Supertest: French Tier V Destroyer Jaguar
5 min readHere we go with the tier V of the French destroyers line, the Jaguar. (I don’t think that I need to tell you how to pronounce it.)
The Jaguar is part of the Chacal-class of French destroyers built during the 1920s. The ships were designed to counter the large Italian destroyers of the Leone-class.
The Jaguar served as the leader of various destroyer units. At the start of World War 2, she was assigned to convoy escort in the Atlantic until she was badly damaged after a collision in January 1940. After her repairs, she took part in the Battle of France in May 1940. Unfortunately, she was torpedoed by German E-boats on 23 May and was forced to beach herself. The ship was declared unrepairable and was abandoned.
First of all, the French are artillery destroyers with Engine Boost, giving + 20% to the speed and Main Battery Reload consumable, accelerating the reload of the main caliber guns by 50%. When fighting in them, it is necessary to properly use the advantage in speed and the ability over a short period of time to significantly increase firepower. They have good armor-piercing shells, which at high tiers can cause damage directly to the citadel of light cruisers from a distance of 8–10 km and heavy cruisers from a distance of 6–7 km. An inconsiderate cruiser, presenting broadside, can become an easy target!
A nice addition will be torpedoes with an average range of 8 km, but an impressive speed of 75 knots.
The main difference is the lack of the seemingly standard and basic consumable for destroyers, Smoke Generator. But, given the fact that the destroyer at tier X can achieve speeds of up to 55 knots, this deficiency can be partly compensated for with skillful maneuvering and speed changes. In addition, the hit points of the French destroyers are allocated in the same manner as the test destroyer L’effronté (Le Terrible). This system allows destroyers to live longer under intense enemy fire.
To sum up, we can say that this new concept of destroyers is more suited to those who prefer speed and an artillery heavy style of play, and for the successful implementation of all their strengths, commanders will need to develop two skills: competent positioning and a “Hit and Run” style of combat.
Hull | Engine | Gun Fire Control System | Main battery | Torpedoes |
Jaguar (A) |
Propulsion: 55 000 hp |
PCA n° 5 Mle 1 |
130 mm/40 Mle 1919 |
550 mm 23DT |
Jaguar (B) |  PCA n° 5 Mle 2 |
| Tier | V |
| Health | 12 800 HP |
| Main Armament | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 10.980 km |
| 130 mm/40 Mle 1919 | 5 x 1 130 mm |
| Torpedo Armament | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 9.000 km |
| 550 mm tube lance-torpilles | 2 x 3 550 mm |
| Maximum speed | 35.5 kt |
| Turning Circle Radius | 660 m |
| Rudder Shift Time | 5.6 s |
| Surface Detectability | 7.20 km |
| Air Detectability | 3.39 km |
| Detectability After Firing Main Gus in Smoke | 2.7 km |
| 5 x 1 130 mm/40 Mle 1919 | |
| Reloading Time | 6.0 s |
| 180 Degree Turn Time | 18.0 s |
| Optimal front firing angle | 50° |
| Optimal rear firing angle | 50° for 5 guns and 20° for 3 guns |
| Sigma | 2.00 sigma |
| Maximum Dispersion | 106 m |
| Shells | |
| Type of Projectile | HE |
| Alpha Damage | 1 900 HP |
| Damage | 570 HP |
| HE penetration | 21 mm |
| Explosion Size | 0.45 |
| Chance to Cause Fire | 9 % |
| Projectile Speed | 725 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.323 |
| Projectile Mass | 34.85 |
| Projectile Krupp | 1 |
| Type of Projectile | AP |
| Alpha Damage | 2 300 HP |
| Chance to Cause Fire | -0.5 % |
| Projectile Speed | 725 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.323 |
| Projectile Mass | 32.05 |
| Projectile Krupp | 1 803 |
| Projectile Detonator | 0.025 s |
| 2 x 3 550 mm tube lance-torpilles | |
| Reloading Time | 90 s |
| Maximum Distance | 9.0 km |
| Optimal front firing angle | 50° |
| Optimal rear firing angle | 55° |
| Damage | 14 833 |
| Speed | 60 kt |
| Surface Detectability | 1.3 km |
| 2 x 1 75 mm/50 Mle 1922 | |
| Sector range | 0.9 km – 3.0 km |
| Hit chance | 88 % |
| Sector’s damage | 70 |
| Sector’s damage frequency | 3.52 s |
| Sector’s damage per second | 20 |
| Flak clouds number | 1 |
| Flak cloud damage | 350 |
| 2 x 1 13.2 mm/76 Mle 1929 | |
| Sector range | 0.1 km – 0.9 km |
| Hit chance | 83 % |
| Sector’s damage | 80 |
| Sector’s damage frequency | 2.91 s |
| Sector’s damage per second | 27 |
| Sector reinforcement | |
| Sector reinforcement bonus | +50% |
| Sector reinforcement time | 5 s |
| Sector reinforcement shift time | 5 s |
Slot 1 | Slot 2 |
 Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 60 s |  Number of charges: 2 Work time: 120 s Cooldown: 180 s Boost: +20% maximum speed |
 Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 40 s |  Number of charges: 3 Work time: 120 s Cooldown: 120 s Boost: +20% maximum speed |
| Tier | V |
| Health | 16 600 HP |
| Main Armament | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 12.078 km |
| 130 mm/40 Mle 1919 | 5 x 1 130 mm |
| Torpedo Armament | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 9.000 km |
| 550 mm tube lance-torpilles | 2 x 3 550 mm |
| Maximum speed | 35.5 kt |
| Turning Circle Radius | 660 m |
| Rudder Shift Time | 4.0 s |
| Surface Detectability | 7.20 km |
| Air Detectability | 3.39 km |
| Detectability After Firing Main Gus in Smoke | 2.7 km |
| 5 x 1 130 mm/40 Mle 1919 | |
| Reloading Time | 6.0 s |
| 180 Degree Turn Time | 18.0 s |
| Optimal front firing angle | 50° |
| Optimal rear firing angle | 50° for 5 guns and 20° for 3 guns |
| Sigma | 2.00 sigma |
| Maximum Dispersion | 104 m |
| Shells | |
| Type of Projectile | HE |
| Alpha Damage | 1 900 HP |
| Damage | 570 HP |
| HE penetration | 21 mm |
| Explosion Size | 0.45 |
| Chance to Cause Fire | 9 % |
| Projectile Speed | 725 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.323 |
| Projectile Mass | 34.85 |
| Projectile Krupp | 1 |
| Type of Projectile | AP |
| Alpha Damage | 2 300 HP |
| Chance to Cause Fire | -0.5 % |
| Projectile Speed | 725 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.323 |
| Projectile Mass | 32.05 |
| Projectile Krupp | 1 803 |
| Projectile Detonator | 0.025 s |
| 2 x 3 550 mm tube lance-torpilles | |
| Reloading Time | 90 s |
| Maximum Distance | 9.0 km |
| Optimal front firing angle | 50° |
| Optimal rear firing angle | 55° |
| Damage | 14 833 |
| Speed | 60 kt |
| Surface Detectability | 1.3 km |
| 2 x 2 37 mm/50 Mle 1933 | |
| Sector range | 0.9 km – 3.0 km |
| Hit chance | 88 % |
| Sector’s damage | 50 |
| Sector’s damage frequency | 3.80 s |
| Sector’s damage per second | 13 |
| Flak clouds number | 1 |
| Flak cloud damage | 280 |
| 2 x 2 13.2 mm/76 CAD Mle 1929 | |
| Sector range | 0.1 km – 0.9 km |
| Hit chance | 83 % |
| Sector’s damage | 80 |
| Sector’s damage frequency | 2.39 s |
| Sector’s damage per second | 33 |
| Sector reinforcement | |
| Sector reinforcement bonus | +50% |
| Sector reinforcement time | 5 s |
| Sector reinforcement shift time | 5 s |
Slot 1 | Slot 2 |
Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 60 s | Number of charges: 2 Work time: 120 s Cooldown: 180 s Boost: +20% maximum speed |
Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 40 s | Number of charges: 3 Work time: 120 s Cooldown: 120 s Boost: +20% maximum speed |
The armor
The Jaguar is protected by 10 mm of armor for both the hull and the superstructure. The gun mounts are however only protected by 3 mm of armor.
Personal opinion on the ship
Now, that’s an interesting ship. The HP pool on the B hull is by far the highest at tier V for a destroyer with the closest being 13 100 HP for Nicholas and Gremyashchy.
The firepower is also relatively impressive (much better than the competitors like Podvoisky or Gremyashchy) except for the firing angles that overall once again are just horrendous and once again, I can’t figure out why.
The torpedoes are still very strong themselves with very good range, speed and damage but the reload is still fairly high.
In terms of speed, with engine boost and flag, the ship can go over 44 knots which is reasonable.
Overall, that’s the most promising of the low tiers so far.
About Author
It’s funny that the Tier 4 has four guns and the Tier 5 has five… lol.