Development blog

American battleship West Virginia ‘44, American destroyer Halford and European destroyer Jäger have been added to the game for testing.

American battleship West Virginia '44, Tier VII

USS West Virginia BB-48 was the third and final Colorado-class battleship. She was laid down in April 1920, launched in November 1921, and commissioned in December 1923. The ship spent the interwar period conducting exercises and training voyages. Immediately before World War II, the battleship had to undergo an upgrade, which included the installation of torpedo bulge, strengthening of deck armor and air defenses, and replacement of the boilers and fire control systems, but in the end the modernization was postponed to 1942. However, the ship would never go through the scheduled modernization, because on December 7, 1941 West Virginia received seven torpedo and two bomb hits as a result of the raid on Pearl Harbor. She sank on an even keel in the shallow bay. In May 1942, the battleship was raised, hastily patched up in Hawaii, and towed to Puget Sound, Washington, where she underwent a radical upgrade. Together with the installation of torpedo bulge and reinforcement of armored decks, the ship received a completely new superstructure, a new dual purpose gun battery, radar, and other improvements. In the autumn of 1944, the battleship returned to the Pacific Ocean, just in time for the start of the Battle of Leyte Gulf. During the battle, West Virginia scored several gunnery hits on Japanese battleship Yamashiro and cruiser Mogami. In February-March 1945, the ship participated in the battles of Iwo Jima and in the landings on Okinawa. By the end of World War II, West Virginia received five battle stars. The ship was put into reserve in January 1947, and in 1959—sold for scrap.

West Virginia '44 is equipped with a powerful secondary battery with long range, good accuracy and fast reload, and has a well-protected citadel due to wide and thick torpedo bulges. This allows the ship to fight effectively at short and medium distances. The main battery is represented by eight short-range 406mm guns in four turrets. Her AP shells have high damage and armor penetration, and her HE shells are standard for the ship type and Tier.

West Virginia '44 has a short turning radius, but very low speed and fairly high detectability. The equipment is represented by an improved "American" Repair Party, as well as a Fighter or Spotting Aircraft to choose from.

American destroyer Halford, Tier IX

Six destroyers of the Fletcher class were planned to receive an aircraft catapult instead of a stern torpedo launcher and No. 3 turret, according to plans put forward by the leadership of the US Navy. In this configuration, these ships could launch Kingfisher reconnaissance aircraft, and formations consisting of only destroyers—without having to rely on cruisers and aircraft carriers—would receive their own "eyes". However, later on, the planned number of aircraft-carrying Fletchers was reduced to three.  USS Halford DD-480 was laid down at the Puget Sound shipyard in June 1941, launched in October 1942, and commissioned in April 1943. The ship was equipped with catapult, with which she was to depart for the Pacific. In October of the same year, however, the catapult was dismantled. During 1944, the ship took part in the cover of amphibious operations in the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, and the Philippines, and fought at the battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf. The destroyer was put into reserve in January 1946, and then finally decommissioned in 1968, after which she was scrapped. During World War II, the ship received thirteen battle stars.

Halford is the first hybrid destroyer in our game. She is armed with an attack aircraft tactical squadron. Due to the small size of the ship, the principle of launching a squadron will differ from other hybrids - only one aircraft will be launched from the catapult, which will be joined by the rest of the squadron, which is already in the air. The aircraft are armed with powerful Tiny Tim rockets with high damage and armor penetration.

Halford is equipped with four 127 mm main battery guns with a good rate of fire and arcing shell ballistics, as well as one five-tube torpedo launcher with long-range torpedoes. In addition, the ship has high maneuverability. Among her shortcomings: a small amount of HP and the absence of a Smoke Generator consumable. Halford’s consumables consist of Engine Boost or Defensive AA Fire to choose from in one slot.

European destroyer Jäger, Tier IX

Before the First World War, the Austro-Hungarian fleet had several 850-ton Tatra-class destroyers, in addition to which four similar ships were built in 1916-17. These forces were completely insufficient to face the Entente’s overwhelming fleets, and the ships themselves were outdated in design, so in 1917, work began on the project of a destroyer leader. In total, eight leaders and twelve destroyers of the new class were planned for construction. The German company Blohm und Voss and the Hungarian company Ganz-Danubius presented their sketches for the competition, in addition, several of their projects were developed by the Marine Technical Committee. One of them was the design of a 2,000 ton Torpedofahrzeug (torpedo ship) presented in October 1917. The ship was to be armed with six-inch main battery guns. She never appeared in reality, however, we implemented her in our game. We also reflected one of the peculiarities of Austro-Hungarian destroyers' camouflage on the ship's standard permanent camouflage. In the autumn of 1915, an order was issued to change the black paint of the ships to a bluish-gray, but so as to make the destroyers less noticeable against the backdrop of the coast, the new layer of paint was to only be partially applied in order to preserve some black spots, thereby creating a kind of impromptu camouflage. 

Jäger is a stealthy torpedo destroyer. It has very low visibility and is armed with four triple-tube torpedo launchers with trademark "European" launch spreads: narrow and ultra-narrow. The torpedoes themselves are characterized by high speed and range, as well as fast reload, but low damage per torpedo.

The main battery is represented by three 150-mm guns with a short firing range and not the highest rate of fire. Jäger has a small amount of HP and weak anti-aircraft weapons as well. Available consumables: Repair Party and Engine Boost.

 

Please note that all information in the development blog is preliminary. Announced adjustments and features may change multiple times during testing. The final information will be published on our game's website.