Supertest: German Tier III Battleship Von Der Tann

Historical background

SMS Von Der Tann was the first battlecruiser built for the German Kaiserliche Marine. Laid down in March 1908, launched in March 1909  and commissioned in September 1910, the ship was the faster dreadnaught-type warship with a speed exceeding 27 knots at the time of her construction.

Von der Tann participated in several fleet actions during the First World War, including several bombardments of the English coast. She was present at the Battle of Jutland, where she destroyed the British battlecruiser HMS Indefatigable in the opening minutes of the engagement. Von der Tann was hit several times by large-caliber shells during the battle, and at one point in the engagement, the ship had all of her main battery guns out of action either due to damage or malfunction. Nevertheless, the damage was quickly repaired and the ship returned to the fleet in two months.

Following the end of the war in November 1918, Von der Tann, along with most of the High Seas Fleet, was interned at Scapa Flow pending a decision by the Allies as to the fate of the fleet. The ship met her end in 1919 when German caretaker crews scuttled their ships to prevent their division among Allied navies. The wreck was raised in 1930, and scrapped at Rosyth from 1931 to 1934.

If you want to know more about Von Der Tann, here is a video from Drachinifel covering it:

In World of Warships, Von Der Tann is the first tech tree battlecruiser of the game, featuring the “battlecruiser” dispersion and generally speaking, weaker armor protection.

Additionally, her secondaries have the same dispersion as those of Massachusetts, Georgia, or Ohio and she has the same Fast Damage Control Team as Soviet battleships.

Ship’s preview

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
Von der Tann (A)	79 800 HP	‎FKS Typ 3 Mod. 1	283 mm/45 SK C/07 on a Drh LC/1907 mount
Von der Tann (B)		FKS Typ 3 Mod. 2

Stock Ship

General Characteristics

Main Battery

4 x 2 283 mm/45 SK C/07 on a Drh LC/1907 mount
Maximum Firing Range	13.000 km
Reloading Time	26.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	45 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	54°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	53°
Sigma	1.50 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	157 m
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 283 mm Spr.Gr. L/3.6
Alpha Damage	3 200
Damage	2 090
Penetration capacity	71 mm
Explosion size	1.37
Fire chance	19 %
Projectile Speed	855 m/s
Air Drag	0.534
Projectile Mass	302 kg
Type of Projectile	AP – 283 mm P.Spr.Gr. L/3.2
Alpha Damage	7 200
Projectile Speed	855 m/s
Air Drag	0.534
Projectile Mass	302 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 789
Projectile Detonator	0.01 s
Detonator threshold	47 mm
Ricochet Angles	45° – 60°

Secondary battery

10 x 1 150 mm/45 SK C/09 on an MPL C/06 mount
Maximum Firing Range	4.000 km
Reloading Time	8.57 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 150 mm HE K Gr 18
Alpha Damage	1 800
Damage	760
HE penetration	38 mm
Explosion Size	0.57
Chance to Cause Fire	10 %
Projectile Speed	835 m/s
Air Drag	0.407
Projectile Mass	45.3 kg
4 x 1 88 mm/45 Flak on an MPL C/13 mount
Maximum Firing Range	4.000 km
Reloading Time	4.0 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 88 mm Spr.Gr.
Alpha Damage	1 000
Damage	240
HE penetration	15 mm
Explosion Size	0.24
Chance to Cause Fire	4 %
Projectile Speed	890 m/s
Air Drag	0.446
Projectile Mass	9 kg

Anti-air Armament

Consumables

Slot 1	Slot 2
Fast Damage Control Team Number of charges: 4 Work time: 10 s Cooldown: 40 s	Repair Party Number of charges: 3 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration: 0.5%/s Casemate damage regeneration: 50% Citadel damage regeneration: 10%

Fully Upgraded Ship

General Characteristics

Main Battery

4 x 2 283 mm/45 SK C/07 on a Drh LC/1907 mount
Maximum Firing Range	14.300 km
Reloading Time	26.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	45 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	54°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	53°
Sigma	1.50 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	168 m
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 283 mm Spr.Gr. L/3.6
Alpha Damage	3 200
Damage	2 090
Penetration capacity	71 mm
Explosion size	1.37
Fire chance	19 %
Projectile Speed	855 m/s
Air Drag	0.534
Projectile Mass	302 kg
Type of Projectile	AP – 283 mm P.Spr.Gr. L/3.2
Alpha Damage	7 200
Projectile Speed	855 m/s
Air Drag	0.534
Projectile Mass	302 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 789
Projectile Detonator	0.01 s
Detonator threshold	47 mm
Ricochet Angles	45° – 60°

Secondary battery

10 x 1 150 mm/45 SK C/09 on an MPL C/06 mount
Maximum Firing Range	4.000 km
Reloading Time	8.57 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 150 mm HE K Gr 18
Alpha Damage	1 800
Damage	760
HE penetration	38 mm
Explosion Size	0.57
Chance to Cause Fire	10 %
Projectile Speed	835 m/s
Air Drag	0.407
Projectile Mass	45.3 kg
4 x 1 88 mm/45 Flak on an MPL C/13 mount
Maximum Firing Range	4.000 km
Reloading Time	4.0 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 88 mm Spr.Gr.
Alpha Damage	1 000
Damage	240
HE penetration	15 mm
Explosion Size	0.24
Chance to Cause Fire	4 %
Projectile Speed	890 m/s
Air Drag	0.446
Projectile Mass	9 kg

Anti-air Armament

Consumables

Slot 1	Slot 2
Fast Damage Control Team Number of charges: 4 Work time: 10 s Cooldown: 40 s	Repair Party Number of charges: 3 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration: 0.5%/s Casemate damage regeneration: 50% Citadel damage regeneration: 10%

The Armor

External armor protection:

Front and rear armor protection of the middle section:

Turtleback:

Citadel armor protection:

Turrets armor protection:

Hidden armor protection inside the bow and stern:

Personal Opinion

Well overall, if you forget the part where you risk getting bullied to oblivion by tier IV carriers, the ship looks pretty good.

The firepower is decent even though you will generally be fighting with 6 guns broadside because of the turret layout but at least, you have the battlecruiser dispersion.

The secondaries, while they can only reach 5 km, can still be useful at such low tier and with that absurd speed (the second-fastest battleship at tier III is Bellerophon with 22.5 knots), she won’t have too much trouble to get them to work.

As for the armor, you don’t really see yet the downside of the battlecruiser armor rule since, at this tier, everything (except Knyaz Suvorov) has a weakly protected bow or at least a good portion of it.

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Yuzorah

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