AF D3
Contents
Description
The D3-class, AF D3 (abbreviated as AF D3) is a rank IV German naval ferry barge with a battle rating of 3.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.79 "Project X" in the fleet closed beta test. It is essentially the AF D1 equipped with a larger 105mm cannons.
General info
Survivability and armour
Although the armour doesn't cover the whole boat, the survivability is not that bad as it is a very long boat with lots of empty space inside for shells to go through. It is thus important that enemies with rapid-firing guns do not get too close to the AF D3 as they can riddle the entire boat with shells and hit critical components through the armour.
Staying far from the enemies and attacking them with the 10.5cm guns is the best way to improve the lifespan of the AF D3.
Mobility
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 23 | 11 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 20 | 10 | |
Similar to other naval barges, the AF D3 has an abysmal top speed of just 20 km/h (RB) and very sluggish turn time. Due to the long hull design, the AF D3 has a trouble navigating through various narrow passages and avoiding obstacles and incoming torpedoes.
Modifications and economy
| Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Armament
Primary armament
The AF D3 has two 105mm SK C/32 turrets as its main armament which is a direct improvement from the 88mm FlaK from its predecessor. It has higher explosive mass and penetration with a fast reload time of just 4.64 seconds. The main gun can fire the following ammo types: HE (effective against most targets), HE with base fuse (effective against armoured targets), and HE-TF (for anti-aircraft purposes). The barges can carries up to 200 shells in total.
Ammo information:
HE : 20mm penetration any range and any angle. Exeplosive mass: 1.55 KG
HE with base fuse: 50 mm penetration at 1 KM, 21 mm at 15 KM. Explosive mass: 1.55 KG
HE-TF: 20 mm penetration any range and any angle. Explosive mass: 1.55 KG
All rounds have a muzzle velocity of 900 m/s
Secondary armament
The AF D3 is equipped with two 20mm Flakvierling AA guns placed at the bridge and stern each. In SF40 Leichte, these guns were proven to be very deadly against most targets the AF D3 might've face. Due to the gun placement and two less gun mount than the SF40 Leichte, it is somewhat less effective due to less concentrated firepower. However, it is relatively easier to target, as the two gun mount were placed directly frontally and in the rear (as opposed to SF 40 Leichte's diamond placement), this allows the AF D3 to hit the target frontally with relative ease.
20 mm ammo types:
- Universal (36 mm pen at 10 m, 17 mm at 2 km)
- HET magazines (36 mm pen at 10 m, 17 mm at 2 km)
- APT magazines (36 mm pen at 10 m, 17 mm at 2 km)
Anti-aircraft armament
A single 37 mm SK C/30 cannon is available in the anti-aircraft weapon slot for the AF D3.
| 3.7 cm SK C/30 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammo capacity | 2000 | ||||||
| Fire rate | 30 rounds/minute | ||||||
| Reloading rate | 2 seconds | ||||||
| Vertical guidance | -10°/+80° | ||||||
| Horizontal guidance | ±180° | ||||||
| Targeting speed | 17°/s | ||||||
| Targeting vertical speed | 13°/s | ||||||
Additional armament
There are 4 WBD depth charges on the boat. These can be used as a close range weapon, although they only fire behind you so don't treat them as weapons with any reach.
Usage in battles
Similar to the AF D1, the AF D3 is excel at fire supporting. Try to stay at long ranges, where the guns and armour work good together. At close range try to angle or peeking, the downside is you will only be able to use the frontal guns or maybe rear guns.
It might be tempting to do boardside with the AF D3. Be advised, however, that the AF D3's side armor is flat and became very weak when unangled, coupled with terrible mobility, this made you exposed to all source of incoming fire, including torpedoes.
Players seeking to defeat the AF D3 will try to close in from a blind spot or when the AF D3 is occupied with other opponents. Use the secondary armaments to deal with these fast-moving boats as the main 105mm guns would be too slow to react to new, close-by threats.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- 105mm cannons is very effective against all kinds of targets it face, with high destruction power and quick reload time
- 20mm AA cannons is very useful against fast-moving targets and AA duties
- Relatively good survivability when angled correctly
- High crew count
Cons:
- Terrible top speed and very sluggish to manuerver
- Large, slow targets makes it very vulnerable against bombs, torpedoes, and rockets
- Armour quite easily to defeat if not angled
- Angling armour only allow some guns to be used in combat
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: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Ship-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the ship's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).
Media
By: Wulfbane
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.
| Germany barges | |
|---|---|
| Anti-air ferries | SF40 Light · SF40 Heavy |
| Naval ferry barges | AF D1 · AF D3 |
