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World of Warships: Friesland Review

5 min read

The first ship of the Dutch Navy is now in World of Warships for 1 000 000 Free XP. The HNLMS Friesland and her fast-firing guns are waiting for you Ladies and Gentlemen!

Tier IX Pan-European Freemium Destroyer Friesland: Warthog-land

WG_SPB_WoWS_TechRender_Frisland_2560x1440_EN.jpg

Her permanent camouflage gives the standard Tier IX permanent camouflage bonuses:

Friesland.png

The Good and the Bad

The Good

  • 1.8 second base reload time
  • Turrets able to turn at 360°
  • Great AA power
  • U.S. destroyer type of smoke
  • Hydroacoustic Search and Defensive AA

The Bad

  • No torpedoes
  • Relatively slow for a destroyer and no Engine boost
  • Bad concealment for a destroyer

My opinion

The Friesland is quite a unique destroyer. It is, in fact, the very first destroyer that doesn’t have any torpedo armament. You might think that this is terrible. Well, for blocking that one angry battleship from charging you, yes it is. However, that lack of torpedoes is compensated by the fastest firing main batteries of the game.

Long story short, All hail our Lord and Savior Bofors! 

Health pool

Now, before looking at the guns, let’s first talk about the health pool. The Friesland’s HP pool is somewhat disappointing for a ship of that size with only 17 600 HP. It is, of course, still respectable but one could have hoped for 1 000 more HP.
Coupled with the large size of the ship, you need to be careful and avoid those big volleys that can cripple you for an entire game.

Main batteries

shot-19.09.25_18.34.24-0232.jpg

Main Battery
2 x 2 120 mm/50 Bofors No.10
Maximum Firing Range12.350 km
 Reloading Time1.8 s
180 Degree Turn Time6.0 s
Optimal front firing angle
30°
Optimal rear firing angle35°
Sigma2.00 sigma
Maximum Dispersion 108 m
Shells
Type of Projectile HE – 120 mm brisantgranaat M/50
Alpha Damage1 750 HP
Damage490 HP
Penetration capacity 19 mm
Explosion size0.4
Fire chance8 %
Projectile Speed825 m/s
Air Drag0.322
Projectile Mass23.5
Projectile Detonator0.001 s
Type of ProjectileAP – pantserprojectiel M/50
Alpha Damage2 100 HP
Projectile Speed825 m/s
Air Drag0.322
Projectile Mass23.5
Projectile Krupp2 400
Projectile Detonator0.01 s

BEHOLD MY CHILDREN! Witness the glory of our Lord Bofors!

The main batteries of the Friesland are, with her anti-air, the bread and butter of the ship. Even though the ship only has 4 guns, thanks to their very fast reload of 1.8 seconds (which goes down to 1.4 seconds with the appropriate build) they deliver an amazing damage output. The fire chance also helps a lot with 8 % chance to cause a fire. Quite an impressive value for these guns.

Now, let’s clear out something. While these guns are very effective to fight destroyers because of the fast reload, do not try to actively hunt them as it was advertised. The ship is just too sluggish and her concealment doesn’t help either. Enemy destroyers just have way too much time to react once they spot you to hunt them effectively (of course, unless it’s something like a French destroyer for example). HOWEVER, she is very good at farming damage on battleships and cruisers. You are chewing on their superstructure with your peashooters while setting a few fires along the way. If you ask me, the ship is pretty good to farm Witherers.

The torpedo armament

Ah right… There is none. another rule to follow with this ship. Don’t be too aggressive and get close to the enemy. If they decide to charge you, the only things you have are your guns. Alternatively, you can slam your ship into theirs…

Keep a safe distance to avoid being in a situation in which you are 6 km away from a German battleship that has a secondary build.

The anti-air armament

shot-19.09.25_18.54.57-0882.jpg

Air Defense
2 x 2 120 mm/50 Bofors No.10
Sector range0.1 km – 6.0 km
Hit chance100 %
Sector’s damage42
Sector’s damage frequency0.29 s
Sector’s damage per second147
Flak clouds number6
Flak cloud damage1 820
6 x 1 40 mm70 Bofors SP48
Sector range0.1 km – 3.5 km
Hit chance100 %
Sector’s damage60
Sector’s damage frequency0.29 s
Sector’s damage per second210

WITNESS MY CHILDREN!!!! No ok, I will stop with that…

You remember the fact that the Smolensk’s anti-air is brutal? Well, Friesland is relatively close to her. She has by far the best anti-air of any destroyer. Tier VIII carriers will have a very bad day and Tier X ones will also have a bad surprise.

You can also have a view on the quadruple 375 mm mortar launchers at the front of the 2 40 mm Bofors mounts. My hand to cut that these will make of the Friesland a fantastic submarine hunter when they will join the game. After all, it was the original goal of the ship when the class was built.

Maneuverability and Concealment

Maneuverability and Concealment
Maximum speed36 kt
Turning Circle Radius620 m
Rudder Shift Time4.0 s
Surface Detectability8.18 km
Air Detectability2.9 km
Detectability After Firing Main Gus in Smoke2.97 km

The Friesland is not really shining on that department. She is only able to reach a 36 knots top speed (37.8 knots with the Sierra Mike flag) and she lacks the Engine boost consumable. The maneuverability is decent but it is not great either.

For the concealment, as I said before, it is really far from good. With a full concealment build, you can only reach 6.4 km concealment by sea (but 2.3 km detectability by air which is pretty good). This gives to most enemy destroyers plenty of time to react when they spot you and you can’t just smoke up and use your hydroacoustic to catch them like that. You can, of course, use that consumable combination to setup up an ambush against enemy destroyers but that’s pretty much it.

The armor

shot-19.09.25_19.28.41-0821.jpg

The Friesland has the classic 19 mm plating that is present on almost all high tier destroyers. The superstructure is 13 mm thick and the turrets are only protected by 6 mm of armor.

The consumables

Consumables
Slot 1
Slot 2
Slot 3
Slot 4
Work time: 5 s
Cooldown: 60 s

Number of charges: 2
Work time: 30 s
Cooldown: 240 s
Life time: 127 s
Smoke radius: 450 m
Number of charges: 2
Work time: 40 s
Cooldown: 120 s
Number of charges: 2
Work time: 100 s
Cooldown: 180 s
Torpedo spotting range: 3.5 km
Ship spotting range: 5.0 km
Work time: 5 s
Cooldown: 40 s
Number of charges: 3
Work time: 30 s
Cooldown: 160 s
Life time: 127 s
Smoke radius: 450 m

Number of charges: 3
Work time: 40 s
Cooldown: 80 s
Number of charges: 3
Work time: 100 s
Cooldown: 120 s
Torpedo spotting range: 3.5 km
Ship spotting range: 5.0 km

Conclusion

The Friesland is a very unique destroyer that compensates her lack of torpedoes by amazing firepower and anti-air. While she cannot actively hunt destroyers, she is a very good damage dealer and her set of consumables can also allow her to play a more defensive role near capture points to ambush unaware enemy destroyers.

Is she worth 1 000 000 Free XP? She definitely is. Now after that, you do have the problem of getting a good captain for her unless you already have a spare Blyskawica captain around.

Recommended build

During the testing of the Friesland, I used the following captain build and upgrades:

Friesland.png

Captain build:

  • Priority Target
  • Adrenaline Rush
  • Last Stand
  • Basic Firing Training
  • Survivability Expert
  • Concealment Expert
  • Advanced Firing Training

Upgrades:

  • Icon_modernization_PCM030_MainWeapon_Mod_I.png Main Armaments Modification 1
  • Wows_icon_modernization_PCM021_Engine_Mod_I.png Propulsion Modification 1 or Wows_icon_modernization_PCM041_SonarSearch_Mod_I.png Hydroacoustic Search Modification 1
  • Wows_icon_modernization_PCM033_Guidance_Mod_I.png Aiming Systems Modification 1 or Icon_modernization_PCM018_AirDefense_Mod_III.png AA Guns Modification 1
  • Wows_icon_modernization_PCM024_Engine_Mod_II.png Propulsion Modification 2
  • Concealment_System_Mod_1.png Concealment System Modification 1
  • Wows_icon_modernization_PCM013_MainGun_Mod_III.png Main Battery Modification 3

Last words

This wraps up my review of the Friesland. If things go as planned, she will be soon available for a giveaway on our official Discord so stay tuned. On this, see you later!

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