War Thunder Wiki - User contributions [en]

Opytny

2024-02-06T21:11:05Z

U49295956: spelling correction

{{Specs-Card
|code=ussr_destroyer_pr45
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg}}
}}

== Description ==

The '''{{Specs|name}}''' was a Soviet Project 45-class destroyer. She was the only Project 45 ship built, and the first indigenously designed Soviet destroyer. Opytny was laid down on 26th June 1935 and commissioned on 11th September 1941. Originally she was named Sergo Ordzhonikidze, but was subsequently renamed Opytny in 1940. Due to issues with her boilers, she was not suited for fleet operations, but the German attack on the Soviet Union caused her to be accepted into service. She was assigned to the Baltic Fleet and saw a limited career as a floating battery during the Siege of Leningrad. She was taken out of service in March 1944 and scrapped in 1953.

Opytny was introduced in [[Update "Kings of Battle"]]. As the main armament is manually driven, the turrets suffer from poor traverse speed rendering these difficult when switching targets. The guns itself are also protected only by 13 mm thick antifragmentation armour covering sides, front and top side. As with most destroyers from other navies as well, Opytny features unarmoured magazines above waterline, which will lead to fatal explosion when hit. Unlike the [[Pr.7 (Family)|Project 7]] class, the propulsion elements are split in pairs, so a single hit cannot completely immobilize the ship.

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Armour}}

''Talk about the vehicle's armour. Note the most well-defended and most vulnerable zones, e.g. the ammo magazine. Evaluate the composition of components and assemblies responsible for movement and manoeuvrability. Evaluate the survivability of the primary and secondary armaments separately. Don't forget to mention the size of the crew, which plays an important role in fleet mechanics. Save tips on preserving survivability for the "Usage in battles" section. If necessary, use a graphical template to show the most well-protected or most vulnerable points in the armour.''

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Mobility}}

''Write about the ship's mobility. Evaluate its power and manoeuvrability, rudder rerouting speed, stopping speed at full tilt, with its maximum forward and reverse speed.''

{{NavalMobility}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armament ==
{{Specs-Fleet-Armaments}}
=== Primary armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Primary}}

{{main|B-13 (130 mm)}}

''Provide information about the characteristics of the primary armament. Evaluate their efficacy in battle based on their reload speed, ballistics and the capacity of their shells. Add a link to the main article about the weapon: <code><nowiki>{{main|Weapon name (calibre)}}</nowiki></code>. Broadly describe the ammunition available for the primary armament, and provide recommendations on how to use it and which ammunition to choose.''

{{:B-13 (130 mm)/Ammunition|130 mm OF-46 HE, 130 mm PB-46A SAPBC, 130 mm ZS-46R HE-VT}}

=== Secondary armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Secondary}}

{{main|45 mm/46 21-K (45 mm)}}

''Some ships are fitted with weapons of various calibres. Secondary armaments are defined as weapons chosen with the control <code>Select secondary weapon</code>. Evaluate the secondary armaments and give advice on how to use them. Describe the ammunition available for the secondary armament. Provide recommendations on how to use them and which ammunition to choose. Remember that any anti-air armament, even heavy calibre weapons, belong in the next section. If there is no secondary armament, remove this section.''

{{:45 mm/46 21-K (45 mm)/Ammunition|45 mm OR-73A HET, 45 mm BR-240}}

=== Anti-aircraft armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-AA}}

{{main|37 mm/67 70-K (37 mm)|DShK (12.7 mm)|AN-M2 (12.7 mm)}}

''An important part of the ship's armament responsible for air defence. Anti-aircraft armament is defined by the weapon chosen with the control <code>Select anti-aircraft weapons</code>. Talk about the ship's anti-air cannons and machine guns, the number of guns and their positions, their effective range, and about their overall effectiveness – including against surface targets. If there are no anti-aircraft armaments, remove this section.''

=== Additional armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Additional}}

{{main|53-38 (533 mm)}}

''Describe the available additional armaments of the ship: depth charges, mines, torpedoes. Talk about their positions, available ammunition and launch features such as dead zones of torpedoes. If there is no additional armament, remove this section.''

== Usage in battles ==

''Describe the technique of using this ship, the characteristics of her use in a team and tips on strategy. Abstain from writing an entire guide – don't try to provide a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought. Talk about the most dangerous opponents for this vehicle and provide recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of playing with this vehicle in various modes (AB, RB, SB).''

=== Pros and cons ===

''Summarise and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in the bulleted list. Try not to use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - use substitutions with softer forms such as "inadequate" and "effective".''

'''Pros:'''

*

'''Cons:'''

*

== History ==

''Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ship in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the ship and adding a block "/History" (example: <nowiki>https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Ship-name)/History</nowiki>) and add a link to it here using the <code>main</code> template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <code><nowiki><ref></ref></nowiki></code>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <code><nowiki><references /></nowiki></code>. This section may also include the ship's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under <code><nowiki>=== In-game description ===</nowiki></code>, also if applicable).''

== Media ==

''Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.''

== See also ==

''Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:''

* ''reference to the series of the ship;''
* ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.''

== External links ==

''Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:''

* ''topic on the official game forum;''
* ''other literature.''

{{ShipManufacturer Zhdanov Shipyard}}
{{USSR destroyers}}

AIM-9L Sidewinder

2023-10-19T04:07:58Z

U49295956: Only all aspect sidewinder > first all aspect sidewinder, to account for aim-9m

{{About
| about = American air-to-air missile '''{{PAGENAME}}'''
| usage = other versions
| link = AIM-9 Sidewinder (Family)
}}
== Description ==

[[File:WeaponImage AIM-9L Sidewinder.png|thumb|left|420px|The AIM-9L Sidewinder missile (scale is approximate)]]
{{Break}}
The '''{{PAGENAME}}''' is an American [[Air-to-air_missiles#Infrared_homing_.28heat-seeking.29_missiles|infrared homing air-to-air missile]], it was introduced in [[Update 1.85 "Supersonic"]].

The AIM-9L entered service in 1977 as the first Sidewinder with all-aspect capabilities. It was first used by a pair of F-14 Tomcats in 1981, successfully destroying two Libyan Su-22s. Its first large scale usage was by the United Kingdom during the Falklands War, with an 80% launch-to-kill ratio.

=== Vehicles equipped with this weapon ===


{{Navigation-Start|Vehicles equipped with this weapon}}

{{Navigation-First-Line|'''Jet fighters'''}}
{{Navigation-Line|F-104}}{{Specs-Link|f-104s_asa}}
{{Navigation-Line|F-4 Phantom II}}{{Specs-Link|f-4e_kurnass_2000}}{{-}}{{Specs-Link|f-4ej_kai}}
{{Navigation-Line|F-14}}{{Specs-Link|f_14b}}
{{Navigation-Line|F-16}}{{Specs-Link|f_16a_block_10}}{{-}}{{Specs-Link|f_16a_block_15_adf}}{{-}}{{Specs-Link|f_16a_block_15_adf_italy}}{{-}}{{Specs-Link|f_16a_block_20_mlu}}{{-}}{{Specs-Link|f_16aj}}{{-}}{{Specs-Link|f_16c_block_50}}{{-}}{{Specs-Link|f_16a_block_10_iaf}}{{-}}{{Specs-Link|f_16d_block_40_barak_2}}
{{Navigation-Line|Tornado}}{{Specs-Link|tornado_f3}}{{-}}{{Specs-Link|tornado_adv}}

{{Navigation-Line|'''Strike aircraft'''}}{{Specs-Link|a_6e_tram}}{{-}}{{Specs-Link|a_7k}}
{{Navigation-Line|A-10}}{{Specs-Link|a_10a_early}}{{-}}{{Specs-Link|a_10a_late}}
{{Navigation-Line|Harrier}}{{Specs-Link|harrier_gr7}}{{-}}{{Specs-Link|harrier_frs1}}{{-}}{{Specs-Link|harrier_frs1_early}}{{-}}{{Specs-Link|av_8b_plus_italy}}
{{Navigation-Line|Tornado}}{{Specs-Link|tornado_gr1}}{{-}}{{Specs-Link|tornado_ids_de_mfg}}{{-}}{{Specs-Link|tornado_ids_de_assta1}}{{-}}{{Specs-Link|tornado_ids_it_mod95}}

{{Navigation-Line|'''Attack helicopters'''}}{{Specs-Link|ah_1z}}
{{Navigation-Line|AH-64}}{{Specs-Link|ah_64a}}{{-}}{{Specs-Link|ah_64a_greece_usa}}

{{Navigation-End}}

== General info ==

The AIM-9L variant is the first Sidewinder since the AIM-9B to be jointly used by the USAF and the USN, and was jointly developed by the two branches as well. It is directly based on the USN AIM-9H, but features improvements utilized in the USAF AIM-9J, including a new radar-slavable uncaged seeker head. It features an intermediary payload between the two previous branches of Sidewinder, and an intermediary weight.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan="2" | Missile characteristics
|-
| '''Mass''' || 84.46 kg
|-
| '''Guidance''' || IR
|-
| '''Aspect''' || All-aspects
|-
| '''Lock range (rear-aspect)''' || 11 km
|-
| '''Lock range (all-aspect)''' || 3 km
|-
| '''Launch range''' || 18 km
|-
| '''Maximum speed''' || 2.5 M
|-
| '''Maximum overload''' || 30 G
|-
| '''Missile guidance time''' || 60 secs
|-
| '''Explosive mass''' || 4.58 kg TNTeq
|-
|}

=== Effective damage ===
''Describe the type of damage produced by this type of missile (high explosive, splash damage, etc)''

=== Comparison with analogues ===

Compared to every other Sidewinder in-game, it has a high maximum overload of 30 G, a motor burn time identical to the naval Sidewinders, a slightly longer rear-aspect lock range, and is the first Sidewinder to feature all-aspect IR lock, although front-aspect locks are very vulnerable to flares.

{| class="wikitable"
! Missile Characteristics !! AIM-9L !! AIM-9H !! AIM-9J
|-
| '''Mass''' || 84 kg || 88 kg || 76 kg
|-
| '''Guidance''' || IR || IR || IR
|-
| '''Aspect''' || All-aspect || Rear || Rear
|-
| '''Seeker Head''' || Uncaged (radar slavable) || Uncaged (radar slavable) || Uncaged
|-
| '''Lock range (rear-aspect)''' || 11 km || 5.5 km || 5.5 km
|-
| '''Lock range (all-aspect)''' || 3 km || N/A || N/A
|-
| '''Launch range''' || 18 km || 18 km || 18 km
|-
| '''Maximum speed''' || 2.5 M || 2.5 M || 2.5 M
|-
| '''Maximum overload''' || 30 G || 18 G || 20 G
|-
| '''Missile guidance time''' || 60 s || 60 s || 40 s
|-
| '''Explosive Mass''' || 4.58 kg TNTeq || 3.53 kg TNTeq || 7.62 kg TNTeq
|-
|}

== Usage in battles ==

The AIM-9L is best used in rear-aspect within a 3 km range from the target. It is best used against targets who are unaware, do not have flares, or have low energy.

=== Pros and cons ===


'''Pros:'''

* Can pull hard with an overload limit of 30 G
* Up to 5 km in which the missile can turn (5.2 s of burn time)
* Has longer range than the AIM-9D/G
* Occasionally completely ignores flares

'''Cons:'''

* Still fairly vulnerable to flares, especially when launched head-on
* Low track rate means it can be defeated by moderate manoeuvres

== History ==

===Development===
The experience with the AIM-9 Sidewinders in the Vietnam War and Yom Kippur War showed that there were still many improvements that could be made to the Sidewinder's performance. Low-altitude performance was poor due to environmental interferences on the Sidewinder's IR seeker, and the IR seeker was only able to attack from the rear to lock onto the engine exhaust of an enemy aircraft. Improving the Sidewinder's seeker capabilities to solve these issues became the key improvement for the next Sidewinder generation.<ref name="Ausairpower_Sidewinder">Kopp 2014</ref>
[[File:Cutaway_of_the_AIM-9L.png|x250px|right|thumb|none|An AIM-9L missile on display. The canard fin shape is the most distinctive external feature of the AIM-9L.]]

The United States Navy had their own development team within China Lake that set to work improving their Sidewinders, which has so far culminated from the [[AIM-9B Sidewinder|AIM-9B]] to the [[AIM-9D Sidewinder|AIM-9D]], [[AIM-9G Sidewinder|AIM-9G]] and their latest [[AIM-9H Sidewinder|AIM-9H]]. The US Air Force had their own development of the Sidewinder splitting off from the US Navy's AIM-9B to the [[AIM-9E Sidewinder|AIM-9E]] and [[AIM-9J Sidewinder|AIM-9J]]. The US Navy and US Air Force's Sidewinder models were not compatible between the two service branches due to differences in seeker cooling methods. The United States Air Force desired to continue their own missile program named "CLAW", which called for the use of smaller, cheaper missiles so more could be fired at a time. William Perry, the Defense Department's deputy director of research and engineering, disapproved of this path and told the US Air Force to work with the US Navy to work together on a common IR missile for both service branches. The US Air Force, therefore, cooperated with the US Navy's China Lake team to share specifications and technology to produce the next missile. The US Navy would designate this program as the ''AIM-9H Product Improvement Package'' (PIP).<ref name="Westrum_Sidewinder9L">Westrum 2013, 191-193</ref>

The package prioritized improving the seeker with an indium antimonide seeker, which could detect the longer-wavelength infrared radiation given out of warm surfaces of aircraft parts, allowing the missile to obtain all-aspect capability (ALASCA) in acquiring targets.<ref name="Westrum_Sidewinder9L" /> Other improvements with the AIM-9H PIP were the long-span pointed double-delta canards, a new MK 36 solid-fuel rocket motor, WDU-17/B warhead featuring double-layer continuous-rod scheme, and a DSU-15/B Active Optical Target Detector (AOTD) laser proximity fuse system <ref name="AirVector_Sidewinder">Goebel 2021</ref><ref name="Designation_Sidewinder">Parsch 2008</ref> The cooling system was improved to a TMU/72/B argon-gas cooling system that was contained within the missile's seeker, which allowed for use on both USAF and USN missile launchers.<ref name="Ausairpower_Sidewinder" /> The one feature that complicated the US Navy and US Air Force cooperation with the missile was the reticle seeker, with the US Navy desiring an amplitude-modulated (AM) seeker while the US Air Force desired a frequency-modulated (FM) seeker. An AM-FM system was developed by Raytheon,<ref name="Westrum_Sidewinder9L" />, which allowed the Sidewinder to use both traditional AM reticle that is effective in cloudy backgrounds with the benefit of the FM reticle reducing seeker error signal inputs from the target's increasing size as the seeker gets closer.<ref name="Ausairpower_Sidewinder" /><ref name="Westrum_AMSeeker">Westrum 2013, 137</ref>
[[File:Breakout of the AIM-9L.png|x200px|left|none|thumb|An exploded diagram of the AIM-9L and its components.]]

Another improvement Raytheon introduced in the AIM-9H PIP was a rate bias that caused the missile to aim slightly ahead of an aircraft's hot afterburner. Issues arose when the missiles' rate bias adjusts too far ahead and missed the aircraft from the front. Consultation with General Dynamics revealed similar issues had arose during the development of the [[AIM-92 Stinger|FIM-92 Stinger]] missile, and the proper adjustments were made to solve the issue.<ref name="Westrum_Sidewinder9L" /> Sometime prior to 1975, the AIM-9H PIP would be designated as the '''AIM-9L'''. By 1975, the AIM-9L was tested in a joint navy-air force evaluation. Satisfied with the results, the AIM-9L missile was put into production in 1976 with both Raytheon and Ford Aerospace for a missile that was now jointly serving the United States Air Force and Navy.<ref name="Westrum_9LAcceptance">Westrum 2013, 196</ref>

Foreign users were also sought out for the AIM-9L. In one case, the AIM-9L was contested against the German company Bodensee Geratechnik (BGT), which had developed an ALASCA seeker for a proposed Viper missile. To resolve this and bring BGT to help produce AIM-9Ls to European allies, the US Navy and Raytheon waived license and R&D fees for the AIM-9L, causing the end of the Viper missile development and provided AIM-9Ls to Great Britain, Norway, and Germany. Japan were also given the license to produce AIM-9Ls, which was performed by Mitsubishi. Between Raytheon, Ford, BGT, and Mitsubishi, more than 16,000 AIM-9L Sidewinders have been built since their production started.<ref name="Designation_Sidewinder" />

===Combat===
The AIM-9L would see action in separate theaters by different users in the 1980s.
[[File:F-14A_VF-143_with_Sidewinder_and_Sparrow_missiles.jpg|left|x250px|thumb|none|A [[F-14A Early|F-14A]] equipped with a complement of AIM-9L Sidewinders and AIM-7 Sparrows.]]
On 19 August 1981, two US Navy's [[F-14A Early|F-14A Tomcats]] from VF-41 were engaged by two Libyan [[Su-22M3|Su-22]] in an event that would be known as the Gulf of Sidra incident.<ref name="GuardiaF14Variant">Guardia 2019, 20</ref><ref name="Westrum_F14Combat">Westrum 2013, 1-2</ref> As the Su-22s closed in, the lead plane fired a [[R-3S|AA-2 "Atoll]] missile at the F-14s, but missed.<ref name="GuardiaSidra">Guardia 2019, 30-35</ref> After evading the missile, the F-14s manoeuvred behind the Su-22s and, equipped with AIM-9L Sidewinders, each destroyed a Su-22 with the Sidewinders. The combat was concluded within 45 seconds.<ref name="Westrum_F14Combat" />

In 1982, the British would extensively use AIM-9L during the Falkland War on Sea Harriers. Procuring and using the AIM-9L were difficult as when the British carrier task force set sail to the Falklands in 05 April 1982, only 19 AIM-9L were in inventory. Moreover, the new canards on the AIM-9L did not fit the Sea Harrier's launch rails below the wings, though this was solved by filing down the launch rails for the AIM-9L to fit.<ref name="White_AIM9L">White 2020</ref> Sea Harriers equipped with AIM-9L fought in engagements against Argentine [[A-4B|A-4 Skyhawks]], Super Etendards, and [[Mirage IIIE|Mirage III]]s.<ref name="YoungSidewinder">Young 2021</ref> By the end of the conflict, a total of 27 AIM-9Ls were launched which scored 24 hits on Argentine aircraft, which translates to an 88% success rate for the AIM-9L missile.<ref name="Herbert_1982wars">Herbert 2007</ref>

Another conflict in 1982 that saw AIM-9Ls being used was the Israeli-Lebanon war. The Israelis launched Operation Mole Cricket 19 on 09 June 1982 to eliminate a Syrian air defense network set up in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. The success of the Israeli operation forced the Syrians to commit their [[MiG-21bis|MiG-21s]] and [[MiG-23MLD|MiG-23s]] to prevent the Israeli Air Force (IAF) from achieving aerial superiority. The IAF, consisting of F-15 and F-16 fighter jets, retained control of the sky as Airborne Warning And Control System (AWACS) aircraft informed Israeli pilots of the presence of Syrian jets, which were then intercepted and destroyed at visual range with AIM-9Ls, [[Shafrir]], or Python missiles. The AIM-9L reportedly earned a kill rate of 85% during this conflict and contributed to the Israeli claim of destroying more than 80 Syrian aircraft, which only had [[R-13M|K-13 missiles]] to fight back against the IAF aircraft.<ref name="YoungSidewinder" /><ref name="Herbert_1982wars" />

===Future Sidewinder variants===
[[File:AH-1W_VX-5_launching_AIM-9L_1987.jpg|right|thumb|none|An AH-1W SuperCobra fires a AIM-9L from a wing-mounted missile launcher at China Lake.]]

Though AIM-9L was a successful Sidewinder variant, there were still more features and improvements to be introduced into the model. Infrared Counter-Countermeasure (IRCCM) capability, a smaller smoke signature from the motor, and an improved WGU-4/B guidance system were implemented into the AIM-9L PIP that became the ''AIM-9M'', which saw use during the Gulf War.<ref name="Designation_Sidewinder" /> The next significant AIM-9 variant to be developed was the ''AIM-9R'', which attempted to evolve the AIM-9 design with the use of a charge-coupled device (CCD) detector, allowing the missile to use an imaging system to track the target. However, cost overruns, staff mismanagement, use of expensive and complicated components, and the fact the imaging system could not work in the night caused the backers of the program to lose faith and the missile was cancelled by the US Navy in December 1991.<ref name="Westrum_9R">Westrum 2013, 198-203</ref>

The AIM-9L and future variants introduced many radical features that the United States deemed too sensitive for all allies, and export variants were produced that lacked some of the newer features. These export variants were labeled as ''AIM-9N'', ''[[AIM-9P Sidewinder|AIM-9P]]'', and ''AIM-9S''.<ref name="Designation_Sidewinder" />

[[File:AIM-9X_F-15C_2002.jpg|x200px|left|thumb|none|An AIM-9X Sidewinder on an F-15C.]]
The most recent Sidewinder variant to see use is the ''AIM-9X'', which uses the Mk 36 motor and WDU-17/B warhead from the AIM-9M, but the airframe had been redesigned with smaller fins and canards for lower drag and better flight performance. Rollerons have been removed from the Sidewinder's design as the flight control system was sophisticated enough to no longer need them. The WPU-17/B propulsion section uses a jet-vane steering system to steer the Sidewinder with thrust-vectoring. The result was a more compact missile that could fit within a fighter's internal bay, such as the F-22 and F-35.<ref name="Designation_Sidewinder" /> The biggest improvement of the AIM-9X over the predecessors was the guidance, using a seeker that was developed for the AIM-132 {{Annotation|ASRAAM|Advanced Short-Range Anti-Air Missile}} with an imaging infrared array, cooled by a Stirling-cycle cryocooler.<ref name="AirVector_Sidewinder" /> The AIM-9X also introduced an "Off-Boresight" capability, allowing the missile to be used with the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) to acquire target with the pilot's helmet.<ref name="AirVector_Sidewinder" /><ref name="Designation_Sidewinder" /> Continually seeing development as late as 2019,<ref name="Drive_AIM9X">Rogoway et al. 2019</ref> the AIM-9X looks to be the main Sidewinder model for the 21st century aerospace.

== Media ==

[[File:AIM-9L.png|thumb|none|none|An AIM-9L Sidwinder hangs off a F-14 Tomcat.]]

;Videos
{{Youtube-gallery|faKyQOTmzDw|'''Best guided missiles''' discusses the {{PAGENAME}} at 1:18 - ''War Thunder Official Channel''}}

== See also ==


;Related development

* [[AIM-9 Sidewinder (Family)]]

== External links ==


=== References ===

;Citations
<references />

;Bibliography

* Goebel, Greg. 2021. "The Falcon & Sidewinder Air-To-Air Missiles." Air Vectors. Last modified July 01, 2021. [https://www.airvectors.net/avusaam_1.html#m6 Website] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20220107173258/https://www.airvectors.net/avusaam_1.html Archive]).
* Guardia, Mike. 2019. ''Tomcat Fury: A Combat History of the F-14''. Maple Grove, MN: Magnum Books.
* Herbert, Adam J. 2007. "The Wars of Eighty-Two". Air Force Magazine. Last modified April 01, 2007. [https://www.airforcemag.com/article/0407eightytwo/ Website] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20220107183859/https://www.airforcemag.com/article/0407eightytwo/ Archive]).
* Kopp, Carlo. 2014. "The Sidewinder Story: The Evolution of the AIM-9 Missile." Air Power Australia. Last modified January 27, 2014. [http://www.ausairpower.net/TE-Sidewinder-94.html Website] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20220107173023/http://www.ausairpower.net/TE-Sidewinder-94.html Archive])
* Parsch, Andreas. 2008. "AIM-9." Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles. Last modified July 09, 2008. [http://www.designation-systems.info/dusrm/m-9.html Website] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20220107172850/http://www.designation-systems.info/dusrm/m-9.html Archive])
* Rogoway, Tyler and Josephy Trevithick. 2019. "The AIM-9X Sidewinder May Finally Evolve Into A Completely New And Longer-Range Missile". The Drive. Last modified September 03, 2019. [https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/29158/the-aim-9x-sidewinder-may-finally-evolve-into-a-completely-new-and-longer-range-missile Website] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20211123183940/https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/29158/the-aim-9x-sidewinder-may-finally-evolve-into-a-completely-new-and-longer-range-missile Archive]).
* Westrum, Ron. 2013. ''Sidewinder; Creative Missile Development at China Lake''. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press.
* White, Roland. 2020. "Her Majesty's Death Ray: How The AIM-9L Sidewinder Vanquished The Argentine Air Force." The Drive. Last modified October 07, 2020. [https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/36949/her-majestys-death-ray-how-the-aim-9l-sidewinder-vanquished-argentine-air-force Website]. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20220107182645/https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/36949/her-majestys-death-ray-how-the-aim-9l-sidewinder-vanquished-argentine-air-force Archive])
* Young, James. 2021. "Freedom's "Flying Snake": The AIM-9 Sidewinder in the Cold War". Marine Corps University. Accessed January 07, 2022. [https://www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Marine-Corps-University-Press/Expeditions-with-MCUP-digital-journal/Freedoms-Flying-Snake/ Website] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20220107192115/https://www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Marine-Corps-University-Press/Expeditions-with-MCUP-digital-journal/Freedoms-Flying-Snake/ Archive]).

{{Missiles}}

[[Category:Suspended armaments]]

Leopard (France)

2023-06-26T17:50:53Z

U49295956: added some historical context and what makes her unique compared to the other two Chacals in game

{{About
| about = destroyer '''{{PAGENAME}}'''
| usage = other uses
| link = Leopard (Disambiguation)
}}
{{Specs-Card
|code=fr_destroyer_jaguar_class_leopard
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg}}
}}

== Description ==

The Chacal-class vessels were the first large destroyers made for the modern French Navy after the First World War. They featured a larger displacement than all of the preceding destroyers, and mounted more firepower to contend with the contemporary navies of the time. The Léopard was the third ship to be launched, out of the 6 ships that were built. She was commissioned into service on the same day as the Lynx, one of her sister ships, and participated in one of the most famous events of the war, Operation Dynamo, the Dunkirk evacuation. She is depicted in-game after she was converted into an escort destroyer, removing her forward boiler room for increased fuel stores - thus she is visually identifiably by her only having two funnels, compared to the three her sisters have.

Thanks to this change, the greatest drawback of the Léopard is her very low top speed of 58 km/h (31.3 kn), making her one of the slowest destroyers in the game. In addition, to make room for the improved AA battery, the rear 550 mm torpedo launcher had to be removed, giving her a salvo of only 3 torpedoes. The torpedoes should be saved for close range fights against more dangerous opponents, as the low number of torpedoes make them very inefficient to launch at large distances.

Introduced in [[Update "La Royale"]], the Léopard can fulfill multiple roles, such as providing both anti-aircraft cover and heavy fire support for friendly ships. Despite her slow speed, her deadly 130 mm guns outclass many other weapons of her tier. These guns have a shorter effective range than some other guns due to their lower velocity, however, they make up for this with their powerful ammunition.

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
[[File:Leopard 10mm Gunshields.PNG|thumb|250x250px|The 10 mm gunshields are one of the only forms of armour on the Léopard]]
{{Specs-Fleet-Armour}}

The Léopard, being a large destroyer with a high displacement, has a sizeable crew for her rank, numbering 246 men. As with most destroyers of the rank, she mounts no protection, with the exception being her lightly armoured 130 mm guns and anti-aircraft weapons. The primary protection of the Léopard is her mobility, however, even that can not be relied upon. Her anti-aircraft weaponry is a notable point, as compared to other French vessels, such as her sister ship [[Chacal]] and the smaller [[Bourrasque]], she mounts a much improved, and needed, anti-aircraft battery.
[[File:Leopard 12.7mm Gunshields.PNG|thumb|250x250px|The 12.7 mm gunshields on the Léopard]]
Getting hit in the Léopard usually results in a fire, as her internal modules, such as the boilers and fuel tanks, are close together. However, the magazines of the 130 mm guns are small and hard to hit, and are further protected by being placed below the waterline, making it harder for enemy munitions to penetrate the hull and detonate the ammo.

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Mobility}}

[[File:Léopard (France) X-Ray.png|right|thumb|An X-Ray view of the modules on the Léopard]]

{{NavalMobility}}

The Léopard reaches a top speed of 58 km/h (31.3 kn), making her one of the slowest destroyers in the game; this is the greatest drawback and main limiting factor for the Léopard. The one strength she has in the category of mobility is a tight turning circle, which is a common strength shared with all French destroyers, and allows her to more easily dodge torpedoes and change directions.

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

As with all vessels, Tool Set and Fire Protection System should be researched first. Like other French destroyers, research of the SAPBC rounds is recommended, as this greatly increases her firepower, followed by the mobility modifications. If you find yourself doing fine with the standard HE rounds, the mobility upgrades are a great alternative, as this gives her a desperately needed increase in mobility.

== Armament ==
{{Specs-Fleet-Armaments}}
=== Primary armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Primary}}

{{main|130 mm/40 model 1919 (130 mm)}}

The primary armament of the Léopard consists of 4 x 130 mm Mle.19 naval guns, two each mounted at the bow and stern of the vessel. These guns have a low rate of fire compared to most other ships of the Léopards tier, however, these guns have extremely deadly ammunition.

{{:130 mm/40 model 1919 (130 mm)/Ammunition|130 mm OEA Mle 1932, 130 mm OPFA Mle 1923}}

=== Secondary armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Secondary}}

{{main|2pdr QF Mk.IIc (40 mm)}}

''Some ships are fitted with weapons of various calibres. Secondary armaments are defined as weapons chosen with the control <code>Select secondary weapon</code>. Evaluate the secondary armaments and give advice on how to use them. Describe the ammunition available for the secondary armament. Provide recommendations on how to use them and which ammunition to choose. Remember that any anti-air armament, even heavy calibre weapons, belong in the next section. If there is no secondary armament, remove this section.''

* '''Universal:''' {{Annotation|HEF|High-explosive fragmentation}}{{-}}{{Annotation|AP-T|Armour-piercing tracer}}{{-}}{{Annotation|HEF|High-explosive fragmentation}}{{-}}{{Annotation|AP-T|Armour-piercing tracer}}
* '''40 mm HE:''' {{Annotation|HEF|High-explosive fragmentation}}{{-}}{{Annotation|HEF|High-explosive fragmentation}}{{-}}{{Annotation|HEF|High-explosive fragmentation}}{{-}}{{Annotation|AP-T|Armour-piercing tracer}}
* '''40 mm AP:''' {{Annotation|AP-T|Armour-piercing tracer}}{{-}}{{Annotation|AP-T|Armour-piercing tracer}}{{-}}{{Annotation|AP-T|Armour-piercing tracer}}{{-}}{{Annotation|HEF|High-explosive fragmentation}}

{{:2pdr QF Mk.IIc (40 mm)/Ammunition|HEF, AP-T}}

=== Anti-aircraft armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-AA}}

{{main|20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mk.II (20 mm)}}

''An important part of the ship's armament responsible for air defence. Anti-aircraft armament is defined by the weapon chosen with the control <code>Select anti-aircraft weapons</code>. Talk about the ship's anti-air cannons and machine guns, the number of guns and their positions, their effective range, and about their overall effectiveness – including against surface targets. If there are no anti-aircraft armaments, remove this section.''

=== Additional armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Additional}}

{{main|Mk.VII depth charge|Model 1923DT (550 mm)}}

''Describe the available additional armaments of the ship: depth charges, mines, torpedoes. Talk about their positions, available ammunition and launch features such as dead zones of torpedoes. If there is no additional armament, remove this section.''

== Usage in battles ==

''Describe the technique of using this ship, the characteristics of her use in a team and tips on strategy. Abstain from writing an entire guide – don't try to provide a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought. Talk about the most dangerous opponents for this vehicle and provide recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of playing with this vehicle in various modes (AB, RB, SB).''

=== Pros and cons ===

''Summarise and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in the bulleted list. Try not to use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - use substitutions with softer forms such as "inadequate" and "effective".''

'''Pros:'''

*

'''Cons:'''

*

== History ==

''Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ship in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the ship and adding a block "/History" (example: <nowiki>https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Ship-name)/History</nowiki>) and add a link to it here using the <code>main</code> template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <code><nowiki><ref></ref></nowiki></code>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <code><nowiki><references /></nowiki></code>. This section may also include the ship's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under <code><nowiki>=== In-game description ===</nowiki></code>, also if applicable).''

== Media ==

''Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.''

== See also ==

''Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:''

* ''reference to the series of the ship;''
* ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.''

== External links ==

''Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:''

* ''topic on the official game forum;''
* ''other literature.''

{{France destroyers}}

HMS Norfolk

2023-01-01T17:10:49Z

U49295956: Grammar correction in History, removed redundant sentence

{{Specs-Card
|code=uk_cruiser_norfolk
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg}}
}}

== Description ==

The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a rank {{Specs|rank}} British heavy cruiser {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced in [[Update "Direct Hit"]].

The Norfolk is a Norfolk-class heavy cruiser, subclass of the County-class cruisers built by the British post-Washington Treaty in the late 1920s for ocean power projection and trade protection. As a "treaty cruiser", the Norfolk sacrificed armour protection in favour of heavy 8-inch gun armament and high speed and endurance.

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Armour}}

Due to the displacement limitations imposed on the County-class, the Norfolk does not have much in the way of armour. Most of what little armour she has is concentrated around the main 8-inch gun magazines, which are protected inside an armoured box of 102 mm in the sides, 76 mm on the ends and on the deck. These boxes are located below the waterline, and make her quite resistant to ammunition detonations from destroyer or light cruiser main guns at range.

The machinery is protected by only a thin strip 25 mm of armour on the sides, ends, and deck, and is thus vulnerable to even destroyer main guns. The main gun turrets and barbettes are similarly poorly protected.

The rest of the ship has no armour plating on the hull above the waterline. This means that the ship tends to take a lot of damage from even HE shells. In particular, like most British cruisers, the Norfolk has an open bridge which is highly vulnerable to getting disabled.

The Norfolk has a respectable crew complement of 819 men. However, many of these crew members are located on the exposed anti-aircraft gun positions, which means that she tends to suffer considerable crew attrition from even relatively light HE hits, such as from destroyers.

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Mobility}}

The Norfolk is fairly fast for a heavy cruiser. However, she is still a heavy cruiser, and thus her handling and acceleration/deceleration characteristics are still relatively cumbersome compared to those of lighter ships.

{{NavalMobility}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armament ==
{{Specs-Fleet-Armaments}}
=== Primary armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Primary}}

{{main|8 inch/50 Mark VIII (203 mm)}}

The Norfolk's main armament consists of eight 8-inch Mark VIII guns distributed in four twin turrets. These guns have acceptable accuracy, though they will struggle to gain consistent hits at longer ranges. The shortest possible reload time with a fully trained crew is 12 seconds, which is fast for a heavy cruiser. There is no first-stage ammunition stowage, thus the reload is consistent no matter how much ammunition is left in the magazines.

The 8-inch guns have only two types of shell: HE and SAPCBC. The HE shell contains a powerful bursting charge of 10 kg of TNT. The SAPCBC shell is the only other shell present, with no access to a full AP shell. However, the SAPCBC makes up for this by providing a solid blend of penetrating power and explosive filler. Compared to the shells seen on the 8inch/55 on American heavy cruisers, the SAPCBC possesses over twice the penetration of the American Common shells, and twice the explosive filler of the American APCBC shell, with 5.2 kg of TNT, allowing the SAPCBC to be used to great effect against both cruisers and destroyers.

HE is used as the stock shell on the Norfolk, and while its large bursting charge deals heavy damage to light targets, the SAPCBC is more versatile and should immediately be researched following the basic survivability modifications, and SAPCBC should be used in nearly all circumstances.

The main guns have an unusual amount of elevation of 70 degrees: in real life, this was because the guns were expected to engage aircraft. However, as there is no time-fused or VT-fused shell available for the British 8-inch gun currently in the game, the Norfolk is unable to take full advantage of this feature.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
! colspan="8" | Penetration statistics
|-
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
! rowspan="2" | Type of warhead
! colspan="6" | Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
|-
! 1,000 m !! 2,500 m !! 5,000 m !! 7,500 m !! 10,000 m !! 15,000 m
|-
| 8 inch HE || HE || 62 || 62 || 62 || 62 || 62 || 62
|-
| 8 inch Mark I.B. SAPCBC || SAPCBC || 274 || 248 || 209 || 178 || 153 || 119
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
! colspan="10" | Shell details
|-
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
! rowspan="2" | Type of warhead
! rowspan="2" | Velocity (m/s)
! rowspan="2" | Projectile mass (kg)
! rowspan="2" | Fuse delay (s)
! rowspan="2" | Fuse sensitivity (mm)
! rowspan="2" | Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)
! colspan="3" | Ricochet
|-
! 0% !! 50% !! 100%
|-
| 8 inch HE || HE || 855 || 116.1 || 0 || 0.1 || 10 || 79° || 80° || 81°
|-
| 8 inch Mark I.B. SAPCBC || SAPCBC || 855 || 116.1 || 0.025 || 9 || 5.2 || 48° || 63° || 71°
|-
|}

=== Secondary armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Secondary}}

{{main|4 inch/45 Mark XVI (102 mm)}}
The Norfolk is fitted with with four twin 4 inch/45 Mark XVI mounts, which were used on several destroyers in the British tech tree, two to a side amidships. These guns are mostly useful against aircraft, as unlike American cruisers with their broadside of eight 5 inch/38 Mk.12 guns, these guns have much poorer damage output. There are four shells available, HE, SAP, HE-TF, and HE-VT. The stock HE performs as can be expected for a gun of the calibre, doing minimal damage to anything it faces. The SAP shell has a reasonable 103mm of penetration at 1,000 m, and although the penetration rapidly falls off, it can still help defend the ship against surface threats. The HE-TF and HE-VT are both specialized for anti-aircraft, and can deal a reasonable amount of damage against enemy planes. It is recommended to take majority HE-VT, with some SAP as well.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
! colspan="8" | Penetration statistics
|-
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
! rowspan="2" | Type of warhead
! colspan="6" | Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
|-
! 1,000 m !! 2,500 m !! 5,000 m !! 7,500 m !! 10,000 m !! 15,000 m
|-
| 4 inch HE || HE || 20 || 20 || 20 || 20 || 20 || 20
|-
| 4 inch SAP || SAP || 102 || 85 || 64 || 48 || 38 || 30
|-
| 4 inch HE-TF || HE-TF || 20 || 20 || 20 || 20 || 20 || 20
|-
| 4 inch HE-VT || HE-VT || 20 || 20 || 20 || 20 || 20 || 20
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
! colspan="10" | Shell details
|-
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
! rowspan="2" | Type of warhead
! rowspan="2" | Velocity (m/s)
! rowspan="2" | Projectile mass (kg)
! rowspan="2" | Fuse delay (s)
! rowspan="2" | Fuse sensitivity (mm)
! rowspan="2" | Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
! colspan="3" | Ricochet
|-
! 0% !! 50% !! 100%
|-
| 4 inch HE || HE || 811 || 15.88 || 0 || 0.1 || 1,550 || 79° || 80° || 81°
|-
| 4 inch SAP || SAP || 811 || 17.35 || 0.015 || 5 || 600 || 47° || 60° || 65°
|-
| 4 inch HE-TF || HE-TF || 811 || 15.88 || 0 || 0.1 || 1,550 || 79° || 80° || 81°
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
! colspan="12" | Proximity-fused shell details
|-
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
! rowspan="2" | Type of warhead
! rowspan="2" | Velocity (m/s)
! rowspan="2" | Projectile mass (kg)
! rowspan="2" | Fuse delay (m)
! rowspan="2" | Fuse sensitivity (mm)
! rowspan="2" | Arming distance (m)
! rowspan="2" | Trigger radius (m)
! rowspan="2" | Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
! colspan="3" | Ricochet
|-
! 0% !! 50% !! 100%
|-
| 4 inch HE-VT || HE-VT || 811 || 15.88 || 0 || 0.1 || 274 || 18 || 1,550 || 79° || 80° || 81°
|-
|}

=== Anti-aircraft armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-AA}}

{{main|2pdr QF Mk.VIII (40 mm)|20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mk.II (20 mm)}}

The star of the ship's AA are the two octuple 40 mm Pom-Pom mounts located just aft of the torpedoes. These will immediately dispatch aircraft, as well as patrol boats if necessary. Aside from those, and the dual-purpose 4 inch/45 mounts, the only other AA armament are eight single 20 mm Oerlikon Mk.IIs. Four are located around the superstructure, one is on the B turret, two are on the X turret, and one more can be found on the stern. These will aid in downing planes, and provide a nice light show at whatever they are shooting at. While the Norfolk's AA is inferior to other cruisers, such as its counterpart the London and other foreign ships, it will sufficient to defend the ship against air attack.

=== Additional armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Additional}}

{{main|Mk.IX (533 mm)}}

The Norfolk is equipped with two quadruple torpedo tubes, located on each side of the ship. They fire Mk.IX wet-heater torpedoes, which are superior to the antiquated Mk.V steam turbined torpedoes found on older cruisers in range and explosive mass, but are still unexceptional compared to foreign torpedoes like the Type 93. They will certainly save you if you get into a close-quarters brawl with an enemy ship, but they shouldn't be relied on aside from a last resort weapon

== Usage in battles ==

The Norfolk is a bit of a glass cannon, having excellent firepower but very poor armour protection for a heavy cruiser. Her armour will protect against magazine detonations from most cruiser shells, but the lack of armour elsewhere, especially on critical parts like her turrets and the bridge, mean that she can take crippling damage from even destroyers if they get within effective range. This means that she excels at providing medium range support and should generally avoid drawing too much attention to herself. She has a good turn of speed for a heavy cruiser, allowing her to get to tactically advantageous positions a little bit faster while the large fillers in her HE and SAPCBC shells can inflict heavy damage on destroyers and cruisers. It is recommended to become familiar with the armour schemes of enemy cruisers, and target those which have poor protection, as against them the massive bursting charge will shine, while you won't notice the inferior penetration of the shells.

The Norfolk is also one of the few 5.7 cruisers equipped with air-search radar, giving crucial early warning of any incoming enemy aircraft. She also has a very reasonable anti-aircraft armament suite, allowing her to provide effective air cover to teammates when necessary.

'''Specific enemies worth noting'''

'''Late destroyers + USS Atlanta'''

* Several late destroyers, such as the Porter, Somers, and Spokoinyy can prove to be a dangerous foe, as the Norfolk's general lack of armour protection makes it extremely vulnerable against a hail of small-calibre fire. When encountering them, you should remain calm, as they while they will sting, they will not sink you fast enough. Fire your opening salvo against them under the front turrets, as it will likely destroy the turrets, damage the bridge, and ideally cause an ammunition detonation as well. A larger threat, in both size and danger, is the USS Atlanta, which can rain a 14-gun broadside of 5" shells down on you. It is best to try to engage the Atlanta at range, where the long travel time of the Atlanta's shells proves to be a disadvantage, while your 8" guns are very well suited for engaging cruisers at long range

'''German 5.7 Cruisers'''

* The German trio of Admiral Hipper, Prinz Eugen, and Admiral Graf Spee are all extremely dangerous enemies, as they possess a blend of both firepower and armour that put the Norfolk to shame. You should never engage them directly, as they will soundly beat you in a duel. Instead, fight them when they are distracted by other people. Specifically, when fighting the Graf Spee, put extra effort into dodging the enemy's fire, as their poor fire rate and high single-shot damage means they rely on making every shell count.

'''Other County-class cruisers'''

* The Norfolk also happens to fall into the type of thin-skinned cruisers that it most efficiently engages, and thus enemy County-class cruisers should be dealt with immediately. Distribute your fire of SAP around different sections of the enemy ship, and let the excellent bursting charge of the shells do the rest of the work for you. Put effort into dodging enemy shots, as their return fire will hurt quite a bit.

'''Late light cruisers'''

* Light cruisers such as the Mikuma, Helena, Brooklyn, etc. possess a very high damage output, and their large broadsides and high fire rate will tear through the nonexistent armour of the Norfolk. However, their armour is also generally lacking, and you can defeat them if you are able to hit them more consistently than their return fire. Try to destroy their turrets, or damage their ammunition hoists to decrease their firepower. Ideally, you could immediately kill them with an ammunition detonation, and with a bit of luck one of your hits under the turrets may give you a quick victory.

'''Battleships and battlecruisers'''

* The Norfolk's position as a moderately high BR cruiser means it may regularly face battleships. Against them, there is very little that can be done. When fighting battleships, your best bet is to run to cover with your superior speed, dodge their shells, and attempt to deal some damage to their superstructure, while praying that your friendly battleships dispatch them quickly. If you spot an overextended battleship, using island cover to get close and make a suicidal torpedo attack may be viable.

=== Pros and cons ===

'''Pros:'''

* High rate of fire for a heavy cruiser
* Large shell explosive fillers
* Heavy anti-aircraft armament
* Relatively high top speed for a heavy cruiser
* Equipped with air-search radar
* Well-protected main gun ammunition magazines

'''Cons:'''

* Little to no armour protecting the ship outside of the magazines
* Mediocre main gun accuracy
* Can be matched against battleships
* Tends to lose crew quickly due to exposed secondary guns and anti-aircraft mounts and turret/bridge disables
* Lacks a floatplane

== History ==

The County-class cruisers were the first British cruisers designed under the restrictions of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty. The treaty, which limited cruiser tonnage to 10,000 tons, clashed with the Royal Navy's need for a cruiser to defend its global trade routes to its colonies. To ensure a blend of firepower and range, the Royal Navy called for a long ship with four twin-turrets as their new heavy cruiser design. This became the County-class cruiser, a conservatively built ship with a very high freeboard, allowing for high directional stability. The superstructure was taken from a design first used on the HMS Enterprise, which transformed the scattered sections of conning towers, wheelhouses, navigating and signaling platforms, and fire control seen on World War I-era cruisers into a neat block at the front of the ship. The two boiler rooms, were ventilated into four uptakes, of which the central one was combined into a larger funnel, giving the Counties their distinctive funnel arrangement. However, the size of the ship left little displacement available to be allowed for armour protection, and thus the side armour was less of an armour belt and more of basic shrapnel protection.

HMS Norfolk was the lead ship of her subclass, which involved minor modifications such as the movement of the 4-inch guns further forward, the slight shortening of the superstructure, and the changing of the primary armament from the Mark I variant to the Mark II variant, with simplified loading. She was initially part of a four ship class, with an additional ship in the talks, but in the end she only received one sister, Dorsetshire, due to budget cuts. Construction started on Norfolk on July 8, 1927. She was launched on December 12, 1928, and entered service on April 30, 1930.

Norfolk became involved in the September 1931 Invergordon Mutiny, where sailors protested an imminent major pay cut. In the end, the sailors only received the minor pay cut the entire armed forces received, and the incident was settled peacefully. Between 1932 and 1934, she served with the America and West Indies Station at Bermuda, cruising around the Americas, engaging in exercises, providing hurricane relief, and protecting British interests in the area. In 1935, she moved to the East Indies Station, where she remained in 1939. Then, she returned back to Britain for a refit, and was in dockyard when the World War II began.

For the first years of the war, Norfolk was engaged with the Home Fleet in hunting German surface raiders, although she saw no success. In November 1939, she was damaged by the submarine U-47, necessitating repairs. Not long after, she was bombed in an air raid, requiring more repairs, where she also had a radar set installed. She was then engaged in several raids off the Norwegian coast, until December 1940, where she operated out of Freetown in the South Atlantic, and attempted to hunt down the raider Kormoran, but again with no success.

By April 1941, Norfolk had returned to Scapa Flow, where intelligence reports suggested the battleship Bismarck was readying for action. On May 20, 1941, Norfolk was patrolling with fellow heavy cruiser Suffolk in the Denmark Strait under the command of Rear Admiral W.F. Wake-Walker, when they received reports from that the Swedish cruiser Gotland had encountered two large warships with heavy escort. Realizing the situation brewing, the Admiralty sent out reconnaissance aircraft, but the Bismarck had already slipped away and was cruising through the North Sea. With the Home Fleet scrambling ships to sea, on May 23, Norfolk and Suffolk encountered Bismarck and Prinz Eugen in the Denmark Strait at a range of only 6 nautical miles, and the cruisers quickly disengaged. After sending out contact reports, the cruisers began shadowing the German ships. The Admiralty had the foresight to predict the Denmark Strait as a likely route for Bismarck to take, and had dispatched a force under Vice Admiral Holland, with HMS Hood, Prince of Wales, and destroyers to aid Wake-Walker. At 0516 the following morning, Holland arrived, with Norfolk and Suffolk still trailing behind the German ships. Shortly after, Holland engaged the Bismarck, but after just 10 minutes of firing, the Hood exploded, killing Holland and nearly the entire crew. After another 10 minutes, Prince of Wales was crippled, and withdrew. Norfolk witnessed the battle from 15 nautical miles away.

Following the spectacular defeat, the Royal Navy's resolve to sink the Bismarck grew. Norfolk joined Prince of Wales shortly after the battle concluded, as the British destroyers tried to find survivors from Hood. Despite the damage sustained to Prince of Wales, she kept pace with Norfolk and Suffolk as the cruisers continued to shadow Bismarck. However, early in the morning on the 25th, the cruisers lost contact with Bismarck. Prince of Wales broke off to refuel, and Norfolk and Suffolk split up. Norfolk was operating independently when Bismarck was spotted on the 26th by a PBY flying boat. She rapidly closed the distance to the contact report until the morning of the 27th, where she made visual contact with the now crippled Bismarck at 0753. Shortly after, she sighted the battleships HMS King George V and Rodney under Admiral John Tovey, who had come to finish the job Norfolk had started four days prior. At 0847, with Norfolk 10 nautical miles away, the final action of the Bismarck began, with Norfolk's sister Dorsetshire joining from the south. Norfolk joined in the shelling, and claimed two torpedo hits on Bismarck. After just over an hour of intense action, the four British ships had fired 2,800 shells at Bismarck, scoring 400 hits, reducing the Bismarck to a wreck. At 10:20, Tovey turned for home, and Dorsetshire finished off the Bismarck with torpedoes.

After the action, Norfolk returned to menial duties, now assigned the arduous task of escorting the Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union. She would participate in escorting the convoys through the unending daylight of the summers and the darkness of the arctic winters for the next few years.

On December 20, 1943, eastbound convoy JW 55B departed for the Soviet Union. Norfolk was at sea at the time escorting westbound convoy RA 55A back from Murmansk after an uneventful journey. The eastbound journey had been uneventful. It had been nearly a year since German capital ships had sortied against an Arctic convoy, at the Battle of the Barents Sea, and German battleships had been holed up in port since the loss of Bismarck. However, the two surviving battleships, Scharnhorst and Tirpitz, had proved a formidable fleet-in-being, and were always poised to strike from their Norwegian bases. Bruce Fraser, chief Admiral of the Home Fleet, and in charge of protecting the Arctic convoys, suspected that German surface ships may try to strike at JW 55B. He envisioned a decisive battle around Christmas against British and German battleships, where the threat of German battleships striking a the convoys could be permanently neutralized. On December 22, JW 55B was spotted by the Luftwaffe, and the next day, Fraser put to sea personally commanding his flagship HMS Duke of York, with a light cruiser and four destroyers as escort. Fraser proved to be correct, as on Christmas, Scharnhorst and five destroyers sortied from Norway.

As RA 55A was diverted north. Norfolk, along with light cruisers Belfast and Southampton, joined JW 55B instead. At 0900 on December 26, the cruisers encountered Scharnhorst, and immediately opened fire from 12,000 m, destroying the Scharnhorst's radar. Norfolk, whose guns produced the brightest flashes, was in turn targeted by Scharnhorst, but Scharnhorst soon broke off the battle, misidentifying Norfolk as a battleship. Norfolk and the cruisers pursued Scharnhorst, while struggling to keep pace in the heavy seas. Shortly after noon, the two sides exchanged fire again, disabling X turret on Norfolk and damaging her radar, but again broke off, while the German destroyers fruitlessly searched for JW 55B alone. Norfolk was eventually forced to retreat due to her damage, in addition to Southampton, leaving Belfast alone. However, they escaped undetected due to Scharnhorst's destroyed radar, and Belfast successfully maintained contact until Fraser arrived in Duke of York and sank Scharnhorst.

Following this, Norfolk eventually had her entire X turret removed and replaced with additional AA. These repairs and refits resulted in her being unable to participate in the D-Day landings. The rest of her wartime service was uneventful. On May 4, 1945, she served as the flagship of Operation Judgement, where Norfolk and several other ships escorted escort carriers for a raid on Kilbotn, Norway, where they sank a submarine and two other ships. After the war's conclusion, Norfolk ferried the Norwegian Royal Family back to Oslo, after their five year exile in London.

Norfolk remained in service until 1949, where she was transferred to reserve. In 1950, she sold off for scrapping. She was the third of five ships to bear the name Norfolk, and accounted for 6 of the 11 battle honors the lineage earned.

== Media ==


;Skins

* [https://live.warthunder.com/feed/camouflages/?vehicle=uk_cruiser_norfolk Skins and camouflages for the {{PAGENAME}} from live.warthunder.com.]

== See also ==

''Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:''

* ''reference to the series of the ship;''
* ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.''

== External links ==

''Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:''

* ''topic on the official game forum;''
* ''other literature.''

{{ShipManufacturer Fairfields}}
{{Britain heavy cruisers}}

RN Zara

2023-01-01T05:55:09Z

U49295956: Rewrote survivability, maneuverability, added armament details, and added to the history section.

{{Specs-Card
|code=it_cruiser_zara_class
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg}}
}}

== Description ==

The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a rank {{Specs|rank}} Italian heavy cruiser {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced in [[Update "Raining Fire"]]. Zara is the second and most powerful heavy cruiser available for Italy.

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Armour}}

Zara breaks from Italian tradition by actually having armor - and '''she has the best armor of any heavy cruiser in the game.''' Zara has 150mm armor covering the entire citadel of the ship, while most comparable cruisers have 80mm or less. These unrivaled levels of protection allows the Zara to avoid critical damage to the magazines and engines from destroyer caliber armaments, and when angled, can easily repulse light and heavy cruiser gunfire too. In addition, the magazines are protected by 120mm thick citadel athwartships, which when combined with her enormous bow section, makes her impervious to cruiser gunfire through the bow.

Also of note is Zara's turret armor, as each main turret has a 200mm thick faceplate, while the sides, rear, and roof are all 150mm. Having such thick armor, when compared to similar tier foreign cruisers with a third of the thickness, and especially British/Japanese cruisers with mere 25mm turret armor, is an enormous blessing, as it means '''Zara's turrets''' '''will almost never be knocked out in combat.''' The only things capable of destroying the turrets are heavy cruiser AP from close range, battleships, and bombs.

Despite Zara's impressive armor, it should always be noted that '''no ship is invincible'''. While critical components are well protected behind the main belt, the upper belt responsible for protecting the majority of crew compartments is only 30mm thick, and can easily be chipped away after constant fire, and while the turrets are immensely hard to destroy, the exposed gun barrels will still take damage. Thus, the '''protection should always be treated as a second line of defense''' - its better to not get shot in the first place.

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Mobility}}

Zara also deviates from the Italian standard by being quite slow - she is only capable of '''59 km/h''', which is not only 10 km/h slower than the Condottieri-class cruisers Italian captains might be used to, but is even slower than foreign cruisers, who are typically capable of 60. However, the loss of 1 km/h over her foreign counterparts isn't world-ending, and Zara can still get around at a reasonable pace. Her rudder and turning circle are unexceptional for 5.7 heavy cruisers.

{{NavalMobility}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armament ==
{{Specs-Fleet-Armaments}}
=== Primary armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Primary}}

{{main|203 mm/53 Ansaldo mod.1927 (203 mm)}}

The 203mm/53 Ansaldo mod.1927 cannons have several advantages and disadvantages over foreign cruisers, generally sacrificing quantity for quality. Her stock HE shell is unexceptional (and somewhat lackluster compared to foreign heavy cruiser HE in terms of filler), but her researchable APHEBC is one of the best 8" shells in the game. Compared to other ships, Zara's shells have an extremely high velocity (900m/s), high penetration (only lower than American Mk.21 Heavy AP and German L/4.4 (m.Hb) APBC, which bother have less filler), and is toe to toe with Japan in terms of filler (3.16kg). This exceptional shell is excellent for detonating the ammunition of enemy ships.

However, Zara also has a significantly lower fire rate than other cruisers, being only capable of 3.8 RPM, falling behind the foreign standard of 5 RPM, and only better than her predecessor Trento (3.4) and American treaty cruisers (3.5). This puts her at a disadvantage when fighting foreign ships, and thus '''captains must aim with far more precision than other ships would demand to make her perform competitively.'''

Like other Axis cruisers, she has an HE-TF shell, which given the somewhat poor traverse of her main turrets, means that those shells are mostly for moral support.

It should be noted that her forward turret has a slight quirk - it is slightly obstructed by the railing of the ship when aiming over the side. When under 5km, keep this in mind, as the turret won't be able to hit enemy targets that close, due to the railing preventing the gun from being depressed.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
! colspan="8" | '''Penetration statistics'''
|-
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
! rowspan="2" | Type of warhead
! colspan="6" | Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
|-
! 1,000 m !! 2,500 m !! 5,000 m !! 7,500 m !! 10,000 m !! 15,000 m
|-
| 203 mm HE Dirompente || HE || 58 || 58 || 58 || 58 || 58 || 58
|-
| 203 mm APHEBC Perforante || APHEBC || 388 || 327 || 247 || 189 || 148 || 105
|-
| 203 mm HE-TF Contro-aerea || HE-TF || 58 || 58 || 58 || 58 || 58 || 58
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
! colspan="10" | Shell details
|-
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
! rowspan="2" | Type of warhead
! rowspan="2" | Velocity (m/s)
! rowspan="2" | Projectile mass (kg)
! rowspan="2" | Fuse delay (s)
! rowspan="2" | Fuse sensitivity (mm)
! rowspan="2" | Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)
! colspan="3" | Ricochet
|-
! 0% !! 50% !! 100%
|-
| 203 mm HE Dirompente || HE || 900 || 110.57 || 0 || 0.1 || 7.5 || 79° || 80° || 81°
|-
| 203 mm APHEBC Perforante || APHEBC || 900 || 125.3 || 0.03 || 9 || 3.16 || 48° || 63° || 71°
|-
| 203 mm HE-TF Contro-aerea || HE-TF || 900 || 110.57 || 0 || 0.1 || 7.5 || 79° || 80° || 81°
|-
|}

=== Secondary armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Secondary}}

{{main|100 mm/47 O.T.O. Mod. 1928 (100 mm)}}

Like other Italian cruisers, Zara is equipped with 100mm/47 O.T.O. Mod. 1928 cannons, in three twin mounts per side. These guns are usually very bad at doing their job. While HE shells may help destroy exposed AA mounts of enemy ships, and the AP may do some ship damage at hull components, the main use of these guns is to defend the ship from air attack, and they do an extremely poor job of that. As with other Axis ships, they do not have access to HE-VT, which when coupled with the poor traverse of the guns, poor fire rate, and small size, they are very '''inefficient at destroying enemy aircraft.'''

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
! colspan="8" | Penetration statistics
|-
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
! rowspan="2" | Type of warhead
! colspan="6" | Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
|-
! 100 m !! 1,000 m !! 2,000 m !! 3,000 m !! 4,000 m !! 5,000 m
|-
| 100 mm HE Dirompente || HE || 17 || 17 || 17 || 17 || 17 || 17
|-
| 100 mm APHE Perforante || APHE || 150 || 129 || 109 || 93 || 78 || 67
|-
| 100 mm HE-TF Contro-aerea || HE-TF || 17 || 17 || 17 || 17 || 17 || 17
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
! colspan="10" | Shell details
|-
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
! rowspan="2" | Type of warhead
! rowspan="2" | Velocity (m/s)
! rowspan="2" | Projectile mass (kg)
! rowspan="2" | Fuse delay (s)
! rowspan="2" | Fuse sensitivity (mm)
! rowspan="2" | Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
! colspan="3" | Ricochet
|-
! 0% !! 50% !! 100%
|-
| 100 mm HE Dirompente || HE || 850 || 13.2 || 0 || 0.1 || 1,300 || 79° || 80° || 81°
|-
| 100 mm APHE Perforante || APHE || 850 || 13.8 || 0.005 || 6 || 820 || 47° || 60° || 65°
|-
| 100 mm HE-TF Contro-aerea || HE-TF || 850 || 13.2 || 0 || 0.1 || 1,300 || 79° || 80° || 81°
|-
|}

=== Anti-aircraft armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-AA}}

{{main|37 mm/54 Breda Mod.32 (37 mm)|Breda Model 31 (13.2 mm)}}

When enemy aircraft fail to be downed by the secondaries, it will become the task of the light AA guns to finish the job - and they will likely fail too. Zara's medium caliber AA is comprised of two twin 37mm/54 Breda Mod.32 autocannons on each side of the rear funnel. These autocannons are reasonably effective, but their restrictive mounting position and the fact that only four barrels can be brought to bear at a time severely limits their ability. They are supplemented by four twin 13,2mm Breda Model 31 machine guns, two on the forward superstructure, and two just in front of the rear funnels. While they help cover some of the 37mms' blindspots, they don't deal enough damage to stop planes in a sufficient amount of time, and '''typically planes will not be shot down before they drop their ordinance.'''

Despite these issues, the lack of AA mounts does help in surface combat, as it means there are less exposed mounts that will be destroyed by hits from high explosive shells.

=== Scout plane ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Plane}}

Just like the Trento, Zara also has a bow mounted catapult serving an IMAM Ro.43, which is tucked in front of the A turret elevator. The two-seater Ro.43 is the standard aircraft on Italian cruisers, and provides the Zara with a good utility tool. Compared to foreign floatplanes, the Ro.43 is quite nimble, but carries no bombs, and is only armed with light machine guns for the pilot and rear-seat gunner. The floatplane can be used to take capture points, provide reconnaissance, or lay down a smoke screen, which thanks to the catapult's location launching the plane in front of the ship, is easy to do.

== Usage in battles ==

RN Zara is an extremely tough heavy cruiser, with strong ammunition choices.:

* '''HE''' perfect for igniting or disabling the cannons of enemy ships.
* '''APHEBC''' perfect for destroying enemy ships by detonation of their hold.
* '''HE-TF''' useful for destroying enemy air targets.

When you start using the RN Zara, you will find that it can survive significant damage from other enemy ships (except from hits from battleships that can easily destroy any cruiser). Use this advantage to win duels, but as always, be cautious to not overextend, as no ship is immortal.

When you just spawn in the game look at where the enemies are spawned and angle them according to the shots they are firing at you, and of course return fire, remember that you have little dispersion until 8,000 m while if you fire beyond 8 km you will have a hard time hitting enemy ships because it greatly increases the dispersion of the guns.

Always try to aim with HE above the enemy ship, while with APHEBCs, prioritize hitting magazines, so you can destroy the enemy with one salvo. Thus, it is always good to be aware of the characteristics of the ships you fight. Remember that your ship has good speed and maneuverability which gives you the ability to dodge torpedoes and enemy salvoes.

=== Pros and cons ===


'''Pros:'''

* One scout seaplane
* Exceptional armour protection and effective armour when ship is angled
** Extremely thick belt and turret armor
* Excellent firepower
* Lack of exposed AA mounts - less vulnerable to HE
* Reasonable speed (59 km/h)
* Solid crew count
* Excellent gun arcs

'''Cons:'''

* Does not have access to torpedo armament
* The AA Armament is inefficient at long range
* Significant dispersion at long ranges
* No anti-torpedo belt
* Poor fire rate

== History ==

''Zara'' was the lead ship of the ''Zara'' class, a group of four heavy cruisers built for the Italian Regia Marina in the 1930s. Designed with a sophisticated armament, good survivability, and competitive speed, she was among the most advanced heavy cruisers in service at the time of her introduction. However, her standard displacement of 11,700 tons exceeded the limits of the Washington Naval Treaty significantly; her nominal weight was just slightly under the 10,000 ton limit, allowing her to be built. ''Zara'' saw some service before the Second World War, including in the Spanish Civil War. Following the outbreak of war, she was present at the Raid on Taranto, and survived unscathed. However, she eventually met her demise at the Battle of Cape Matapan, where she was engaged at close range by three Royal Navy battleships.

=== Design and construction ===
[[File:Italian Cruiser Zara.jpg|thumb|Italian heavy cruiser Zara.]]
While the ''[[Trento]]''-class heavy cruisers were under construction, the Italian naval command began doubting their effectiveness. They soon put forward a new cruiser design, trading the ''[[Trento]]''<nowiki/>'s high speed for additional armour protection. The finished design weighed over 11,500 tons standard,<ref name=":0">Chen, C. (2007)</ref> which was far above the limits set out by the Washington naval treaty. However, her nominal weight was below the limitations of the Treaty. ''Zara'' was armed with eight 8-inch (203 mm) guns in four twin-turrets - these weapons were among the most advanced of their time.<ref name=":0" /> She also carried sixteen 4-inch (100 mm) guns in eight double mounts, as well as decent anti-aircraft weapons.<ref name=":0" /> As a pure gunship design, the ''Zara''s did not carry any torpedo armament; they were capable of making 33 knots (61 km/h).<ref name=":0" />

The ''Zara'' was laid down on July 4th, 1929, and was launched on April 27th 1930. Following the completion of construction, she was formally commissioned on October 20th 1931.<ref name=":0" />

=== Service History ===
Following her completion, the ''Zara'' sailed on sea trials which proved her to be a stable, effective warship. She received her battle flag from her namesake city in Croatia (now Zadar), and became the flagship of the First Naval Squadron. Throughout the interwar period, she was present at several fleet reviews, seeing guests such as Mussolini, King Victor Emmanuel III, Prince Umberto, Miklos Horthy of Hungary, German Marshal Werner von Bloomberg, and Hitler. She also participated in the Spanish Civil War, helping intercept a Republican squadron, and participated in the Italian invasion of Albania without incident.<ref name=":1">Military Factory. (2017)</ref>

After Italy declared war on the Allied nations, ''Zara'' was the flagship of the 1st Division of the 1st Squadron, fighting alongside her sisters ''Fiume'' and ''Gorizia''. She participated in several battles including the Battle of Calabria, taking no damage. She also participated in several sorties to interdict British convoys, although none were successful. She then sailed back to the port of Taranto, and was present at the infamous British raid on the port on November 11-12.<ref name=":1" /> She survived the raid without damage. After the Italian fleet dispersed, ''Zara'' received light maintenance in La Spezia, and was back in service by December. In February, ''Gorizia'' departed the Division for maintenance, and was replaced by ''Pola'', the fourth Zara-class cruiser.

In March of 1941, Zara was part of an Italian task force responsible for attacking British convoys, leading to the Battle of Cape Matapan; however, the Italian fleet came under air attack from British carrier aircraft - ''Vittorio Veneto'', the only battleship in the fleet, was damaged, and ''Zara''<nowiki/>'s sister ship ''Pola'' was damaged by a torpedo. ''Pola'', without engine power due to the torpedo hit, was immobilized, and fell behind in the Italian retreat. Assuming that the British would not give chase, ''Zara'', ''Fiume'', and their escorting destroyers returned to aid ''Pola'' that night, unaware that the British fleet had already found ''Pola''. The Italian ships, lacking radar and unable to detect the danger, blundered directly into the British battle line consisting of three battleships and numerous cruisers and destroyers, and within minutes, ''Zara'' and ''Fiume'' were sunk with enormous loss of life.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

=== [[wt:en/news/6834-development-zara-raising-the-bar-en|Devblog]] ===
While the Trento-class cruisers were being laid down, more and more voices within the ranks of the Regia Marina raised concerns regarding the Trento class' overly lightweight protection, questioning their effectiveness in combat. As a result, naval command issued an order to Italian shipbuilders to come up with a more balanced design, while adhering to the 10,000 ton displacement limit imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty.

It didn't take long for the shipbuilders to come to the conclusion that matching the navy's requirements with treaty restrictions was an impossible task. As a result, the Regia Marina altered its requirements slightly while simultaneously granting its shipbuilders permission to exceed limitations if it meant the construction of a capable warship. Thus, the Zara-class heavy cruisers came into being, featuring vastly improved protection over the Trentos, equal firepower and at the cost of only slightly reduced mobility.

The lead ship of the class, Zara, was laid down in July 1929. All four ships of the class saw completion by late 1932 and subsequently entered service with the Italian Navy. In the interwar period, Zara-class cruisers took part in naval exercises and several fleet reviews, held for foreign leaders. During the Spanish Civil War, Zara-class cruisers participated in non-intervention patrols and evacuations of Italian nationals from the region.

In the leadup toward the outbreak of WWII, Zara, Gorizia and Pola supported the Italian invasion of Albania in April 1939. In subsequent actions following the outbreak of the war, Zara-class cruisers often clashed with forces of the Royal Navy in Mediterranean, taking part in intense naval engagements.

However, while being fortunate enough to emerge from the Battle of Taranto in November 1940 unscathed, the class' luck only went so far. As part of an Italian operation to intercept Allied shipping, Zara, Pola and Fiume, along with a host of other Italian warships were engaged by British forces in the Battle of Cape Matapan in late March 1941, which would prove itself as fateful for the class.

During the engagement, all three of the participating Zara-class cruisers were sunk by the British fleet in a night battle, leaving Gorizia as the sole survivor of the class to see the end of the war, albeit heavily damaged while in port at La Spezia.

== Media ==


;Skins

* [https://live.warthunder.com/feed/camouflages/?vehicle=it_cruiser_zara_class Skins and camouflages for the {{PAGENAME}} from live.warthunder.com.]

;Images
<gallery mode="packed" caption="Zara Devblog Images" heights="150">
File:Zara WTWallpaper 001.jpg|
File:Zara WTWallpaper 002.jpg|
File:Zara WTWallpaper 003.jpg|
File:Zara WTWallpaper 004.jpg|
File:Zara WTWallpaper 005.jpg|
File:Zara WTWallpaper 006.jpg|
File:Zara WTWallpaper 007.jpg|
File:Zara WTWallpaper 008.jpg|
</gallery>

== See also ==

''Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:''

* ''reference to the series of the ship;''
* ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.''

== External links ==


* [[wt:en/news/6834-development-zara-raising-the-bar-en|[Devblog] Zara: Raising the Bar]]

=== References ===

;Citations
<references />

;Bibliography

* Chen, C. (2007, December). Heavy Cruiser Zara. Retrieved November 19, 2020, from <nowiki>https://ww2db.com/ship_spec.php?ship_id=403</nowiki>
* Staff Writer. (2017, October 7). Zara Heavy Cruiser Warship. Retrieved November 19, 2020, from <nowiki>https://www.militaryfactory.com/ships/detail.asp?ship_id=zara-heavy-cruiser-warship</nowiki>

{{ShipManufacturer OTO}}
{{Italy heavy cruisers}}

HMS Hood

2022-06-21T03:02:13Z

U49295956: wrote some stuff about armor, mobility, and armament

{{Specs-Card
|code=uk_battlecruiser_hood
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg}}
}}

== Description ==

The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a rank {{Specs|rank}} British battlecruiser {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced in [[Update "Danger Zone"]].

Conceptualized during World War I as the ultimate "super dreadnought" to counter any Imperial German ship, the Admiral-class battlecruiser underwent several redesigns (including being downgraded from the originally intended battleship design) before being finalized in 1918. The HMS Hood, the sole completed ship of the class, represents a compromise between her ambitious design and the financial downturn after the Great War that forced the British to reduce her capabilities.

Nevertheless, when the "Mighty Hood" was launched in 1920, she became the largest and heaviest warship in the world, a title she held until 1940 when the Japanese launched the Yamato-class battleship. Due to this, the HMS Hood became the status symbol of the might of the British Empire and the pride of the Royal Navy, up until the fateful battle at the Denmark Strait in 1941.

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Armour}}

Hood, while not possessing very exceptional armor, is still reasonably protected, being superior in belt armor to Kongo, and of course being leaps and bounds over the previous British battlecruiser, HMS Invincible. Her armor consists of three layers, all rolled cemented armor, extending from below the waterline to the main deck, and is inclined slightly, which marginally improves its effectiveness. The lowest layer, the main belt, is 305mm thick and extends from the forward to aft turrets on the ship, and on par with some battleships, providing protection against battleship shells only when well angled. The second layer is 178mm thick, extending as far as the main belt, and is more than enough to shrug off cruiser shells. The top layer, 127mm, extends from just aft of A turret to the end of the main deck.

As in real life, her deck armor is quite disappointing, with the three layers of deck armor being 32mm, 51mm, and 25mm thick from top to bottom. Her turrets have a 381mm thick turret face, tapering off to 305mm and then 279mm on the sides. Her barbettes have 305mm above the deck, and 229mm - 152mm below the deck, with 127mm further down. She also has an armored conning tower, with 254mm on the front and 279mm on the sides.

Overall, her armor protection is not very impressive, however it will provide some degree of protection, and is certainly better than certain other capital ships.

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Mobility}}

The Hood is a very fast capital ship, capable of 57 km/h in RB, making her slightly faster than the IJN Kongo, and slightly slower than the Scharnhorst and Kronshtadt. Her acceleration is as can be expected of a ship her size, being quite poor. In addition, she struggles to turn, having an enormous turning radius and bleeding lots of speed while maneuvering.

{{NavalMobility}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armament ==
{{Specs-Fleet-Armaments}}
=== Primary armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Primary}}

{{main|15 inch/42 BL Mark I (381 mm)}}

Hood currently possesses the largest guns in the game, with four twin 15"/42 BL Mark I cannons, larger than those on the Bayern by 1mm. She has two rounds available, 15 inch 4crh CPC, a SAPCBC shell, and 15 inch 4crh Mark XIIa APC, an APCBC shell. The SAPCBC shell, while having a smaller filler than the equivalent SAP shells on the Bayern and the Japanese 14", is still the strongest SAP shell in the game, solely due to its penetration. Penetrating 487mm at point blank, it has very minimal penetration falloff, and it still penetrates 308mm at 15km, while the Bayern can only pen 170mm at that range, while the Japanese 14" SAP can't even reach that penetration at 1km. This allows the Hood to smash any battleship designed before 'all or nothing' armor schemes came into wide use, as while their main belts may be able to hold up, their weaker upper belts stand absolutely no chance, and several of these SAP shells finding their way around the realms of enemy ammunition magazines will have very entertaining results. Due to the high filler, even hits to the upper hull may cause a large enough explosion to detonate ammunition several decks below.

Hood also has an APCBC shell, which is fairly strong with ~20kg of TNT effective filler. However, it is advisable just use the SAP. It should be noted that Hood's accuracy is a bit subpar, which means that you can't simply play as a Death Star and obliterate every battleship you see.

=== Secondary armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Secondary}}

{{main|4 inch/45 Mark XVI (102 mm)}}

Hood has the standard British secondaries of seven twin 4"/45 Mark XVI cannons. These guns do barely any damage, and are most useful in an AA role. Unlike other British ships using the same gun, Hood's secondaries do not get an HE-VT shell, due to the fact that she was sunk before the shell was developed in real life. However, her HE-TF can still deal with most aircraft.

=== Anti-aircraft armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-AA}}

{{main|2pdr QF Mk.VIII (40 mm)|Vickers Mk.V (12.7 mm)}}

Unlike the nest of light AA guns that can be seen on other WW2 era capital ships, Hood's AA only consists of seven mounts. However, three of those mounts are the glorious octuple 40mm 2pdr QF Mk.VIII, which will immediately shred anything they see, due to the sheer amount of 40mm shells they can throw at the foe. The other four mounts are the more lackluster quadruple 12.7mm Vickers Mk.V, which are essentially just there for moral support.

However, the true moral support comes in the form of five 20-barreled UP (Unrotated Projectile) rocket launchers, designed to hurl rockets at enemy aircraft. While they are indicated as 'Auxiliary caliber guns' in-game, due to the fact that testing proved them as useless in-game as in real life, they were not implemented.

=== Additional armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Additional}}

{{main|Mk.IV (533 mm)}}

Hood has 12 533mm Mk.IV torpedoes, the same seen on HMS Marlborough, in four launchers, two per side, near the back of the superstructure. The torpedoes are awful, slow, hard to aim, and worst of all, unlike other WW1-era ships, these launchers and their reserve torpedoes are located above the waterline in very exposed positions, meaning they are prone to explode when hit. It is not advised to take them.

== Usage in battles ==

''Describe the technique of using this ship, the characteristics of her use in a team and tips on strategy. Abstain from writing an entire guide – don't try to provide a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought. Talk about the most dangerous opponents for this vehicle and provide recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of playing with this vehicle in various modes (AB, RB, SB).''

=== Pros and cons ===

''Summarise and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in the bulleted list. Try not to use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - use substitutions with softer forms such as "inadequate" and "effective".''

'''Pros:'''

* Features eight 381 mm (15 inches) cannons that can decimate anything it hits
* Good top speed for her size
* Large profile allows it to absorb a lot of shells and contain the damage

'''Cons:'''

* Extremely huge, can be easily spotted and hit by any weapons
* Relatively weak armour plating on the upper section of the ship
* Low secondary and anti-air defense for such a large ship

== History ==


=== [[wt:en/news/7691-development-hms-hood-the-imperial-representative-en|Devblog]] ===
The British Admiral-class battlecruisers date back to 1915, when an original battleship design with characteristics similar to Queen Elizabeth-class was converted into 30 knot battlecruisers. In 1916, the project was approved and orders were placed at the shipyards, but the Battle of Jutland, which showed the full omissions in the defense of the British battlecruisers, required new improvements to the project, which dragged on until August 1917.

Although four Admiral-class battlecruisers were ordered and laid down in shipyards, only one would be completed. The one ship of the class that would see completion would become HMS Hood, named after an 18th century British admiral. The ship was laid down in the John Brown & Company shipyard in Scotland in September 1916. Following its launching in 1918 and subsequent fitting-out, HMS Hood was commissioned into the ranks of the Royal Navy in May 1920, thus also becoming the largest warship in service at the time.

Upon entering service, HMS Hood took part in several showing-the-flag and training exercises in the interwar period. In November 1923 the ship set out to circumnavigate the globe, visiting ports in South Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States before returning to British waters in September 1924.

At the outbreak of WWII, the recently overhauled HMS Hood was operating in the area around Iceland, hunting for German vessels. After the Fall of France, HMS Hood took part in Operation Catapult - the destruction of the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir in July 1940. However, HMS Hood’s most famous and final engagement would become that of the Battle of the Denmark Strait in which the warship, along with HMS Prince of Wales clashed with the German battleship Bismarck and the accompanying heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. Suffering a lethal strike to one of its magazines shortly after the start of the engagement, HMS Hood blew up and sank within three minutes with catastrophic losses. Due to its popularity among the British at the time and its tragic loss during the vessel’s fateful last engagement, HMS Hood retains its legendary status and is to this day one of the most well-known British warships.

== Media ==

''Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.''

== See also ==

''Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:''

* ''reference to the series of the ship;''
* ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.''

== External links ==


* [[wt:en/news/7691-development-hms-hood-the-imperial-representative-en|[Devblog] HMS Hood: The Imperial Representative]]

{{Template:ShipManufacturer John Brown and Company}}
{{Britain battlecruisers}}

IJN Kongo

2022-04-06T05:03:35Z

U49295956: Added armor, mobility, armament, and some details about general playstyle

{{Specs-Card
|code=jp_battlecruiser_kongo
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg}}
}}

== Description ==

The '''{{Specs|name}}''' (金剛, [[Abbreviations#.28JP.29_Naval|namesake]]: Mount Kongō) is a rank {{Specs|rank}} Japanese battleship {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced in [[Update "Wind of Change"]].

The Kongō was the lead ship of the Kongō-class and would be the last Japanese capital ship built outside Japan. Designed by the British naval engineer George Thurston and laid down in 1911 initially as a battlecruiser she would see 2 major refits that would reclassify her as a fast battleship.

First commissioned in 1913, patrolling the Chinese coast during WWI, she would see many major naval actions in the Pacific War until November 1944 when she would sink while in transit by a submarine.

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Armour}}

Kongo's armor truly reflects her legacy as a battlecruiser, even though she has been uparmored from her original design. Her 203mm main belt is the second weakest capital ship belt in the game - only HMS Invincible's 152mm belt is worse, and its enough to stop cruiser shells, but will stand no chance against battleships. The rest of her amidships hull is protected by 152mm armor, which greatly improves her survivability against splash damage and weaker shells, but is not very effective against enemy AP. Her bow has a 76mm belt that extends from the waterline, but as with most battleships, the majority of the bow is left unarmored. Her turrets have 254mm of armor, while her barbettes have 229mm. This is reasonable by battleship standards, but still leaves her turrets vulnerable to even cruiser AP. Her conning tower, nestled behind turret B, is surrounded by 254mm of armor.

Within the ship, all four magazines are protected by a turtleback armor scheme, which greatly improves her protection against ammunition detonations, especially at close range. In addition to this, the steering at the stern of the ship is armored by an enormous concrete block.

Overall, her armor is certainly enough to give her protection against most cruisers and some battleships, especially when angled, but given her design and playstyle, it will never be her strength. At the end of the day, she is a battlecruiser at her core, and you should not expect her armor to make you impervious to battleship fire.

Her crew consists of 1437 men, which is respectable. It is far more than any WW1 era dreadnought, although it's less than the Scharnhorst's complement, and is smaller than the crews of even some WW2 cruisers.

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Mobility}}

The Kongo's nature as a battlecruiser reflects in her speed, which is a very good 56 km/h. This is only slightly less than most cruisers, and is leaps and bounds ahead of the speed of dreadnoughts. However, her acceleration and deceleration is still unexceptional, and her turning is not very good.

{{NavalMobility}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armament ==
{{Specs-Fleet-Armaments}}
=== Primary armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Primary}}

{{main|36 cm/45 Type 41 (356 mm)}}
The 36cm/45 Type 41, also seen on IJN Hyuga, is an exceptional 14" battleship cannon. Compared to the Hyuga, she gets only 8 guns, but she features a new selection of shells. Her stock shell, Ordinary SAP, is identical to the shell on Hyuga, and certainly gets the job done. With the equivalent of 68.64kg of TNT, her SAP is still a head and shoulders over even the HE on most other battleships. These shells will smash cruisers whenever they hit, and against battleships, while they will rarely penetrate the hull armor, the splash damage from the detonation will frequently destroy guns and turrets. Type 91 APC is an improvement over the Hyuga's equivalent AP shell, with extra penetration. This shell is mostly used against battleships, where the extra penetration is needed to penetrate the belt armor. The last shell is Type 0 Common, an HE shell. This shell is very poor, possessing only half the explosive filler of SAP. It may find some utility when it comes to sniping patrol boats or stray floatplanes, but overall, it isn't very good.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
! colspan="8" | Penetration statistics
|-
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
! rowspan="2" | Type of warhead
! colspan="6" | Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
|-
! 1,000 m !! 2,500 m !! 5,000 m !! 7,500 m !! 10,000 m !! 15,000 m
|-
| Ordinary SAP || SAPCBC || 301 || 280 || 248 || 222 || 199 || 168
|-
| Type 91 APC || APCBC || 635 || 593 || 476 || 476 || 431 || 366
|-
| Type 0 Common || HE || 85 || 85 || 85 || 85 || 85 || 85
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
! colspan="10" | Shell details
|-
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
! rowspan="2" | Type of warhead
! rowspan="2" | Velocity (m/s)
! rowspan="2" | Projectile Mass (kg)
! rowspan="2" | Fuse delay (m)
! rowspan="2" | Fuse sensitivity (mm)
! rowspan="2" | Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
! colspan="3" | Ricochet
|-
! 0% !! 50% !! 100%
|-
| Ordinary SAP || SAPCBC || 780 || 635.6 || 0 || 12 || 68,640 || 48° || 63° || 71°
|-
| Type 91 APC || APCBC || 771 || 671.3 || 18 || 12 || 12,210 || 48° || 63° || 71°
|-
| Type 0 Common || HE || 805 || 621.0 || 0 || 0.1 || 32,450 || 79° || 80° || 81°
|-
|}

=== Secondary armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Secondary}}

{{main|15 cm/50 Type 41 (152 mm)}}
The Kongo's secondaries consist of 8 15cm/50 Type 41 cannons, four per side. Comparable guns can be found on the IJN Agano, although these guns can maintain a sustained rate of fire of 10 RPM. While they are 6" secondaries, they are nothing to write home about, as the best shell only has 81mm of penetration at point blank range. That being said, the exceptionally high explosive mass of the SAP round - nearly as good as HE - makes it very well suited for killing destroyers.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
! colspan="8" | Penetration statistics
|-
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
! rowspan="2" | Type of warhead
! colspan="6" | Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
|-
! 1,000 m !! 2,500 m !! 5,000 m !! 7,500 m !! 10,000 m !! 15,000 m
|-
| Type 0 HE || HE || 35 || 35 || 35 || 35 || 35 || 35
|-
| Type 4 SAP || SAP || 81 || 68 || 52 || 40 || 34 || 34
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
! colspan="10" | Shell details
|-
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
! rowspan="2" | Type of warhead
! rowspan="2" | Velocity (m/s)
! rowspan="2" | Projectile Mass (kg)
! rowspan="2" | Fuse delay (m)
! rowspan="2" | Fuse sensitivity (mm)
! rowspan="2" | Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
! colspan="3" | Ricochet
|-
! 0% !! 50% !! 100%
|-
| Type 0 HE || HE || 850 || 45.26 || 0 || 0.1 || 3,170 || 79° || 80° || 81°
|-
| Type 4 SAP || SAP || 850 || 45.26 || 8 || 7 || 2,920 || 47° || 60° || 65°
|-
|}

=== Anti-aircraft armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-AA}}

{{main|5 inch/40 Type 89 (127 mm)|25 mm/60 Type 96 (25 mm)}}

The Kongo's AA armament sets her apart from other battleships. It includes 6 5 inch/40 Type 89 twin cannons, as well as a total of 100 25mm cannons. The 5" guns, which behave more like secondaries, are automatically loaded with HE-VT, with no alternate ammunition choice, which makes them pretty useless against surface targets, as the shells will always detonate early, but decent against aircraft. Meanwhile, the 25mm cannons provide the Kongo with exceptional close-range AA firepower, being able to put up a hail of fire in any direction. However, note the stopping power of the 25mm is not very good, and these cannons are only really suitable for self-defence.

=== Scout plane ===
{{main|Aichi E13A1}}

== Usage in battles ==

Aside from perhaps the Scharnhorst, there is no better ship when it comes to agressive capital ship gameplay. While she has the ability to snipe passively, but the Hyuga simply is more specialized in that role over the Kongo. It is best to lean into her advantages, and play like the battlecruiser that she was originally designed as. Her speed allows her to keep pace with friendly cruisers, while her exceptional gun arcs on the rear turrets (±150°) allow her to make the most of her somewhat lackluster armor, as well as maintaining the ability to deliver full broadsides while sailing into combat. In addition, her AA is an extremely useful asset, as it allows her to be self-sufficient in combat, instead of relying on teammates for AA support.

Overall, the Kongo is the most efficient ship in the game when it comes to delivering devastating firepower to the enemy. Don't sit passively - put your ship on the line and don't be too afraid to engage in brawls, despite her light protection. While she isn't exactly a very well protected capital ship, her armor is good enough to let her speed and firepower do the rest.

'''Specific enemies worth noting'''

* '''Cruisers'''
** Most cruisers are completely incapable of doing significant damage to you, but if left to their own devices they will eventually chip away at you. Learn their ammunition locations, and dispose of them quickly with SAP. Also, keep in mind which enemy cruisers are armed with torpedoes, and keep them at arms length.
* '''Scharnhorst'''
** The Scharnhorst is the Kongo's biggest rival, boasting heavier armor and a lower profile hull, while having weaker but more rapid firing armament. Approach them with caution, aiming to disable turrets, and preferably have backup from your team. Never brawl them, as the Scharnhorst's torpedoes will be decisive.
* '''USS Arizona'''
** The USS Arizona is extremely durable, and their broadside of 12 14" guns is very imposing. However, her Achilles' heel is her reload. Knocking out turrets and dodging incoming fire from an Arizona will cripple their damage output, while you can bombard them until they eventually explode.
* '''IJN Hyuga'''
** Essentially having your guns, but four more of them, the Hyuga has the deadliest broadside in the game. Chip away from them at long range, and make sure you do not get hit in return. If the Hyuga is playing passively, use your speed to flank and attack from an unexpected direction.

=== Pros and cons ===
'''Pros:'''

* Exceptional 14" guns with the most potent SAP round in the game
* Very fast for her size
* Good AA protection
* Comfortable gun arcs
* Workable armor; turtleback around the magazines
* Floatplane

*

'''Cons:'''

* Armor still too weak to match battleships, and occasionally cruiser AP
* Extensive AA mounts are all exposed crew members; vulnerable to HE
* No torpedo armament
* Lackluster secondary armament

*

== History ==


=== [[wt:en/news/7600-development-kongō-battleship-the-imperial-jewel-en|Devblog]] ===
After the Royal Navy commissioned the battlecruiser HMS Invincible into service in 1908, the IJN was quick to react with a plan to expand its fighting force with modern warships being approved already by the end of the decade. However, the problem persisted that Japanese shipyards simply lacked the technological know-how to build such warships at the time. As a result, taking advantage of the existing naval cooperation agreement with Great Britain, Japan sought assistance from the Vickers company, who besides helping design a matching warship, also agreed to manufacture the lead ship, to be named Kongō, while the remaining ones would be built in Japan.

IJN Kongō was laid down in January 1911 as the lead ship of its class of modern battlecruisers to be built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was launched in May 1912 and completed in April 1913, subsequently entering service in August as the most advanced Japanese warship of its time. During WWI, IJN Kongō took part in minor operations but was quickly placed in reserve after the conflict. With international agreements limiting naval power after WWI, Japan was forced to upgrade existing warships in order to maintain its fighting power. As a result, Kongō was extensively upgraded on two occasions in the interwar period, not only vastly improving its characteristics but also noticeably changing its visual appearance.

During WWII however, Kongō had a rather illustrious service record. It took part in several major operations, including the Invasion of the Dutch East Indies, the Battle of Midway and also supported Japanese forces at Guadalcanal. After taking part in the famous Battle of Leyte Gulf, Kongō would serve until November 1944 when it was sunk by a successful torpedo attack by the American submarine USS Sealion.

== Media ==

''Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.''

== See also ==

''Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:''

* ''reference to the series of the ship;''
* ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.''

== External links ==


* [[wt:en/news/7600-development-kongō-battleship-the-imperial-jewel-en|Kongō battleship: The Imperial Jewel]]

{{Manufacturer Vickers-Armstrongs}}
{{Japan battleships}}

HMS London

2022-01-14T06:36:57Z

U49295956: Added armament details, armor details, and some vague suggestions for gameplay

{{Specs-Card
|code=uk_cruiser_london
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg}}
}}

== Description ==

The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a rank {{Specs|rank}} British heavy cruiser {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced in [[Update 1.97 "Viking Fury"]].

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Armour}}
Compared to her predecessor the Norfolk, the London has a 88.9mm main belt, compared to the Norfolk's 25mm. This is a very welcome change, but it doesn't amount to much. The machinery is slightly better protected, but the rest of the hull above the waterline has no armoring at all (aside from a tiny 38mm plate to protect the steering gears), and neither does the enormous superstructure. The London is a massive glass cannon, and should be played with caution. The one saving grace of the London's survivability is the very safe location of the London's magazines. They are well underwater and protected by a 100mm plate inside the ship. Catastrophic ammunition detonations from cruiser-caliber guns are extremely rare, and even battleships may struggle to slip a shell into the right spot.

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Mobility}}
The mobility on the London is nothing to write home about. Capable of 60 kph, 1 kph slower than the Norfolk, the London still has the same top speed of nearly every WW2-era heavy cruiser. The maneuverability is also nothing exceptional. She'll get the job done, but she won't do it faster than any other cruiser.

{{NavalMobility}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armament ==
{{Specs-Fleet-Armaments}}
=== Primary armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Primary}}
{{main|8 inch/50 Mark VIII (203 mm)}}

HMS London retains the 8"/50 Mark VIII guns seen on previous British heavy cruisers. As with the others, the guns are reasonably accurate, although at long ranges the dispersion will start to show itself. The shortest achievable reload time is 12 seconds, which is quite fast by heavy cruiser standards. There is no first-stage ammunition stowage, so the reload rate will always remain quick no matter how much ammunition is remaining.

There are two shells available, an HE shell and a researchable SAPCBC shell. The HE shell performs as can be expected from heavy cruiser HE - solid against light targets, but unable to significantly damage heavier ships. The researchable SAPCBC shell on the other hand is one of the most powerful shells available to any heavy cruiser, possessing a excellent blend of penetration while also having a massive 5.2 kg bursting charge. This, combined with the quick fire rate, means that London's damage output is nothing short of exceptional, and if you are left to your own devices, you can inflict massive damage upon the enemy team. However, the lack of a proper AP shell also means the London will struggle against heavy targets, such as battleships.

HE is used as the stock shell, while SAPCBC can be researched immediately after purchasing the ship. It is recommend to get the SAPCBC quickly, but only after basic survivability modifications.

=== Secondary armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Secondary}}
{{main|4 inch/45 Mark XVI (102 mm)}}

The London has four twin 4" turrets behind the funnels, able to bring two to bear for a broadside. They are the same guns found on the Hunt-class and V-class destroyers. In terms of their ability to damage surface targets, their utility is extremely limited, especially compared to American 5" cruiser secondaries, which will outclass the British 4"s in every way. However, when it comes to downing planes, the London's secondaries will do the job reasonably well. Four shells are available, HE, HE-TF, HE-VT, and SAP. HE is the stock shell, while the rest must be researched. Getting the HE-VT first as a Rank III mod to bolster the London's long-range AA is advisable, as the rest are not very useful. After finishing more important modifications, get SAP in case the guns ever must be used against surface targets. Save the HE-TF as one of the last modifications you research, as it is simply redundant when the HE-VT is available.

=== Anti-aircraft armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-AA}}
{{main|2pdr QF Mk.VIII (40 mm)|QF Mark VII (40 mm)|20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mk.II (20 mm)|20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mark V (20 mm)}}

Of the three County-class cruisers in game, the London's AA outshines them all. Compared to her predecessor, the Norfolk, which has just enough AA to protect herself and ward off enemy planes, the London's AA can truly be called fitting for a late-war cruiser. The most powerful guns are the octuple 40mm Pom-Poms, one located to each side of the forward funnel. These guns output a staggering amount of shells, and can easily mow down any aircraft or light ship. They are supplemented by four 40mm QF Mk VII guns, two per side. In addition, the London has eight twin 20mm Oerlikon turrets, and four single Oerlikons. The extensive AA coverage makes the London a very challenging target to bomb.

=== Additional armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Additional}}
{{main|Mk.IX (533 mm)}}

The London continues to use the 533mm Mk.IX wet-heater torpedoes seen on other British cruisers, in one quadruple launcher per side. They are a welcome improvement over the antiquated steam turbined Mk.V torpedoes seen on earlier cruisers, but are still unexceptional weapons, with subpar speed and no access to reserves. It's best to retain them as last ditch weapons to expend when being forced into a brawl. Other than those scenarios, you may as well play like you don't have torpedoes.

== Usage in battles ==
The London's main playstyle revolves around its two defining characteristics - its devastating SAP round, its quick reload, and its awful protection. The London is a true glass cannon, and you should play it as such. Position yourself into places where you can continuously pound enemy cruisers and destroyers with firepower, while they either unable to hit you or are preoccupied with an ally. The longer you can fire unmolested by the enemy, the better. However, this does not mean camping is a good strategy - at ranges around 10km, the inaccuracy of the main guns starts to show. Thus, you must figure out how to work your way into closer-range engagements. Playing the London to its fullest requires toeing a careful line - you must keep your guns firing as often and as effectively as possible, while also not dying in the process. Having map knowledge helps a lot when it comes to achieving this. Use cover to get in close, while being aware of where enemies are likely to appear. Find defensive positions near caps, where you can camp while also providing support to your team's frontline. However, do not push into the cap yourself unless it is an emergency and the ownership of the cap will decide the game, or the area is completely clear! By covering your team and letting more durable ships push the cap, you will be far more useful than if you rushed into the cap yourself and were killed.

It is also useful to have knowledge of your enemies. Know which ships pose the biggest threats, and how you can kill them before they kill you. When fighting an Omaha, hit their engines and ammunition, if fighting an Admiral Graf Spee, dodge their shells while destroying their turrets and ammunition hoists, when fighting battleships, pray he shoots somebody else, etc. Knowing the ideal way to fight any enemy you face is key to preserving your ship, which allows you to keep your firepower in action for longer.

All in all, the London is a challenging ship to play, as the weak armor, poor gun arcs, and absolutely enormous stature make her a very vulnerable ship. However, in the hands of an experienced captain, her advantages can be pushed, her vulnerabilities diminished, and blow by blow, her firepower will win battles.

=== Pros and cons ===


'''Pros:'''

* Very effective anti-air defences
* Excellent main battery
** Great fire rate for a heavy cruiser (4-5 RPM, depending on crew skill)
** Devastating SAP shells with high penetration and high bursting charge
* Ammunition is stored under the water line and is well protected
* Carries torpedoes which are useful in close range encounters
* Decent speed for a heavy cruiser

'''Cons:'''

* Guns lack AP shells to deal with battlecruisers and battleships
* No bridge protection and enormous superstructure, losing control is very common in this ship
* Armour is hardly present at all
** 89mm belt armor won't hold up to enemy fire
** Majority of hull is unarmored
** Lacks deck armour against plunging shells
* Outgunned by battleships, battlecruisers, and some American heavy cruisers
* Mildly inconvenient gun arcs
* Lacks a floatplane, which most other same-tier cruisers have

== History ==

=== The Treaty Cruiser ===
The County class, named after regional areas of Great Britain, was the largest class of heavy cruisers of the Royal Navy. Under the 1924 Washington treaty limits, they had a standard load under 10,000 tons and four twin-turrets with eight pieces of 8 inches (203 mm) guns in total. Limited by the regulation, the County class had little protection on the main belt with only 1 inch (25 mm) but a completed armour box (1-4 inches) covering the magazine parts. The 8" gun was new to the Royal Navy; it had a high muzzle velocity of 3,150 ft/sec (960 m/s) and a range of 20 miles (32 km). It was a very accurate gun and was the smallest gun in the RN to require mechanical handling of the shell and charge - the shell weighed 256 lbs (116 kg). The guns could elevate to 65° and under director control could sustain a firing rate of 4 rounds per minute.<ref name="Brown" />

Considering the operating environment in remote stations and the duty of being a quick reaction force in hot zones, they had significant autonomy and a large hull for overseas consistency and stability in bad weather, as well as comfort equipment like air conditioning for tropical areas.

Ordered in 1925, HMS ''London'', the first of the second block of County-class heavy cruisers, was laid down on 22 February 1926, launched 14 September the following year and completed 5 February 1929 in Portsmouth. The installed engines were manufactured by Fairfield Shipbuilders and Engineers of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Compared to the first block, the ''Kent'' class, the ''London'' class removed a protective bulge on the waterline, which forced a modified hull design that increased length by 2 feet 8 inches and incorporated internal bulges for torpedo protection. The command superstructure was also moved further back and funnels lengthened to prevent interference from smoke.

=== The 1930s ===
Entering service in early 1929, HMS ''London'' was sent to the Mediterranean, where she became the flagship of the First Cruiser Squadron and operated until March 1939. Her first notable task was to quell the uprising on Cyprus in 1931. The British had administered the island since 1878, and gave the status of a crown colony in 1925. However, that status irritated the Greek Cypriots who sought for an eventual union with Greece.<ref name="Klapsis" />

In 1931, the local administration decided to raise tax to cover a local budget deficit, which triggered a severe reaction among Greek Cypriots. On 21 October, more than 5,000 Greek Cypriots rallied on the island. They stripped the British flag, besieged Government House and burned it.

The Royal Navy was asked to aid the civil powers. HMS ''London'' and her sister ship ''Shropshire'' as well as two destroyers were sent to suppress the uprising. On 24 October, ''London'' landed groups of Royal Marines and armed sailors to protect government offices. The protestors hurled verbal abuse at ''London''<nowiki/>'s marines and sailors, waving the Greek flag in their faces and throwing stones, to make the marines and sailors lose their cool and open fire in the hope that Greece might intervene militarily. But the British held fire. On 25 October, the revolt leaders were arrested, and the protests gradually fizzled out in the following days, marking a successful end to ''London''<nowiki/>'s first mission.

On 18 July 1936, the Fascist General Franco led an uprising by twelve military garrisons on mainland Spain and five in Spanish Morocco, igniting the Spanish Civil War. The Royal Navy was involved from the beginning of the conflict. Soon after the war had started, HMS ''London'' with her sister ship ''Devonshire'' were on station at Gibraltar. On 22 July, ''London'' was tasked with evacuating British civilians in Barcelona.

''London'' stayed at Barcelona until 22 August when HMS ''Shropshire'' replace her role for evacuation. During the period, more than 1,800 civilians were evacuated via HMS ''London''. After that, ''London'' received a refit in Portsmouth in November, during which four additional high-angle 4-inch guns were fitted. At the end of 1936, HMS ''London'' was tasked with hunting down gunrunners in Western Mediterranean. Although her aircraft found a suspicious-looking vessel that might be a gunrunner, the cruiser failed to catch them. In 1937, ''London'' was called back to Britain for the coronation of King George VI.

=== 1939 - 1941 ===
With war clouds gathering fast in the late 1930s and naval construction restrictions being discarded equally rapidly, the Admiralty decided to reconstruct the County Class cruisers for better preparations in future combat. HMS ''London'' was the first and only one of the County class to rebuild and modernize completely. She entered Chatham in March 1939, and the rebuild proved complex and lasted until February 1941.

Significant modifications were added during the reconstruction. A new 4-inch (102 mm) armour belt was added to the waterline to cover the machinery spaces. A series of radars, including Type 279 for air warning and Type 284/285 for fire control, were installed. Most notably, a brand-new enlarged superstructure with aircraft hangars replaced the original command tower to provide more space and comfort for operations in bad weather. The newly added superstructure also changed the arrangement of funnels from three to only two. Besides, two twin high-angle 4-inch guns and additional 2-pounder AA guns were added to the ship. The significant increase in displacement after modernization resulted in increased structural stresses on the hull. During subsequent service, these stresses, together with the harsh serving environment in the Arctic, were most likely to have been the cause of the leakages in fuel and feed water systems during later service.

During the reconstruction, German bombers targeted Chatham frequently, and air raids often interrupted the work, delaying ''London''<nowiki/>'s progress. The cruiser was finally commissioned for service with the Home Fleet on 7 February 1941.

On 5 March, HMS ''London'' left Chatham, heading north to join the Home Fleet in Scapa Flow. After arriving at Scapa, ''London'' participated in fleet exercises for practising main and sub calibre gunnery, air defence, and testing new radar equipment. ''London'' also played a role as a simulated cruiser target for battleships of Home Fleet.

On 2 April, ''London'' left Scapa Flow with the carrier HMS ''Argus'', which was being used to transport fighter planes to the Mediterranean. The cruiser escorted ''Argus'' to a position near Gibraltar, where she handed the duty to HMS ''Sheffield'' from Force H.

HMS ''London'' spent some time with the battleship ''King George V'' keeping watch on Brest to prevent the breakout of German battlecruisers ''Scharnhorst'' and ''Gneisenau''. The two German ships had stayed in France since February 1941 and would be there for another year. ''London''<nowiki/>'s next mission was escorting slow convoys out of Sierra Leone, during which she had to conduct circuitous movements around the six-knot merchant ships to adapt to their slow speed.

On 12 May, ''London'' carried 600 Army soldiers from England to Gibraltar. The consistent high speed and plentiful space made the cruiser an ideal ship for transportation, and it would conduct more such operations throughout the rest of the war. After offloading her passengers at Gibraltar, ''London'' stayed in port for a few days, as she was due to return to Britain carrying soldiers going home on leave. Together with the cruiser HMS ''Edinburgh'', she provided escort for a UK-bound convoy, carrying evacuees from Gibraltar. During her time in Gibraltar, Italian aircraft tried to bomb the port but missed. ''London''<nowiki/>'s AA guns went to engage, but the planes were too far away to shoot down. Sailing north from Gibraltar on 23 May, ''London'' encountered a Vichy French ship that she stopped and searched.

Shortly before 5 p.m., on 24 May, ''London'' received an immediate order to take over shadowing duties, searching the German battleship Bismarck, which was cornered and destroyed on 27 May, leaving HMS ''London'' re-ordered to search for German supply ships in the central and southern Atlantic.

On 31 May, HMS ''London'' called in at Bathurst, Gambia, to land some of the troops embarked at Gibraltar. HMS ''London'' sailed again that afternoon, hunting for German supply ships. On 4 June at 07° 35' N – 31° 29' W, ''London'' found the German supply ship ''Esso Hamburg'', a 17,000-ton fuel tanker, which had in fact refuelled the ''Prinz Eugen'' on the morning of 28 May. On 5 June, HMS ''London'' found another German supply ship, ''Egerland'', flying the Panamanian flag. To prevent her from scuttling herself, ''London'' opened fire on her at a very long range, setting the ship on fire. The vessel's crew set scuttling charges and abandoned ship, with several boatloads of Germans taken aboard the already crowded ''London''.

HMS ''London'' headed to Sierra Leone to offload her passengers, and for part of the way, she helped escort a convoy heading in the same direction. ''London'' left the convoy on 7 June and went ahead.

On 6 July, HMS ''London'' left Sierra Leone and four days later came across another Vichy French merchant ship that was boarded and searched. On 24 July, ''London'' was suddenly called back to England from Gibraltar for searching for a new German raider in North Atlantic. Soon, ''London'' was deployed to Iceland for further operation.

The high seas raider alert proved to be a false alarm and, after loitering off Iceland for a short while, ''London'' came down to Scapa Flow, arriving on 23 July. In the following two months, ''London'' was assigned to multiple convoy-escorting missions near Home waters until 22 September, when ''London'' was selected for VIP transport. Her mission was to carry a group of American and British government officials, military persons, and business tycoons to Archangel in the far north of Russia to discuss the Lend-Lease agreement and other cooperation in the war.

Covered by the bad weather in the Arctic region, ''London'' maintained a high speed on her way to Russia to prevent reconnaissance or attacks from German U-boats and Luftwaffe. HMS ''London'' deposited her precious cargo at Archangel on 27 September. To hide from being bombed, ''London'' left Archangel on 28 September, and waited for the diplomats to return. During this time, she escorted a UK-bound convoy, which had been the first Arctic convoy journey of the war. On 2 October, ''London'' returned to Archangel to pick up the VIPs.

=== 1942 ===
HMS ''London'' returned to England for another refit from November 1941 to January 1942 to fix the cracks in the upper deck and leaking around the machinery spaces caused by the previous reconstruction.

In early February, ''London'' completed her refit, and she sailed for Iceland, from where she would conduct "Patrol White", a series of patrols preventing German raiders in the northern areas, typically the Denmark Strait and Norwegian Sea. For ''London'', it would mean many months in the Arctic. The combination of endlessly severe wind, gale-whipped waves, and extremely low temperature created a difficult environment in the Arctic and pushed ''London'' and her crews to their limits. Even with her high freeboard, the icing on the upper deck and superstructure is still a usual sight in the Patrol White.

In mid-February, HMS ''London'' became the flagship of the First Cruiser Squadron, including her sister ship HMS ''Norfolk'', the only two available heavy cruisers remaining in Home Fleet. The expanded scale of war meant the Royal Navy had to dispatch the already depleted fleet to the Far East while the new ships were still under construction. Luckily, the US Navy Task Force 39.1, including battleship USS ''Washington'', two heavy cruisers, and a flotilla of destroyers, joined the escort for arctic convoy to relieve the British. At that time, Anglo-American naval operations were frequently mounted to sink the German battleship, ''Tirpitz''.

On 7 March, ''London'' returned to Iceland from a Patrol White for refuelling but immediately put to sea under urgent orders of the Admiralty, traveling all night at high speed on action stations as German battleship ''Tirpitz'' left Trondheim and headed north early that day in search of convoy PQ12. In the following day, ''London'' joined the strike force with the aircraft carrier HMS ''Victorious'', which launched a wave of torpedo bombers to ''Tirpitz''. Unfortunately, none of the torpedoes caused damage to the German battleship. ''Tirpitz'' was able to seek refuge in the Vestfjord unharmed. ''London'' kept patrolling in the Norwegian Sea until early April when she returned Scapa Flow for supply and fueling.

On 28 April, HMS made a sortie from Scapa to cover the convoy PQ15 and QP11, together with HMS ''King George V'', ''Nigeria'', and ''Victorious'', as well as USS ''Washington'', ''Wichita'', and ''Tuscaloosa'', alongside some destroyers. The Home Fleet Task Force sailed along the convoy between Norway and Iceland: ''London'' and three other cruisers closely around the merchant ships, while the battleships guard in the distance for Germany warships.

On April 29, the pocket battleship ''Admiral Scheer'' was reported to be at sea, but she turned around without attacking the convoy. On the following day, the Luftwaffe's bombers attacked the convoy. ''London'' provided air defence with both her main and secondary batteries. The Luftwaffe continued the attack on May 1, and the cruisers provided essential air defence for the convoy. ''London'', in particular with her radar-guided high angle 4-inch guns, claimed shooting down six Ju 88s.

HMS ''London'' was back at Scapa Flow by May 5 and nothing much happened for the following nine days until May 14, when ''London'' left Scapa with battleship ''Duke of York'', aircraft carrier ''Victorious'', and a flotilla of destroyers in an attempt to rescue cruiser HMS ''Trinidad'', which was badly damaged by German bombers on her way to Russia. After emergency repairs in Murmansk, ''Trinidad'' headed for the Scapa on May 13, accompanied by four destroyers. However, German aircraft spotted ''Trinidad'' late in the evening of May 14 and demobilized ''Trinidad'' in the following strike. The ship was abandoned and sunk by escorting destroyers on May 15.

On June 27, HMS ''London'', alongside HMS ''Norfolk'', USS ''Tuscaloosa'', and USS ''Wichita'', participated in the escort of the PQ17 convoy from Iceland. Similar to PQ15, the cruisers provided close-range escorts for the convoy. The cruisers were five miles in front, zig-zagging to reduce the risk of being hit by torpedoes. By July 1, although ''London'' and other cruisers sent their aircraft for anti-submarine patrol, the convoy was spotted by a U-boat. The Germans were planning a combined offensive involving U-boats, bombers, and surface units. On July 3, battleship ''Tirpitz'' and heavy cruiser ''Admiral Hipper'' sortied from Altenfjord, pocket battleship ''Scheer'' and heavy cruiser ''Lützow'' sortied in the far north of Norway.

Meanwhile, PQ17 was under attack from bombers and U-boats. In the early hours of July 4, a single plane shot out of a fog bank and dropped its torpedo, hitting a cargo vessel and damaging her so badly she had to be scuttled. Later the same day, a group of torpedo-bombers attacked and sank another merchant ship. Just under an hour later, more than thirty German aircraft attacked the convoy again. Several were shot down, but two more ships were damaged. ''London'' contributed to the air defence with her AA guns, helping to disrupt the torpedo bombers.

By the evening of July 4, the Admiralty was confident that ''Tirpitz'' was in the Altenfjord. The increasing volume of German signals traffic seemed to indicate that something was about to happen. In the early hours of July 4, the Admiralty had advised ''London'', the flagship of the cruisers, to stay with the convoy until it was level with North Cape (25° East).

At the Admiralty in ''London'', the latest deciphered German signals revealed the German had mistaken HMS ''London'' for a ''King George V''-class battleship, sailing in company with three escorting destroyers. Because of her rebuilt superstructure and the relatively huge hull, ''London''<nowiki/>'s silhouette was different from any other British cruisers. The foggy weather also made it hard for the scout plane to correctly identify HMS ''London''. The presence of British battleships or aircraft carriers certainly made the Germans cautious. As in the example of PQ12, the airstrike from HMS ''Victorious'' halted the engagement of ''Tirpitz''. However, in the Admiralty's view, if the convoy continued on its way, it would be harassed by enemy U-boats and aircraft. Any enemy heavy ships would most likely be encountered east of North Cape, beyond the effective range of Home Fleet. The enemy would need no more than ten hours to reach the convoy, and could return to safety in less than that time. Hence, the decision was made to scatter the convoy, with the intention of minimizing the greater losses anticipated from a surface attack compared with those inflicted by U-boats and aircraft.<ref name="Vego" />

In the evening of July 4, the Admiralty sent orders to Admiral Hamilton, who was in charge of First Cruiser Squadron on HMS ''London''.

At 9:11 p.m. on the cruiser's bridge, the first signal arrived. Marked 'MOST IMMEDIATE', it said:<ref name="Churchill" />

{{Quote|CRUISER FORCE WITHDRAW TO THE WESTWARDS AT HIGH SPEED}}

Twelve minutes later, another equally alarming signal hit HMS ''London'':

{{Quote|IMMEDIATE… OWING TO THREAT FROM SURFACE SHIPS, CONVOY IS TO DISPERSE AND PROCEED TO RUSSIAN PORTS}}

This was followed, at 9.36 p.m., by the signal that has gone down as one of the most notorious in naval history:

{{Quote|MOST IMMEDIATE. CONVOY IS TO SCATTER}}

On the night of 4 July, HMS ''London'' and the other warships sped away from the dismissing convoy. The destroyers and cruisers continued a nightmare dash at high speed through the fog and a sea scattered with icebergs. As the cruisers and destroyers sped on, the communicators in ''London'' read with mounting horror the signals from PQ17 merchant ships as they were ripped apart by aircraft and U-boats. Captain of HMS ''London'' offered to go back, but Rear Admiral Hamilton reminded him that his ships were low on oil and had lost their fuel ship somewhere in the scattered convoy.<ref name="Ballantyne" />

The rest was an absolute disaster for the convoy. On 5 July, 14 of 34 merchant ships were sunk or demobilized by air strikes and U-boats. In the following week, nine more merchantmen were sunk or abandoned. Ultimately only eleven merchant ships reached their intended destination – two British, seven American, and two Russian. The destruction of PQ17 triggered a series of consequences in all aspects. For the Royal Navy, the arctic convoy was held until September when a new tactic was planned for escorting convoy.

HMS ''London'' returned to Scapa on 8 July and stayed there until September 1942 when the arctic convoys was restarted, then she moved to Hvalfjord. ''London'' had departed Hvalfjord on 14 September in company with ''Norfolk'', ''Sussex'', ''Cumberland'', and ''Sheffield'', together with destroyers to escort the convoy PQ18. The British cruiser force patrolled between Bear Island and Spitzbergen, coming to within 700 miles of the North Pole.

PQ18 suffered ten out of forty merchant vessels sunk while QP14, coming the other way, lost three out of fifteen supply ships. Two British warships were also lost. At the same time, the Germans paid a high price, losing forty aircraft and three U-boats. After that, HMS ''London'' provided covers for QP15, a convoy returning to the UK.

=== 1943 ===
HMS ''London'' kept on her station in the arctic area until 17 November, when she returned Scapa and was nominated for refit in Tyne shipyard. She sailed up the Tyne to Middle Dock at North Shields for another refit. The refit lasted five months and involved considerable strengthening for cracks and repairing leaks of oil tanks. A new surface warning radar, Type 273, and fire control radar, Type 282, for 40 mms were added. The cruiser's aircraft launch gear was removed, and seven additional 20 mm cannons (eight single 20 mm cannons had been fitted during the previous refit, in place of her machine guns). By 4 May 1943, HMS ''London'' was back at Scapa Flow and on sea trials before resuming convoy escort work and patrols in the Denmark Strait.

''London'' spent some time in Scapa for training. In early July, she was deployed with HMS ''Belfast'' and HMS ''Kent'' with destroyers in diversionary moves around Norway to distract attention away from the Allied landings in Sicily by reinforcing Hitler's fear about an invasion of Norway. Around the same time, ''London'' took part in Operation Holder, convoying supplies, personnel, and mail to Royal Navy bases in north Russia. On 9 July, ''London'' returned to Scapa and resumed interception duties to prevent the breakout of German warships for attacks on Atlantic convoy in the following months.

In October 1943, HMS ''London'' was sent on a special mission to waters around the island of Spitzbergen, far to the north of Iceland, where it was suspected the Germans were maintaining a secret radio intercept station. The cruiser sailed around the island but failed to find any such station.

Late in the same month, the cruiser helped escort a convoy of five US-built minesweepers and six metal-hulled motor launches to Murmansk. For ''London'', service in the Arctic was coming to a close as she was about to receive orders for another diplomatic mission, this time carrying members of the Prime Minister's staff to Egypt. In early November, she was tasked to Plymouth to pick up the mission members, ending ''London''<nowiki/>'s activity in the Arctic.

Arriving at Plymouth on 10 November, HMS ''London'' carried members of the Prime Minister's staff, while Churchill himself sailed to Egypt for the Cairo conference in the battlecruiser HMS ''Renown''. ''London'' also loaded the 'Stalingrad Sword,' a gift from King George VI to the people of Stalingrad that celebrated the great victory over the Germans. It had been carried from Plymouth to Egypt by HMS ''London'' before being put on the plane with the British delegation.

''London'' stayed at Alexandria during the Cairo conference, and in early December, set out on the journey home carrying VIP passengers. Arriving at Gibraltar on 13 December, ''London'' left for the UK four days later for troop transportation. On 21 December, she arrived in the Clyde, disembarked her passengers, and two days later sailed for Rosyth to undergo another refit, during which four twin 20 mm guns were fitted to reinforce the AA defence.

=== 1944 ===
In early February 1944, HMS ''London'' was back on the Clyde for mail and new drafts of sailors. By then, the Admiralty had decided to deploy her for service in Eastern Fleet. On 13 March, ''London'' arrived at Colombo, one of the two major British naval bases in Ceylon, and, four days later, transferred to the other, Trincomalee.

On 21 March, as a member of the British fleet, ''London'' participated in Operation Diplomat, which was a naval training operation between Royal Navy and US Navy. The operations aimed to practice operational procedures and tactics that the British Pacific fleet would use. On 27 March, ''London'' met the US Task Group 58.5. In the following month, ''London'' was assigned to Task Force 70 for Air Rescue duty for aircraft carriers. On 19 April, the task force attacked the island of Sabang with no serious opposition from the Japanese. ''London'' provided close covers to carriers during attacks on Sabang. On 24 April, the Task Force returned to Trincomalee for resupply.

On 30 April, HMS ''London'' was assigned to Task Force 67 with her sister ship HMS ''Suffolk''. The fleet sailed to Exmouth Bay, Western Australia for Operation Transom, an air raid marking the return of the British fleet in the Pacific. ''London'' was reassigned to Task Force 66 on 15 May to provide escorts for aircraft carriers during the airstrike on the Japanese-held Surabaya. She accompanied British aircraft carriers for the rest of May until they returned to Trincomalee.

On 12 September, after a period of fleet exercises, ''London'' arrived at Bombay, where she entered dry dock for hull cleaning and essential maintenance. Thirteen days later, ''London'' left Bombay, carried out some gunnery practice, and headed for Ceylon. She was to join Task Group 63.2 to escort aircraft carrier for a bombardment mission in mid-October against Car Nicobar in the Nicobar Islands, north of Sumatra. ''London'' contributed to air defence on 19 October, when the fleet shot down seven Japanese torpedo bombers in total.

=== 1945 ===
In early 1945, HMS ''London'' provided convoy escorts in the Indian ocean. On 8 April 1945, ''London'' joined the British East Indies Fleet's Task Force 63 for another bombardment mission. The warships were left in two groups, with ''London'' in Group One alongside HMS ''Queen Elizabeth'', the French battleship ''Richelieu'' and destroyers. Group Two included the escort carriers ''Khedive'' and ''Emperor'', the cruiser ''Cumberland'' and the destroyers ''Virago'' and ''Venus''.

On 11 April, ''London'' and battleships carried out a bombardment on coastal artillery at Sabang. In the following week, ''London'' provided close escorts for carrier operations until TF63 returned to Trincomalee on 18 April.

On 13 May, ''London'' set sail for Simonstown naval base in South Africa where she was dry-docked for a refit, in which a barrage fire control radar (Type 283) and new surface warning radar (Type 277) were added on the ship. HMS ''London'' returned to her duty in early August of 1945, preparing for an amphibious assault in southern Malaya. But the operation was canceled on 15 August, just at the same time when Japan surrendered. After Japan surrendered, on 28 August, HMS ''London'' arrived in Sabang to disarm the local Japanese garrison and received charts of the Japanese minefields off Malaya and Singapore from the Japanese delegation.

On 14 October, at Colombo, ''London'' embarked around 400 passengers and 200 bags of mail and the following morning set sail for home, arriving at Sheerness three weeks later. By 9 November, HMS ''London'' returned her home at Chatham marking the end of her story in WWII.

''London'' might have come through the Second World War unscathed and unnoticed, but ahead lay her sternest test under fire and it would make headlines around the world.

=== After the war ===
Prior to joining the Royal Navy Reserve, HMS ''London'' was used as troop transport from UK to Colombo (26 Nov 1945), Sydney (19 Jan 1946) and after a brief refit in Devonport, to Singapore (May 1946). She returned to Plymouth in late June that year.

But by the end of 1946, ''London'' was refitted for further service in the Far East as she was the only modernized 8-inch gun cruiser in Royal Navy. The refit was completed in 1947. After working up, the cruiser joined the 5th Cruiser Squadron at Royal Navy China Station in Hong Kong to protect British interests and civilians in the Eastern waters.

During her final deployment, the most notable event was the attempt to rescue HM Sloop ''Amethyst'', known as the Yangtze Incident, from 20 April to 21 April 1949.

After World War Two, a Chinese civil war broke out between the nationalists led by Chiang Kai Shek, who were bitter enemies of the Communists led by Mao Tse Tung. By mid-April 1948, the Communists were a short distance from Nanking, the capital of the Nationalist Government, and were building up forces to cross the Yangtze River. To demonstrate protection for British subjects in Chinese waters, the Royal Navy was asked to maintain at least one large ship (cruiser size) with two smaller ships in Shanghai and one small ship at Nanking.

On 17 April 1949, ''London'' sailed from Hong Kong to Shanghai. At that time, frigates ''Amethyst'' and ''Black Swan'' were stationed at Shanghai and destroyer ''Consort'' at Nanking. The Naval Attaché at Nanking advised that the Communist army would attempt to cross the Yangtze River on 21 April, and British ships should avoid any involvement. On 20 April, ''Amethyst'' came to relieve ''Consort'' at Nanking, and at 9:30 a.m., ''Amethyst'' was under artillery fire from the north bank. The frigate's bridge and machinery room were hit by shells, causing the frigate to lose control and beached on Rose Island.<ref name="Hughes" />

On 20 April, HMS ''London'', flying the flag of Vice-Admiral Madden, was approaching the mouth of the Yangtze River bound for Shanghai on a flag-showing visit. During the forenoon, ''London'' was receiving information from ''Amethyst'' that she was attacked by unexpected fire and demobilized. The Admiral ordered the frigate, ''Black Swan'', to join ''London'' and decided to weigh anchor on 21 April and proceed upriver with ''Black Swan'' to rescue ''Amethyst''.

In the early morning of the following day, ''London'' and ''Black Swan'' moved upriver. The British ships anchored off at 8:00 a.m., as ''Amethyst'' managed to move out of Rose Island. Admiral Madden called ''Amethyst'' to rejoin the fleet. But, due to the death of the navigator and damage to charts, ''Amethyst'' was unable to set the correct heading. In this case, ''London'' and ''Black Swan'' weighed anchor again at 10:26 a.m. and moved up the river. In less than a few minutes, the Communists opened fire on ''London'' and ''Black Swan'' with large-calibre howitzers and small-calibre cannons. ''London'' counterattacked with her main guns and secondary armaments. The large-calibre batteries were easy to spot and destroy, while smaller calibre weapons were well concealed and difficult to hit. At some time before 11:00 a.m., a howitzer shell hit the bridge, injuring the captain. At that time, considering the low possibility of escorting ''Amethyst'' under heavy fire and increasing damage on the ship, Admiral Madden decided to withdraw at 11:04 a.m. ''London'' and ''Black Swan'' turned back and arrived in Shanghai later that day.

''London'' had been under fire for 48 minutes in an overall period of 3 hours.<ref name="Dalrymple" /> In that period, ''London'' fired 155 rounds of 8-inch, 449 rounds of 4-inch, and more than 2,600 small calibre AA guns. Among ''London''<nowiki/>'s crew, 13 people are dead and 59 people wounded, of whom two died later. ''Amethyst'' would make her escape in three months.

After some temporary repairs in Shanghai, HMS ''London'' departed on 14 June, heading south to Singapore, where she spent a few weeks. On 18 June, ''London'' left Singapore and on her way to the UK. She arrived in Chatham on 8 September. By the end of 1949, she received an inspection to determine if she could serve further after an overall refit. However, ''London''<nowiki/>'s ageing machinery and construction meant it would be too expensive to keep in service. She was placed on the Disposal List and laid up at Falmouth before sale to BISCO for demolition by T W Ward on 3 January 1950. The ship went to Barrow-in-Furness under tow and arrived at the breaker's yard on 22 January. Work on demolition was completed later that year.

=== [[wt:en/news/6626-development-hms-london-anticipated-calibre-en|Devblog]] ===
The County-class cruisers, also known as the A-Type cruisers, were the first British cruiser vessels to be developed in the interwar period of the 1920s. Their design being heavily influenced by the restrictions imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty, meant that British shipbuilders had to find compromises during development in order to comply with the treaty as well as to meet the requirements of the Royal Navy for a ship capable of trade route protection.

This resulted in the creation of a ship design with good cruising range and adequate firepower, but very light armour protection in order to stay within treaty restrictions. The orders for the first ships were placed in the mid 1920s and construction began in 1924.

HMS London (C69) was laid down in February 1926 and commissioned into service in January 1929 as the lead ship of the second batch of County-class cruisers to be built, known as the London subclass. During the 1930s, HMS London took part in a goodwill visit to Venice and assisted in the evacuation of civilians from Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War, before being sent to drydock for refit in 1939.

In 1941, HMS London took part in the hunt for the battleship Bismarck, after which the ship was once again dry-docked for repairs. The following year, HMS London assisted in escorting several convoys in the Atlantic, after which she was assigned to South African waters in 1943, before joining the Eastern Fleet. HMS London continued serving in the postwar years, during which the ship got involved in an incident in Chinese waters in 1949 which left it heavily damaged. Being deemed uneconomical for repairs, HMS London was sold for scrap in January 1950.

== Media ==
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File:HMS London WTWallpaper 05.jpg|
</gallery>

== See also ==
''Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:''

* ''reference to the series of the ship;''
* ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.''

== External links ==


* [[wt:en/news/6626-development-hms-london-anticipated-calibre-en|[Devblog] HMS London: Anticipated Calibre]]

=== References ===
<references>
<ref name="Ballantyne">Ballantyne, I. (2002). ''HMS London: Warships of the Royal Navy''. Casemate Publishers.</ref>
<ref name="Churchill">Churchill, W. (1951). ''The Second World War-Volume 4: The Hinge of Fate''. Rosetta Book LLC.</ref>
<ref name="Brown">Brown, D. K. (2012). ''Nelson to Vanguard: Warship Design and Development 1923 1945''. Seaforth Publishing.</ref>
<ref name="Dalrymple">Dalrymple, Gordon. & Stewart, Neil. (2011). ''HMS London in the River Yangtze 20 & 21 April 1949.'' Monograph No.170.</ref>
<ref name="Klapsis">Klapsis, A. (2009). Between the Hammer and the Anvil. The Cyprus Question and Greek Foreign Policy from the Treaty of Lausanne to the 1931 Revolt.</ref>
<ref name="Hughes">Hughes, W.R.N..(1979). HMS Amethyst - the Yangtse Incident 1948. Naval Historical Review.</ref>
<ref name="Vego">Vego, M. (2016). The Destruction of Convoy PQ17: 27 June–10 July 1942. ''Naval War College Review'', ''69''(3), 83-142.</ref>
</references>

=== Bibliography ===

* Anderson, P. (2019). British Government Maritime Evacuations in the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939. ''War in History'', ''26''(1), 65-85.
* Beesly, P. (1990). Convoy PQ 17: A study of intelligence and decision‐making. ''Intelligence and National Security'', ''5''(2), 292-322.
* Chen, C. (2007, May). Heavy Cruiser London. Retrieved November 17, 2020, from <nowiki>https://ww2db.com/ship_spec.php?ship_id=326</nowiki>
* Colledge, J. J., & Warlow, B. (2010). ''Ships of the Royal Navy: The complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th century to the present''. Casemate/Greenhill.
* Helgason, G. (1995). HMS London (69). Retrieved November 17, 2020, from <nowiki>https://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/1178.html</nowiki>
* Irving, D. J. C. (1968). ''The Destruction of Convoy PQ. 17''. Cassell.

{{ShipManufacturer Portsmouth}}
{{Britain heavy cruisers}}

HMS Norfolk

2022-01-06T06:15:03Z

U49295956: Typo in history section, changed London -> Norfolk

{{Specs-Card
|code=uk_cruiser_norfolk
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg}}
}}

== Description ==

The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a rank {{Specs|rank}} British heavy cruiser {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced in [[Update "Direct Hit"]].

The Norfolk is a Dorsetshire-class heavy cruiser, subclass of the County-class cruisers built by the British post-Washington Treaty in the late 1920s for ocean power projection and trade protection. As a "treaty cruiser", the Norfolk sacrificed armour protection in favour of heavy 8-inch gun armament and high speed and endurance.

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Armour}}

Due to the displacement limitations imposed on the County-class, the Norfolk does not have much in the way of armour. Most of what little armour she has is concentrated around the main 8-inch gun magazines, which are protected inside an armoured box of 102 mm in the sides, 76 mm on the ends and on the deck. These boxes are located below the waterline, and make her quite resistant to ammunition detonations from destroyer or light cruiser main guns at range.

The machinery is protected by only a thin strip 25 mm of armour on the sides, ends, and deck, and is thus vulnerable to even destroyer main guns. The main gun turrets and barbettes are similarly poorly protected.

The rest of the ship has no armour plating on the hull above the waterline. This means that the ship tends to take a lot of damage from even HE shells. In particular, like most British cruisers, the Norfolk has an open bridge which is highly vulnerable to getting disabled.

The Norfolk has a respectable crew complement of 819 men. However, many of these crew members are located on the exposed anti-aircraft gun positions, which means that she tends to suffer considerable crew attrition from even relatively light HE hits, such as from destroyers.

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Mobility}}

The Norfolk is fairly fast for a heavy cruiser. However, she is still a heavy cruiser, and thus her handling and acceleration/deceleration characteristics are still relatively cumbersome compared to those of lighter ships.

{{NavalMobility}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armament ==
{{Specs-Fleet-Armaments}}
=== Primary armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Primary}}

{{main|8 inch/50 Mark VIII (203 mm)}}

The Norfolk's main armament consists of eight 8-inch Mark VIII guns distributed in four twin turrets. These guns have acceptable accuracy, though they will struggle to gain consistent hits at longer ranges. The shortest possible reload time with a fully trained crew is 12 seconds, which is fast for a heavy cruiser. There is no first-stage ammunition stowage, thus the reload is consistent no matter how much ammunition is left in the magazines.

The 8-inch guns have only two types of shell: HE and SAPCBC. The HE shell contains a powerful bursting charge of 10 kg of TNT. The SAPCBC shell is the only other shell present, with no access to a full AP shell. However, the SAPCBC makes up for this by providing a solid blend of penetrating power and explosive filler. Compared to the shells seen on the 8inch/55 on American heavy cruisers, the SAPCBC possesses over twice the penetration of the American Common shells, and twice the explosive filler of the American APCBC shell, with 5.2 kg of TNT, allowing the SAPCBC to be used to great effect against both cruisers and destroyers.

HE is used as the stock shell on the Norfolk, and while its large bursting charge deals heavy damage to light targets, the SAPCBC is more versatile and should immediately be researched following the basic survivability modifications, and SAPCBC should be used in nearly all circumstances.

The main guns have an unusual amount of elevation of 70 degrees: In real life, this was because the guns were expected to engage aircraft, although in reality the Mark II turrets fitted to the Norfolk were modified with the realization that the hydraulics of heavy cruiser turrets were insufficient for tracking aircraft, and were limited to 50 degrees to improve the loading system. In-game however, as there is no time- fused or VT-fused shell available for the British 8-inch gun currently in the game, the Norfolk is unable to take full advantage of this feature.

=== Secondary armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Secondary}}

{{main|4 inch/45 Mark XVI (102 mm)}}
The Norfolk is fitted with with four twin 4 inch/45 Mark XVI mounts, which were used on several destroyers in the British tech tree, two to a side amidships. These guns are mostly useful against aircraft, as unlike American cruisers with their broadside of eight 5 inch/38 Mk.12 guns, these guns have much poorer damage output. There are four shells available, HE, SAP, HE-TF, and HE-VT. The stock HE performs as can be expected for a gun of the caliber, doing minimal damage to anything it faces. The SAP shell has a reasonable 103mm of penetration at 1000m, and although the penetration rapidly falls off, it can still help defend the ship against surface threats. The HE-TF and HE-VT are both specialized for anti-aircraft, and can deal a reasonable amount of damage against enemy planes. It is recommended to take majority HE-VT, with some SAP as well.

=== Anti-aircraft armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-AA}}

{{main|2pdr QF Mk.VIII (40 mm)|20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mk.II (20 mm)}}

The star of the ship's AA are the two octuple 40mm Pom-Pom mounts located just aft of the torpedoes. These will immediately dispatch aircraft, as well as patrol boats if necessary. Aside from those, and the dual-purpose 4 inch/45 mounts, the only other AA armament are eight single 20mm Oerlikon Mk.IIs. Four are located around the superstructure, one is on the B turret, two are on the X turret, and one more can be found on the stern. These will aid in downing planes, and provide a nice light show at whatever they are shooting at. While the Norfolk's AA is inferior to other cruisers, such as its counterpart the London and other foreign ships, it will sufficient to defend the ship against air attack.

=== Additional armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Additional}}

{{main|Mk.IX (533 mm)}}

The Norfolk is equipped with two quadruple torpedo tubes, located on each side of the ship. They fire Mk.IX wet-heater torpedoes, which are superior to the antiquated Mk.V steam turbined torpedoes found on older cruisers in range and explosive mass, but are still unexceptional compared to foreign torpedoes like the Type 93. They will certainly save you if you get into a close-quarters brawl with an enemy ship, but they shouldn't be relied on aside from a last resort weapon

== Usage in battles ==

The Norfolk is a bit of a glass cannon, having excellent firepower but very poor armour protection for a heavy cruiser. Her armour will protect against magazine detonations from most cruiser shells, but the lack of armour elsewhere, especially on critical parts like her turrets and the bridge, mean that she can take crippling damage from even destroyers if they get within effective range. This means that she excels at providing medium range support and should generally avoid drawing too much attention to herself. She has a good turn of speed for a heavy cruiser, allowing her to get to tactically advantageous positions a little bit faster while the large fillers in her HE and SAPCBC shells can inflict heavy damage on destroyers and cruisers. It is recommended to become familiar with the armor schemes of enemy cruisers, and target those which have poor protection, as against them the massive bursting charge will shine, while you won't notice the inferior penetration of the shells.

The Norfolk is also one of the few 5.7 cruisers equipped with air-search radar, giving crucial early warning of any incoming enemy aircraft. She also has a very reasonable anti-aircraft armament suite, allowing her to provide effective air cover to teammates when necessary.

'''Specific enemies worth noting'''

* '''Late destroyers''' '''+''' '''USS Atlanta'''
** Several late destroyers, such as the Porter, Somers, and Spokoinyy can prove to be a dangerous foe, as the Norfolk's general lack of armor protection makes it extremely vulnerable against a hail of small-caliber fire. When encountering them, you should remain calm, as they while they will sting, they will not sink you fast enough. Fire your opening salvo against them under the front turrets, as it will likely destroy the turrets, damage the bridge, and ideally cause an ammunition detonation as well. A larger threat, in both size and danger, is the USS Atlanta, which can rain a 14-gun broadside of 5" shells down on you. It is best to try to engage the Atlanta at range, where the long travel time of the Atlanta's shells proves to be a disadvantage, while your 8" guns are very well suited for engaging cruisers at long range
* '''German 5.7 Cruisers'''
** The German trio of Admiral Hipper, Prinz Eugen, and Admiral Graf Spee are all extremely dangerous enemies, as they possess a blend of both firepower and armor that put the Norfolk to shame. You should never engage them directly, as they will soundly beat you in a duel. Instead, fight them when they are distracted by other people. Specifically, when fighting the Graf Spee, put extra effort into dodging the enemy's fire, as their poor fire rate and high single-shot damage means they rely on making every shell count.
* '''Other County-class cruisers'''
** The Norfolk also happens to fall into the type of thin-skinned cruisers that it most efficiently engages, and thus enemy County-class cruisers should be dealt with immediately. Distribute your fire of SAP around different sections of the enemy ship, and let the excellent bursting charge of the shells do the rest of the work for you. Put effort into dodging enemy shots, as their return fire will hurt quite a bit.
* '''Late light cruisers'''
** Light cruisers such as the Mikuma, Helena, Brooklyn, etc. possess a very high damage output, and their large broadsides and high fire rate will tear through the nonexistent armor of the Norfolk. However, their armor is also generally lacking, and you can defeat them if you are able to hit them more consistently than their return fire. Try to destroy their turrets, or damage their ammunition hoists to decrease their firepower. Ideally, you could immediately kill them with an ammunition detonation, and with a bit of luck one of your hits under the turrets may give you a quick victory.
* '''Battleships''' '''and battlecruisers'''
** The Norfolk's position as a moderately high BR cruiser means it may regularly face battleships. Against them, there is very little that can be done. When fighting battleships, your best bet is to run to cover with your superior speed, dodge their shells, and attempt to deal some damage to their superstructure, while praying that your friendly battleships dispatch them quickly. If you spot an overextended battleship, using island cover to get close and make a suicidal torpedo attack may be viable.

=== Pros and cons ===

'''Pros:'''

* High rate-of-fire for a heavy cruiser.
* Large shell explosive fillers.
* Heavy anti-aircraft armament.
* Relatively high top speed for a heavy cruiser.
* Equipped with air-search radar.
* Well-protected main gun ammunition magazines.

'''Cons:'''

* Little to no armour protecting the ship outside of the magazines.
* Unarmoured bridge.
* Inadequate main gun turret armour.
* Mediocre main gun accuracy.
* Can be matched against battleships.
* Tends to lose crew quickly due to exposed secondary guns and anti-aircraft mounts and turret/bridge disables.
* Lacks a floatplane

== History ==

The County-class cruisers were the first British cruisers designed under the restrictions of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty. The treaty, which limited cruiser tonnage to 10,000 tons, clashed with the Royal Navy's need for a cruiser to defend its global trade routes to its colonies. To ensure a blend of firepower and range, the Royal Navy called for a long ship with four twin-turrets as their new heavy cruiser design. This became the County-class cruiser, a conservatively built ship with a very high freeboard, allowing for high directional stability. The superstructure was taken from a design first used on the HMS Enterprise, which transformed the scattered sections of conning towers, wheelhouses, navigating and signaling platforms, and fire control seen on World War I-era cruisers into a neat block at the front of the ship. The two boiler rooms, were ventilated into four uptakes, of which the central one was combined into a larger funnel, giving the Counties their distinctive funnel arrangement. However, the size of the ship left little displacement available to be allowed for armor protection, and thus the side armor was less of an armor belt and more of basic shrapnel protection.

HMS Norfolk was the lead ship of her subclass, which involved minor modifications such as the movement of the 4-inch guns further forward, the slight shortening of the superstructure, and the changing of the primary armament from the Mark I variant to the Mark II variant, with simplified loading. She was initially part of a four ship class, with an additional ship in the talks, but in the end she only received one sister, Dorsetshire, due to budget cuts. Construction started on Norfolk on July 8, 1927. She was launched on December 12, 1928, and entered service on April 30, 1930.

Norfolk became involved in the September 1931 Invergordon Mutiny, where sailors protested an imminent major pay cut. In the end, the sailors only received the minor pay cut the entire armed forces received, and the incident was settled peacefully. Between 1932 and 1934, she served with the America and West Indies Station at Bermuda, cruising around the Americas, engaging in exercises, providing hurricane relief, and protecting British interests in the area. In 1935, she moved to the East Indies Station, where she remained in 1939. Then, she returned back to Britain for a refit, and was in dockyard when the World War II began.

For the first years of the war, Norfolk was engaged with the Home Fleet in hunting German surface raiders, although she saw no success. In November 1939, she was damaged by the submarine U-47, necessitating repairs. Not long after, she was bombed in an air raid, requiring more repairs, where she also had a radar set installed. She was then engaged in several raids off the Norwegian coast, until December 1940, where she operated out of Freetown in the South Atlantic, and attempted to hunt down the raider Kormoran, but again with no success.

By April 1941, Norfolk had returned to Scapa Flow, where intelligence reports suggested the battleship Bismarck was readying for action. On May 20, 1941, Norfolk was patrolling with fellow heavy cruiser Suffolk in the Denmark Strait under the command of Rear Admiral W.F. Wake-Walker, when they received reports from that the Swedish cruiser Gotland had encountered two large warships with heavy escort. Realizing the situation brewing, the Admiralty sent out reconnaissance aircraft, but the Bismarck had already slipped away and was cruising through the North Sea. With the Home Fleet scrambling ships to sea, on May 23, Norfolk and Suffolk encountered Bismarck and Prinz Eugen in the Denmark Strait at a range of only 6 nautical miles, and the cruisers quickly disengaged. After sending out contact reports, the cruisers began shadowing the German ships. The Admiralty had the foresight to predict the Denmark Strait as a likely route for Bismarck to take, and had dispatched a force under Vice Admiral Holland, with HMS Hood, Prince of Wales, and destroyers to aid Wake-Walker. At 0516 the following morning, Holland arrived, with Norfolk and Suffolk still trailing behind the German ships. Shortly after, Holland engaged the Bismarck, but after just 10 minutes of firing, the Hood exploded, killing Holland and nearly the entire crew. After another 10 minutes, Prince of Wales was crippled, and withdrew. Norfolk witnessed the battle from 15 nautical miles away.

Following the spectacular defeat, the Royal Navy's resolve to sink the Bismarck grew. Norfolk joined Prince of Wales shortly after the battle concluded, as the British destroyers tried to find survivors from Hood. Despite the damage sustained to Prince of Wales, she kept pace with Norfolk and Suffolk as the cruisers continued to shadow Bismarck. However, early in the morning on the 25th, the cruisers lost contact with Bismarck. Prince of Wales broke off to refuel, and Norfolk and Suffolk split up. Norfolk was operating independently when Bismarck was spotted on the 26th by a PBY flying boat. She rapidly closed the distance to the contact report until the morning of the 27th, where she made visual contact with the now crippled Bismarck and 0753. Shortly after, she sighted the battleships HMS King George V and Rodney under Admiral John Tovey, who had come to finish the job Norfolk had started four days prior. At 0847, with Norfolk 10 nautical miles away, the final action of the Bismarck began, with Norfolk's sister Dorsetshire joining from the south. Norfolk joined in the shelling, and claimed two torpedo hits on Bismarck. After just over an hour of intense action, the four British ships had fired 2,800 shells at Bismarck, scoring 400 hits, reducing the Bismarck to a wreck. Norfolk also claimed two torpedo hits on Bismarck. At 10:20, Tovey turned for home, and Dorsetshire finished off the Bismarck with torpedoes.

After the action, Norfolk returned to menial duties, now assigned the arduous task of escorting the Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union. She would participate in escorting the convoys through the unending daylight of the summers and the darkness of the arctic winters for the next few years.

On December 20, 1943, eastbound convoy JW 55B departed for the Soviet Union. Norfolk was at sea at the time escorting westbound convoy RA 55A back from Murmansk after an uneventful journey. The eastbound journey had been uneventful. It had been nearly a year since German capital ships had sortied against an Arctic convoy, at the Battle of the Barents Sea, and German battleships had been holed up in port since the loss of Bismarck. However, the two surviving battleships, Scharnhorst and Tirpitz, had proved a formidable fleet-in-being, and were always poised to strike from their Norwegian bases. Bruce Fraser, chief Admiral of the Home Fleet, and in charge of protecting the Arctic convoys, suspected that German surface ships may try to strike at JW 55B. He envisioned a decisive battle around Christmas against British and German battleships, where the threat of German battleships striking a the convoys could be permanently neutralized. On December 22, JW 55B was spotted by the Luftwaffe, and the next day, Fraser put to sea personally commanding his flagship HMS Duke of York, with a light cruiser and four destroyers as escort. Fraser proved to be correct, as on Christmas, Scharnhorst and five destroyers sortied from Norway.

As RA 55A was diverted north. Norfolk, along with light cruisers Belfast and Southampton, joined JW 55B instead. At 0900 on December 26, the cruisers encountered Scharnhorst, and immediately opened fire from 12,000 meters, destroying Scharnhorst's radar. Norfolk, whos guns produced the brightest flashes, was in turn targeted by Scharnhorst, but Scharnhorst soon broke off the battle, misidentifying Norfolk as a battleship. Norfolk and the cruisers pursued Scharnhorst, while struggling to keep pace in the heavy seas. Shortly after noon, the two sides exchanged fire again, disabling X turret on Norfolk and damaging her radar, but again broke off, while the German destroyers fruitlessly searched for JW 55B alone. Norfolk was eventually forced to retreat due to her damage, in addition to Southampton, leaving Belfast alone. However, they escaped undetected due to Scharnhorst's destroyed radar, and Belfast successfully maintained contact until Fraser arrived in Duke of York and sank Scharnhorst.

Following this, Norfolk eventually had her entire X turret removed and replaced with additional AA. These repairs and refits resulted in her being unable to participate in the D-Day landings. The rest of her wartime service was uneventful. On May 4, 1945, she served as the flagship of Operation Judgement, where Norfolk and several other ships escorted escort carriers for a raid on Kilbotn, Norway, where they sank a submarine and two other ships. After the war's conclusion, Norfolk ferried the Norwegian Royal Family back to Oslo, after their five year exile in London.

Norfolk remained in service until 1949, where she was transferred to reserve. In 1950, she sold off for scrapping. She was the third of five ships to bear the name Norfolk, and accounted for 6 of the 11 battle honors the lineage earned.

== Media ==

''Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.''

== See also ==

''Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:''

* ''reference to the series of the ship;''
* ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.''

== External links ==

''Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:''

* ''topic on the official game forum;''
* ''other literature.''

{{ShipManufacturer Fairfields}}
{{Britain heavy cruisers}}

HMS Norfolk

2021-12-30T00:19:47Z

U49295956: Added quite a bit. (Armament details, details about tactics, and history section.)

{{Specs-Card
|code=uk_cruiser_norfolk
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg}}
}}

== Description ==

The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a rank {{Specs|rank}} British heavy cruiser {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced in [[Update "Direct Hit"]].

The Norfolk is a Dorsetshire-class heavy cruiser, subclass of the County-class cruisers built by the British post-Washington Treaty in the late 1920s for ocean power projection and trade protection. As a "treaty cruiser", the Norfolk sacrificed armour protection in favour of heavy 8-inch gun armament and high speed and endurance.

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Armour}}

Due to the displacement limitations imposed on the County-class, the Norfolk does not have much in the way of armour. Most of what little armour she has is concentrated around the main 8-inch gun magazines, which are protected inside an armoured box of 102 mm in the sides, 76 mm on the ends and on the deck. These boxes are located below the waterline, and make her quite resistant to ammunition detonations from destroyer or light cruiser main guns at range.

The machinery is protected by only a thin strip 25 mm of armour on the sides, ends, and deck, and is thus vulnerable to even destroyer main guns. The main gun turrets and barbettes are similarly poorly protected.

The rest of the ship has no armour plating on the hull above the waterline. This means that the ship tends to take a lot of damage from even HE shells. In particular, like most British cruisers, the Norfolk has an open bridge which is highly vulnerable to getting disabled.

The Norfolk has a respectable crew complement of 819 men. However, many of these crew members are located on the exposed anti-aircraft gun positions, which means that she tends to suffer considerable crew attrition from even relatively light HE hits, such as from destroyers.

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Mobility}}

The Norfolk is fairly fast for a heavy cruiser. However, she is still a heavy cruiser, and thus her handling and acceleration/deceleration characteristics are still relatively cumbersome compared to those of lighter ships.

{{NavalMobility}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armament ==
{{Specs-Fleet-Armaments}}
=== Primary armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Primary}}

{{main|8 inch/50 Mark VIII (203 mm)}}

The Norfolk's main armament consists of eight 8-inch Mark VIII guns distributed in four twin turrets. These guns have acceptable accuracy, though they will struggle to gain consistent hits at longer ranges. The shortest possible reload time with a fully trained crew is 12 seconds, which is fast for a heavy cruiser. There is no first-stage ammunition stowage, thus the reload is consistent no matter how much ammunition is left in the magazines.

The 8-inch guns have only two types of shell: HE and SAPCBC. The HE shell contains a powerful bursting charge of 10 kg of TNT. The SAPCBC shell is the only other shell present, with no access to a full AP shell. However, the SAPCBC makes up for this by providing a solid blend of penetrating power and explosive filler. Compared to the shells seen on the 8inch/55 on American heavy cruisers, the SAPCBC possesses over twice the penetration of the American Common shells, and twice the explosive filler of the American APCBC shell, with 5.2 kg of TNT, allowing the SAPCBC to be used to great effect against both cruisers and destroyers.

HE is used as the stock shell on the Norfolk, and while its large bursting charge deals heavy damage to light targets, the SAPCBC is more versatile and should immediately be researched following the basic survivability modifications, and SAPCBC should be used in nearly all circumstances.

The main guns have an unusual amount of elevation of 70 degrees: In real life, this was because the guns were expected to engage aircraft, although in reality the Mark II turrets fitted to the Norfolk were modified with the realization that the hydraulics of heavy cruiser turrets were insufficient for tracking aircraft, and were limited to 50 degrees to improve the loading system. In-game however, as there is no time- fused or VT-fused shell available for the British 8-inch gun currently in the game, the Norfolk is unable to take full advantage of this feature.

=== Secondary armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Secondary}}

{{main|4 inch/45 Mark XVI (102 mm)}}
The Norfolk is fitted with with four twin 4 inch/45 Mark XVI mounts, which were used on several destroyers in the British tech tree, two to a side amidships. These guns are mostly useful against aircraft, as unlike American cruisers with their broadside of eight 5 inch/38 Mk.12 guns, these guns have much poorer damage output. There are four shells available, HE, SAP, HE-TF, and HE-VT. The stock HE performs as can be expected for a gun of the caliber, doing minimal damage to anything it faces. The SAP shell has a reasonable 103mm of penetration at 1000m, and although the penetration rapidly falls off, it can still help defend the ship against surface threats. The HE-TF and HE-VT are both specialized for anti-aircraft, and can deal a reasonable amount of damage against enemy planes. It is recommended to take majority HE-VT, with some SAP as well.

=== Anti-aircraft armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-AA}}

{{main|2pdr QF Mk.VIII (40 mm)|20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mk.II (20 mm)}}

The star of the ship's AA are the two octuple 40mm Pom-Pom mounts located just aft of the torpedoes. These will immediately dispatch aircraft, as well as patrol boats if necessary. Aside from those, and the dual-purpose 4 inch/45 mounts, the only other AA armament are eight single 20mm Oerlikon Mk.IIs. Four are located around the superstructure, one is on the B turret, two are on the X turret, and one more can be found on the stern. These will aid in downing planes, and provide a nice light show at whatever they are shooting at. While the Norfolk's AA is inferior to other cruisers, such as its counterpart the London and other foreign ships, it will sufficient to defend the ship against air attack.

=== Additional armament ===
{{Specs-Fleet-Additional}}

{{main|Mk.IX (533 mm)}}

The Norfolk is equipped with two quadruple torpedo tubes, located on each side of the ship. They fire Mk.IX wet-heater torpedoes, which are superior to the antiquated Mk.V steam turbined torpedoes found on older cruisers in range and explosive mass, but are still unexceptional compared to foreign torpedoes like the Type 93. They will certainly save you if you get into a close-quarters brawl with an enemy ship, but they shouldn't be relied on aside from a last resort weapon

== Usage in battles ==

The Norfolk is a bit of a glass cannon, having excellent firepower but very poor armour protection for a heavy cruiser. Her armour will protect against magazine detonations from most cruiser shells, but the lack of armour elsewhere, especially on critical parts like her turrets and the bridge, mean that she can take crippling damage from even destroyers if they get within effective range. This means that she excels at providing medium range support and should generally avoid drawing too much attention to herself. She has a good turn of speed for a heavy cruiser, allowing her to get to tactically advantageous positions a little bit faster while the large fillers in her HE and SAPCBC shells can inflict heavy damage on destroyers and cruisers. It is recommended to become familiar with the armor schemes of enemy cruisers, and target those which have poor protection, as against them the massive bursting charge will shine, while you won't notice the inferior penetration of the shells.

The Norfolk is also one of the few 5.7 cruisers equipped with air-search radar, giving crucial early warning of any incoming enemy aircraft. She also has a very reasonable anti-aircraft armament suite, allowing her to provide effective air cover to teammates when necessary.

'''Specific enemies worth noting'''

* '''Late destroyers''' '''+''' '''USS Atlanta'''
** Several late destroyers, such as the Porter, Somers, and Spokoinyy can prove to be a dangerous foe, as the Norfolk's general lack of armor protection makes it extremely vulnerable against a hail of small-caliber fire. When encountering them, you should remain calm, as they while they will sting, they will not sink you fast enough. Fire your opening salvo against them under the front turrets, as it will likely destroy the turrets, damage the bridge, and ideally cause an ammunition detonation as well. A larger threat, in both size and danger, is the USS Atlanta, which can rain a 14-gun broadside of 5" shells down on you. It is best to try to engage the Atlanta at range, where the long travel time of the Atlanta's shells proves to be a disadvantage, while your 8" guns are very well suited for engaging cruisers at long range
* '''German 5.7 Cruisers'''
** The German trio of Admiral Hipper, Prinz Eugen, and Admiral Graf Spee are all extremely dangerous enemies, as they possess a blend of both firepower and armor that put the Norfolk to shame. You should never engage them directly, as they will soundly beat you in a duel. Instead, fight them when they are distracted by other people. Specifically, when fighting the Graf Spee, put extra effort into dodging the enemy's fire, as their poor fire rate and high single-shot damage means they rely on making every shell count.
* '''Other County-class cruisers'''
** The Norfolk also happens to fall into the type of thin-skinned cruisers that it most efficiently engages, and thus enemy County-class cruisers should be dealt with immediately. Distribute your fire of SAP around different sections of the enemy ship, and let the excellent bursting charge of the shells do the rest of the work for you. Put effort into dodging enemy shots, as their return fire will hurt quite a bit.
* '''Late light cruisers'''
** Light cruisers such as the Mikuma, Helena, Brooklyn, etc. possess a very high damage output, and their large broadsides and high fire rate will tear through the nonexistent armor of the Norfolk. However, their armor is also generally lacking, and you can defeat them if you are able to hit them more consistently than their return fire. Try to destroy their turrets, or damage their ammunition hoists to decrease their firepower. Ideally, you could immediately kill them with an ammunition detonation, and with a bit of luck one of your hits under the turrets may give you a quick victory.
* '''Battleships''' '''and battlecruisers'''
** The Norfolk's position as a moderately high BR cruiser means it may regularly face battleships. Against them, there is very little that can be done. When fighting battleships, your best bet is to run to cover with your superior speed, dodge their shells, and attempt to deal some damage to their superstructure, while praying that your friendly battleships dispatch them quickly. If you spot an overextended battleship, using island cover to get close and make a suicidal torpedo attack may be viable.

=== Pros and cons ===

'''Pros:'''

* High rate-of-fire for a heavy cruiser.
* Large shell explosive fillers.
* Heavy anti-aircraft armament.
* Relatively high top speed for a heavy cruiser.
* Equipped with air-search radar.
* Well-protected main gun ammunition magazines.

'''Cons:'''

* Little to no armour protecting the ship outside of the magazines.
* Unarmoured bridge.
* Inadequate main gun turret armour.
* Mediocre main gun accuracy.
* Can be matched against battleships.
* Tends to lose crew quickly due to exposed secondary guns and anti-aircraft mounts and turret/bridge disables.
* Lacks a floatplane

== History ==

The County-class cruisers were the first British cruisers designed under the restrictions of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty. The treaty, which limited cruiser tonnage to 10,000 tons, clashed with the Royal Navy's need for a cruiser to defend its global trade routes to its colonies. To ensure a blend of firepower and range, the Royal Navy called for a long ship with four twin-turrets as their new heavy cruiser design. This became the County-class cruiser, a conservatively built ship with a very high freeboard, allowing for high directional stability. The superstructure was taken from a design first used on the HMS Enterprise, which transformed the scattered sections of conning towers, wheelhouses, navigating and signaling platforms, and fire control seen on World War I-era cruisers into a neat block at the front of the ship. The two boiler rooms, were ventilated into four uptakes, of which the central one was combined into a larger funnel, giving the Counties their distinctive funnel arrangement. However, the size of the ship left little displacement available to be allowed for armor protection, and thus the side armor was less of an armor belt and more of basic shrapnel protection.

HMS Norfolk was the lead ship of her subclass, which involved minor modifications such as the movement of the 4-inch guns further forward, the slight shortening of the superstructure, and the changing of the primary armament from the Mark I variant to the Mark II variant, with simplified loading. She was initially part of a four ship class, with an additional ship in the talks, but in the end she only received one sister, Dorsetshire, due to budget cuts. Construction started on Norfolk on July 8, 1927. She was launched on December 12, 1928, and entered service on April 30, 1930.

Norfolk became involved in the September 1931 Invergordon Mutiny, where sailors protested an imminent major pay cut. In the end, the sailors only received the minor pay cut the entire armed forces received, and the incident was settled peacefully. Between 1932 and 1934, she served with the America and West Indies Station at Bermuda, cruising around the Americas, engaging in exercises, providing hurricane relief, and protecting British interests in the area. In 1935, she moved to the East Indies Station, where she remained in 1939. Then, she returned back to Britain for a refit, and was in dockyard when the World War II began.

For the first years of the war, Norfolk was engaged with the Home Fleet in hunting German surface raiders, although she saw no success. In November 1939, she was damaged by the submarine U-47, necessitating repairs. Not long after, she was bombed in an air raid, requiring more repairs, where she also had a radar set installed. She was then engaged in several raids off the Norwegian coast, until December 1940, where she operated out of Freetown in the South Atlantic, and attempted to hunt down the raider Kormoran, but again with no success.

By April 1941, Norfolk had returned to Scapa Flow, where intelligence reports suggested the battleship Bismarck was readying for action. On May 20, 1941, Norfolk was patrolling with fellow heavy cruiser Suffolk in the Denmark Strait under the command of Rear Admiral W.F. Wake-Walker, when they received reports from that the Swedish cruiser Gotland had encountered two large warships with heavy escort. Realizing the situation brewing, the Admiralty sent out reconnaissance aircraft, but the Bismarck had already slipped away and was cruising through the North Sea. With the Home Fleet scrambling ships to sea, on May 23, Norfolk and Suffolk encountered Bismarck and Prinz Eugen in the Denmark Strait at a range of only 6 nautical miles, and the cruisers quickly disengaged. After sending out contact reports, the cruisers began shadowing the German ships. The Admiralty had the foresight to predict the Denmark Strait as a likely route for Bismarck to take, and had dispatched a force under Vice Admiral Holland, with HMS Hood, Prince of Wales, and destroyers to aid Wake-Walker. At 0516 the following morning, Holland arrived, with Norfolk and Suffolk still trailing behind the German ships. Shortly after, Holland engaged the Bismarck, but after just 10 minutes of firing, the Hood exploded, killing Holland and nearly the entire crew. After another 10 minutes, Prince of Wales was crippled, and withdrew. Norfolk witnessed the battle from 15 nautical miles away.

Following the spectacular defeat, the Royal Navy's resolve to sink the Bismarck grew. Norfolk joined Prince of Wales shortly after the battle concluded, as the British destroyers tried to find survivors from Hood. Despite the damage sustained to Prince of Wales, she kept pace with Norfolk and Suffolk as the cruisers continued to shadow Bismarck. However, early in the morning on the 25th, the cruisers lost contact with Bismarck. Prince of Wales broke off to refuel, and Norfolk and Suffolk split up. Norfolk was operating independently when Bismarck was spotted on the 26th by a PBY flying boat. She rapidly closed the distance to the contact report until the morning of the 27th, where she made visual contact with the now crippled Bismarck and 0753. Shortly after, she sighted the battleships HMS King George V and Rodney under Admiral John Tovey, who had come to finish the job Norfolk had started four days prior. At 0847, with Norfolk 10 nautical miles away, the final action of the Bismarck began, with Norfolk's sister Dorsetshire joining from the south. Norfolk joined in the shelling, and claimed two torpedo hits on Bismarck. After just over an hour of intense action, the four British ships had fired 2,800 shells at Bismarck, scoring 400 hits, reducing the Bismarck to a wreck. Norfolk also claimed two torpedo hits on Bismarck. At 10:20, Tovey turned for home, and Dorsetshire finished off the Bismarck with torpedoes.

After the action, Norfolk returned to menial duties, now assigned the arduous task of escorting the Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union. She would participate in escorting the convoys through the unending daylight of the summers and the darkness of the arctic winters for the next few years.

On December 20, 1943, eastbound convoy JW 55B departed for the Soviet Union. Norfolk was at sea at the time escorting westbound convoy RA 55A back from Murmansk after an uneventful journey. The eastbound journey had been uneventful. It had been nearly a year since German capital ships had sortied against an Arctic convoy, at the Battle of the Barents Sea, and German battleships had been holed up in port since the loss of Bismarck. However, the two surviving battleships, Scharnhorst and Tirpitz, had proved a formidable fleet-in-being, and were always poised to strike from their Norwegian bases. Bruce Fraser, chief Admiral of the Home Fleet, and in charge of protecting the Arctic convoys, suspected that German surface ships may try to strike at JW 55B. He envisioned a decisive battle around Christmas against British and German battleships, where the threat of German battleships striking a the convoys could be permanently neutralized. On December 22, JW 55B was spotted by the Luftwaffe, and the next day, Fraser put to sea personally commanding his flagship HMS Duke of York, with a light cruiser and four destroyers as escort. Fraser proved to be correct, as on Christmas, Scharnhorst and five destroyers sortied from Norway.

As RA 55A was diverted north. Norfolk, along with light cruisers Belfast and Southampton, joined JW 55B instead. At 0900 on December 26, the cruisers encountered Scharnhorst, and immediately opened fire from 12,000 meters, destroying Scharnhorst's radar. Norfolk, whos guns produced the brightest flashes, was in turn targeted by Scharnhorst, but Scharnhorst soon broke off the battle, misidentifying Norfolk as a battleship. Norfolk and the cruisers pursued Scharnhorst, while struggling to keep pace in the heavy seas. Shortly after noon, the two sides exchanged fire again, disabling X turret on Norfolk and damaging her radar, but again broke off, while the German destroyers fruitlessly searched for JW 55B alone. Norfolk was eventually forced to retreat due to her damage, in addition to Southampton, leaving Belfast alone. However, they escaped undetected due to Scharnhorst's destroyed radar, and Belfast successfully maintained contact until Fraser arrived in Duke of York and sank Scharnhorst.

Following this, Norfolk eventually had her entire X turret removed and replaced with additional AA. These repairs and refits resulted in her being unable to participate in the D-Day landings. The rest of her wartime service was uneventful. On May 4, 1945, she served as the flagship of Operation Judgement, where Norfolk and several other ships escorted escort carriers for a raid on Kilbotn, Norway, where they sank a submarine and two other ships. After the war's conclusion, Norfolk ferried the Norwegian Royal Family back to Oslo, after their five year exile in London.

Norfolk remained in service until 1949, where she was transferred to reserve. In 1950, she sold off for scrapping. She was the third of five ships to bear the name London, and accounted for 6 of the 11 battle honors the lineage earned.

== Media ==

''Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.''

== See also ==

''Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:''

* ''reference to the series of the ship;''
* ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.''

== External links ==

''Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:''

* ''topic on the official game forum;''
* ''other literature.''

{{ShipManufacturer Fairfields}}
{{Britain heavy cruisers}}

Chi-To

2020-05-29T16:47:42Z

U49295956: Grammar fix.

{{Specs-Card|code=jp_type_4_chi_to}}
{{Notice|''This page is about the medium tank '''{{PAGENAME}}'''. For the late version, see [[Chi-To Late]]''}}

== Description ==

[[File:GarageImage_Type4Chi-To.jpg|420px|thumb|left]]
{{break}}
The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a Rank {{Specs|rank}} Japanese medium tank {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced along with the initial Japanese Ground Forces tree in [[Update_1.65_"Way_of_the_Samurai"|Update 1.65 "Way of the Samurai"]].

The Type 4 Chi-To looks similar to the [[Chi-Nu|Type 3 Chi-Nu]], though with a longer chassis with an extra wheel. Turret is also similar in look, though the turret side is more smooth and has a machine gun sticking out the right side. The big differences on the turret is the gun barrel. The gun barrel has no muzzle brake in its design and the recoil tube has been moved from a single tube on the bottom to two tubes on top.

Playing the Type 4 Chi-To can give the player a new impression of the Japanese tree line and a lasting one considering many of the Japanese tanks after it follow the same pattern. A tank with a very powerful cannon, decent mobility, but rather terrible armour. The terrible armour plus the tank's rather long reload means that the Chi-To is meant more for a long-distance shoot out than a close encounter.

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===

'''Armour type:'''

* Rolled homogeneous armour
* Cast homogeneous armour (Gun mantlet, Machine gun port)

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Armour !! Front !! Sides !! Rear !! Roof
|-
| Hull || 75 mm (17°) ''Front plate'' 20 mm (76°) ''Front glacis'' 75 mm (16°), 20 mm (58°) ''Lower glacis'' 50 mm (12°) ''Front cheeks'' 50 mm (0-66°) ''Machine gun port'' || 35 mm (12-30°) ''Top'' 35 mm ''Bottom'' || 20 mm (73°) ''Top'' 35 mm ''Center'' 20 mm (48°) ''Bottom'' || 20 mm
|-
| Turret || 75 mm (16°) ''Turret front'' 50-75 mm (10°) ''Gun mantlet'' || 50 mm (15-16°) 50 mm (0-65°) ''Right machine gun port'' || 50 mm (15-50°) ''Turret rear'' 10 mm ''Turret rear underside'' || 20 mm
|-
! Armour !! Sides !! Roof
|-
| Cupola || 75 mm || 20 mm
|-
|}
'''Notes:'''

* Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick while tracks are 20 mm thick.
* 10 mm RHA plates are scattered on the lower side hull.
* Turret ring is 20 mm thick.

=== Mobility ===


{{tankMobility|abMinHp= 620|rbMinHp= 354}}

== Armaments ==
=== Main armament ===

{{main|Type II Model II (75 mm)}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! colspan="6" | [[Type II Model II (75 mm)|75 mm Type II Model II]]
|-
! colspan="3" rowspan="1" style="width:5em" |Capacity
! rowspan="1" | Vertical guidance
! rowspan="1" | Horizontal guidance
! rowspan="1" | Stabilizer
|-
| colspan="3" | 55 || -10°/+20° || ±180° || N/A
|-
! colspan="6" | Turret rotation speed (°/s)
|-
! style="width:4em" |Mode
! style="width:4em" |Stock
! style="width:4em" |Upgraded
! style="width:4em" |Prior + Full crew
! style="width:4em" |Prior + Expert qualif.
! style="width:4em" |Prior + Ace qualif.
|-
| ''Arcade'' || 7.6 || 10.5 || __.__ || 22.5 || __.__
|-
| ''Realistic'' || 7.6 || 8.9 || __.__ || 11.9 || __.__
|-
! colspan="4" | Reloading rate (seconds)
|-
! colspan="1" style="width:4em" |Stock
! colspan="1" style="width:4em" |Prior + Full crew
! colspan="1" style="width:4em" |Prior + Expert qualif.
! colspan="1" style="width:4em" |Prior + Ace qualif.
|-
| 10.00 || __.__ || 8.2 || __.__
|-
|}

===== Ammunition =====
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
! colspan="8" | Penetration statistics
|-
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
! rowspan="2" class="unsortable" | Type of warhead
! colspan="6" | '''Penetration''' '''''in mm''''' '''@ 90°'''
|-
! 10m
! 100m
! 500m
! 1000m
! 1500m
! 2000m
|-
| Type 1 APHE || APHE || 137 || 133 || 120 || 102 || 89 || 78
|-
| Type 4 Kou || APHE || 157 || 155 || 142 || 124 || 111 || 105
|-
| Type 90 HE || HE || 8 || 8 || 8 || 8 || 8 || 8
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
! colspan="11" | Shell details
|-
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
! rowspan="2" class="unsortable" | Type of warhead
! rowspan="2" |Velocity in m/s
! rowspan="2" |Projectile Mass in kg
! rowspan="2" | ''Fuse delay''
''in m:''
! rowspan="2" | ''Fuse sensitivity''
''in mm:''
! rowspan="2" | ''Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):''
! rowspan="2" | ''Normalization At 30° from horizontal:''
! colspan="3" | ''Ricochet:''
|-
! 0%
! 50%
! 100%
|-
| Type 1 APHE || APHE || 865 || 6.6 || 1.3 || 15 || 67.84 || ° || 47° || 60° || 65°
|-
| Type 4 Kou || APHE || 865 || 6.8 || 1.3 || 15 || 80.64 || ° || 47° || 60° || 65°
|-
| Type 90 HE || HE || 830 || 6.2 || 0.1 || 0.1 || 490 || +0° || 79° || 80° || 18°
|-
|}

===== [[Ammo racks|Ammo racks]] =====
[[File:Ammoracks Chi-To.png|right|thumbnail|x250px|[[Ammo racks|Ammo racks]] on the Chi-To.]]
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! class="wikitable unsortable" |Full ammo
! class="wikitable unsortable" |1st rack empty
! class="wikitable unsortable" |2nd rack empty
! class="wikitable unsortable" |3rd rack empty
! class="wikitable unsortable" |4th rack empty
! class="wikitable unsortable" |5th rack empty
! class="wikitable unsortable" |6th rack empty
! class="wikitable unsortable" |7th rack empty
! class="wikitable unsortable" width="10%" |Recommendations
! class="wikitable unsortable" |Visual discrepancy
|-
|| '''55''' || 45 ''(+10)'' || 40 ''(+15)'' || 34 ''(+21)'' || 28 ''(+27)'' || 28 ''(+27)'' || 14 ''(+41)'' || 1 ''(+54)'' || style="text-align:left" | No
|-
|}
Turret empty: 40 ''(+15)''

=== Machine guns ===

{{main|Type 97 tank (7.7 mm)}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! colspan="7" | [[Type 97 tank (7.7 mm)|7.7 mm Type 97]]
|-
! colspan="7" | ''Pintle mount''
|-
! colspan="4" rowspan="1" style="width:5em" |Capacity (Belt capacity)
! rowspan="1" | Fire rate (shots/minute)
! rowspan="1" | Vertical guidance
! rowspan="1" | Horizontal guidance
|-
| colspan="4" | 1,000 (20) || 499 || -10°/+70° || ±60°
|-
! colspan="7" | ''Hull mount''
|-
! colspan="4" rowspan="1" style="width:5em" |Capacity (Belt capacity)
! rowspan="1" | Fire rate (shots/minute)
! rowspan="1" | Vertical guidance
! rowspan="1" | Horizontal guidance
|-
| colspan="4" | 3,000 (20) || 499 || ±8° || ±8°
|-
|}

== Usage in the battles ==

Against the medium tanks, its simply getting the first shot off first as the 75 mm Type 5 cannon on the Chi-To could penetrate most through the front hull armour, with some levels of difficulty on the turret. Of course, for maximizing the Chi-To's own survival, attack from the sides and make sure the enemy is unaware of the Chi-To's presence.

Against the heavies is a more complicated method due to their armour becoming near impervious to the Chi-To if angled. Thus, it is best to go for the side armour if possible to deal the most damage possible. Though, the only tank most invincible to the Chi-To's armament from the front is the British [[Churchill Mk VII]] and maybe the American [[M4A3E2|M4A3E2 Jumbo]], so beware if caught in a frontal engagement.
===Modules===
{| class="wikitable"
!Tier
! colspan="2" |Mobility
!Protection
! colspan="2" |Firepower
|-
|I
|Tracks||
|Parts
|Horizontal Drive
|
|-
|II
|Suspension||Brake System
|FPE
|Adjustment of Fire
|Type 4 Kou
|-
|III
|Filters||
|Crew Replenishment
|Elevation Mechanism
|
|-
|IV
|Transmission||Engine
|
|Artillery Support
|
|-
|}
=== Pros and cons ===

'''Pros:'''

* Powerful 75 mm cannon rivaling the [[T-34-85|T-34-85's]], good penetration and very low shell drop-off.
* APHE round can easily defeat enemy tanks.
* A very powerful tank at 4.3, can tackle all foes at its BR bracket.
* Decent gun depression of -11°
* Ammo in the turret can be emptied by carrying 15 less ammo.
* Very powerful Type 4 Kou shell with more penetration and more explosive filler.
* Decent top armour, enough to resist strafing aircraft weapons.

'''Cons:'''

* Armour is average and mostly flat and unangled, like the Panzer IV.
* The Chi-To is asymmetric and is a large tank, it is difficult to hide from enemies.
* Reload rate quite slow.
* Angling front armour can expose the 50 mm hull cheek armour.
* Very hard to turn on the spot, especially when stock.

== History ==

===Development===
The lackluster performance of Japanese tanks in World War II called for the development of newer medium tanks in the Imperial Japanese Army. The standard tank of the time was the [[Chi-Ha|Type 97 Chi-Ha]], which has its chassis used in many expedient models to provide a bigger gun for the Japanese inventory such as the [[Chi-Ha Kai|Chi-Ha Kai]], [[Chi-He|Type 1 Chi-He]], [[Ho-I|Type 2 Ho-I]], and [[Chi-Nu|Type 3 Chi-Nu]]. By the time of Chi-Nu, however, the Chi-Ha chassis was becoming outdated and so a new tank design using an improved chassis was needed for future development.<ref name="ZalogaJapaneseTank">Zaloga 2007</ref>

In 1943, development started of the '''Chi-To''' tank, which features a new chassis and more powerful engine. Its armament is a 75 mm gun based off the Type 88 anti-aircraft gun, giving it a high-velocity weapon. Armour on the tank was welded and was quite thick in comparison to its predecessor at 75 mm thick. The tank was accepted for service in 1944 and was expected to enter mass production with 20 per month at Mitsubishi and 5 per month at Kobe-Seiko. In terms of Japanese armour development, the Chi-To was the most sophisticated tank to enter production levels.<ref name="ZalogaJapaneseTank" />

===War's End===
Despite its potential, the Type 4 Chi-To was never made in large numbers. At the war's end, only six chassis were made, with only two of those made into tanks.

The two Type 4 produced were cast into Lake Hamana between the 23 and the 28 August 1945 to avoid their capture. One was found by the U.S. occupation forces following Japan's surrender in World War II. The tank was then transported to Aberdeen Proving Grounds for tests and would eventually scrap them in October 1952.<ref name="MaiScrapping">Sun 2017</ref>

The second tank is still believed to be at the bottom of the lake. A project to find it was launched in 2013 by SM@Pe, a group of people from Hamamatsu. Inhabitants, volunteers, divers and the Windy Network Corp ( a marine studies company from Tôkyô who founded a trainning plane of the Japanese imperial army in the lake Towada in 2010) participated to research, supported by the use of a sonar and testimonials, including former soldiers who allegedly participated in the launching operation. The research did not give anything.

== Media ==
''An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.''

==References==
<references />

== Read also ==
''Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example,''

* ''reference to the series of the vehicles;''
* ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.''

''ETC.''

== Sources ==

* Zaloga Steven. ''Japanese Tanks 1939-1945'' Great Britain: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2007
* Sun, Eun Ae. ''Chi-Ri & Chi-To: Aberdeen Tank Scrapping.'' YouTube, YouTube, 7 Aug. 2017, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mkS8EodQbA Video]

{{Japan medium tanks}}

Ho-I

2019-07-12T17:50:48Z

U49295956: Added armour, and pros+cons

{{Specs-Card|code=jp_type_2_ho_i}}

== Description ==
The '''Type 2 Ho-I''' is a Rank II medium tank with a battle rating of 2.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced with the rest of the Japanese ground forces tree with 1.65 - "Way of the Samurai." It follows the Chi-Ha Kai, and preceeds the Chi-He.

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
The armour on the Ho-I, while being an upgrade over the Chi-Ha Kai - 50mm at the turret and hull front, compared to 32 on the turret and 25 on the hull for the Chi-Ha Kai, is still insufficient to stop most shells at a comparable rank. The internal modules aren't the most resiliant, as the turret is rather cramped, stuffed with ammunition, the rather small cannon breach, and 3 crew members. A single APHE shell will almost invariably kill all the turret crew.

The armour consists of rolled mostly homogeneous armour, with cast homogeneous surrounding the gun barrel, protruding from the turret.

{| class="wikitable"
!Armour
!Front
!Sides
!Rear
!Roof
|-
|'''Hull'''
|50mm Front Plate, 16°
12mm Front Glacis, 76°
|25mm Hull below tracks 30°
20mm Hull above tracks, 0°
|20mm Rear, 1°
|12mm Roof, 86° (From a vertical plane.)
|-
|'''Turret'''
|50mm Turret Front, 16°
50mm Gun Mantlet, 16°
|25mm Sides, 9° Front Half, 10° Latter Half
|25mm Rear, 5°
|12mm Roof, 76° Front, 89° Middle, 74° Rear
12mm Hatch, 89°
|}
{| class="wikitable"
!Armour
!Sides
!Hatch
|-
|Cupola
|50mm Lower Part
25mm Upper Part
|12mm Hatch
|}

=== Mobility ===

== Armaments ==
=== Main armament ===
''Give the reader information about the characteristics of the main gun. Assess its effectiveness in a battle based on the reloading speed, ballistics and the power of shells. Do not forget about the flexibilty of the fire, that is how quickly the cannon can be aimed at the target, open fire on it and aim at another enemy. Add a link to the main article on the gun: <code><nowiki>{{main|Name of the weapon}}</nowiki></code>. Describe in general terms the ammunition available for the main gun. Give advice on how to use them and how to fill the ammunition storage.''

=== Additional armament ===
''Some tanks are armed with several guns in one or more turrets. Evaluate the additional weaponry and give advice on its use. Describe the ammunition available for additional weaponry. Give advice on how to use them and how to fill the ammunition storage. If there is no additional weaponry remove this subsection.''

=== Machine guns ===
''Offensive and anti-aircraft machine guns not only allow you to fight some aircraft, but also are effective against lightly armoured vehicles. Evaluate machine guns and give recommendations on its use.''

==Usage in the battles==
''Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).''

===Modules===
{| class="wikitable"
! Tier
! colspan="2" |Mobility
! Protection
! colspan="2" |Firepower
|-
| I
| Tracks||
| Parts
| Horizontal Drive||Type 2 HEAT
|-
| II
| Suspension||Brake System
| FPE
| Adjustment of Fire||
|-
| III
| Filters||
| Crew Replenishment
| Elevation Mechanism||
|-
| IV
| Transmission||Engine
|
| Artillery Support||Type 90 Smoke
|-
|}

===Pros and cons===
''Summarize and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in a bulleted list. Do not use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - they have a substitution in the form of softer "inadequate", "effective".''

'''Pros:'''

* 75mm gun can do good damage.
* Armour is an improvement over prior tanks.

*

'''Cons:'''

* Stock grind is terrible, 40ish millimeters of penetration on stock APHE won't do much at 2.0.
* Poor turret rotation speed.
* Armour still inadequate to block tank shells or 20mm autocannons firing HVAP from the front.

*

== History ==
''Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ground vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too big, take it to a separate article, taking a link to an article about the vehicle and adding a block "/historical reference" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/Name-vehicles/historical reference) and add a link to it here using the <code>main</code> template. Be sure to include links to sources at the end of the article.''

== Media ==
''An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.''

== Read also ==
''Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example,''

* ''reference to the series of the vehicles;''
* ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.''

''ETC.''

== Sources ==
''Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:''

* ''topic on the official game forum;''
* ''other literature.''