World of Warships Supertest: Tier VIII British Destroyer Lightning
3 min readHMS Lightning was an L-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 22 April 1940 and sunk on 12 March 1943 by German Motor Torpedo Boat S-55.
Ordered under the 1937 Programme and laid down as Job No J4502, Hawthorn Leslie & Co of Newcastle Upon Tyne were awarded the contract to build her with machinery supplied by Parsons. She would be the 10th Royal Navy ship to bear the name Lightning. Build was completed on 28 May 1941 but had been delayed by late delivery of the three twin 4.7-inch mountings required meeting the original design. The tender cost was £440,807 which excluded items such as weapons and communications equipment supplied by the Admiralty.
On 25 March 1942, Lightning was adopted by the Borough of Doncaster as part of a Warship Week National Savings plan. Doncaster and the surrounding boroughs raised over £800,000 in National Savings and effectively paid for the ship. At the same time T/S Lightning was formed in Doncaster for Sea Cadets, that continues to this day.
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Characteristics
| Tier | 8 |
| Hit points | 15 900 HP |
| Main battery | |
| Maximum firing range | 12 210 |
| 120-??/50 QF Mk XI | ?3 x 2 120 mm |
| Torpedo tubes | |
| 533 mm QR Mk IV | ?2 x 4 533 mm |
| Air defense | |
| 120-??/50 QF Mk XI | ?3 x 2 120 mm |
| 20 mm Oerlikon Mk V | ?6 x 2 20 mm |
| 20 mm Oerlikon Mk IV | ?4 x 1 20 mm |
| 40 mm/39 QF Mark VII | ?1 x 4 40 mm |
| Maximum speed | 36.0 |
| Turning radius | 590 |
| Rudder shift time | 4.9 |
| Surface detectability range | 7.02 km |
| Air detectability range | 3.81 km |
| Detectability after firing in smoke | 2.5 km |
| Propulsion | 48 000 hp |
 120-??/50 QF Mk XI | |
| Guns | ?2 x 120 mm |
| Reloading time | 6 s |
| Accuracy | |
| Sigma | 2.00 ? |
| Horizontal Dispersion | 50 |
| Vertical Spread | 110 |
| Traverse Speed | 10 |
| Vertical traverse rate | 10 |
| Type of projectile | HE |
| Alpha damage | 1 700 |
| Damage | 520 |
| Alpha piercing HE | 20 |
| Explosion size | 0.41 |
| Burn prob | 0.09 |
| Projectile speed | 774 m/s |
| Air drag | 0.343 |
| Projectile mass | 28.12 |
| Projectile krupp | 480 |
| Type of projectile | AP |
| Alpha damage | 2 200 |
| Damage | 0 |
| Alpha piercing HE | 0 |
| Explosion size | 0 |
| Burn prob | -0.5 |
| Projectile speed | 774 m/s |
| Air drag | 0.343 |
| Projectile mass | 28.12 |
| Projectile krupp | 2 300 |
 533 mm QR Mk IV | |
| Torpedoes | ?4?x?533?mm |
| Reloading time | 96 |
| Traverse Speed | 25 |
| Vertical traverse rate | 25 |
| Torpedo angles | 4.8 – 16 |
| Arming time | 1 |
| Alpha damage | 44 300 |
| Maximum Damage | 15 867 |
| Alpha piercing HE | 1 000 |
| Speed | 61 kt |
| Max distance | 8.0?km |
| Surface detectability range | 1.3 km |
| Alert distance | 100 |
| Explosion size | 1.2 |
| UW Critical | 2.65 |
| Running depth | 2.10?m |
Instead of choosing between wide and narrow spreads, captains can choose to fire off individual torpedoes or expend the entire launcher at once.
| 120-??/50 QF Mk XI (?3?x?2 120?mm?) | |
| Antiair aura | 0.15 |
| Maximum firing range | 4.5?km |
| Reloading time | 5 s |
| 20 mm Oerlikon Mk V (?6?x?2 20?mm?) | |
| Antiair aura | 0.37 |
| Maximum firing range | 2.0?km |
| Reloading time | 0.5 s |
| 20 mm Oerlikon Mk IV (?4?x?1 20?mm?) | |
| Antiair aura | 0.14 |
| Maximum firing range | 2.0?km |
| Reloading time | 0.5 s |
| 40 mm/39 QF Mark VII (?1?x?4 40?mm?) | |
| Antiair aura | 0.13 |
| Maximum firing range | 2.5?km |
| Reloading time | 0.5 s |
 ?Damage Control Party I |  ?Smoke Generator I |  ?Engine Boost I |
 ?Damage Control Party II |  ?Smoke Generator II |  ?Engine Boost II |
 ?Hydroacoustic Search I | ||
 ?Hydroacoustic Search II |
