We’re presenting to you the main reward for the Imperial Flagship event: the German battleship SMS Baden!
SMS Baden: An Event Vehicle Battleship for Germany at Rank VI
Features:
- Powerful main caliber guns!
- High survivability.
- Vulnerable to aircraft.
- Slow speed.
SMS Baden became the second and last ship built in a series of the most powerful battleships in the history of the Imperial German Navy. This ship was launched at the end of October 1915 and entered service a year later in October 1916. Becoming the flagship of the High Seas Fleet, Baden was transferred to Kiel to prevent the allied forces from breaking through into the Baltic Sea. In 1918, part of the crew of Baden joined the Kiel anti-war uprising. In 1919, along with other ships of the High Seas Fleet, she was transferred to the Scapa Flow for internment, where commanders of the fleet received orders to scuttle ships in this area. Despite this, Baden’s crew failed to cause enough critical damage, causing her to be captured by the British. In August 1921, Baden was destroyed as a target ship by gunnery practice from the Royal Navy.
Meet SMS Baden!
SMS Baden — one of the greatest ships of the Imperial German Navy — is coming to War Thunder! Today, we’ll talk about the details of this steel beast that you can earn during the Imperial Flagship event that’s just started. This battleship was the second ship of the Bayern class, which you may already be familiar with if you play Germany’s Bluewater fleet. Let’s take a look!
A battleship must be able to destroy enemy ships and survive for extended periods in battle — both of which SMS Baden does excellently. The main caliber of this ship is 8 x 380 mm guns in four turrets, which in addition to being one of the largest calibers in the game, also have a high rate of fire for their class. Alongside these main caliber guns, there’s 16 secondary caliber guns that can effectively fire at enemy ships and are mounted in case-mates on each side.
Armor is important too! The lengthy main armor belt and gun mantlets are 350 mm thick, where the armor scheme itself is designed in such a way so that the sides of SMS Baden have a limited number of vulnerable spots, and all important areas are well protected. Thick armor belts are strong and all, but the main armor weakness is the upper deck, which coupled with the small and slow firing anti-aircraft guns — just 4 x 88 mm cannons — makes this battleship an ideal target for bombing. However, if you’re able to get your allies to help with repairs and cover you with fire, you’re going to be able to survive for longer periods of time and will be able to send many enemies to the bottom of the ocean.
As expected, one of the main disadvantages of SMS Baden is its slow speed. Just like all dreadnoughts of the 20th century, this battleship is cumbersome, where even the best crew will not be able to accelerate it beyond 22 knots (40 km/h), and the maneuvering speed is even slower.
In terms of torpedoes, SMS Baden is presented in its 1917 modernization form in-game, meaning it has 12 torpedoes that can only be fired from 3 torpedo tubes instead of 5. This is not as significant to dreadnoughts, but should be kept in mind while in battle.
With that, we’ve finished talking about SMS Baden: concentrated firepower and good armor are some of this battleship’s main characteristics. Take part in the Imperial Flagship naval event, earn stages for mission points and this German flagship will be yours!
