World of Warships Final Review: Dutch Tier X Freemium Destroyer Tromp

It had to arrive at some point, we are getting our first destroyer able to use the Dutch airstrikes. My little finger tells me that once we get a Dutch destroyer line, they will also get airstrikes but we aren’t there yet.

When it comes to Tromp, the ship will be available at first during a special event. She will cost up to 38 450 doubloons but you can get a discount by spending free XP with the maximum 50% discount requiring 1 000 000 free XP. After that, with the release of Update 0.11.11., she will become available for 238 000 Coal.

Historical background

The Tromp-class was a pair of flotilla leaders (Tromp and Jacob van Heemskerck), intended to lead a squadron of destroyers. Tromp was laid down in January 1936, launched in May 1937, and commissioned in August 1938.

At the start of World War II, the ship was primarily deployed in patrols and escort duties as part of the Netherlands East Indies Squadron. Due to the rising concerns about war with Japan, tensions increased in the region, and in November 1941, Tromp was charged to look for Vichy France merchant ships. Later that year, she was used to help research the missing HMAS Sydney (which turned out to have been sunk by the German raider Kormoran).

The opening of the war in the Pacific started badly for Tromp, being hit eleven times by the Japanese destroyers Asashio while only being able to score two hits on her and Oshio. Tromp was quickly patched up and brought back into service in May 1942. For the rest of the war, she mostly took part in convoy escort with some more exciting moments such as Operation Crimson in April and May 1944. Her final action in the war was her assistance in the recapture of Borneo from the Japanese by bombarding their positions before allied landings.

After the war, the ship was used to ship back home former prisoners-of-war before undergoing a massive refit from May 1946 until mid-1948. She would spend the rest of her career as a training or accommodation ship before being decommissioned in 1955 and later scrapped in 1969.

In World of Warships, Tromp appears as she was at the end of the Second World War. She is the first destroyer in the game able to use Dutch airstrikes.

Ship’s preview

Ship’s commemorative flag

The camouflages

The permanent camouflage of Tromp comes with the standard permanent tier X economic bonuses:

• +50% Credits
• +100% XP
• +100% Commander XP
• +100% Free XP

The Good and the Bad

The Good

• High HP pool
• Solid main battery DPM
• Good ballistics
• Good base firing range for a destroyer
• 30 mm HE shell penetration
• Fast torpedo reload
• Torpedos with high firing range
• Access to airstrikes
• Airstrikes with a shorter-than-normal drop time
• Small drop area for the bombs
• Good concealment
• Access to the Emergency Engine Power consumable.

The Bad

• Slow turret traverse
• Poor firing angles at the rear
• Only three torpedoes per side
• Low flooding chances
• Bombs with low penetration
• Terrible anti-air
• Low maximum speed
• Loses a lot of speed when turning
• No Smoke Generator or Repair Party
• Internal armor protection leading to more penetration hits from AP shells

Modules

Hull	Engine	Gun Fire Control System	Main battery	Torpedoes
Tromp	Propulsion: 56 000 HP	‎SUO Mk 10 Mod. 1	150 mm/50 Mk.11 on a Mk.11 mount	53,3-cm torpeda

General Characteristics and Playstyle

Consumables
Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3
Damage Control Party Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 40 s	Emergency Engine Power Number of charges: 4 Work time: 60 s Cooldown: 100 s Bonus: +25% speed	Defensive AA Fire Number of charges: 3 Work time: 40 s Cooldown: 80 s Continuous Damage: +50% Damage from shell explosions: +300%

Saying that Tromp is (at least for now) a one-of-a-kind destroyer is an understatement. While in essence, it is a gunboat destroyer, she happens to be the first destroyer to have access to the Durch airstrikes.

When it comes to the gunboat part, there isn’t much novelty. Tromp is able to sling HE down range with a consistent and fairly good DPM. While her ballistics allow her to engage targets at any range, she is, however, limited by the fact that she is quite a sluggish destroyer. As such, I would recommend sticking to opening fire when the Emergency Engine Power is available. Otherwise, because of her lack of agility and relatively large size, she ends up being quite an easy target.

Beyond being a gunboat, Tromp’s main source of damage is, in my opinion, her airstrikes. Thanks to her good concealment and the 10 km range, it is overall easy to get them into action. However, you need to be mindful of when to use them so that you can maximize fire damage and capitalize on enemy ships using their Damage Control Party. The biggest problem of Tromp is that, due to her relying quite heavily on her airstrikes combined with her poor mobility, she can easily be zoned out by enemy gunboat destroyers or radar cruisers. Her lack of speed and defensive consumables just offer no room for mistakes in that regard. Also, in a soooooooomewhat similar situation to the Pan-Asian cruisers, having the enemy kiting away constantly will make it problematic as you don’t have the speed to quickly catch up with them. If you don’t have to worry about any of these issues though, Tromp will definitely deliver. If there is nothing to dislodge her, the damage she can get from her airstrikes can offer some nasty results.

If you want to see the ship in action, here is a replay of one of my games:

Main Armament

3 x 2 150 mm/50 Mk.11 on a Mk.11 mount
Maximum Firing Range	13.260 km
Reloading Time	5.2 s
180 Degree Turn Time	18.0 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	31°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	42°
Sigma	2.0 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	114 m
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 150 mm Brisantgranaat
Alpha Damage	2 150
Penetration capacity	30 mm
Explosion size	8.55 m
Fire chance	11 %
Projectile Speed	900 m/s
Air Drag	0.284
Projectile Mass	46.0 kg
Type of Projectile	AP – 150 mm Pantsergranaat
Alpha Damage	3 000
Projectile Speed	900 m/s
Air Drag	0.288
Projectile Mass	46.7 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 200
Projectile Detonator	0.025 s
Detonator threshold	25 mm
Ricochet Angles	45° – 60°

Throughout her testing, the main battery of Tromp went through some substantial buffs. Now that she is final, I can honestly say that her main battery is showing satisfying performances. In terms of HE DPM, she nearly reaches 150 000 which is more than the likes of Delny or Kléber without the Main Battery Reload Booster active. Not only that, but she also has a much better effective damage output thanks to the 30 mm penetration granted to her by the 152 mm guns she carries. This gives her the capacity to hurt cruisers much more effectively other than trying to get on their broadside with AP.
On top of that, she also gets good ballistics which allows her to reliably hit targets at any engagement range, especially destroyers.

The AP is nothing to ignore though. Since these are 150 mm guns, the penetration is pretty good and switching to AP on broadside cruisers and battleships is to be considered.

However, due to Tromp’s overall sluggishness, you need to choose wisely when and where to use those guns outside of fighting other destroyers. With her size, while her damage output is good, she also tends to take a fair bit of damage in return.

Torpedo Armament

2 x 3 53,3-cm drievoudigde torpedobuis 53,3-cm torpeda
Reloading Time	70 s
Maximum Distance	12.000 km
Optimal firing angles at the front	25°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	30°
Damage	13 700
Flooding Chance	227%
Speed	64 knots
Surface Detectability	1.3 km

The torpedo armament of Tromp, while it is quite limited because of the low number of torpedoes, is still appreciable to have. Thanks to their fast reload and long range, they end up being effective area deniers. Also, their reaction time is pretty low.

Airstrikes

Airstrike bombers – ‎Fokker T.V.
Range	1.500 – 10.000 km
Number of charges	2
Reload time	40 s
Hitpoints per plane	2 200
Aircraft per squadron	12
Bomb type	P.u.W 25 kg
Bombs per plane	6
Maximum bomb damage	3 700
HE penetration capacity	20 mm
Explosion size	6.75 m
Fire chance	21 %

The airstrikes of Tromp are a bit different from those you might be used to with the Dutch cruisers. First of all, compared to them, Tromp’s bombs fall incredibly fast once you reach the drop area. This makes it much easier to land them on maneuvering targets. Due to the drop area being also quite small, if you properly aim her bombs, you will be rewarded accordingly with the only real room for RNG being the fires.

However, while the bombs drop fast and on a small area, the penetration is low. With only 20 mm of penetration, you will be forced to aim for superstructures. Alternatively, you will simply aim for spots free of any fire on your target.
For destroyers camping in smoke and for British light cruisers, these airstrikes can lead to rather disgusting results with their tight drop.

Finally, as the last cherry on top, the reload is very short, going down to 48 seconds without counting Adrenaline rush. As a whole, while her firepower is nothing to ignore, Tromp is more of an airstrike platform.

Anti-air Armament

The anti-air of Tromp is horrible, especially when considering how large and clumsy the ship is. She has no long-range anti-air which means no flak barrage and the DPS is nowhere near sufficient to compensate for the limited AA range. Due to her lack of a Smoke Generator, Repair Party, or mobility, facing carriers with this ship is particularly painful.

The Armor

For some reason, Tromp has internal armor and not just one or two hidden plates. Here, we are talking about a fully shaped citadel. My personal theory is that the ship was initially intended as a low-tier cruiser but it is impossible to get any real evidence of that.

The problem is that this additional armor doesn’t help her at all as it will make it much easier for the enemy shooting AP shells to get penetration hits.

External armor protection:

Internal armor protection:

Final Opinion

Tromp is a bit tricky to rate. She is definitely not bad but she is very situational when it comes to getting a proper game impact. There are many things that, more than with other destroyers, can hard-block her from getting into action. With her lack of maneuverability or defensive consumables; carriers, radars, and strong gunboat destroyers can make her life a true nightmare.

However, if you are able to work around these, she is definitely able to deliver and offer a very unique gameplay. I wouldn’t really recommend spending doubloons on her though considering how fast she will become available for coal.

Recommended Build

For the Tromp, I recommend the following commander build and upgrades:

Alternatively, you can take Main Battery and AA Specialist or even Fill the tubes instead of Superintendent.

This concludes my review of Tromp. Thank you for reading this article!

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Yuzorah

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