Hi guys, today Gaijin anounced HMS Gay Archer for the upcoming battle pass, and as the one who suggested a few members of the class, i was somewhat disappointed to see that the ship model was completely ahistorical to how HMS Gay Archer was configured and appeared during actual service. Below serves as a brief summery of what is wrong with the ship as present and what needs to be rectified to make the model historically accurate plus additional historical photos to cement my information.
Above is a screenshot of the ship as it currently appears in the devblog and circled are parts that are historically inaccurate and based of the civilian rebuild of the vessel by a private collector. Whom ever modelled the ship used photographs of this rebuild to model the ship but unfortunately, this referb was done on a budget and is very much different to how the ship actually appeared and was armed in service.
below are the main points I immediately became aware of with the ship:
- the radar and ship antenna are not present and instead are modern or mock up that do not resemble how the ship was in service
- the entire back of the ship is modelled off the civilian referb of the vessel, including the deck that would normally house plastic chairs for pleasure cruising. In addition, there is a ladder present on the back of the vessel that was not there during service, and a 20mm oerlikon that has been haphazardly slapped on the rear deck, which is completely different then the twin 20mm that could have seen service on the vessel during actual service (See photos below)
- there is an additional port hole was not present on the vessel in service that was added at a later date to provide more light in the interior of the ship
- the torpedo tubes lack their aiming and firing control panels, as they are modelled off the dummy ones carried on the present ship.
- the ship is riddled with a copious amount of modern life preservers to comply with current UK boating regulations for carrying passengers. historically only two were carried at the rear of the superstructure
- the 40mm present on the front of the boat is a hand-cranked early variety of the Bofors, unlike the fully mechanical mark 7 that would have been carried in active service.
- the ship’s bridge did not have a glass windshield whilst in active service, these only became standard with the navy after the brave class as they possessed an NBC bridge.
In order to substantiate these claims I will now affix several photos and their incumbent context:
May 15, 1954: HMS Gay Charioteer P-1048 (left) and HMS Gay Archer P-1041 seen on the River Thames escorting the Royal Barge. (MaritimeQuest - HMS Gay Archer P-1041 Page 1)
June 1954: Four Gay class boats, including HMS Gay Archer P-1041 (foreground) seen at Hon Fleur, France.
(Photo from the Colin W. Hewitt Collection)
Courtesy of Colin W. Hewitt
Scan by Philip J. Heydon, I.S.M.
Two images of HMS Gay Archer, whilst undergoing trials in a gun boat configuration, though date and location are not known
Two images showing HMS Gay Archer after almost sinking after striking a boon
Three images showing hms Gay Archer in Aarhus Harbour, Denmark on 18 May 1953 she was alongside MTB P1023, which caught fire and exploded. ( Postwar Gay-Class Boats – The End for Petroleum | Coastal Forces Veterans )
Photo of HMS Gay Bombardier, showing the twin 20mm mount that would have been fitted to HMS Gay Archer during her early torpedo boat configuration, as you can see it varies wildly from what is presented in the dev blog. During her service the main gun based on most photos was a bofors 40mm mk 7, as seen previously
Two additional photos showing a Gay class configured with the forward 40mm
The issue has been bug reported and can be found here:
https://community.gaijin.net/issues/p/warthunder/i/dxJ7lqJMXjOS
Sources:
- MaritimeQuest - HMS Gay Archer P-1041 Page 1
- Royal Navy: Motor Boat Postcards
- British Military Powerboat Trust, Coastal Forces, Gunboats, Target Boats, High Speed Launches, Motor Gun Boats, Torpedo Boats, Patrol Boats, Seaplane Tenders
- Postwar Gay-Class Boats – The End for Petroleum | Coastal Forces Veterans