Overview
With HMS Hood being included in World of Warships for ages, it is plausible that, at some point, we may see a full British Battlecruiser line.In this “guide”, I will offer my opinion as to what potential candidates there are for each tier, how the ship compares to its competitors, and what I think the overall “flavour” for the line will be
Disclaimers and whatnot
For the record – I am not affiliated with Wargaming in any way. I do not have access to classified information, nor have I been spying on secret meetings or similar.
This is merely a prediction. It may be right, it may be wrong, or Wargaming may never add in a German Battlecruiser line.
As for my hours on Steam (or lack thereof), I have the non-Steam version of the game already, and I see no reason to get it working with Steam when what I currently have works just fine. Regardless, I don’t play too much of anything nowadays. Being a responsible adult is hard.
A brief history of British Battlecruisers
During the mid 1900’s, Germany and Britain entered a naval arms race, building larger and more powerful ships than the other. Whilst much of these efforts were spent on the new Dreadnought Battleships, Battlecruisers also came to play in this at approximately the same time.
The brainchild of Admiral Jackie Fisher, the Battlecruiser was to become a new type of capital ship. The Admiral was fond of the “second-class battleship” – which was a faster type of pre-dreadnought battleship that sacrificed armour for speed. And gain speed they did – the first class (Invincible Class) hit a very respectable 25 knots, and could maintain this speed for days on end. They effectively replaced the Armoured Cruiser.
Invincible made all other nations’ armoured cruisers look like toy boats. She carried a uniform battery of 8 12-inch guns – the same caliber as that on Dreadnought – and whilst she had 1 fewer turret, she had an equivalent broadside to her, as readnought featured 2 wing turrets.
In the early part of WWI, the British Battlecruisers – which tended to have a strong armament but mediocre armour – performed superbly. In the battles of Heligoland Bight, the Battle of the Falkland Islands, and the battle of Dogger Bank, where they had chased and sunk the most advanced armoured cruiser – SMS Blücher.
However, the battle of Jutland was to prove disasterous for the British Battlecruisers, with the loss of 3 Battlecruisers. Whilst this was somewhat due to poor ammunition stowage, this was also due to the weak armour in comparison to the German equivalents.
But, the British BC’s weren’t designed to fight in the line of battle like the German BC’s had. They were designed to “outgun anything they can’t outrun, and outrun anything they can’t outgun.” And this is exactly how these ships should be played – at least for the low tiers.
Speaking of which…
Tier 3
As Britain’s first Battlecruiser, the Invincible Class is a logical choice for the Tier 3 spot. However, there is an issue.
Enter, player 2:
As with Dreadnought and Bellerophon at Tier 3, Invincible and Indefatigable are very, very similar. Both feature an 8-gun arrangement with 2 turrets en echelon (the amidships ones). With Indefatigable, the cross-deck firing angles are slightly better, but still not great.
Both ships carry the same secondary armament – 16 4-inch guns – and both have a maximum of just 6 inches of belt armour. In addition, both were designed to hit 25 knots, but all 6 members of the ships’ respective classes (3 of each) reached at least 26 knots, with Invincible reaching 26.48kts and Indefatigable 26.89kts. Indefatigable is also larger at nearly 180 metres in length to Invincible’s 173, and displaced 18,500 tonnes to Invincible’s 17,250 tonnes.
Overall, I expect both ships to appear, with Invincible being a premium ship akin to Dreadnought, with the improved Indefatigable taking the Tier 3 spot. But – at tier 3, you’re maybe going to spend a few hours grinding through the ship. Just expect even more British 12-inch shells to be fired at your ship and you’ll be set.
Tier 4
Again, we have 2 potential candidates, though both ships are almost identical again
As with the Orion Class at Tier 4, the same-tier Battlecruisers switch over to 13.5-inch main armament – in this case, 8 guns in 4 twin turrets, alongside 16 4-inch guns. And, as you can see from below, they are all on the centreline. Bliss.
The differences between the two ships are minimal. Both displace over 26,000 tonnes – a lot for Tier 4. But then again, they are large ships at 213.4 and 214.4 metres in length. And thankfully, belt armour has increased to a more manageable 229mm (9 inches).
But in this instance, the larger Queen Mary is actually slightly slower at only 28 knots – her design speed. Whilst the lead ship, Lion, also made this top speed, Princess Royal made 28.5 knots.
As for which should be included, I would again argue for one to be a premium, and one a mainline tech-tree ship. As for which, it doesn’t really matter.
Tier 5
As with her in-game Dreadnought contemporary, Tiger retains the same armament – 8 13.5-inch guns – as the Tier 4 ship, whichever is added. However, she has some minor improvements.
The first is her top speed. She was designed to reach 28 knots, but exceeded this by “over a knot” (at least according to Wikipedia). And, whilst her secondary armament dropped to just 12 4-inch guns, the armour around that area of the ship was increased, although the maximum thickness of 229mm remained. And although she wasn’t much bigger than her predecessors, her displacement increased to 28,500 tonnes.
But the main advantage is the firing arcs. As can be clearly seen in the picture included, Tiger’s 3rd turret is superfiring. This gives her better gun arcs – very useful when kiting, as she can fire directly aft with half her firepower. Such an improvement, I think, warrants the increase from tiers 4 to 5. And regardless, there isn’t another option.
Tier 6
A pair of large battlecruisers, the Renown Class was origically designed as an improved version of the Revenge class of Battleships. They originally mounted 3 twin-gun turrets mounting the same 15-inch guns seen in-game on ships like the Warspite and Queen Elizabeth, alongside 17 4-inch guns in 5 triple and 2 single mounts. They hit a very respectable 32 knots, making them the fastest capital ships at the time, and displaced 27,200 tonnes.
However, there are two glaring issues with this version. The first is the length – 242 metres. This is longer than most battleships in the game, and is longer than all British Battleships aside from the Tier 10 Conqueror. This will make her detectability likely quite bad, but this can’t be helped.
The second is the belt armour. It’s 152mm. It’s crap. So crap, that even the British realised they should probably increase this to 9 inches. And a catapult fighter was added. All in all, this increased displacement to 34,600 tonnes, but dropped the speed to 31 knots. This is still definitely fast enough for tier 6.
Tier 7
Here we run into the minor issue that we already have one. HMS Hood.
Thankfully, the planned Admiral Class wasn’t quite identical to how Hood was. The class was supposed to feature above-water torpedoes which are absent on Hood. In exchange, their AA firepower will probably be worse to compensate.
Since the Hood is already in-game, you probably know what to expect. 8 15-inch guns, fast at 32kts, very long, respectable 12-inch belt armour.
It’s at this point where the British start to realise that having a well-protected ship is a good idea, since the Admiral Class was designed after the disastrous Battle of Jutland.
Tier 8
Since Hood was the last British Battlecruiser, we have to move into the realm of fantasy now.
The J3’s also featured 15-inch guns, but in 3 triple turrets (2 fore, 1 aft). They also increased the secondary armament caliber to 6 inches, the belt armour to 330mm, and the top speed to 33 knots. Somehow, despite being the same size as the Admiral Class, these ships were estimated to be around 2000-3000 tonnes lighter – likely due to the triple turret arrangement. This would potentially mean a loss in HP, but since Hood has a very healthy HP pool it shouldn’t be that much of a loss.
Tier 9
The G3, like its contemporary Tier 9 Battleship Izumo, has a very unconventional layout in order to save space. It features 2 turrets fore of the bridge, and 1 amidships, with 16 6-inch guns clustered around the ship. It did, however, mean a lot of improvements can be made to the design.
The first is the gun caliber. Unlike Lion, which historically was only designed to carry 15-inch guns, G3 carried 16-inch guns. In addition, her belt was strengthened to 356mm. Despite this, the ship was actually shorter at 260.9 metres, and despite weighing an estimated 48,400 tonnes, she could still make 32 knots.
Tier 10
One of the largest Battlecruisers ever designed by anyone who wasn’t insane (more on that later), K2 and K3 were the Battlecruiser equivalents of L2 and L3 – the former is in-game as HMS Conqueror. Like these historical plans, the ships both featured 18-inch main guns (4 twin turrets in K2, 3 triple turrets in K3) alongside 16 6-inch secondaries.
Both would feature a decreased belt to 305mm, and cruise at 30 knots, and be 269.7 metres in length. K2 would be the heavier at 53,100 tonnes, with K3 at 52,000 tonnes despite the extra gun carried. This is due to only having 3 turrets rather than K2’s 4.
Plans were drawn up in 1921 – nearly 20 years before Yamato, which is strikingly similar to K3. But, for a navy that had only just introduced ships armed with 12, 13.5 and 15-inch guns, 18 inches was probably overkill, and a bit silly.
Speaking of silly designs, we have a third contestant:
Essentially a wet dream of the aforementioned Admiral Fisher, Incomparable really was just that – incomparable. She only displaced 46,000 tonnes – which is light for Tier 10, but considering plans were drawn up in 1915 that was a very silly number. It was nearly double that of the Revenge-Class Battleship of the same time period – which is just mad.
As was the gun caliber – 20 inches. Yes, really. 508mm in caliber. So at long last, Yamato and Musashi would no longer be the only ships capable of overmatching 32mm bow armour. In fact, Incomparable goes even further and can overmatch 35mm of armour, though I doubt this would make a difference.
Since I am pretty sure the next armour thickness after 32mm is 38mm for some deck armour, being able to overmatch 35mm does not make her overpowered. In addition, her broadside is a mere 6 shells from 3 twin turrets, which is pretty weak for tier 10 I’d say. But she would probably have a fear factor associated with fighting her, as Yamato does. No matter how you angle, you’re about to take a punishing.
Her dimensions are also ludicrous. She was 1,000 feet in length – or 304.8 metres. For the time, she was given a reasonable belt armour of 279mm, which is exceptional given her top speed of – wait for it – 35 knots.
Overall, these ships would be hilarious I think. Huge, derpy guns on a fast but inadequately-armoured hull would probably make for some hilarious gameplay moment – especially as this ship is – provided you don’t get spotted – fast enough to flank the enemy team. I just hate to see how large the turning circle of this behemoth would be.
I genuinely think both K2/K3 and Incomparable should be included, with K2/K3 being the mainline ship, and the silly Incomparable as a reward ship.
My gods I can’t wait to see platoons of Incomparables racing around the map.
Predicted Playstyle
As mentioned previously, these capital ships tend to have thin belt armour compared to same-tier Battleships (and German Battlecruisers like the Mackensen-Class Prinz Eitel Friedrich). They will play closer to existing Battlecruisers.
I expect them to play in between the playstyles of a cruiser and a battleship. Especially at low tiers, showing broadside in these ships is an invitation for a paddling of epic proportions. Thankfully, they should be quick enough to steam away from danger, and can turn to disengage easier than the likes of, say, HMS Iron Duck – I mean Duke.
These won’t be as easy as British Battleships to play – but should still be rewarding in the right hands.
Now, of course, we come to the controversial reason why British BB’s are favoured by a certain breed of players – the ammunition. I cannot predict here what the outcome will be. Maybe Wargaming will think twice before adding a duplicate of the British Battleship “flavour” of “Load HE and camp at the back of the map”. I can assure you, after playing my way through the tiers, this is not the best way to play these ships.
I would hope they’re more similar to the likes of HMS Hood and Warspite, with powerful AP shells instead of the ridiculous HE shells. But, if Wargaming disagrees, there may be a second line of HE-slinging capital ships soon. You have been warned.
Anyway, thanks for being bothered to read this far. It’s taken me far too long to get this second “guide” completed.
Good luck and fair seas, Captain!