Supertest: German Tier VI Battleship Mackensen
4 min readHistorical background
The Mackensen-class was the last class of battlecruisers built by Germany in World War I.
The class was meant to be composed of seven ships with the first three named Macksensen, Graf Spee and Prinz Eitel Friedrich. Out of the seven ships, four were launched but never completed as shipbuilding priorities switches to u-boats. Ironically, the British Admiral-class battlecruisers were laid down in response to the Mackensen-class but one unit was completed, HMS Hood.
If you want to learn more about Mackensen, here is a video from Drachinifel covering the ship:
In World of Warships, we are getting Mackensen as it would have been completed. Just like the rest of the line, she gets the battlecruiser dispersion on the main battery and the secondary battery as the same dispersion as Massachusetts and co.
It’s also with Mackensen that we start seeing (kinda) the battlecruiser-type armor scheme with the bow and stern being only 25 mm thick while the middle section’s standard plating is 26 mm. Also, starting from Mackensen, German battlecruisers’ rear-most turret can rotate at 360° and they get access to Hydroacoustic Search.
Ship’s preview
Camouflage
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 |
Mackensen | 90 000 HP | FKS Typ 6 Mod. 1 | ![]() 350 mm/45 SK C/14 on a Drh LC/1914 mount |
FKS Typ 6 Mod. 2 |
Stock and Fully Upgraded Ship
General Characteristics
Tier | VI |
Health | 52 300 HP |
Torpedo Damage Reduction | 16 % |
Displacement | 35 300 tons |
Dimensions | |
Overall length | 222.94 m |
Beam | 30.42 m |
Overall height (keel to the highest point on the ship) | 24.33 m |
Freeboard | 4.84 m |
Main Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 15.060 km (stock) 16.566 km (upgraded) |
350 mm/45 SK C/14 on a Drh LC/1914 mount | 4 x 2 350 mm |
Secondary Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 5.600 km |
150 mm/45 SK L/45 on an MPL C/06 mount 88 mm/45 Flak on an MPL C/13 mount | 14 x 1 150 mm 8 x 1 88 mm |
Maximum speed | 28.0 knots |
Turning Circle Radius | 780 m |
Rudder Shift Time | 14.0 s |
Surface Detectability | 13.22 km |
Air Detectability | 10.28 km |
Detectability After Firing Main Guns in Smoke | 11.32 km |
Main Armament
4 x 2 350 mm/45 SK C/14 on a Drh LC/1914 mount | |
Maximum Firing Range | 15.060 km (stock) 16.566 km (upgraded) |
Reloading Time | 28.0 s |
180 Degree Turn Time | 30.0 s |
Optimal firing angles at the front | 30° |
Optimal firing angles at the rear | 30° |
Sigma | 1.60 sigma |
Maximum Dispersion | 174 m (stock) 187 m (upgraded) |
Shells | |
Type of Projectile | HE – 350 mm Spr.Gr. L/4.2 Bdz![]() |
Alpha Damage | 4 000 |
Damage | 3 310 |
Penetration capacity | 88 mm |
Explosion size | 1.93 |
Fire chance | 27 % |
Projectile Speed | 815 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.407 |
Projectile Mass | 600 kg |
Type of Projectile | AP – 350 mm P.Spr.Gr. L/3.6![]() |
Alpha Damage | 10 500 |
Projectile Speed | 815 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.407 |
Projectile Mass | 600 kg |
Projectile Krupp | 2 460 |
Projectile Detonator | 0.033 s |
Detonator threshold | 59 mm |
Ricochet Angles | 45° – 60° |
Secondary battery
14 x 1 150 mm/45 SK L/45 on an MPL C/06 mount | |
Maximum Firing Range | 5.600 km |
Reloading Time | 7.7 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 |
8 x 1 88 mm/45 Flak on an MPL C/13 mount | |
Maximum Firing Range | 5.600 km |
Reloading Time | 3.6 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
8 x 1 88 mm/45 Flak on an MPL C/13 mount | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 4.6 km |
Hit chance | 75 % |
Sector’s damage | 9 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 32 |
Flak clouds number | 1 |
Flak cloud damage | 770 |
20 x 1 7.92 mm MG 08 machine gun | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 1.5 km |
Hit chance | 70 % |
Sector’s damage | 37 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 130 |
Consumables
Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 |
Fast Damage Control Team ![]() Number of charges: 4 Work time: 10 s Cooldown: 40 s | Repair Party ![]() Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration: 0.5%/s Casemate damage regeneration: 50% Citadel damage regeneration: 10% | Hydroacoustic Search ![]() Work time: 110 s Cooldown: 120 s Torpedo spotting range: 3.8 km Ship spotting range: 5.5 km |
The Armor
Unlike your classic German capital ships, Mackensen doesn’t have a turtleback but a spaced armor that protects the citadel.
External armor protection:
Front and rear armor protection of the middle section:
Citadel armor protection:
Turrets armor protection:
Hidden armor protection inside the bow and stern:
Personal Opinion
Well… stats-wise, the ship is (to nobody’s surprise) very similar to Prinz Eitel Friedrich. Yes, I know, that doesn’t sound promising. Compared to Eitel, Mackensen has a lower firing range, weaker AA and also weaker secondaries since she has single 88 mm peashooters instead of the 105 mm ones with improved HE penetration. At the same time, it’s potentially compensated by the improved dispersion both on the main and secondary battery.
Overall… I really don’t have high hopes for this ship but who knows.
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8 88mm flank generates only 1 flak cloud?
Usually Wargrinding puts the fake Nazi refit in the tech tree while the historical one becomes the premium ship. I’m sure history buffs will love this though.