Supertest: German Tier X Battleship Schlieffen
5 min readHistorical 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
Tier | X |
Health | 70 600 HP |
Torpedo Damage Reduction | 23 % |
Displacement | 50 482 tons |
Dimensions | |
Overall length | 282.0 m |
Beam | 33.6 m |
Overall height (keel to the highest point on the ship) | 30.3 m |
Freeboard | 5.6 m |
Main Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 20.106 km |
420 mm/50 SK L/50 on a Drh LC/1918 mount | 4 x 2 406 mm |
Secondary Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 8.300 km |
150 mm/55 SK C/28 on a Dop. MPL C/36 mount 105 mm/65 SK C/33 on a Dop. L. C/31 mount 105 mm/65 SK C/33 on a Dop. L. C/37 mount | 8 x 2 150 mm 4 x 2 105 mm 8 x 2 105 mm |
Torpedo Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 13.500 km |
533 mm Vierling | 4 x 4 533 mm |
Maximum speed | 34.1 knots |
Turning Circle Radius | 970 m |
Rudder Shift Time | 16.1 s |
Surface Detectability | 16.04 km |
Air Detectability | 13.04 km |
Detectability After Firing Main Guns in Smoke | 15.9 km |
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
4 x 4 533 mm Vierling G7 T1 Ausf.C | |
Reloading Time | 160 s |
Maximum Distance | 13.500 km |
Optimal firing angles at the front | 32° |
Optimal firing angles at the rear | 29° |
Damage | 16 533 |
Flooding Chance | 279% |
Speed | 50 knots |
Surface Detectability | 1.2 km |
Anti-air Armament
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 | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 5.2 km |
Hit chance | 75 % |
Sector’s damage | 66 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 231 |
Flak clouds number | 9 |
Flak cloud damage | 1 540 |
3 x 2 55 mm/77 Gerät 58 on a twin mount | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 4.0 km |
Hit chance | 75 % |
Sector’s damage | 34 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 119 |
12 x 4 30 mm/45 Flakvierling 103/38 | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 3.0 km |
Hit chance | 70 % |
Sector’s damage | 97 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 340 |
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: 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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