Supertest: German Tier VII Destroyer Z-31
6 min readLadies and gentlemen, opening the alternative branch of German destroyers/Spähkreuzers, here is the Z-31.
The Z-31 was the lead ship of the 1936A (Mob) class of destroyers from the Kriegsmarine. The ship was laid down in 1940, launched in May 1941 and commissioned in April 1942. Initially, the class was supposed to be armed with five 150 mm guns with a twin turret at the front and three single mounts with gun shields aft of the superstructure. However, due to the slow development of the twin turret, Z-31 was instead armed with four single mounts. The twin turret would be installed in 1944… just to get demolished in January 1945 and replaced by a single 105 mm turret.
Z-31 spent most of her career in Norwegian waters, taking part in various operations going from simple patrols, laying minefields, attacking convoys, etc.
In January 1945, while leaving Norway to reach the Baltic Sea alongside her sisterships Z-34 and Z-38, she was intercepted by the British cruisers Mauritius and Diadem. It’s during this engagement that her twin 150 mm turret was destroyed.
After repairs, the ship would help to slow down to advance of the Soviet army by providing artillery support and was also used to tow the hulk of the battleship Gneisenau to use it as a blockship at the entrance of Gotenhafen harbor. The ship was damaged multiple times by Soviet air attacks. She ended up reaching Brunsbüttel on the 30th of April where she would remain until the end of the war.
After the war, the ship was offered to France as war reparation and would be renamed Marceau. She would remain in active service until she was placed into reserves in 1953 and was sold for scrap in 1958.
In World of Warships… basically, we aren’t getting Z-31. The model is in fact a copy-paste of Z-39 with a few modifications to the anti-air armament.
Here is Wargaming’s explanation:
When creating the models of researchable ships, we can take several projects of the same type of ships into account. The resulting researchable ship is a collective image which may differ from any single historical prototype for balance reasons. She can have armament that doesn’t exactly match that of the lead ship or any other ship of the historical class. As a rule, each researchable ship is named after the lead ship of its class, even though it differs from her historical counterpart. That’s why, for example, researchable ships do not have side plates on the bow or stern with their names or historical identification numbers.
Z-31 is the lead destroyer of the 1936 Mob class. When creating her model, apart from the original blueprints, the blueprints of other projects of same-type ships were also used. We changed the artillery layout so that Z-31 is in a consistent progression with regards to the artillery development within the branch of German destroyers.
Currently, the concept of the alternative branch of German destroyers implies the following features:
- Accurate 150 mm guns
- Powerful AP shells with good damage, penetration capability, and improved ricochet angles. HE shells, on the contrary, deal moderate damage per minute.
- Availability of the Hydroaccoustic Search and, starting from Tier VIII, the Defensive AA Fire consumable. However, the new destroyers do not have a Smoke Generator.
- Great armor for the class.
- Torpedoes with good reload time and decent speed, but average damage and range.
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.
Hull | Engine | Gun Fire Control System | Main battery | Torpedoes |
Z-31 (A Hull) | Propulsion: 70 000 hp | ZKS Typ 7 Mod. 1 | 150 mm/55 Tbts KC/36 on a Tbts LC/36 mount | G7 Steinbutt |
Z-31 (B Hull) | ZKS Typ 7 Mod. 1 |
Stock Ship
General Characteristics
Tier | VII |
Health | 15 400 HP |
Torpedo Damage Reduction | 0 % |
Displacement | 2 657 tons |
Main Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 10.470 km |
150 mm/55 Tbts KC/36 on a Tbts LC/36 mount 150 mm/55 Tbts KC/36T on an LDrh LC/38 mount | 2 x 1 150 mm 1 x 2 150 mm |
Torpedo Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 8.000 km |
533 mm Vierling | 2 x 4 533 mm |
Maximum speed | 36 knots |
Turning Circle Radius | 670 m |
Rudder Shift Time | 6.3 s |
Surface Detectability | 7.2 km |
Air Detectability | 3.51 km |
Detectability After Firing Main Guns in Smoke | 3.1 km |
Main Battery
1 x 2 150 mm/55 Tbts KC/36 on a Tbts LC/36 mount 2 x 1 150 mm/55 Tbts KC/36T on an LDrh LC/38 mount | |
Maximum Firing Range | 10.470 km |
Reloading Time | 7.5 s |
180 Degree Turn Time | 22.5 s |
Optimal firing angles at the front | 40° |
Optimal firing angles at the rear | 35° |
Sigma | 2.00 sigma |
Maximum Dispersion | 52 m |
Shells | |
Type of Projectile | HE – 150 mm Spr.Gr. Ausf. B |
Alpha Damage | 2 200 HP |
Damage | 780 HP |
Penetration capacity | 38 mm |
Explosion size | 0.57 |
Fire chance | 12 % |
Projectile Speed | 835 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.25 |
Projectile Mass | 51 kg |
Type of Projectile | AP – |
Alpha Damage | 3 700 HP |
Projectile Speed | 835 m/s |
Projectile Mass | 51 |
Projectile Krupp | 1 933 |
Projectile Detonator | 0.025s |
Detonator Threshold | 25 mm |
Ricochet Angles | 60° – 67.5° |
Torpedo Armament
2 x 4 533 mm Vierling G7 Steinbutt | |
Reloading Time | 90 s |
Maximum Distance | 7.000 km |
Optimal firing angles at the front | 43° |
Optimal firing angles at the rear | 50° |
Damage | 13 700 |
Flooding Chance | 227 % |
Speed | 61 kt |
Surface Detectability | 1.3 km |
Anti-air Armament
4 x 2 37 mm/83 SK C/30 on a Dopp LC/30 mount | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 3.5 km |
Hit chance | 100 % |
Sector’s damage | 9 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 32 |
8 x 1 20 mm/65 C/38 on an L/30 single mount | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 2.0 km |
Hit chance | 95 % |
Sector’s damage | 24 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 84 |
Consumables
Slot 1 | Slot 2 |
Damage Control Party Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 40 s | Hydroacoustic Search Number of charges: 3 Work time: 100 s Cooldown: 120 s Torpedo spotting range: 3.0 km Ship spotting range: 4.0 km |
Fully Upgraded Ship
General Characteristics
Tier | VII |
Health | 19 400 HP |
Torpedo Damage Reduction | 0 % |
Displacement | 3 691 tons |
Main Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 11.517 km |
150 mm/55 Tbts KC/36 on a Tbts LC/36 mount 150 mm/55 Tbts KC/36T on an LDrh LC/38 mount | 2 x 1 150 mm 1 x 2 150 mm |
Torpedo Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 8.000 km |
533 mm Vierling | 2 x 4 533 mm |
Maximum speed | 36 knots |
Turning Circle Radius | 670 m |
Rudder Shift Time | 4.3 s |
Surface Detectability | 7.2 km |
Air Detectability | 3.51 km |
Detectability After Firing Main Guns in Smoke | 3.1 km |
Main Battery
1 x 2 150 mm/55 Tbts KC/36 on a Tbts LC/36 mount 2 x 1 150 mm/55 Tbts KC/36T on an LDrh LC/38 mount | |
Maximum Firing Range | 11.517 km |
Reloading Time | 7.5 s |
180 Degree Turn Time | 22.5 s |
Optimal firing angles at the front | 40° |
Optimal firing angles at the rear | 35° |
Sigma | 2.00 sigma |
Maximum Dispersion | 55 m |
Shells | |
Type of Projectile | HE – 150 mm Spr.Gr. Ausf. B |
Alpha Damage | 2 200 HP |
Damage | 780 HP |
Penetration capacity | 38 mm |
Explosion size | 0.57 |
Fire chance | 12 % |
Projectile Speed | 835 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.25 |
Projectile Mass | 51 kg |
Type of Projectile | AP – |
Alpha Damage | 3 700 HP |
Projectile Speed | 835 m/s |
Projectile Mass | 51 |
Projectile Krupp | 1 933 |
Projectile Detonator | 0.025s |
Detonator Threshold | 25 mm |
Ricochet Angles | 60° – 67.5° |
Torpedo Armament
2 x 4 533 mm Vierling G7 Steinbutt | |
Reloading Time | 90 s |
Maximum Distance | 7.000 km |
Optimal firing angles at the front | 43° |
Optimal firing angles at the rear | 50° |
Damage | 13 700 |
Flooding Chance | 227 % |
Speed | 61 kt |
Surface Detectability | 1.3 km |
Anti-air Armament
4 x 2 37 mm/69 Flak M42 on an LM/42 mount | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 3.5 km |
Hit chance | 100 % |
Sector’s damage | 28 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 98 |
2 x 4 20 mm/65 C/38 on a Flak 35 Vierling L/38 mount 6 x 2 20 mm/65 C/38 on a twin mount | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 2.0 km |
Hit chance | 95 % |
Sector’s damage | 31 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 109 |
Consumables
Slot 1 | Slot 2 |
Damage Control Party Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 40 s | Hydroacoustic Search Number of charges: 3 Work time: 100 s Cooldown: 120 s Torpedo spotting range: 3.0 km Ship spotting range: 4.0 km |
The Armor
Just like the rest of the new German destroyers/spähkreuzers, the Z-31 has the gimmick of having a “heavily” armored middle section compared to the other standard destroyers which will reduce the damage they will take when fitting other destroyers and some cruisers.
Personal Opinion
So basically, outside of laser-accurate guns and the strong AP shells with improved penetration angles, that ship is just a (much) worse Z-39.
She has weaker torpedoes with less range, no smoke, no engine boost, weaker hydro, no access to the 5th upgrade slot.
That destroyer is supposed to be a gunboat but with that firepower, that lack of speed, no smoke and just a tiny bit of armor as a survivability advantage, the number of targets that you can actually engage without being rolled over seems quite low.
Great WG still a Type 1936 destroyer in the game as if we haven’t had enough of it already. I would have preferred to see Z23 in the new branch and the Type 1945 destroyer as the new TX in the old tree …