World of Warships Supertest: French Tier VII Premium Cruiser Toulon

Historical background

Toulon is based on a design of French battlecruiser from the late 1920s. The “Croiseur de bataille de 17 500 tonnes” was made to counter the treaty cruiser from the Regia Marina, such as the Trento-class heavy cruisers. To fulfill its mission of cruiser killer, the planned armament was a main battery of eight 305 mm in two quadruple turrets superfiring at the front. The maximum speed was meant to be 35 knots which, combined with the position of the main battery, would have been perfect to chase enemy cruisers. Finally, the protection was also putting an emphasis on countering enemy 203 mm guns with an estimated main belt thickness of 150 to 180 mm.

With the arrival of the German Deutschland-class, the project was abandoned due to its vulnerability against the German 283 mm guns. There were multiple follow-on projects that would result in the construction of the Dunkerque-class.

In World of Warships, Toulon represents quite decently what we know of the 17 500 tons design except for the speed that was significantly reduced. Sadly, no real blueprint is available because the French archives are an absolute mess. The odd and disappointing choice from Wargaming is that they gave Toulon the same guns are the tier IV battleship Courbet while much more modern 305 mm guns would have been expected.

As of right now, Toulon is equipped with a Main Battery Reload Booster and is one of the few cruisers at tier VII with a Repair Party. Also, unlike the other French cruisers, she doesn’t have an Engine Boost. For what it’s worth, her secondaries, just like for the other French battlecruisers, have the same dispersion as the secondaries of Massachusetts and the likes of Schlieffen.

Ship’s preview

Ship’s commemorative flag

Ship’s camouflage

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
‎Toulon	Propulsion: 147 000 HP	‎‎PCA n° 7 Mle 1	305 mm/45 Mle 1910 in a turret

General Characteristics

Main Armament

2 x 4 305 mm/45 Mle 1910 in a turret
Maximum Firing Range	16.770 km
Reloading Time	28.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	40.0 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	0°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	34°
Sigma	1.90 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	189 m
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 305 mm HE OEA Mle 1910
Alpha Damage	4 050
Penetration capacity	51 mm
Explosion size	1.44
Fire chance	17 %
Projectile Speed	905 m/s
Air Drag	0.54
Projectile Mass	308.0 kg
Type of Projectile	AP – 305 mm AP OPf Mle 1910
Alpha Damage	8 000
Projectile Speed	798 m/s
Air Drag	0.52
Projectile Mass	395.0 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 300
Projectile Detonator	0.033 s
Detonator threshold	51 mm
Ricochet Angles	45° – 60°

Secondary Armament

2 x 3 155 mm/50 Mle 1920 on an Mle 1927 mount
Maximum Firing Range	6.300 km
Reloading Time	9.0 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 155 mm HE OEA Mle 1920
Alpha Damage	2 200
HE penetration	26 mm
Explosion Size	0.59
Chance to Cause Fire	11 %
Projectile Speed	870 m/s
Air Drag	0.34
Projectile Mass	59.0 kg
6 x 2 100 mm/45 Mle 1930 on an Mle 1931 mount
Maximum Firing Range	6.300 km
Reloading Time	4.0 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 100 mm HE OEA Mle 1928
Alpha Damage	1 400
HE penetration	17 mm
Explosion Size	0.29
Chance to Cause Fire	6 %
Projectile Speed	780 m/s
Air Drag	0.314
Projectile Mass	13.5 kg

Anti-air Armament

Consumables

Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3	Slot 4	Slot 5
Damage Control Party Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 60 s	Defensive AA Fire Number of charges: 3 Work time: 40 s Cooldown: 80 s Damage from continuous DPS: +50% Damage from flak explosions: +300%	Fighter Number of charges: 3 Work time: 60 s Cooldown: 90 s Number of fighters: 3 Patrol radius: 3.0 km	Main Battery Reload Booster Number of charges: 3 Work time: 15 s Cooldown: 60 s Effect: -50% Main battery reload time	Repair Party Number of charges: 3 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration speed: +0.5%/s Casemate damage regeneration: 50% Citadel damage regeneration: 10%
	Hydroacoustic Search Number of charges: 3 Work time: 100 s Cooldown: 120 s Torpedo spotting range: 3.0 km Ship spotting range: 4.0 km

The Armor

External armor protection:

Front and rear armor protection of the middle section:

Turtleback:

Citadel armor protection:

Turrets armor protection:

Hidden main armor deck:

Hidden armor protection inside the stern:

Personal Opinion

Right now, Toulon looks honestly underwhelming. From the start, her firepower is lacking with a combined very long reload time and weak projectiles. Both the HE and AP have horrible ballistics, mostly due to the 0.52 air drag which is equivalent to having parachutes behind the shells. The HE deals a disappointing amount of damage and the fire chances are also bad for 305 mm shells. The AP is particularly concerning because it has literally the same penetration as the AP shells of New Orleans but with far worse ballistics and without the improved penetration angles.

The capacity to tank damage isn’t really there either because of the 16 mm bow and stern as well as the large freeboard of the ship.

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!

About Author

Yuzorah

See author's posts