Supertest: German Premium Tier IX Battleship Pommern (Updated)
6 min readSo… the Pommern (ex-Ludendorff)… the ship is quite an oddball but it can be described like this: A Friedrich der Große with Großer Kurfürst style of turrets (with the firing angles that come with it…), equipped with German 380 mm guns and with the torpedoes of Tirpitz.
In action, Wargaming took the hull of the Friedrich der Große (so the H-39 battleship) and used the design of triple turrets with 380 mm guns that had been designed when Germany was still working on the Bismarck-class battleships.
For the anti-air, the Pommern is using 30 mm AA guns that were considered to replace the 20 mm and 37 mm AA guns. 222 models of this AA gun were produced during World War II but it’s unknown if they were ever used in combat.
As a side note, this is the 3rd ship using the hull of the Friedrich der Große after Friedrich herself and Manfred Von Richthofen.
Pommern in her concept does not stray far from the classical gameplay characteristics that are unique to German battleships. The ship is equipped with 12 380mm guns and has all the main advantages of her compatriots:
- Her trademark German hull armor grants effective protection from enemy fire;
- “Hydroacoustic Search” consumable will help to withstand torpedo attacks.
- Powerful secondaries and torpedo armament will be an unpleasant surprise for enemy warships in close-range combat.
Hull | Engine | Gun Fire Control System | Main battery | Torpedoes |
Pommern | Propulsion: 165 000 hp | FKS Typ 9 Mod. 1 | 380 mm L/52 SK C/34 | G7a T1 |
Tier | IX |
Health | 81 900 HP |
Displacement | 59 950 tons |
Main Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 21.340 km |
380 mm L/52 SK C/34 | 4 x 3 380 mm |
Secondary Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 7.600 km |
150 mm L/55 SK C/28 105 mm L/65 Dop. L. C/38 | 6 x 2 150 mm 8 x 2 105 mm |
Maximum speed | 31 knots |
Turning Circle Radius | 940 m |
Rudder Shift Time | 17.3 s |
Surface Detectability | 17.28 km |
Air Detectability | 12.81 km |
Detectability After Firing Main Guns in Smoke | 16.00 km |
4 x 3 380 mm L/52 SK C/34 | |
Maximum Firing Range | 21.340 km |
Reloading Time | 33 s (Previously 32 s) |
180 Degree Turn Time | 36.0 s |
Optimal firing angles at the front | 43° |
Optimal firing angles at the rear | 40° |
Sigma | 1.60 sigma (Previously 1.80 sigma) |
Maximum Dispersion | 273 m |
Shells | |
Type of Projectile | HE – 380 mm Spr.Gr. L/4.6 |
Alpha Damage | 4 400 HP |
Damage | 4 230 HP |
Penetration capacity | 95 mm |
Explosion size | 2.26 |
Fire chance | 34 % |
Projectile Speed | 820 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.276 |
Projectile Mass | 800 kg |
Type of Projectile | AP – 380 mm P.Spr.Gr. L/4.4 |
Alpha Damage | 11 600 HP |
Chance to Cause Fire | -0.5 % |
Projectile Speed | 820 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.276 |
Projectile Mass | 800 kg |
Projectile Krupp | 2 450 |
Projectile Detonator | 0.033 s |
Detonator threshold | 63 mm |
6 x 2 150 mm L/55 SK C/28 | |
Maximum Firing Range | 7.600 km |
Reloading Time | 7.5 s |
Sigma | 1.00 sigma |
Shells | |
Type of Projectile | HE – 150 mm Spr.Gr. L/4.5 |
Alpha Damage | 1 700 HP |
Damage | 670 HP |
HE penetration | 38 mm |
Explosion Size | 0.54 |
Chance to Cause Fire | 8 % |
Projectile Speed | 875 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.33 |
Projectile Mass | 45.3 kg |
8 x 2 105 mm L/65 Dop. L. C/38 | |
Maximum Firing Range | 7.600 km |
Reloading Time | 3.35 s |
Sigma | 1.00 sigma |
Shells | |
Type of Projectile | HE – 105 mm Spr.Gr. Kz. |
Alpha Damage | 1 200 HP |
Damage | 330 HP |
HE penetration | 26 mm |
Explosion Size | 0.31 |
Chance to Cause Fire | 5 % |
Projectile Speed | 900 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.333 |
Projectile Mass | 15.1 |
2 x 4 533 mm Vierling G7a T1 | |
Reloading Time | 90 s |
Maximum Distance | 6.0 km |
Optimal firing angles at the front | 30° |
Optimal firing angles at the rear | 30° |
Damage | 13 700 |
Flooding Chance | 227 % |
Speed | 64 kt |
Surface Detectability | 1.3 km |
8 x 2 105 mm L/65 Dop. L. C/38 | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 5.2 km |
Hit chance | 75 % |
Sector’s damage | 45 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 158 |
Flak clouds number | 7 |
Flak cloud damage | 1 470 |
16 x 4 30 mm Flak 38 | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 3.0 km |
Hit chance | 70 % |
Sector’s damage | 133 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 466 |
Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 |
Damage Control Party Work time: 15 s Cooldown: 80 s | Repair Party Number of charges: 4 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration time: 0.5% HP/s | Hydroacoustic Search Number of charges: 3 Work time: 120 s Cooldown: 120 s Torpedo spotting range: 4.0 km Ship spotting range: 6.0 km |
The armor
To nobody’s surprise, the Pommern has almost the same armor scheme as the Friedrich der Große. There are few differences with for example the turrets. There are also the 150 mm secondaries that have their barbettes going deeper inside the ship and the superstructure having some internal armor.
The bow section
The bow is, for a good part, covered by 32 mm of armor. Except for the 32 mm plating, the deck is partially protected by a 50 mm plating. There is also, on the sides, an extended belt with the first part being 150 mm thick and the second part, reaching the tip of the bow, being 60 mm thick.
Inside the bow, where the 50 mm deck begins, there is a bulkhead with the upper part being 100 mm thick and the lower part, 20 mm thick. Considering the position of that 20 mm section, she wouldn’t be very useful anyway. As you can see, the upper casemate protecting the middle section is also 100 mm thick.
Behind the bulkhead, the ship also has an armored deck with the tip being 30 mm thick and the rest 50 mm thick. It is worth noting that this turtleback doesn’t cover the upper part of the citadel athwartship. This means that if a shell penetrates the extended belt on the side, it can still hit the citadel.
For the citadel athwartship, the “exposed” upper part is 220 mm thick and the lower part, as well as the bulkheads around it, is 125 mm thick.
The middle section
The middle section is, just like on the Friedrich, very well protected against small-caliber AP and HE in general. The deck is 50 mm thick on the sides of the superstructure and 80 mm thick around the turrets.
On the sides, the upper belt is 140 mm thick except for a thin strip of 235 mm just above the main belt. This main belt is 300 mm thick. Finally, there is the torpedo bulge deep below the waterline with 38 mm of armor.
For the internal protection, the turtleback under the turrets is 150 mm thick with a slope carrying between 64° and 67°. Around the engines, it gets thinner with 120 mm of armor and with the slope carrying between 64° and 68°.
As you can see, the citadel main armor deck is also 120 mm thick under the turrets. It means that it will be very easy to score citadels with AP bombs.
For the rest of the citadel main armor deck, it’s 100 mm thick so same vulnerability against bombs.
Finally, the citadel side armor is 45 mm thick.
The stern section
For the stern, the largest part is covered with 32 mm of armor. For the rest, a part of the deck is 50 mm thick and there is an 80 mm extended belt.
Inside the stern, there is a 110 mm armored deck that protects almost entirely the citadel athwartship except for a small part.
For the protection of the middle section, the upper casemate is 100 mm thick. For the citadel’s athwartship, the upper part is 220 mm thick and the lower part, as well as the casemate around it, is 125 mm thick.
The superstructure
The major part of the exposed superstructure is protected by the classic 19 mm plating. For the rest, there are the conning towers with the one at the front being protected by 350 mm except the 200 mm roof. For the rear one, it is protected by 150 mm of armor except for the roof with 50 mm.
There are also some internal protected parts at the front. Below the conning tower, there are 2 sections protected respectively by 200 mm of armor for the upper one and 150 mm of armor for the lower one.
Finally, there are the barbettes of the 150 mm secondaries with 80 mm of armor. As you can see, they don’t stop directly at the deck but go deeper inside the ship.
The turrets
The face of the turrets is 400 mm thick. The problem is that since it has pretty much no slope, it will be fairly easy to penetrate it. The sides are 250 mm thick, the roof is 200 mm thick and finally, the back is 380 mm thick.
For the barbette, the roof is 100 mm thick, the exposed part is 365 mm thick and the internal part is 240 mm thick.
Personal opinion
Overall, the Pommern is shaping up to be a fairly decent battleship and has good characteristics for a brawler. The armor is good against HE spam, she has a strong broadside and for brawling, she has the torpedoes with very good firing angles.
The biggest downside is of course the terrible firing angles because of the large triple turrets. I wouldn’t mind a buff to the rudder shift time so that she can reangle faster between shots.
Yo, was there some devblog I missed, with updated turret traverse ? Cause what I remember, it was 36s, not 30s…
Otherwise nice job here, especialy how you talked about the ( probalby best what GER had ) 30mm autocanons. – which I wonder, why are they not on Z52, as they were planed for her. ( like all the most modern GER ships AA: short range 30mm, mid range 55mm, long range 128mm )
And nice to see all the hidden internal armor aswell – big thx for that.
( any chance you can look on FdG, if she has the same hidden platings, or she was made so long ago, that she wasnt made so detailed as Pommern is ? Thx )
Am I right in that Luddendorf lacks catapult aircraft of any sort? 🙁
The name Pommern is total nonsense. No battleship of the German Kriegsmarine was named after a province. It would be good if someone said wargaming.
Nope.SMS Pommern,Battle of Jutland. No one says it must be second world war
That’s the Kaiserliche Marine, not the Kriegsmarine. The Kriegsmarine named named their battleships after provinces.
A name like Friedrich Barbarossa or Karl der Große or Arminius would be far more appropriate.