Supertest: German Tier VI Battleship Mackensen

Historical 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

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

Consumables

Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3
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%	Hydroacoustic Search Number of charges: 3 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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Yuzorah

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