Supertest: Tier VI Soviet Submarine S-1
3 min read“Alright, today, I have to write the article about the last submarine that received updated stats!”
3 hours later, Wargaming announces that submarines will be around during the next Public Test.
Anyway, let’s now have a look at the last of the tier VI submarines, the Soviet S-1.
The S-class (Stalinets) were submarines built by the Soviet Navy between 1939 and 1942 except the first 3 units built between 1935 and 1936. The class consisted of 56 units split into 3 series. The IX series (from S-1 to S-3) was built using German-supplied machinery while the IX-bis series (from S-4 to S-13, then S-27 to S-56 and also S-101, as well as S-102) was built with domestically produced machinery. Finally, the IX-bis-2 series (from S-14 to S-26, S-39, S-103 and S-104) was introducing various improvements and these submarines were also meant to be faster and cheaper to build.
A fourth series was planned (Project 97) but the beginning of the war put that project on hold.
The S-class were the most successful submarines of the Soviet Navy during the war. In total, they sank 82 770 gross register tons of merchant shipping and seven warships.
S-1 herself was launched on 8 August 1935 and commissioned on 23 September 1936. She mostly served during the Winter War during which she sank the cargo ship Bolsheim.
When Operation Barbarossa started, the ship was docked in Libava, undergoing a major overhaul. On 23 June 1941, since her engines weren’t functional at that time, it was decided to scuttle the submarine to prevent her capture by the Germans.
Just like everything else linked to submarines, it’s work in progress, you know the drill boys and girls.
Hull | Engine | Hydrophone | Torpedoes |
S-1 | Propulsion: 4 000 hp | unlisted | SAET-80 |
Tier | VI |
Health | 8 300 HP |
Displacement | 1 070 tons |
Main Armament (NON-FUNCTIONAL) | |
100 mm B-24-2 | 1 x 1 100 mm |
Torpedo Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 6.600 km |
533-mm | 1 x 4 533 mm at the front 1 x 2 533 mm at the rear |
Maximum speed | 26.3 kts |
Turning Circle Radius | 750 m |
Rudder Shift Time | 5.19 s |
Surface Detectability | 4.5 km |
Air Detectability | 1.65 km |
(What allows submarines in games to see their surroundings below the surface.)
Acoustic wave lifetime | 7 s |
Acoustic wave speed | 1 240 m/s |
Update Frequency | 10 s |
For that section, there are a lot of unknowns since we are dealing with completely new mechanics so more than the others, take it with a truckload of salt.
Battery | |
Battery capacity | 410 |
Speed required to recharge | 1/4 of max speed or less |
Recharge rate | 3.3 (units/seconds?) |
Sonar ping | |
Reload time | 8.0 s |
Wave hit lifetime | 20.0 s |
Wave range | 8.7 km |
Wide ping | |
Width | 1.38 |
Energy cost | 25 |
Ping speed | 53 kts |
Narrow ping | |
Width | 0.55 |
Energy cost | 25 |
Ping speed | 85 kts |
1 x 6 533 mm SAET-80 | |
Reloading Time | 81 s |
Maximum Distance | 8.7 km |
Firing angles at the front | -10° to 10° (4 torpedoes) |
Firing angles at the rear | -10° to 10° (2 torpedoes) |
Damage | 8 640 |
Flooding Chance | 240 % |
Speed | 62 kt |
Surface Detectability | 1.3 km |
Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 |
Damage Control Party Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 40 s | Maximum Depth Number of charges: 3 Work time: 60 s Cooldown: 120 s | Repair Party Number of charges: 3 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration time: 0.5% HP/s |
The armor
The S-1 has just like the others the double-hull configuration with the outer hull being 10 mm thick and the pressure hull is 19 mm thick.
Early observations
In terms of torpedo armament, the S-1 is in the middle of the pack may it be the range, the speed, the flooding chance or the reload. The damage is, however, the lowest of all. Her pings will be the easiest to use thanks to the high speed and the fact that they are the widest but in returns, she has the weakest battery performance with low reserves and a high energy cost per ping.
With all these characteristics as well as the Repair Party, it feels like she will be more about getting the damage in the long run unlike the U-69 with her fast reloading and high damage torpedoes.
She gets the classic Soviet maneuverability so good speed but she is a brick when it comes to turning.
Er, S-cl*** means “Srednaya”, i.e. “medium”. Yes, sometimes they are called “Stalinets”-type, but it is not exactly right.