WoWS: European Destroyers – Closed testing

A second branch of European destroyers will be added to the game in one of the future Updates. We’re ready to share the first details.

The ships of this new branch will represent such countries as Turkey, Norway, Greece, Yugoslavia, and Poland. Please note that the branch is currently under development, so the ship models are still not finalized, and the gameplay concept of the branch may change during testing, which is planned to begin in the first half of 2023.

In the current concept, these newcomers are “gunboat” destroyers equipped with Smoke Generator and, starting at Tier VIII, with the Surveillance Radar consumable. Apart from that, all ships in the branch are equipped with Engine Boost. The main battery guns of the new European destroyers have good damage per salvo and, starting from Tier VII, flat shell ballistics, which allows for comfortable gunplay at long ranges.

The torpedoes used by all ships of the branch have high speed, but there is a small number per salvo. Unlike the first branch of the European destroyers, they have higher damage but lower range, and the torpedoes can be set to fan out in the standard wide and narrow spreads.

Starting from Tier VII, these destroyers have good speed and starting from Tier VIII they have a large HP pool. However, they don’t have the strongest AA and their concealment is mediocre.

European destroyer Muavenet, Tier V

One of the four destroyers ordered by Turkey from Great Britain in 1939, laid down in accordance with the design of British I-class destroyers. She was purchased by the British Royal Navy when the Second World War broke out and renamed HMS Inconstant. The destroyer survived the war and in 1946 was returned to the Turkish Navy where she served under her original name – Muavenet – until 1960.

European destroyer Stord, Tier VI

A British S-class destroyer that entered service in 1943 and was transferred to the Norwegian Navy in exile, who fought during World War II as part of the British Royal Navy. She survived the entire war and then was formally purchased by Norway, where she served until 1959.

European destroyer Grom, Tier VII

The lead ship in a series of two Grom-class destroyers, her sistership being Błyskawica. She was designed in Great Britain and was built under Polish order at a British shipyard J. Samuel White & Co. Ltd. in 1935-1937. Grom participated in World War II, taking part in the Norwegian campaign near Narvik. She was sunk on May 4, 1940, off the coast of Norway as a result of bombing by German planes.

European destroyer Split, Tier VIII

A destroyer leader of the Yugoslav Navy, which was laid down in 1939 at a British-owned shipyard in Split. The project was created by a French company based on the Le Fantasque-class destroyer. When Yugoslavia entered World War II in 1941, the unfinished ship was seized by the Italians. Work on the destroyer was finished and it was put into service only in 1958, according to a modified design, with the help of the United States and Great Britain. The ship served until 1980. Our game shows Split as she would have looked if completed by 1941.

European destroyer Lambros Katsonis, Tier IX

The ship is at a very early stage of modeling.

During the development of the E-class cruiser designs, various options were considered in Great Britain. These cruisers were seen as a continuation of the “scout” idea – fast fleet scouts and a counter to enemy destroyers. In the end, the option with the larger displacement (7,500 tons) was chosen, and the smaller option (2700-3000 tons) remained unrealized.

We “completed” this lighter design considering upgrades that were available both before and after World War II. The ship was also reclassified as a destroyer leader, since light scout cruisers with small displacement could well be considered destroyers, especially by World War II standards. A variant of postwar modernization implied a significant strengthening of AA gunnery with automatic 76 mm guns of American design, installed on light cruisers of the Worcester class, as well as the fire control system for these mounts. The main battery consists of the same guns used on the battlecruiser Hood as secondaries – six 140 mm guns in single-gun shielded mounts.

The Greek Navy might have received such a ship from the turn of the 1920s and 1930s, yet upgraded during WWII, from Britain just after the war. In fact, the British at the time transferred about 10 escort destroyers to Greece, among other aid.

The ship is named after Lambros Katsonis, a Greek privateer from the second half of the 18th century – a national hero of Greece and a fighter for its independence. This name is traditional for ships of the Greek Navy. In total there were four ships bearing this name – a light cruiser built in Great Britain before World War I, then three submarines.

European destroyer Gdansk, Tier X

Gdansk is a destroyer based on the design of the French Mogador.

Historically, French shipyards built 2 Burza-class destroyers for the Polish Navy in 1927-1932 and competed to win the contract to construct new destroyers for Poland in the mid-1930s, ultimately losing to Great Britain, who as a result built Grom and Błyskawica. This ship could also have been built in France at the request of Poland and been completed with the original armament composition by about 1939-40. After France was defeated, the ship would have been transferred to Great Britain, remaining unfinished until the end of the war, and afterward transferred to Poland. There she would have been commissioned by the mid-1950s and modernized to accommodate Soviet torpedo and ASW armament, as well as AA systems. Historically, Britain in 1947 returned the destroyer Błyskawica to the Polish People’s Republic, which in 1949-1950 was repaired and re-equipped with Soviet armament.

The naming of warships after cities was traditional for the Polish People’s Republic Navy. The largest Polish ships were consistently called Warszawa. The backbone of the Navy’s strike power – 13 Project 205 missile boats – were named after coastal cities, including Gdansk. Since Gdansk is the largest Polish port and city on the Baltic coast, one of the main cities of the country in general, as well as a historical symbol of the struggle for Poland’s access to the sea, we decided to name this ship after it.

Please note that all information in the development blog is preliminary. Announced adjustments and features may change multiple times during testing.