Supertest: British Tier VIII Premium Cruiser Tiger ’59

HMS Tiger was the lead ship of the Tiger-class cruisers, last all-gun cruisers ever built for the Royal Navy.

Initially, the ship was laid down as part of the Swiftsure-class of light cruisers in 1941. However, due to low priority, the work on the ship was never completed. In 1945, Tiger was launched, partially constructed… only to have, again, work on her being suspended in 1946. It’s in 1948 that a massive redesign would occur, resulting from works on the never-built Neptune-class and Minotaur-class. This new design would incorporate the twin auto-loading 152 mm gun turrets of the Minotaur-class but, instead of having five of them, it would only be two with one at the front and one at the rear. The main battery would be completed with three twin 76.2 mm gun turrets as a secondary battery.

In total, 3 ships were built: Tiger, commissioned in March 1959; Lion, commissioned in July 1960 and Blake, commissioned in Marck 1961.

When it comes to Tiger, her career as an all-gun cruiser wouldn’t last long. In 1966, she was placed in reserve and she was rebuilt from 1968 to 1972 into a helicopter and command cruiser. In that new configuration, her rear 152 mm turret was removed as well as two of her 76.2 mm mounts. She would receive two Seacat missile launchers as well as a flight deck and hangar to operate four helicopters. When recommissioned, she proved to be a very effective command ship and was used as flagship in task groups. However, she was also very expensive to operate and maintain. She was later decommissioned in 1979

When the Falkland broke out in 1982, Tiger was still in very good condition and work started to get her ready for action. However, after a while, the refits were stopped for multiple reasons (lack of qualified crew, risk of a scenario similar to the lose of the Argentinian cruiser General Belgrano, etc.). In the end, the ship was scrapped in 1986. One of her 3inch gun is on display outside TS Tiger Leicester Sea Cadets, Leicester. The gun may have been taken out of HMS Tiger during her 1950s refit.

If you want to know more about HMS Tiger, here is a video from Drachinifel covering it:

In World of Warships, we are getting Tiger as she was when completed. Her design is similar to the one of the British tech-tree light cruisers but she gets both a Smoke Generator and Surveillance Radar.

For those interested, here is a size comparison between Tiger, Edinburgh and Minotaur:

For the classic reminder, this is a ship in testing, anything can change so don’t look at her like she would already be released.

Modules

Hull	Engine	Gun Fire Control System	Main battery
Tiger ’59	Propulsion: 80 000 hp	Mk VIII mod.1	152 mm/50 Mk XXVI

General Characteristics

Main Battery

2 x 2 152 mm/50 Mk XXVI
Maximum Firing Range	15.600 km
Reloading Time	3.2 s
180 Degree Turn Time	4.7 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	25°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	35°
Sigma	2.00 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	141 m
Shell
Type of Projectile	AP – 152 mm AP Mk V
Alpha Damage	3 200 HP
Projectile Speed	768 m/s
Air drag	0.347
Projectile Mass	58.85 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 672
Projectile Detonator	0.005 s
Detonator Threshold	12 mm
Ricochet Angles	60° – 75°

Anti-air Armament

Consumables

Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3	Slot 3	Slot 3
Damage Control Party Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 60 s	Specialized Repair Team Number of charges: 3 Work time: 20 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration: 2%/s	Smoke Generator Number of charges: 3 Work time: 15 s Cooldown: 160 s Smoke radius: 600 m Smoke duration: 106 s	Surveillance Radar Number of charges: 3 Work time: 30 s Cooldown: 120 s Ship spotting range: 10.0 km	Defensive AA Fire Number of charges: 3 Work time: 40 s Cooldown: 80 s Continuous Damage: +50% Damage from shell explosions: +300%

The Armor

External armor protection

Surprisingly, compared to the other British light cruisers, the Tiger has 25 mm bow, stern and sides as well as a 27 mm deck.

Front and rear protections of the middle section

Citadel protection

One thing to keep in mind here is that the citadel is halfway above the waterline.

Turret protection

Personal Opinion

Right now, I’m not really sure of what to think about Tiger. While she has the same turrets and guns as Minotaur as well as good firing angles, having only 4 guns on a cruiser dispersion will definitely be an issue. However, the combination of radar, smoke, superheal and great concealment will make her very useful in a support role. Also, I’m really impressed by her turning radius. As a comparison, Fletcher has a 560 m turning radius.

Easter-egg

At the rear of Tiger’s superstructure, there is a plate bearing the names and date of all battles in which a ship named HMS Tiger participated.

Yuzorah

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