World of Warships Final Review: Pan-European Tier X Destroyer Gdańsk

Ladies and Gentlemen, with Update 12.4 will begin the early access event for the Pan-European destroyers. As such, it is time to have a look at what is waiting for us and if the new line is anything worth grinding.

Is Gdańsk worth it? Is the combination of a Smoke Generator, Surveillance Radar, and high firepower as busted as it sounds? Here is my opinion.

Historical background

Gdańsk is… awkward. If I got this right, in the World of Warships cinematic universe, Poland decided to order new destroyers to a foreign country and decided to ask France again. It’s a bit odd as for the Grom-class, they ordered them to the British as they favored the contemporary British designs at the time.
The Gdańsk would then be based on the Mogador-class of French Destroyers, keeping the same overall design but with the main battery consisting of three twin turrets with 138.6 mm guns, and instead of a fourth twin turret in Y position like on the Mogador, there is a single 138.6 mm shielded mount for a total of 7 guns. Gdańsk is also much larger than Mogador, being almost 20 m longer and displacing nearly 2 000 tons more.

At some point in the 1950s, the ship would then be modernized with Soviet anti-air mount and torpedo tubes. I guess that it was to replace the French mix of triple and twin wing-mounted launchers but that’s everybody’s guess. As for the massive size increase, I have no idea what could be the reason and by extension, the reason why she has a weaker broadside than Mogador.

In any case, Gdańsk stands at the top of the new Pan-European gunboat line of destroyers.

Ship’s preview

The camouflages

The permanent camouflage of the Gdańsk comes with the standard permanent tier X economy bonuses:

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

During the early access event, a special skin called “Golden Age” can also be obtained and it looks just amazing.

All I can say is… THE GOLDEN AGE WILL RETURN AGAIN!

The Good and the Bad

The Good

• Fast main battery reload
• Great shell ballistics
• High alpha damage per salvo
• The third turret can rotate at 360°
• Fairly short torpedo reload time
• high torpedo speed
• Low torpedo reaction time
• High HP pool
• High ship speed
• Access to a 9.0 km Surveillance Radar with a very short cooldown
• Also access to a Smoke Generator

The Bad

• No AP shells
• Poor firing angles, both at the front and at the rear
• Low torpedo damage per hit
• Low flooding chances
• No long-range anti-air
• Short Surveillance Radar duration
• Short smoke clouds duration
• Poor concealment
• Very large size

Modules

Hull	Engine	Gun Fire Control System	Main battery	Torpedoes
Gdańsk	Propulsion: 92 000 HP	‎SUO Mk 10 Mod. 1	139 mm/50 Mle 1934/1929 on an Mle 1935/1929 mount	‎53-51

General Characteristics and Playstyle

Consumables
Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3	Slot 3
Damage Control Party Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 40 s	Smoke Generator Number of charges: 3 Work time: 20 s Cooldown: 160 s Smoke radius: 450 m Smoke duration: 97 s	Engine Boost Number of charges: 4 Work time: 90 s Cooldown: 90 s Speed bonus: +8%	Surveillance Radar Number of charges: 4 Work time: 10 s Cooldown: 60 s Ship spotting range: 9.0 km

In case someone might have a doubt, Gdańsk and the rest of the new line of European destroyers are, for all intents and purposes, more oriented towards a gunboat playstyle. Gdańsk herself is the overweight Polish cousin of Mogador but unlike Mog, Gdańsk doesn’t go for burst damage thanks to a Main Battery Reload Booster. Instead, she brings up a particularly strong and consistent DPM to kick some asses. Beyond the more reliable main battery, the other large difference with the French destroyers is the fact that Gdańsk does not have the special damage saturation. Combined with the very large size of the ship, this forces you to be more mindful of your engagements as you have a lot less room for mistakes.

In action, the ship is mainly played at medium to long range (or well… long for a destroyer) in order to get the most out of the firepower with the high damage output coupled with comfortable ballistics. This also allows you to limit the fact that the ship is massive and even with the high speed, it is a relatively easy target for people with good aim. However, that doesn’t mean that, when you have the occasion, you shouldn’t get that 9.0 km radar in action and go clap some destroyers.

There is one issue that needs to be addressed and it is the consumable kit of Gdańsk and the other high-tier ships of the line. When it was first announced, a lot of people complained that having both Smoke Generator and Surveillance Radar on a ship with such firepower would be a bad idea.
The ships have been in testing for weeks now and one might wonder if that opinion is unchanged. Personally, I would say yes but actually no.
It is definitely true that allowing a ship with such high firepower to use a combination of smoke and radar can lead to nasty results. However, it isn’t as bad as one would think and it all comes down to the duration of the Surveillance Radar. I will not teach you anything here but 10 seconds is really short unless we are in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. In such a short period of time, you can juuuuust squeeze four salvos out on your side. It gets even worse when you consider allied ships. In their case, it is just a 5 seconds window that gives them, generally speaking, one or two salvos.
So overall, while this combination can be strong in some cases, it still has major limitations.

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

Main Armament

1 x 1 139 mm/50 Mle 1929 on an Mle 1929 mount 3 x 2 139 mm/50 Mle 1934 on an Mle 1935 mount Turret n°3 can rotate at 360°
Maximum Firing Range	12.000 km
Reloading Time	3.7 s
180 Degree Turn Time	18.0 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	43°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	44°
Sigma	2.0 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	105 m
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 139 mm HE OEA Mle 1928
Alpha Damage	2 000
Penetration capacity	23 mm
Explosion size	7.5 m
Fire chance	10 %
Projectile Speed	840 m/s
Air Drag	0.234
Projectile Mass	39.9 kg

Let’s clear something up right away. It utterly sucks that some of the strongest destroyer guns in the game don’t have access to AP shells. However… while looking back at it, I could see the reason considering how strong the firepower already is.

As for the rest, the main battery of the Gdańsk is very impressive compared to other destroyers. It combines both high alpha damage per salvo and short reload time and that is just the beginning. On top of that, since she is using the same guns and shells as the high-tier French destroyers, the ballistics is also one of the best among destroyers. This offers Gdańsk and the others a good capacity to engage targets at medium and long range.

It perfectly fits with the general playstyle of the line, especially for Lambros Katsonis and Gdańsk which are particularly large ships. May it be to curb stomp enemy destroyers or to farm enemy cruisers and battleships, these little beasts will not disappoint you.

There is one thing to keep in mind though and it is the firing angles of Gdańsk. Both at the front and at the rear, they are terrible, forcing the ship to show a significant amount of broadside. Combined with the large size of the ship, if you aren’t careful, this will lead to you taking a lot of damage.

Torpedo Armament

2 x 5 533 mm PTA-53-30 Torped M1947 mod 0
Reloading Time	106 s
Maximum Distance	10.000 km
Optimal firing angles at the front	45°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	48°
Damage	11 200
Flooding Chance	180%
Speed	86 knots
Surface Detectability	1.6 km

The torpedo armament of Gdańsk is a very nice side tool on top of her already great firepower. Just like the torpedoes of the European torpedo-focused destroyers, these torpedoes have low damage per hit and low flooding chances but you can drop them with a very tight spread and they are incredibly fast. Also, the detection range of these torpedoes is lower than those of Halland, giving them a great reaction time of 6.93 seconds.
The reload time is also not bad at all for quintuple launchers, being just 6 seconds worse than Halland.

As a whole, this torpedo armament is nothing that should be ignored, offering great results on top of the already brilliant firepower.

Anti-air Armament

The anti-air of Gdańsk is nothing to write home about. Just like with the French destroyers outside of Marceau, she has no long-range anti-air. Combined with the terrible detection range by air of the ship, it makes her particularly vulnerable to CVs. The situation against submarines is also pretty bad as it gives the guys a lot of room to see you coming if they are at periscope depth.

ASW Armament

Shipborne depth charges
Reloading Time	40 s
Number of charges	2
Number of bombs in payload	12
Damage	2 400
Sink speed	21.5-32.2 m/s
Explosion radius	800 m
Fire chances	10%
Flooding chances	15%

The Armor

External armor protection:

Final Opinion

Gdańsk, while she presents a high skill floor because of the specificities of her kit, is an absolute monster in capable hands. She might be a massive target and the Surveillance Radar only offers a tiny spotting window but MAN does she clap ass cheeks like no tomorrow. This ship is simply an incredibly solid package with high firepower AND high utility. It is a shame that it is so big and has no AP shells but well… you kinda needed something to be bad right?

I am curious to see if she will have uses in competitive considering the short duration of the radar but then again, with the short cooldown and 9.0 km range, I could see her being used.

Recommended Build

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

If you have access to him, Jerzy Świrski with the improved Adrenaline Rush is worth using.

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

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Yuzorah

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