Supertest: French Tier VII Destroyer Vauquelin
5 min readLadies and Gentlemen, today, let’s have a look at the tier VII French destroyer Vauquelin (pronounced like this).
The Vauquelin-class of French destroyers was laid down in 1930 and commissioned in 1931. The class was similar to the previous Aigle-class with the exception that they had an additional set of torpedo tubes.
The class served during World War 2 but all ships were lost. 4 of them, including the Vauquelin, were scuttled in Toulon in 1942, the Maillé Brézé was lost in an accidental explosion in 1940 and the Chevalier Paul was torpedoed and sunk in 1941 off Syrian coasts.
Just like the Guépard, the HE damage on Vauquelin is not fitting at all compared to the rest of the ships so we will assume that it’s supposed to be 2 000 damage instead of the weird 1 400 damage.
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 |
Vauquelin (A) | Propulsion: 64 000 hp | PCA n° 7 Mle 1 | 139 mm/40 Mle 1927 | 550 mm 24V |
Vauquelin (B) | PCA n° 7 Mle 2 |
Tier | VII |
Health | 15 100 HP |
Main Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 11.861 km |
139 mm/40 Mle 1927 | 5 x 1 139 mm |
Torpedo Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 8.000 km |
550 mm tube lance-torpilles | 2 x 2 550 mm 1 x 3 550 mm |
Maximum speed | 36 kt |
Turning Circle Radius | 670 m |
Rudder Shift Time | 5.6 s |
Surface Detectability | 7.56 km |
Air Detectability | 4.38 km |
Detectability After Firing Main Gus in Smoke | 3.0 km |
5 x 1 139 mm/40 Mle 1927 | |
Reloading Time | 4.8 s |
180 Degree Turn Time | 27.7 s |
Optimal front firing angle | 32° |
Optimal rear firing angle | 36° |
Sigma | 2.00 sigma |
Maximum Dispersion | 113 m |
Shells | |
Type of Projectile | HE |
Alpha Damage | 1 400 HP |
Damage | 305 HP |
HE penetration | 22 mm |
Explosion Size | 0.49 |
Chance to Cause Fire | 9 % |
Projectile Speed | 700 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.300 |
Projectile Mass | 40.2 |
Projectile Krupp | 360 |
Type of Projectile | AP |
Alpha Damage | 2 600 HP |
Chance to Cause Fire | -0.5 % |
Projectile Speed | 700 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.300 |
Projectile Mass | 40.4 |
Projectile Krupp | 2 124 |
Projectile Detonator | 0.025 s |
2 x 2 550 mm tube lance-torpilles 1 x 3 550 mm tube lance-torpilles | |
Reloading Time | 90 s |
Maximum Distance | 9.0 km |
Optimal front firing angle | 20° for one torpedo tube 52° for two torpedo tubes |
Optimal rear firing angle | 57° |
Damage | 18 400 |
Speed | 57 kt |
Surface Detectability | 1.2 km |
4 x 1 37 mm/50 CAS Mle 1925 | |
Sector range | 0.9 km – 3.0 km |
Hit chance | 93 % |
Sector’s damage | 70 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 3.94 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 18 |
Flak clouds number | 1 |
Flak cloud damage | 420 |
2 x 2 13.2 mm/76 CAD Mle 1929 | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 0.9 km |
Hit chance | 88 % |
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 | Slot 3 |
Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 60 s | Number of charges: 3 Work Time: 15 s Cooldown: 150 s Boost: -50% Main battery reload time | 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: 4 Work Time: 15 s Cooldown: 100 s Boost: -50% Main battery reload time | Number of charges: 3 Work time: 120 s Cooldown: 120 s Boost: +20% maximum speed |
Tier | VII |
Health | 16 900 HP |
Main Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 13.047 km |
139 mm/40 Mle 1927 | 5 x 1 139 mm |
Torpedo Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 8.000 km |
550 mm tube lance-torpilles | 3 x 3 550 mm |
Maximum speed | 36 kt |
Turning Circle Radius | 680 m |
Rudder Shift Time | 4.0 s |
Surface Detectability | 7.56 km |
Air Detectability | 4.38 km |
Detectability After Firing Main Gus in Smoke | 3.1 km |
5 x 1 139 mm/40 Mle 1927 | |
Reloading Time | 4.8 s |
180 Degree Turn Time | 27.7 s |
Optimal front firing angle | 32° |
Optimal rear firing angle | 36° |
Sigma | 2.00 sigma |
Maximum Dispersion | 113 m |
Shells | |
Type of Projectile | HE |
Alpha Damage | 1 400 HP |
Damage | 305 HP |
HE penetration | 22 mm |
Explosion Size | 0.49 |
Chance to Cause Fire | 9 % |
Projectile Speed | 700 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.300 |
Projectile Mass | 40.2 |
Projectile Krupp | 360 |
Type of Projectile | AP |
Alpha Damage | 2 600 HP |
Chance to Cause Fire | -0.5 % |
Projectile Speed | 700 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.300 |
Projectile Mass | 40.4 |
Projectile Krupp | 2 124 |
Projectile Detonator | 0.025 s |
3 x 3 550 mm tube lance-torpilles | |
Reloading Time | 90 s |
Maximum Distance | 9.0 km |
Optimal front firing angle | 20° for one torpedo tube 52° for two torpedo tubes |
Optimal rear firing angle | 57° |
Damage | 18 400 |
Speed | 57 kt |
Surface Detectability | 1.2 km |
4 x 2 37 mm/50 Mle 1933 | |
Sector range | 0.9 km – 3.0 km |
Hit chance | 93 % |
Sector’s damage | 80 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 3.90 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 21 |
Flak clouds number | 1 |
Flak cloud damage | 420 |
6 x 2 13.2 mm/76 CAD Mle 1929 | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 0.9 km |
Hit chance | 88 % |
Sector’s damage | 80 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 1.06 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 75 |
Sector reinforcement | |
Sector reinforcement bonus | +50% |
Sector reinforcement time | 5 s |
Sector reinforcement shift time | 5 s |
Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 |
Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 60 s | Number of charges: 3 Work Time: 15 s Cooldown: 150 s Boost: -50% Main battery reload time | 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: 4 Work Time: 15 s Cooldown: 100 s Boost: -50% Main battery reload time | Number of charges: 3 Work time: 120 s Cooldown: 120 s Boost: +20% maximum speed |
The armor
The hull of the Vauquelin and the roof of the superstructure are protected by 16 mm of armor, the rest of the superstructure by 10 mm and the gun casemates by 3 mm.
Personal opinion on the ship
The ship has quite solid firepower at this tier even though the low shell velocity is a problem at this tier compared to tier VI. Also, for once, the firing angles are actually good so it will be much more comfortable to use the guns.
The HP pool remains solid but the German destroyers keep the lead in this category.
The torpedoes pack a serious punch, in fact, they have the highest damage for destroyers at tier VII but you only have 6 per side and the reload is quite high at 90 s.
As for the speed, she is doing fairly well with a top speed of 45.3 knots but of course, there are still Leningrad or Minsk around.
The concealment is decent and in per or even better than other gunboats destroyers at this tier but it’s not winning any price either.
Overall, on paper, the ship should be interesting to play as of now but it remains to be seen.
U.S. Navy: makes tons of four-pipe destroyers before switching to two stacks
French Navy: “Hmmm… ”
Lol.
I dont think this belongs in the WoT category