Supertest: British Tier V Cruiser Exeter
4 min readAfter a very long time during which people kept asking for British heavy cruisers, we are finally getting the very first one of them in the form of a premium ship. Ladies and Gentlemen, here is the Exeter.
The Exeter was the second ship of the York-class of heavy cruisers of the Royal Navy built during the late 1920s. The class was the second and final class of British heavy cruisers ever built and where designed following the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty. Initially, 7 ships were planned but only 2 ended up being constructed, the York and the Exeter, both launched in 1928.
While both ships served extensively during World War II, the Exeter has her own little prestige. She was one of the ships engaged in the Battle of the River Plate in 1939 opposing the British and Commonwealth forces to the Kriegsmarine’s Panzerschiff Admiral Graf Spee.
Despite a 3 against 1 situation, the Admiral Graf Spee will still be able to severely damage the Exeter as well as the 2 light cruisers Ajax and Achilles in lesser extends. In the end, due to critical damage to the ship’s fuel system, Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled in the port of Montevideo. As for the Exeter, despite being badly damaged, she survived and was later repaired and received multiple upgrades.
Later on, she served in the Pacific Theater with convoy escorts until she was assigned to the defence of the Dutch East Indies with the rest of the allies. She would meet her end at the beginning of the Second Battle of the Java Sea, sunk by the Japanese Destroyer Inazuma after receiving a hit that damaged her boilers blocking her from escaping. The Japanese forces rescued in total 652 men of her crew including the captain but 152 would later die in captivity.
3D Preview
Hull | Engine | Gun Fire Control System | Main battery | Torpedoes |
![]() Exeter | ![]() ?Propulsion: 80,000 hp | ![]() Mk V mod. 1 | ![]() ???203 mm/50 BL | ![]() ?533 mm Mk IX* |
Tier | V |
Health | 29 400 HP |
Plating | |
Superstructure | 10 mm |
Bow and stern | 13 mm |
Side armor and deck | 19 mm |
Main belt | 76 mm |
Main Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 14.27 km |
203 mm/50 BL Mk VIII | ?3×2 203?mm |
Secondary Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 4.00 km |
102 mm/45 QF Mk XIX | 4 x 2 102 mm |
Torpedo Tubes | |
Maximum Firing Range | 8.00 km |
533 mm TR Mk IV | ?2 x 3 533 mm |
Anti Air Defense | |
102 mm/45 QF Mk XIX | 4?x?2 102?mm |
40 mm Vickers 2-pdr. Mk VIII | 2?x?8 40?mm |
12.7 mm Mk III | ?2?x?4 12.7?mm |
Maximum speed | 32 kt |
Turning Circle Radius | 650 m |
Rudder Shift Time | 8.4 s |
Surface Detectability | 11.0 km |
Air Detectability | 7.10 km |
Detectability After Firing Main Gus in Smoke | 6.10 km |
3×2 203 mm/50 BL Mk VIII | |
180 Degree Turn Time | 22.5 s |
Optimal front firing angle | 37° |
Optimal rear firing angle | 40° |
Reloading Rime | 12.0 s |
Sigma | 2.00 ? |
Horizontal Dispersion | 50 m |
Vertical Dispersion | 110 m |
Maximum Dispersion | 131 m |
Shells | |
Type of Projectile | HE |
Alpha Damage | 2 850 HP |
Damage | 1 230 HP |
Alpha Piercing HE | 34 mm |
Explosion Size | 0.86 |
Chance to Cause Fire | 15 % |
Projectile Speed | 855 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.346 |
Projectile Mass | 116.1 |
Projectile Krupp | 630 |
Type of Projectile | AP |
Alpha Damage | 4 450 HP |
Chance to Cause Fire | -0.5 % |
Projectile Speed | 855 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.346 |
Projectile Mass | 116.1 |
Projectile Krupp | 2 400 |
Projectile detonator | 0.033 |
4 x 2 102 mm/45 QF Mk XIX | |
Reloading Time | 3.00 s |
Sigma | 1.00 ? |
Horizontal Dispersion | 50 m |
Vertical Dispersion | 110 m |
Shells | |
Type of Projectile | HE |
Alpha Damage | 1 500 HP |
Damage | 310 HP |
Alpha Piercing HE | 17 mm |
Explosion Size | 0.3 |
Chance to Cause Fire | 6 % |
Projectile Speed | 811 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.33 |
Projectile Mass | 15.88 |
Projectile Krupp | 3 |
2 x 3 533 mm Triple 1-N | |
Optimal front firing angle | 30° |
Optimal rear firing angle | 30° |
Reloading Time | 72 s |
Maximum Distance | 8.0 km |
Alpha Damage | 44 300 |
Damage | 15 867 |
Alpha Piercing HE | 1 000 |
Speed | 61 kt |
Surface Detectability | 1.3 km |
4 x 2 102 mm/45 QF Mk XIX | |
Anti-air Aura | 0.33 |
Maximum Range | 5.00?km |
Reloading Time | 5.0 s |
2 x 8 40 mm Vickers 2-pdr. Mk VIII | |
Anti-air Aura | 0.40 |
Maximum Range | 2.50?km |
Reloading Time | 0.5 s |
2 x 4 12.7 mm Mk III | |
Anti-air Aura | 0.04 |
Maximum Range | 1.20?km |
Reloading Time | 0.1 s |
Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | Slot 4 |
Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 90 s | Charges: 2 Work time: 100 s Cooldown: 180 s Torpedo detection: 3 km Ship detection: 4 km | Charges: 2 Work time: 15 s Cooldown: 240 s Radius: 600 m Life time: 96 s | |
Charges: 3 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s Regeneration: 0.5% HP/s | Charges: 3 Work time: 100 s Cooldown: 120 s Torpedo detection: 3 km Ship detection: 4 km | Charges: 3 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 160 s Radius: 600 m Life time: 96 s | |
Charges: 2 Work time: 30 s Cooldown: 100 s Radius: 3 km | |||
Charges: 3 Work time: 30 s Cooldown: 90 s Radius: 3 km |
As a side note to end this article, Exeter’s armour scheme is interesting in the way that her citadel is only located in the middle section of the ship. There is no citadel below the turrets right now.
Hmmm… United Kingdom didn’t make many heavy cruisers, but they made a metric sh+tton of battlecruisers of various cl***es. I wonder if we would get the heavy cruiser/battlecruiser line in the future.
Nice; can we then have Ajax or Achilles as a tier 6 premium sometime?
finally a RN CA
Seeing as there’s already 2 Leanders in the game, probably not.