Supertest: German Tier X Battleship Schlieffen

Historical background

Sitting at the end of the new German battlecruiser line, the Schlieffen is based on the Schnelle Großekampfschiffe GK 5041. Out of all the known designs, this was the biggest, armed with eight 420 mm guns in four twin turrets in an AB XY configuration and displacing no less than 50 000 tons at standard displacement.

Just like the rest of the previous German battlecruiser designs, this one was canceled at the end of World War I.

If you want, you can learn a bit more about those late World War I battlecruiser designs here.

In World of Warships, we are getting a hypothetic modernized GK 5041 with a revised superstructure, stronger secondary armament, anti-air and also the addition of deck-mounted torpedo launchers.

At this point, I think you know the music. She gets battlecruiser dispersion on her main battery, Massachusetts dispersion on her secondary battery, her 4th turret can turn at 360° and she gets a German Hydroacoustic Search as well as the same Damage Control Party as Soviet Battleships.

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	Torpedoes
Schlieffen	Propulsion: 200 000 HP	‎FKS Typ 10 Mod. 1	420 mm/50 SK L/50 on a Drh LC/1918 mount	‎G7a T1

General Characteristics

Main Armament

4 x 2 420 mm/50 SK L/50 on a Drh LC/1918 mount
Maximum Firing Range	20.106 km
Reloading Time	28.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	30.0 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	34°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	33°
Sigma	1.70 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	217 m
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 420 mm P.Spr.Gr. L/50
Alpha Damage	4 600
Damage	3 900
Penetration capacity	105 mm
Explosion size	2.38
Fire chance	27 %
Projectile Speed	835 m/s
Air Drag	0.244
Projectile Mass	1 050 kg
Type of Projectile	AP – 420 mm Spr.Gr. L/50
Alpha Damage	12 950
Projectile Speed	835 m/s
Air Drag	0.244
Projectile Mass	1 050 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 300
Projectile Detonator	0.033 s
Detonator threshold	70 mm
Ricochet Angles	45° – 60°

Secondary Armament

8 x 2 150 mm/55 SK C/28 on a Dop. MPL C/36 mount
Maximum Firing Range	8.300 km
Reloading Time	6.7 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 150 mm Spr.Gr. L/4.5
Alpha Damage	1 700
Damage	670
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
4 x 2 105 mm/65 SK C/33 on a Dop. L. C/31 mount 8 x 2 105 mm/65 SK C/33 on a Dop. L. C/37 mount
Maximum Firing Range	8.300 km
Reloading Time	3.0 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 105 mm Spr.Gr. Kz.
Alpha Damage	1 200
Damage	330
HE penetration	26 mm
Explosion Size	0.31
Chance to Cause Fire	5 %
Projectile Speed	900 m/s
Air Drag	0.33
Projectile Mass	15.1 kg

Torpedo Armament

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: 120 s Cooldown: 120 s Torpedo spotting range: 4.0 km Ship spotting range: 6.0 km

The Armor

The armor on the Schlieffen is already a lot more promising than on the two previous ships but I really fear that the spots where the casemate-mounted secondaries are located turn into exploitable weaknesses to get AP shells penetrating the hull even when angled. Shells hitting those parts will have absolutely no way to bounce.

The horizontal protection is still garbage buuuut… well you don’t play German Battleships to have something able to resist AP bombs.

External armor protection:

Front and rear armor protection of the middle section:

Hidden deck:

Citadel armor protection:

Turrets armor protection:

Hidden armor protection inside the bow and stern:

Personal Opinion

On paper, the Schlieffen looks alright. The firepower is nothing crazy with the low alpha damage and longer reload time than one would expect with such guns. The AP penetration is also lower than with the 420 mm guns of the Kürfurst.

The survivability will definitely be a major issue with only 4 charges of Repair Party at max and by far the lowest HP pool of all tier X battleships. The armor could compensate but as I said above, there are the 27 mm parts and the casemate secondaries that could prove to be serious weak points.

If anything can come from that ship, it would be the combination of her mobility, secondary armament and concealment.
Fully specced, you could reach 12.5 km secondary firing range and 12.6 km surface spotting range. This would mean that, unless it’s a destroyer or a stealthy cruiser, your secondaries could instantly open up on a target. Considering that it’s secondaries with improved dispersion and that now, we have an actually good secondary buffing skill, this could become really nasty, really fast.

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Yuzorah

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