World of Warships Supertest: British Tier IV Battleship Queen Mary

Historical background

HMS Queen Mary was the last battlecruiser commissioned by the Royal Navy before the start of the First World War. The ship was laid down in March 1911, launched in March 1912, and commissioned in September 1913.

While her career was very short, it was still filled with action. The ship first took part in the Battle of Heligoland Bight in August 1914. Her initial role was a supportive one for the cruisers and destroyers. However, later on, she ended up engaging the cruiser SMS Cöln and help in the sinking of SMS Ariadne.
In December 1914, she was deployed in a failed attempt to intercept the German fleet that bombarded the North Sea coast of England. Due to the ship undergoing refit, she would miss the Battle of Dogger Bank but was ready for the Battle of Jutland. Her last battle.

On the 31st of May 1916, in an engagement against the German battlecruiser forces, Queen Mary was hit twice by shots from SMS Derfflinger with one of the hits causing the detonation of both forward magazines, cutting the ship in half. The ship quickly sank and only 18 survivors were recovered.

If you want to learn more about HMS Queen Mary, here is a video from Drachinifel covering it:

In World of Warships, Queen Mary presents the usual attributes of a battlecruiser. She presents weaker belt protection compared to battleships of the same tier as well as thinner bow and stern armor. As compensation, she gets the battlecruiser dispersion and is also quite fast compared to the usual slugs that we get in low tier.

As the cherry on top, Queen Mary, as well as the other British battlecruisers, gets functional underwater torpedo tubes.

Ship’s preview

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
Queen Mary (A)	Propulsion: 75 000 HP	Mk IV mod. 1	343 mm/45 Mk.V on a Mk.II mount	533 mm Mk II
Queen Mary (B)		Mk IV mod. 2

Stock Ship

General Characteristics

Main Armament

4 x 2 343 mm/45 Mk.V on a Mk.II mount
Maximum Firing Range	13.180 km
Reloading Time	30.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	45.0 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	32°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	33°
Sigma	1.5 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	159 m
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 343 mm HE Mk Ia
Alpha Damage	5 050
Penetration capacity	57 mm
Explosion size	2.06
Fire chance	39 %
Projectile Speed	787 m/s
Air Drag	0.423
Projectile Mass	567.0 kg
Type of Projectile	AP – 343 mm AP Mk Ia
Alpha Damage	9 450
Projectile Speed	787 m/s
Air Drag	0.423
Projectile Mass	567.0 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 145
Projectile Detonator	0.015 s
Detonator threshold	57 mm
Ricochet Angles	45° – 60°

Secondary Armament

16 x 1 102 mm/50 BL Mk.VII on a PVI mount
Maximum Firing Range	4.000 km
Reloading Time	7.5 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 102 mm HE Mk II
Alpha Damage	1 500
HE penetration	17 mm
Explosion Size	0.31
Chance to Cause Fire	6 %
Projectile Speed	873 m/s
Air Drag	0.421
Projectile Mass	14.06 kg

Torpedo Armament

Anti-air Armament

Consumables

Slot 1	Slot 2
Damage Control Party Work time: 15 s Cooldown: 80 s	Repair Party Number of charges: 4 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration speed: +0.5%/s Casemate damage regeneration: 50% Citadel damage regeneration: 10%

Fully Upgraded Ship

General Characteristics

Main Armament

4 x 2 343 mm/45 Mk.V on a Mk.II mount
Maximum Firing Range	13.180 km
Reloading Time	30.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	45.0 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	32°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	33°
Sigma	1.5 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	170 m
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 343 mm HE Mk Ia
Alpha Damage	5 050
Penetration capacity	57 mm
Explosion size	2.06
Fire chance	39 %
Projectile Speed	787 m/s
Air Drag	0.423
Projectile Mass	567.0 kg
Type of Projectile	AP – 343 mm AP Mk Ia
Alpha Damage	9 450
Projectile Speed	787 m/s
Air Drag	0.423
Projectile Mass	567.0 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 145
Projectile Detonator	0.015 s
Detonator threshold	57 mm
Ricochet Angles	45° – 60°

Secondary Armament

16 x 1 102 mm/50 BL Mk.VII on a PVI mount
Maximum Firing Range	4.000 km
Reloading Time	7.5 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 102 mm HE Mk II
Alpha Damage	1 500
HE penetration	17 mm
Explosion Size	0.31
Chance to Cause Fire	6 %
Projectile Speed	873 m/s
Air Drag	0.421
Projectile Mass	14.06 kg

Torpedo Armament

Anti-air Armament

Consumables

Slot 1	Slot 2
Damage Control Party Work time: 15 s Cooldown: 80 s	Repair Party Number of charges: 4 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration speed: +0.5%/s Casemate damage regeneration: 50% Citadel damage regeneration: 10%

The Armor

External armor protection:

Front and rear armor protection of the middle section:

Main deck:

Turtleback:

Citadel armor protection:

Turrets armor protection:

Hidden armor protection inside the bow and stern:

Personal Opinion

On paper, Queen Mary looks pretty damn strong compared to other tier IV battleships. She has by a good margin the highest HP pool at this tier, great speed and her firepower is nothing to ignore, especially with the battlecruiser dispersion. In brawling situations, she even gets a little surprise for the enemy with her underwater torpedo tubes.

Thank you for reading this article!

Don’t hesitate to subscribe to our notifications to make sure that you don’t miss any future articles.

Also if you are new to the game or want to get back to it, feel free to use my Recruiting Station code for free goodies such as Premium ships, premium time, and more: https://warships.net/yuzorah

Have a good one and see you soon!

Yuzorah

See author's posts