What is the best way to ease into the Japanese bluewater fleet

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Hi. I’ve wanted to get into Naval for a while, especially with Japan becasue of my love for all things military regarding Imperial Japan.

With the year 2025, it is my understanding that this iconic battleships like Yamato will finally make their debut in-game. Naturally, it would be cool to be able sail such a legendary vessel.

In summary, if I were to buy a premium ship, what would be recommend? Or should I avoid them entirely as a first time player of the mode?

I have around 2k+ hours in the rest of War Thunder — but less than 1-3 in Naval, from mostly messing around with friends.

That’s all though. Help would be appreciated!

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It’s possible to research bluewater without premium ships, can’t say same about coastal

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Research to 4th rank pretty easy, so i don’t recommend to buy prem Destroyers

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Longtime JPN naval player here. I play RB and AB, but mostly in the former. Also lately have a preference for high-tier Coastal (4.0-4.3) due to imo favorable and enjoyable matchmaking/gameplay.

You do not need to get a prem DD to practice naval.

Bluewater rank 1-2 are relatively easy grinds. When choosing a ship to use in the lineup, I would recommend you use the JDS Harukaze (making a 4.0 lineup with various starter DDs and coastal) and JDS Murasame due to them possessing VT shells and radar which make anti-air quite effortless.

There is also the marketplace premium JDS Yugure, an ex-USN Fletcher-class (- 1 turret) which is a nice to have due to the same HE-VT and a decent armor belt, but is not required.

Many of the other DDs in the Japanese tree are workable to some degree, being fast, maneuverable, with good torpedoes (Type 93s), but they only have HE shells (and HE-TF), which are decent against non-US destroyers. IJN ships of note would be the following Rank IIIs such as the Akizuki due to her fast firing guns with good ballistics. There is also her sistership Hatsuzuki which you can obtain by playing 3 matches in WT Mobile - quite easy. Shimakaze is also an excellent ship, extremely fast, with her 15 torpedoes, but she is a squadron vehicle. (I actually prefer using her AB, where she goes 93km/h and has torpedo reloads, which I take advantage of when I purposely uptier myself with BBs)

Practice getting accustomed to both the US-type armaments of the JDS DDs, and the IJN ships. If you need to grind fast after getting past Rank III/IV, and you want a premium ship, I would recommend getting IJN Mikuma, a cruiser. She’s one of the faster cruisers, with fast firing guns, good shell choice, decent armor.

Notes for battles:
Spawn last - you avoid getting targeted by enemy ships
Avoid shooting first when too far away - same as above
Use plenty of cover
Don’t be afraid to spawn coastal if the smaller points are being contested
Floatplanes such as the F1M2 can be used to de/cap far away points - just make sure no enemy ships are nearby
Keep your head on a swivel
Avoid join in progress
Search online on how to set your mouse scroll wheel to adjust ranging

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Okay. Thanks for the detailed guide. I appreciate it! I do have one final question, would you recommend I grind out coastal first to the same BR as the ships in bluewater fleet begin? Because I’ve noticed that bluewater fleet starts at around BR 3.0+, while coastal has ships starting at reserve BRs (1.0)

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Not really, coastal RP at high-tier is expensive. Very good ships, excellent ships (especially JDS Ayanami, I cannot stress that enough) but don’t focus on grinding coastal to the same extent as bluewater, since you said you wanted to get to BB-tier.

Just get something fast for capping points. Maybe one with 40mm Bofors. Those aren’t good, but they’ll do the job.

I’d recommend PG02 since you don’t need to grind it, but it costs money. It’s fast, maneuverable, but it’s not as good as when it first released. (Do note that it has really advanced missiles modelled ever since it released, but GJ obviously has not enabled them in-game)

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problem that coastal V rank costs same as bluewater V rank, around 200k RP, when without prem acc and prem ship (PG-02 in my situation) you will get 1-2k RP, and with 5k RP

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Hi, and thanks for the info btw.

I decided that I’ll grind coastal to around rank 3 and then get to researching bluewater. I feel at that rank the capability of the vessels is good enough to compete with those at the higher BRs. Playing coastal has also been a pretty good intro into naval combat in War Thunder as well, the tips you gave are very valid btw.

Where I plan to go in coastal currently

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At least looking on the surface, the IJN sub-chasers seem to fill that niche of “bigger ship in coastal” quite well. While the T-51b, PT-808 and PT-15 seem to fill the spot of “fast boat with good armament for capping points” – that’s my observations at least.

Opinions? In my eyes I could probably get to bluewater rank 3 or 4 just fine with these being my coastal vessels for that entire time. I might consider grinding some more when I start getting into bluewater rank 5 or 6.

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Chikugo pretty OP if he spawn in own BR on coastal, other problem it spawns on Destroyer spawns and if you get in bluewater game it’s pointless to use him (slower and weaker than DD). If you get on your BR in coastal you will need to spawn first because of speed, but it cost that Radar with PF shells. Can say same about second ship that goes after PT-15 and before Syonan. Many wouldn’t be able to do anything to you (except destroy you guns) main problem same ships as you

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I used to play the T-51B when it only had rearward facing armament, so my judgement there is clouded because it was not a good experience imo. Take note these aren’t belt-fed.

The K-8 No.13 was sort of lackluster when I last played it.

As for the K-3 and K-7, you really can’t beat that fire rate, just avoid being focused on. These can be monstrous vessels.

PT-15 is a fast zippy boat, with okay torpedoes that go really fast, but I’d try to catch opponents unaware with it since it’s so squishy.

As the other commentor said, Chikugo is pretty good in a down-tier, but may struggle when facing early DDs. She’s slow, armed a little too lightly for my taste, with spawns that are non-ideal, but I’ve had a few good games with it. It’ll at least give you a taste of the JDS ships, since it has that radar and HEVT. If you do go down this route, try ripple firing your 76mm gun to up your fire rate and avoid overheating issues.