the Guns mostly rely on praying to RNGesus to grace you with his light whilst suffering splicing shot after splicing shot. This is made worse when trying to shoot ships at close range and your shots miss by a fricking mile. This is a problem that will largely now have been fixed in the new patch (wargaming are massively boosting Battleship accuracy for ranges under 3km) but still when you have a very slow reload time and miss all your shots, your pretty much waiting to die by horrible torpedo death. This has made many battleship captains as far back from the fight to counteract the close range 'Armageddon' cause by the nimble destroyer in close quarters. The ensuing passive play style is, in my opinion, on of the main contributing factors why most matches end up in draws in World of Drawships current state.

I have had some serious fun in the Tirpitz and I put this down to the fact this ship reacts more like a heavy cruiser than a battleship whilst still maintain arsenal and armour. Her 15'' guns are relatively quick firing of 2.3 rounds per minute and have a good turret rotation time at  36 seconds for 180 degrees. This highlights the first main strength that its a good close range brawler against other battleships and cruisers. The Amagi has a turret rotation speed with its top hull of 42 seconds per 180 degrees and the North Carolina has a Turret rotation speed of 45 seconds. Having this speed in acquiring your targets allows you to keep your guns pointed at a target at close range against even destroyers and also gives you the ability to switch between targets at range without waiting for your turrets to turn. This allows the Tirpitz to be more flexible and fire more shells down range than any other battleship close to its tier.

World of Warships, the Tirpitz

The Tirpitz does however have 15'' guns over her equal tiered 16'' gunned Japanese and American battleships. This is a obvious disadvantage when it comes to initial alpha damage output from impacting shots, however there are advantages to having a smaller gun size. The Tirpitzs has a vastly superior fire rate and the rounds have less chance of over penetrating lighter armoured cruisers like the Pensacola. This enables harder hitting shots to targets that may be harder to damage effectively. This combined with decent turret rotation makes these ship a joy rather than a fight to get the most out of them

The dispersion of the shots fired on paper doesn't look very good. 280 meters dispersion at maximum range is pretty bad when you consider the Amagi's 128 meter or the North Carolina's 270 meter dispersion. This dispersion is really off set by that its inaccuracy is as maximum range of its guns. The Tirpitz can fire up to 21.4 km, so when your at normal combat ranges of 15km - 10 km you can assume that the dispersion will be roughly half that which is more than good enough to get hits on any salvo being let off.

I predict this is probably what's going to characterise the German Battleships over the other nations ships having smaller sized fast firing guns. German ships in the second world war had smaller sized guns compared to other nations ships so may lead to this being uniform for the ships to be implemented in the near future (until you consider what ships they wanted to build through Plan Z that could make their way into the line up in the German Tech Tree). I think World of Warships will probably end up implementing the German nations ships as being well rounded DPS ships. Its still hard to see what Wargaming has planned for the nations characteristics until we get at least one more nation to see an average of stat's to compare against to really make that kind of assumption.

Stat Comparisons

The Tirpitz in battleship terms has the ability to manoeuvre pretty well. The ships rudder response speed is extremely fast (for a battleship) to help react quickly to incoming fire or torpedoes. At 21 seconds for pretty damn good for a battleship rudder shift time considering when the Amagi has 25.6 second and the North Carolina has 28.6 seconds respectively.  The turning circle radius is a little disappointing however at 850m (or could be very average but we won't know until another nation is added to see where it sits in nation characteristics) but again this is offset more or less by the ships rudder speed enabling you to get a full lock faster than any other battleship of your tier. 

One advantage this ship has many people talking about it are the addition of torpedoes to a Battleship. This is unique to the battleship class its only the Tirptiz that has them thus far. On both sides of the ship she has a single quadruple torpedo launcher. These Torpedoes do lack in size over the Japanese torpedoes but they are fast (64 knots) and have a 6km range. This makes them incredibly hard to dodge at close range and adds a very potent sting to ships that like to hero run on battleships to sink them (if all the torps hit its almost 55k damage potential).

The biggest weakness of the Tirpitz is its AA potential. This is a battleship that really needs to have cruiser escort to survive any large scale air attack by the enemy. This ship did survive over 40 air raids before her eventual demise at the hands of the 617 squadron so I think this has been a little harsh on balanced in my opinion but its something you will have to adapt to when taking this ship out.

The Swept Lines of This Ship Are Gorgeous

As far as my over all view of the Tirpitz, I really like this ship and will be eagerly awaiting the German line of ships and what they will have to offer. If its more of this it looks like I will be liking them a lot more than the other nations ships. The higher dpm off sets the accuracy of the guns by sheer volume of fire in battleship terms and the turret rotation speed is much more enjoyable diverse play than other battleships. The torpedoes give a nice edge in close quarters but only to be used as a last resort other than a main armament. I have fallen for the noval trap having knowledge of Torps in a battleship and motoring ahead to try use them. As fun as it is to destroy other ships it will end up pushing you too far forward to be able to dodge incoming fire and ultimately lead to a premature death. The armour on the Tirptiz is pretty awesome and with some angling you will cause serious problems for ships firing AP as may will jsut bounce harlessly off. Combine angling with your rudder speed when facing incoming fire and you will be a hard nut to crack when you decide to make a stand. Any CV captain with any sense will single you out as a priority target if he has the sense/chance to hit you. The AA its good enough for self defence against a few planes but a determined attack will really cause you headaches if not a quick trip back to you port. The ships ability to adapt because of its versatile nature makes it a real power house. Its a great ship and a good money earner for in game credits. I think the pricing for many people will be a big deal breaker when thinking about getting this ship. I do love this the ship but still think its very over priced for what it is. In hind sight of just buying this ship to review and experiencing it, I could have just bought a new game for what it cost to get this ship, however I don't regret my purchase the Tirpitz as it has to be played to be understood.

One of My Many Average Games but Shows the Ships Money Making Potential of This Ship

Thats all for this week. I hoped this provided some insite before looking at looking to buy this expensive ship. I will catch you back here for a tiger styled update later on in the week. Till then late care and have fun. 

Omaha Class Cruiser, The Phoenix's Younger Brother

Hi all and welcome back for my fortnightly ship review. Following on from last week I am going to be taking a look at the Omaha Class cruiser that supersedes the Phoenix Class cruiser. I'll be giving a run down of its strengths and weaknesses and also a bit on its design and service history so you can better use this ship on the sea of World of Warships.

Following on from last weeks post, the Phoenix was the pre-cursor design that originally went into the plan and development work for the Omaha class cruiser. The Omaha's design and development was as a direct result of the introduction of the British Centaur C Class Cruisers. The American Navy felt that they had nothing that could for fill the role of light scout cruiser like this new British Cruiser and wanted a ship that could push up with other destroyers to give support to them and relay enemy position information to a larger fleet.

The Omaha Class Cruiser

When the Omaha was in its design phase it was specifically made to look like the Clemson class destroyers currently in use by the US. The Omaha was given four smoke stacks in a arrangement like the Clemson and was even painted in the same camouflage scheme to further increase the resemblance.

Clemson class destroyer

The Omaha also shows the movement away from casemate mounted gun design to the fully turreted guns design philosophy after the first world war. The Omaha was launched in the 1920's and has a displacement of 7100 long tons or just shy of 7214 metric tons. Design changes during mid production meant that on the Omaha's launch it was a badly overloaded design. Sacrifices in weight to maintain the ships initial speed specification lead to the ship compromising on crew habitability. The ship was poorly insulated meaning it was too hot in the tropic theatre of operations and too cold in the freezing climates. On top of this the overburdened design frequently lead to the ship taking on water over the bow and through the Torpedo compartments located at the aft of the ship. A serious flaw was the lack of water tight bulkheads anywhere above the main deck or aft on the main deck. The Hull had a nasty habit of leaking due to its light build, this lead to sustained high speed steaming contaminating the oil tanks with sea water. Sea water in the oil Boilers was a big risk as this could cause the boilers to explode if not properly tended.

Originally designed to serve as a scout the Omaha class cruisers served throughout the inter war periods as the lead ship in fleet flotillas (or small ship formations such as destroyers). With the introduction of air scouts and scouting roles being taken over by heavy cruisers (due to the Washington Treaty) the Omaha never really fulfilled its design function. The Omaha cruisers were relegated to fleet screening where its high fire-power output and speed were needed.

Entering into the second world war the Omaha was the oldest serving Cruiser that was still in service in the US Navy and was mostly assigned secondary and patrol roles where the least danger was. Naturally this meant that the ships didn't have a hugely exciting service history. 2 Omaha ships were present in Pearl Harbour, the Detroit and Raleigh Omaha class Cruisers. The Raleigh was torpedoed during the attack at Pearl Harbour but not sunk. The Marblehead and the Richmond Omaha class cruiser had the most interesting history. The Marblehead  in the battle of the Makassar Strait received 2 bomb hits that penetrated the decks and killed 15 crew and 1 near miss that caused a hole underneath the waterline and jammed the rudder. The marblehead survived the attack and was able to get temporary repairs before heading back to the east coast of the US.

The Richmonds engagement in the Battle of Komandorski Islands was one of the more unusual engagements of the second world war. The fleet which the Richmond was in was on its way to intercept a Japanese supply convoy on their way to the Aleutian Islands. The Japanese convoy consisted of more ships than the original intelligence lead them to believe. When the 2 fleets met it was in open ocean and neither fleet had air or submarine support. The ensuing battle was one of the last purely naval gunnery duel in naval history. The battle was inconclusive with both sides receiving heavy damage, the Japanese Admiral rather than capitalising on his number superiority and the heavy damage done to the US attackers retreated leaving the Battlefield fearing a probable air attack from the US in support of their fleet .

The Richmond Omaha class cruiser managed to badly damage the Nachi Heavy Cruiser during this battle knocking out her electrics to the ammo hoists and gun mounts with 2 hits from her 6 inch guns whilst dodging gun fire and torpedoes in return.

In World of warships the Omaha is a good cruiser. Her armament is better than the preceding Phoenix Class Cruiser and with playing through the previous tier you should be well aware of its strengths and weaknesses. Like the Phoenix the armour for a light cruiser sucks but the Omaha has a lot of guns with a decent fire rate mixed with decent speed, making you a very potent threat for other destroyers and cruisers. With a full broadside she can fire 8 guns and each gun can spit 8.6 rounds per minute. Compared with the Phoenix, Kuma and Furutaka she outclasses all her competitors on the amount of guns and DPM she can dish out. At tier 5 the Japanese cruisers get their 205mm guns but bigger is definitely not better in this instance. The rate of fire of the Omaha outclasses the Furutaka's to such a extent you should be able to win one on one fight every time.

Approaching the enemy showing as little a target as possible whilst maintaining the largest amount of guns on target

The Omaha is also very manoeuvrable having the smallest turning circle of any cruiser in a 1 tier spread (in both the american and jap tech trees). Its rudder shift speed is very good also at 7.5 seconds. The Furutaka has a 1.6 second disadvantage at 8.6 seconds whilst the Aoba has a 11 second rudder shift time. This makes the Omaha very responsive which is good for avoiding gun fire and torpedoes. With the light armour of your cruiser this will be your main defence because not taking fire is how you will survive. Due to the bad armour of the Omaha is suffers for a smaller heath pool than the Japanese Furutaka but this isn't really a ship that you should be having a lone wolf mentality in at the start. You should be choosing when to use your health to trade for a kill or strategic point capture

The Turret Rotation Speed from the Pheonix to the Omaha takes a substantial drop from 18  seconds to 24 seconds. The gun arrangement on the ship means that you will always have some guns to fire on enemies that are flanking you but you will notice this the most when you are trying to turn your turreted guns all the way around when dodging in coming fire. This requires better battlefield awareness than the Phoenix to make the most of your gun advantage in the middle of a fight. Being able to respond to threats before they happen will help you dish out the damage and get kills in this ship so pay attention to your mini map as much as possible for your team and enemies positions.

The main problem that you are going to face in the Omaha is that its no where near a match to any of the ships one tier higher than it. The Cleveland has 9 amazingly fast firing turreted guns which have a good range. The Omaha's armour just can't compete with the Cleveland overwhelming fire power. The Aoba houses 6 205mm guns that have a reasonable fire rate and long range. The Aoba's Torpedoes are deadly with a damage potential of 16.2k combined with a 10 km range. The Guns on the Omaha would let you put up a fight but the light armour of the cruiser is again the Omaha's biggest weakness. A few lucky/well aimed shots from a Aoba can ruin your day when captaining a Omaha as the Aoba's shells hurt. Between Tiers 5 and 6 their is no bigger jump in ship performance anywhere else on the tech tree than here in the cruisers line. (This reiterates my point from a previous post that their should be another ship here that replaces the Phoenix/Omaha so this jump is not so harsh in the American cruiser line)

Proof that the Omaha can be good when used effectively

This however does not mean this is a bad ship, in fact this ship is great when you use it well. This ship is a improvement on the Phoenix in almost every way. More guns more AA more health just makes this American better. Remembering your armour is bad and positioning yourself to avoid incoming fire is the key to survival in this ship. Bad positioning against Japanese cruisers higher calibre guns generally ends in citadel hits. Angle your armour to make the best of it or alternatively wolf pack and give them something else to shoot at. The same principles of the Phoenix apply but this time you have more fire power, keep those guns singing whilst supporting other cruisers and destroyers. If your out in front and feel your in a bad position its not a bad thing in this ship to fall back. The Omaha can't take sustained fire so use the ship accordingly Use your fire rate to get consistently good games with high damage output . Remember this is the last US non premium Cruiser that gets torpedoes so use them whilst you've got them as a trump card. 

Berlin, Museum of Technology

Hi all and welcome back,

Over this weekend Wargaming Net has done a server reset for the closed beta of World of Warships so all of my progress thus far has been wiped. This means I'll have to work up the tiers again to do some more ship reviews. I like to have played the review ship for a while to get a feeling for its play style to give a better overall impression of the ships characteristics. This means this week I won't be doing a ship review this week due to the wipe so I have some time to build up my harbour again.  Due to this I will probably be focusing a little more on some lower tiered ships next wee (also because that's all I will have =D ). As with all early access games you have to expect this type of thing to help the developer make the best end product they can.

As I mentioned in a earlier post I have been away to Berlin and paid a visit to the German Museum of Technology, so I thought it would be rude of me not to share with you what I saw there.

One of the most reliable work horses of its time the Douglas Skytrain

The German Museum of Technology, located in Kreuzberg, Berlin, houses a vast array of different advances from some of the first computers, radios, televisions, printing practices and many more technological items. The main reason I visited the technology museum was to see the collection of war planes that they had in their upper floors.

This didn't mean that the museum didn't have some other things to find in it I thought would be worth showing. Whilst going through the Maritime section I found to my surprise a small sub and a early torpedo. They were both in pretty bad shape as you can see in from the photos but its crazy to think that sailors fought in such tight spaces.

Small Sub and Torpedo

Mig-15bis

North American Fiat F-86K

V1 Buzz Bomb

One of the main attractions of the air sections are some of the German Luftwaffe's most prestigious aircraft the Bf 109, the  BF 110 and the first generation Jet (or more rocket plane) fighter the He 162.

He 162

Bf 109

Me 110

There was also a very wrecked JU 87

Totalled Ju 87 with many a bullet/cannon hole

It was definitely a well deserved break for both me and my girlfriend. Berlin was a amazing city of culture art and history where the population was hugely warm and welcoming. I would highly recommend visiting the East Side Gallery, The Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag building. The Jewish Holocaust memorial is a spell binding undulating mass of stone columns that seem to envelop you the more you explore their towering masses. It is something all people that are passing through Berlin should visit and pay their respects to the millions of lives lost to the Nazi Genocide. 

I hope to see you all back here for my late week post on my tiger as I am busy building the Stowage Box for the back of the turret. 

World Of Warships Hatsuharu Destroyer, The Doom Bringer

Welcome back.

By the time you are getting this it will be Wednesday and I will be enjoying a well deserved break in Berlin, Germany with my wonderful girlfriend. As there will only be one post this week due to my holiday so I hope you make the most of it & enjoy it!

This week I will be looking at a one of my most loved ships in my harbour, the Hatsuharu Tier 7 Japanese Destroyer. This is the first Destroyer in the Japanese line to get the Type 93 Long Lance Torpedoes. This 610mm Type 93 is a massive step up from the from the previous tiers 5-6 in damage. These Torpedoes are fast, have a long range and a hard punch with a base alpha damage of over 17 k.

The Hatsuharu Class Destroyer

The Hatsuharu class destroyer was built at the beginning of the 1930's. At this time the Imperial Navy's ship developments were limited by the London Navy Treaty.The design limitations imposed by the treaty meant that the Hatsuharu was smaller than previous Fubuki and Akatsuki class Destroyers that had come before her previously. It also limited designs for the Hatsuharu to a displacement of 1500 tons. The designers had to stretch the contemporary destroyer design to its limit whilst still trying to arm the new destroyer design with almost equally powerful armaments of its earlier classes. This causes severe stability problems due to the ships smaller hull and displacement. The resulting top heavy designs created worrying structural weaknesses, not just the Hatsuharu but many of the ships of this treaty's era. These structural design flaws were fatally highlighted when the torpedo boat Tomozuru capsized in 1934 and a typhoon ripped the bows of two Fubuki class destroyers in 1935. As a result of these 'incidences', all the Hatsuharu class vessels went through a major rebuild or were extensively modified to remedy their stability problems.

So Pretty Yet so Dangerous

Suffering stability problems for weaponry caused a lot of issues but Hatsuharu but it was able to hold its own in a fight. It used the same calibre 50 type 3 naval guns (12.7cm) as its Fubuki class predecessor however its guns could serve as dual purpose anti air as well anti ship with having a 75 degree elevation. An additional two 40mm AA guns also served as closer range air deterrence if the need presented itself. The 2 Triple 61cm torpedo launchers could do a full 360 degree turn in around twenty five seconds thanks to its electro hydraulic system and each emptied launcher tube could be quickly reloaded with the use of a mechanical wired system (Kiryoku sōtenshiki jihatsu sōten sochi) in around 23 seconds (I wish it was like this in world of warships).

During the second world war The Hatsuharu class destroyers saw action in the Battle of Midway, battle of Kolombangara and even escorted the mighty Yamato on her final Operation tengo. In the Battle of Kolmbangara the 'Yugure' Hatsuharu class destroyer assisted in the sinking off USS Gwin and the damaging of HMNZS Achilles, USS Honolulu and USS St. Louis. All the Hatsuharu class destroyers in service were eventually sunk in different conflicts throughout the second world war either by air bombings, submarine torpedoes or by mines.

In World of Warship this destroyer really enters the Japanese Destroyers into the arena of versatile long range strikes. The speed of the torpedoes mixed with its range their 10 km range has surprised many a ship I had been stalking whilst captaining this ship. The Hatsuharu gains a larger surface detectability range of 6.7km but still maintains a comfortable 3 km safe area in which to launch surprise attacks from without ever being spotted.

Like most Japanese destroyers the guns are pretty unremarkable being of smaller number and a with slower rotation speed than their American counterparts. At Tier 7 The American Mahan is a pretty poor destroyer in comparison to the Hatuharu. Its guns have a longer range and quicker rotation speed but has exceptionally poor ranged torpedoes (the worst in the game at 4.5km un-upgraded and 6.4 km upgraded). A Mahan has a surface detectability of almost 8 km so has to sail well within secondary range of most battleships to be effective. Unsurprisingly the Mahan has been given more health than the Harauhatsu to take a little extra punishment but its still a destroyer and won't last long under sustained punishment. Battleship weaponry seems to get a lot more accurate when firing at targets between 12 and 6 km so puts the Mahan at a distinct disadvantage when engaging larger ships.

The guns are not as painful to use as previous tiers of Japanese destroyers having around half the turret rotation speed of the Minekazi & Mitsuki (45 seconds on these ship where the Hatsuharu has a 25 secs for 180 degrees). This welcome change lends towards more versatile play for Japanese destroyers where guns actually might be a viable option in some most scenarios. As the Hatsuharu has similar sized guns to the Mahan  the American has to rely on its main advantage of faster firing guns to get it out of trouble. Being able to spot and outrun the Mahan whilst maintaining stealth gives the Hatsuharu the advantage as a destroyer to react and avoid a close up brawls. Forcing American destroyers to take up chase limits their fire which takes their gun advantage away from them.  Maintain a decent distance using your higher speed, whilst drive them back by your firing guns (which will be novel for most Japanese destroyer player) and torpedoes. This is normally enough to deter even the most dogged of attackers after setting them on fire a few times and causing them to take evasive manoeuvres dodging incoming torpedoes.

The Mahan Tier 7 American Destroyer

I like the Hatuharu. I have to admit when sailing the T6 Mitsuki I found it hard to adjust my playstyle for that ship. The Minekaze was a great little destroyer and I felt the Mitsuki was a bit of a let down. This made me think about what impact the future changes in the heavier higher levelled destroyers would effect my play. I am happy to say that the Hatsuharu is much more fun to captain than the Mitsuki and I have begun to see high amounts of damage rack up in most of my games. I find its balance of power, speed and stealth really aids my approach to the battlefield which works well as a fast paced doom bringing machine. I would definitely recommend this ship for anyone that loves that hard hitting potential only destroyers can give.

Hatsuharu Doom Attack

I hope this review has helped you make a decision on whether you would like to take up Japanese destroyers and would love to hear your feed back. Till Next time.