Supertest: French Tier VIII Destroyer Le Fantasque
6 min readWe are finally reaching the top of the French destroyers line. Let’s have a look at the tier VIII ship, Le Fantasque.
The Le Fantasque-class (pronounced Le Fantask) of large destroyers from the French navy was part of the naval programme of 1930. Launched in 1933 and 1934, the 6 ships of the class saw extensive actions during World War 2 serving for both the Vichy France and the Free French Naval Forces.
The class is especially known for its speed as they were the fastest destroyers ever built with a maximum speed of 45 knots. It was designed to counter the large escorts built by the Italian navy.
The Le Fantasque, at the beginning of World War 2 was part of the “Force de Raid” and sank the German cargo ship Halle in 1939 and captured its crew.
Later on, she took part in the hunt of the German Panzerschiff Admiral Graf Spee. Later in November of the same year, she captured the German merchantman Santa Fé.
After France surrendered, she was based at Dakar with her sister-ships Le Malin and L’Audacieux. During the Allied attack on 23 September 1940, she sailed through the harbor to set smoke screens and to protect the other units. British ships and aircrafts targetted her but she didn’t receive any damage.
With the success of the Operation Torch, she was returned to the allied side with her sister-ship Le Terrible and they were both sent to Boston for refits and repairs, that refit had a heavy cost as, after it, her top speed was limited to 37 knots.
Due to her large size, to fit the allied standards, she was reclassified as a light cruiser.
She served for the rest of the war, taking part in various operations and wreaking havoc on German convoys, as part of the Free French Naval Forces. Later on, in 1945 and 1946, she served in Indochina and it’s in 1957 that she will be struck from the Navy list and sold for scrap.
The Le Fantasque that we have in World of Warships is as she somewhat was after her refit (without the loss of speed, 2 missing oerlikon 20 mm and without the light cruiser classification of course).
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 |
Le Fantasque (A) |
Propulsion: 64 000 hp |
PCA n° 8 Mle 1 |
139 mm/50 Mle 1929 |
550 mm 24V |
Le Fantasque (B) |  PCA n° 8 Mle 2 |
| Tier | VIII |
| Health | 15 400 HP |
| Main Armament | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 11.620 km |
| 139 mm/50 Mle 1929 | 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 | 42.7 kt |
| Turning Circle Radius | 690 m |
| Rudder Shift Time | 5.9 s |
| Surface Detectability | 8.18 km |
| Air Detectability | 4.12 km |
| Detectability After Firing Main Gus in Smoke | 3.3 km |
| 5 x 1 139 mm/50 Mle 1929 | |
| Reloading Time | 5.0 s |
| 180 Degree Turn Time | 18.0 s |
| Optimal front firing angle | 34° |
| Optimal rear firing angle | 46° |
| Sigma | 2.00 sigma |
| Maximum Dispersion | 111 m |
| Shells | |
| Type of Projectile | HE |
| Alpha Damage | 2 000 HP |
| Damage | 630 HP |
| HE penetration | 22 mm |
| Explosion Size | 0.50 |
| Chance to Cause Fire | 10 % |
| Projectile Speed | 840 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.234 |
| Projectile Mass | 40.2 |
| Projectile Krupp | 360 |
| Type of Projectile | AP |
| Alpha Damage | 2 700 HP |
| Chance to Cause Fire | -0.5 % |
| Projectile Speed | 840 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.234 |
| Projectile Mass | 39.9 |
| Projectile Krupp | 2 400 |
| Projectile Detonator | 0.025 s |
| 3 x 3 550 mm tube lance-torpilles | |
| Reloading Time | 90 s |
| Maximum Distance | 8.0 km |
| Optimal front firing angle | 20° for one torpedo tube 50° for two torpedo tubes |
| Optimal rear firing angle | 58° |
| Damage | 18 400 |
| Speed | 75 kt |
| Surface Detectability | 1.4 km |
| 3 x 1 40 mm/56 Bofors Mk3 | |
| Sector range | 1.5 km – 3.5 km |
| Hit chance | 95 % |
| Sector’s damage | 190 |
| Sector’s damage frequency | 3.78 s |
| Sector’s damage per second | 50 |
| Flak clouds number | 1 |
| Flak cloud damage | 700 |
| 2 x 2 13.2 mm/76 CAD Mle 1929 | |
| Sector range | 0.1 km – 1.5 km |
| Hit chance | 90 % |
| Sector’s damage | 110 |
| Sector’s damage frequency | 0.81 s |
| Sector’s damage per second | 136 |
| 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: 180 s Cooldown: 120 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: 180 s Cooldown: 90 s Boost: +20% maximum speed |
| Tier | VIII |
| Health | 18 500 HP |
| Main Armament | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 12.782 km |
| 139 mm/50 Mle 1929 | 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 | 42.7 kt |
| Turning Circle Radius | 690 m |
| Rudder Shift Time | 4.3 s |
| Surface Detectability | 8.18 km |
| Air Detectability | 4.12 km |
| Detectability After Firing Main Gus in Smoke | 3.3 km |
| 5 x 1 139 mm/50 Mle 1929 | |
| Reloading Time | 5.0 s |
| 180 Degree Turn Time | 18.0 s |
| Optimal front firing angle | 34° |
| Optimal rear firing angle | 46° |
| Sigma | 2.00 sigma |
| Maximum Dispersion | 111 m |
| Shells | |
| Type of Projectile | HE |
| Alpha Damage | 2 000 HP |
| Damage | 630 HP |
| HE penetration | 22 mm |
| Explosion Size | 0.5 |
| Chance to Cause Fire | 10 % |
| Projectile Speed | 840 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.234 |
| Projectile Mass | 40.2 |
| Projectile Krupp | 360 |
| Type of Projectile | AP |
| Alpha Damage | 2 700 HP |
| Chance to Cause Fire | -0.5 % |
| Projectile Speed | 840 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.234 |
| Projectile Mass | 39.9 |
| Projectile Krupp | 2 400 |
| Projectile Detonator | 0.025 s |
| 3 x 3 550 mm tube lance-torpilles | |
| Reloading Time | 90 s |
| Maximum Distance | 8.0 km |
| Optimal front firing angle | 20° for one torpedo tube 50° for two torpedo tubes |
| Optimal rear firing angle | 58° |
| Damage | 18 400 |
| Speed | 75 kt |
| Surface Detectability | 1.4 km |
| 1 x 4 40 mm/56 Bofors Mk2 2 x 2 40 mm/56 Bofors Mk1 | |
| Sector range | 1.5 km – 3.5 km |
| Hit chance | 95 % |
| Sector’s damage | 210 |
| Sector’s damage frequency | 2.39 s |
| Sector’s damage per second | 88 |
| Flak clouds number | 3 |
| Flak cloud damage | 770 |
| 8 x 1 20 mm/70 Mk4 | |
| Sector range | 0.1 km – 1.5 km |
| Hit chance | 90 % |
| Sector’s damage | 110 |
| Sector’s damage frequency | 0.81 s |
| Sector’s damage per second | 136 |
| 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: 180 s Cooldown: 120 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: 180 s Cooldown: 90 s Boost: +20% maximum speed |
The armor
The hull of the Le Fantasque is protected by 19 mm of armor, the superstructure by 13 mm and the gun casemates by 6 mm.
Personal opinion on the ship
As of right now, the ship is basically a straight up better Le Terrible. She loses a tiny bit of speed but in return, she gets better firing angles, longer engine boost, better torpedoes, better concealment and actual anti-air.
Considering the fact that I did enjoy playing Le Terrible after her buff, I think that I’m going to like Le Fantasque quite a bit.
About Author
Hey. On your 3D Model of the Kléber, I think there are an error. Behind the chimneys, you have a big empty space, but on the model of Wargaming, we have a big square i thinks… I don’t know how explain this in enslish (I’m french), but look on the photo of the dev blog…^^ And thanks for your works
I don’t get why basically all the French ships are faster than they were in reality. Battleships with speed boost, cruisers with speed boost, destroyers that maintain their speed after a refit that was supposed to cut off nearly 10 knots… and in the meantime, medium tier American battleships like New Mexico and Colorado are still chillin’ around at 21 knots.
Indeed, I noticed that as well. The model is like that on gamemodels3d too. Not sure why these anti-submarine armaments are missing (I don’t remember anymore how these are called).
I’ll try to fix this annoying mistake.