- Yes
- No
About Strasbourg and its interest in War Thunder
When thinking about French fast Battleships, Dunkerque is always the one mentioned over its sistership, mostly because it is the lead ship of its class, flagship of its fleet, and its history was more memorable as it was heavily damaged during the attack of Mers el Kebir, etc. However, from a more gameplay/pragmatic point of view, the Strasbourg is better in a lot of way compared to the Dunkerque : Better armor, better AA defenses… and I believe it has its place in War Thunder, mostly as a better main tech tree variant compared to a premium, for example.
The Strasbourg
During the 1920’s the French navy was trying to find a way to rearm its fleet, severely lacking after the end of WW1. Although the Washington treaty had limited the size of its fleet and the scope of its modernisation, The biggest problem was the speed at which the rival fleets were developing. Be it the Italian fleet or the German fleet, they both were modernizing at an alarming rate. While the French navy was building its first heavy cruiser classes, the Regia Marina was creating fast, powerful cruiser killers that were much more modern than anything France was able to align. But it was first and foremost the creation of the Deutschland class in Germany which convinced the French navy to go for a ship capable of facing that kind of threat. They converted their first capital ship project into a 23000t battlecruiser project, which would fit two turrets equipped with 4 canons, in fact, the turret of the scrapped project Normandie from the 1920’s. The Strasbourg was the second battleship born from this program, two years after the Dunkerque, in 1934, and was completed in 1938. The main differences were the addition of a second bridge, several AA positions on the tower, added armor, and different engines. The tests done in 1937/38 evaluated the speed compared to the added armor, the overall sea handling of the ship, as well as its armament.
Strasbourg was put into service in 1939, and mostly followed the footsteps of the Dunkerque, being in the same fleet, the Force de Raid during the war. The main difference started with Mers El Kebir. Indeed, during the attack, the Strasbourg is the first ship to weigh anchor, and manages to pass through the magnetic minefield dropped by the British Swordfish plane, Its escape became a priority, which pushed the French destroyers which escaped as well to escort it, while the Strasbourg was firing at the British fleet. In the end, its escape was the major downfall of the British fleet, which couldn’t prevent it. Admiral Sommervile was even certain he would be court martialled for this, although British propaganda ultimately prevailed and turned the whole operation as a success.
After that, Strasbourg didn’t sailed much, but got an enhanced AA defense, as well as a French made radar, the DEM. Its ultimate demise came with Operation Anton, as the ship was scuttled along with the rest of the French fleet to prevent it from falling into German hands.
General Characteristics :
| Tonnage: | * 27300 tons (standard) |
- 31570 tons (max load)
- 36380 tons (max overload)|
|Length:|215.50m|
|Beam:|31.10m|
|Draught:|8.73m|
|||
|Propulsion:|* Penhoet steam turbines - 6 Indret boilers
- 107 000 HP|
|Speed:|30.16 knots (55 km/h) during trials, 29,4 knots usually (54km/h)|
|Range:|* 7856 nautical miles (11,000 km) at 15 knots - 2,450 nautical miles (5,190 km) at 28 knots|
Crew : 1302 men (32 officer, 1270 sailors)
Armor :
Vertical protection :
Main belt : 283mm
Front bulkhead : 225mm
Back bulkhead : 210mm (upper part), 150mm (lower part)
Horizontal protection :
Main deck : 125mm
Above the engine room : 115mm
Above the propellers 100mm
Intermediary armored bridge : 50mm
Conning tower :
Front and side : 270mm
back : 220mm
roof : 150/130mm
Main turrets :
Front : 360mm
Side : 250mm
Roof : 160mm
back : 352mm
130mm turrets :
front : 135mm
side : 90mm
roof : 90mm
Armament :
8 x 330mm mle 1931 canons (2 x 4)
16 x 130mm mle 1932 canons (3 x 4 on the back, + 2 x 2 on the side)
10 x 37 mm mle 1933 AA guns (5 x 2)
32 x 13.2 mm Hotchkiss mle 1929 MGs (8 x 4)
Regarding the 330mm turrets :
Spoiler
SPECS :
depression : -5°, +35°
rotation : 6°/s on 166° (turret 1) or 148° (turret 2)
weight : 67.535 tons
Length : 17.170m
330mm Shells :
AP shell Opf mle 1935 : 570kg, 20kg explosives
penetration : 342mm at 23 000m
Max range : 41 000m
Explosive shell Opfk mle 1935 : 522kg, 63kg explosives
Max range : 40 200m
Regarding the 130mm canons :
Spoiler
SPECS :
depression : -10°, +75°
rotation : 8°/s on 143° (back turret center) or 235° (back side turrets) or 212° (side turrets)
weight : quadruple : 200 tons, double : 81 tons
130mm Shells :
weight : 33.4kg (AP) 29.5 kg (EXP)
Max range : 20 800m (12 000m AA configuration)
Fire rate : 10-12 s/m
PHOTOS :
Plans and differences with the Dunkerque :
Spoiler
Photos and close-ups :
Spoiler
Video
SOURCES :
Spoiler
https://www.drugisvetski.com/2017/04/29/bojni-brod-strasbourg/
Strasbourg (navire de ligne) - Wikiwand
FRANCE CROISEURS DE BATAILLE CLASSE DUNKERQUE
-MOULIN Jean, Les cuirassés français en images, Marines Editions, 2006 Navire de ligne Strasbourg
