Supertest: German Tier X Battleship Preussen

Historical background

Just like the Grosser Kurfürst, the Preussen is based on the various German H-class battleship designs, specifically H-42 and H-43.

In 1941, Uncle Adolf declared that his naval engineers didn’t go deep enough with the H-class. With the H-41 design finalized, he actually decided to request something even larger with no tonnage limitation. In action, no sane person ever considered these designs as anything else than conjecture. Their purpose was to determine what would be big enough to counter whatever the Allies might throw at them. No traditional slipway would be able to handle a ship of that size anyway.

In total, 3 different designs, H-42 to H-44, would come to be with displacements ranging from 90 000 tons to 131 000 tons and a main battery of eight 480 mm guns or 508 mm guns.

In the case of Preussen, while her displacement is well below that of H-42, in terms of dimensions, she is sitting between H-42 and H-43 with the main battery being brought down to 457 mm guns. She also doesn’t have a torpedo armament.

Regarding the gun caliber, it might change to 450 mm. It turns out that Wargaming weren’t aware that Germany worked on such guns. They needed guns between 431 and 457 mm so they made their own design (with everything wrong that comes with it).

As such, I had a small talk with our Lord and Savior Shonai, providing him with the document mentioning the 450 mm guns. While he said that he wasn’t promising anything, he also said that he would try to reach the Krupp Archives to maybe get the guns changed. Gameplay-wise, it wouldn’t affect the performances of the ship as you would still have the 30 mm overmatch.

Also, compared to Kurfürst, Preussen is using more modern tri-axial 128 mm secondary mounts as well as 30 mm AA guns.

For some reason, she is decorated with a coat of arms and a nameplate which are normally reserved for premium ships. I guess that Wargaming were initially planning to release her as a premium but then changed their mind.

In early 2022, Preussen will replace the Grosser Kurfürst in the Tech tree. The ship better matches the progression and gameplay of the branch: it is equipped with a small number of guns, which is in turn compensated for by their solid caliber. Otherwise, the Preussen is similar in its features to the Grosser Kurfürst and other German Battleships.

The following changes will be made to the Grosser Kurfürst after the replacement of ships:

• Grosser Kurfürst will become a special ship – the cost of the ship’s post-battle service will be decreased. You will be able to assign Commanders from other ships of the same nation to her without any penalties and retraining requirements. Current commanders will keep their specialty.
• The ship will be added into the Armory for Coal.
• Grosser Kurfürst will remain on the accounts of its owners. If the ship was researched but not bought, sold, or the branch was reset, she will be invoiced to the player’s account.
• The ship will keep its unique upgrade and any purchased permanent camouflages. If permanent camouflage Type 20 was not purchased – it will be credited.

All players who own any permanent camouflage for Grosser Kurfürst will receive the Type 20 permanent camouflage for Preussen. The ship herself can only be obtained after researching and purchasing it in the tech tree.

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
Preussen	Propulsion: 167 600 HP	‎FKS Typ 10 Mod. 1	457 mm/52 SK C/34 on a Drh LC/1942 mount

General Characteristics

Main Armament

4 x 2 457 mm/52 SK C/34 on a Drh LC/1942 mount
Maximum Firing Range	20.600 km
Reloading Time	24.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	30.0 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	38°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	30°
Sigma	1.80 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	266 m
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 457 mm Spr.Gr. L/4.4
Alpha Damage	5 450
Damage	3 900
Penetration capacity	114 mm
Explosion size	3.01
Fire chance	45 %
Projectile Speed	810 m/s
Air Drag	0.282
Projectile Mass	1 464 kg
Type of Projectile	AP – 457 mm P.Spr.Gr. L/4.4
Alpha Damage	15 000
Projectile Speed	810 m/s
Air Drag	0.282
Projectile Mass	1 464 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 300
Projectile Detonator	0.033 s
Detonator threshold	76 mm
Ricochet Angles	45° – 60°

Secondary Armament

8 x 2 150 mm/55 SK C/28 on a Dop. L. C/34 mount
Maximum Firing Range	8.300 km
Reloading Time	7.5 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 150 mm Spr.Gr. L/4.5
Alpha Damage	1 700
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
10 x 2 128 mm/61 Doppelflak in a turret
Maximum Firing Range	8.300 km
Reloading Time	4.0 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 128 mm Spr.Gr. Kz.
Alpha Damage	1 500
HE penetration	32 mm
Explosion Size	0.41
Chance to Cause Fire	5 %
Projectile Speed	900 m/s
Air Drag	0.313
Projectile Mass	26.0 kg

Anti-air Armament

Consumables

Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3	Slot 4
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 speed: +0.5%/s Casemate damage regeneration: 50% Citadel damage regeneration: 10%	Spotting Aircraft Number of charges: 4 Work time: 100 s Cooldown: 240 s Maximum firing range: +20%	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
		Fighter Number of charges: 3 Work time: 60 s Cooldown: 90 s Number of planes in a squadron: 4 Patrol radius: 3.0 km

The Armor

External armor protection:

Front and rear armor protection of the middle section:

Secondary barbettes:

Turtleback:

Citadel armor protection:

Turrets armor protection:

Hidden armor protection inside the bow and stern:

Personal Opinion

Welp. I guess that Grosser Kurfürst is just dead. Preussen has basically everything similar to her except much better anti-air, WAY better firing angles and, cherry on top, 457 mm guns with an amazing 24 s reload time.

Preussen is just everything Kurfürst should have been. Now I’m just praying that Wargaming are able to reach the Krupp Archives and change her guns to 450 mm instead of these heretical 457 mm ones.

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Yuzorah

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