U-4501

14.3

Submarine | Germany | Tier X

Tech Tree Position

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Battle Levels

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X

Special

U-4501 — German special premium Tier X submarine.

In October 1943, Walterwerke submitted a proposal to the Kriegsmarine for a submarine featuring a closed-cycle Walter system engine fueled by hydrogen peroxide. This engine was designed to operate effectively whether the submarine was on the surface or submerged. The various sections of the submarine hulls had to be manufactured in different shipyards, and sections for four submarines—designated U-4501 to U-4504—were produced before the war reached its conclusion.

U-4501 was first released on 11 October 2023 with the release of Update 12.9, and is available for in the Armory for 250,000.

Modules

Compatible Upgrades

Player Opinion

Performance

U-4501 is the special Tier X U-boat for Germany. She is a unique submarine for her nation, with fast underwater speed, the addition of a Repair Party, access only to homing torpedoes, as well as a different sonar to her tech tree counterparts.

Hull:

U-4501’s survivability is very low, with an HP pool of 14,100. Her armor is nonexistent, with her entire exterior hull covered in 19mm. Players should be careful not to be spotted on the surface for extended periods of time, as she will suffer heavy damage.

U-4501’s maneuverability and concealment are very good at helping her survive in battle. Her turning circle and rudder shift are good, at 310 meters and 2.21 seconds respectively when fully improved with captain skills and modules, which aids in dodging depth charges. Her concealment, at 5.4 km, is very good for her tier (outspotting almost every destroyer in her matchmaking spread).

She has a slow 20-knot top speed on the surface. However, her underwater speed is very fast, at 36 knots. While her speed is good, careful positioning is vital in order to not be stuck in bad situations where her slow surface speed cannot bail her out.

Armament:

U-4501’s sonar is a necessary tool for dealing effective damage, due to her only having homing torpedoes. It’s characteristics are not the best, due to a short 10 km range, and 12-second reload time. The difference with U-4501’s sonar is that it is much easier to double ping targets, due to the ping location on targets being almost double the size of other submarines. The double ping lasts 65 seconds, which allows ample time for homing torpedoes to arrive.

Homing Torpedoes

U-4501’s homing torpedoes allow torpedo attacks at range. The homing torpedoes have a short range of 10km. They deal a respectable 9,233 damage, travel fast at 82 knots, and have a 51% base chance of flooding. While her homing torpedoes are good at long range, their fast speed and short arming distance allow them to be used at close ranges against small and agile targets, especially when shotgunning. Due to having 4 bow torpedo tubes, shotgun attacks with homing torpedoes can deal good damage to cruisers, and outright destroy enemy destroyers, with a maximum alpha strike of 36,932. U-4501 also has 6 rear torpedo launchers, which can be used after diving below targets and repeating the shotgun with rear launchers, for an alpha strike of 55,398 damage. However, the rear torpedo angles are quite poor, with only 3 rear torpedo tubes able to be launched from a side. Her torpedoes have a 60-second reload time and all tubes load simultaneously.

Consumables:

U-4501 has a standard Damage Control Party, with three stock charges, and a 15-second duration. Players should be careful not to quickly exhaust their limited charges, or will rapidly lose HP to flood and fire damage.

Her Hydrophone is useful for tracking the location of surface ships while underwater. It lasts 30 seconds, has an 8 km range, and has an 80-second reload time.

U-4501’s Submarine Surveillance aids her in detecting enemy submarines, but has a short range of 6 km. This can be a considerable downside, when enemy subs with longer surveillance range spot her (for example, her tech tree sibling U-2501, with 9 km surveillance), and U-4501 cannot spot them back.

U-4501, as a German submarine, gets access to the Reserve Battery Unit. Her dive capacity recharge rate is improved, at 2 units per second. However, her dive capacity reserve is low, at 210 units. Her time underwater can be extended with the Reserve Battery Unit consumable, which stops the depletion of dive capacity for 30 seconds per consumable. This gives U-4501 an extra 60 units of dive capacity time.

U-4501 also gets access to 2 charges of Repair Party, which have a 40-second action time, and a 80-second cooldown time. It restores 0.5% of HP per second, and can only be used while surfaced. Players must be careful to be in a safe position where they will not be spotted while healing, as the consumable will immediately be put on cooldown if the submarine dives underwater.

Gameplay:

U-4501 is a submarine based on utilizing pinging mechanics to deal damage with fast homing torpedoes and a unique sonar. Players should use her speed and concealment to gain advantageous positions to utilize her homing torpedoes from range. Her low HP pool means she can be easily punished for mistakes, and while her Repair Party consumable is valuable, it is only able to be used on the surface, where she is most vulnerable.

When pinging targets from range, it is important to utilize her rudder shift in order to dodge depth charges sent at the approximate locations of pings. Double pings will yield more hits, but exposes the submarine's approximate position from repeated pings. This can also yield less damage, due to surface ship players using their damage control on pings, and dodging homing torpedoes by turning away. Once enemy ships are aware of a submarine's relative location, the submarine players' effectiveness shrinks, as the enemy ships will take evasive maneuvers to avoid taking massive torpedo damage. Due to how deadly ASW damage is at Tier 10, and the low HP pool of the submarine, it is advised to minimize being spotted or blind dropped by ASW planes.

Against enemy submarines, her long Damage Control Party duration can assist in denying homing torpedoes for the duration, and allow U-4501 to get the first strike, with fast homing torpedoes. However, the short-range Submarine Surveillance can be detrimental against other submarines.

U-4501 is strongest when having to kite away from enemy ships. Due to her great handling and maneuverability underwater, and having both bow and stern torpedo tubes, she can provide constant torpedo pressure to enemy ships that are pushing. Shotgunning should be used against destroyers and low health cruisers as her torpedoes lack alpha strike and have an awkward torpedo layout.

Pros:

Fast homing torpedoes
4 bow torpedo tubes, 6 aft torpedo tubes
Sonar has increased ping size
Fast underwater speed
Great handling
Great concealment
Access to the Reserve Battery Unit consumable
Access to Repair Party consumable

Cons:

Low HP pool
Long sonar reload time
Low dive capacity reserve
No conventional torpedoes
Non-existent armor
Slow surface speed
Can only use Repair Party consumable on the surface

Research

As a premium ship, U-4501 has no module upgrades to research.

Optimal Configuration

Upgrades

The recommended upgrades are:

Slot 1: Main Armaments Modification 1 or Damage Control Party Modification 1
Slot 2: Damage Control System Modification 1 
Slot 3: Torpedo Tubes Modification 1
Slot 4: Submarine Steering Gears
Slot 5: Submarine Steering Gears Modification 3
Slot 6: Torpedo Tubes Modification 2 or Dive Capacity Modification 2

Commander Skills

Recommended Commander Skills
Cost (points)	Attack			Defense
1	Enhanced Sonar -10% to sonar reload time when the boat is detected by an enemy.	Liquidator +30% chance of a torpedo strike causing flooding. ★★★	Helmsman Within 15 seconds of using the Hydrophone consumable: -10% to the shift times of the rudder and dive planes. ★	Priority Target The detection indicator additionally shows the number of opponents that are currently aiming at you with their main battery guns.	Incoming Fire Alert A warning about a salvo fired at your ship from a distance of more than 4.5 km.
2	Improved Battery Capacity +10% to the total Dive Capacity -20% Dive Capacity Recharge Rate per second. ★★★	Torpedo Crew Training -15% torpedo tubes reload time while detected by an enemy. ★★	Consumables Enhancements +5% to the action time of the boat's consumables.	Preventive Maintenance -30% to the risk of the main turrets [sic], torpedo tubes, steering gear, or engine becoming incapacitated. ★★	Last Stand The boat remains partially able to sustain speed and maneuverability with the engine and steering gears incapacitated.
3	Enhanced Impulse Generator If less than 33% of the maximum dive capacity remains: +15% sonar ping velocity.	Sonarman +25% to the duration of a ping effect on a sector highlighted once. -15% to the duration of a ping effect on a sector highlighted twice.	Consumables Specialist -15% to the preparation and reload time of the boat's consumables. ★★	Watchful If undetected, displays an indicator showing that the boat is within range of activated enemy Hydroacoustic Search, Surveillance Radar, or Submarine Surveillance consumables. If you change depth while the indicator is displayed, you may be detected.. ★★★	Superintendent +1 charge to all consumables. ★★★
4	Adrenaline Rush For every 1% of HP lost, –0.25% to each of: * Main battery reload time * Sonar cooldown time * Torpedo tube reload time * Airstrike armament reload time * Secondary battery reload time. ★★★	Torpedo Aiming Master When launching homing torpedoes at a ship with a sector that is highlighted twice, torpedo damage is increased. The sector highlighted twice needs to remain active until the torpedoes hit the ship. +15% to torpedo damage.	Sonarman Expert When a sector is highlighted within 30 seconds of using the Hydrophone consumable: +25% to ping effect duration.	Improved Battery Efficiency If less than 50% of the maximum dive capacity remains: +25% Dive Capacity Recharge Rate per second. ★★	Enlarged Propeller Shaft While less than 50% of the maximum dive capacity remains: +18% to the boat's speed on the surface and at periscope depth. ★★★
Key: ★★★ - Extremely Useful ★★ - Frequently Useful ★ - Occasionally Useful No stars - Not Useful

Consumables

U-4501 equips the following consumables:

Slot 1: Damage Control Party  – 3 charges
Slot 2: Hydrophone 
Slot 3: Submarine Surveillance 
Slot 4: Reserve Battery Unit  – 2 charges
Slot 5: Repair Party  – 2 charges

Camouflage

As a premium ship, U-4501 comes with Default permanent camouflage and a set of permanent combat bonuses.

Signals

Recommended Signal Flags
Combat
Charlie Kilo +5% ship HP; +2.5% squadron HP.	Juliet Yankee Bissotwo -20% to flooding duration.	India Yankee -20% to fire duration.	Hotel Yankee -20% to damage received when ramming the enemy. +50% to damage dealt when ramming the enemy.	Victor Lima +1% chance for HE bombs and shells with a caliber above 160mm causing a fire. +0.5% chance for bombs and smaller shells causing a fire. +4% chance of torpedoes causing flooding.	India X-Ray +1% chance for HE bombs and shells with a caliber above 160mm causing a fire. +0.5% chance for bombs and smaller shells causing a fire.
Juliet Whiskey Unaone +15% chance of causing flooding.	Mike Yankee Soxisix +5% to secondary battery maximum firing range. -5% to maximum dispersion of secondary battery shells. -5% to secondary battery loading time.	November Echo Setteseven +5% continuous AA damage at all ranges. +5% damage from flak bursts.	Sierra Mike +5% to the ship's maximum speed.	November Foxtrot -5% reload time on all consumables.	India Delta +20% to the amount of HP recovered when Repair Party  is used.
X-Ray Papa Unaone +10% action time of a Smoke Generator .	Sierra Bravo +10% action time of Hydroacoustic Search  -10% reload time of Defensive AA Fire .

Gallery

References

Ship Change Log

See here for links to Update notes.

Available for testing by supertesters in the game during the Update 0.11.5 Public Test and again from Update 12.6.

Testing Changes

May 27, 2022:
- Preliminary characteristics (Thanks to Yuzorah at The Daily Bounce for listing stats as none were officially published in the dev blog).
DevBlog 329:
- Added dispersion when launching torpedoes:
  - 11 ° for bow and 16 ° for stern tubes.
DevBlog 332:
- Changed the dispersion when launching torpedoes:
  - For bow tubes - reduced from 11 ° to 3 °.
  - For stern tubes - reduced from 16 ° to 5 °.
- Sonar ping range reduced from 14 to 6.3 km. Now it has the same value as the range of homing torpedoes.
Update 0.11.5:
- Replaced the rotation of torpedo launchers with torpedo turning mechanics.
- Fixed a bug that caused the submarine at the start of each new battle to select a torpedo type that was different from the last selected type in the previous battle.
- Fixed a bug that prevented the submarine's torpedo reticles from turning to follow the sonar.
Update 0.11.6 (Unlisted changes that occurred alongside DevBlog 338):
- Changes to speed and turning circle radius:
  - Surface speed increased from 19 to 20 knots.
  - Underwater speed decreased from 41 to 36 knots.
  - Turning circle radius decreased from 390 to 350 meters.
Update 0.11.7 (Unlisted changes that occurred alongside DevBlog 348):
- Removed the Hydrophone consumable.
- Added the Echo-Ranging Set consumable (Renamed to the Hydrophone consumable with the update's release) with the following settings:
  - Action time: 30 s.
  - Reload time: 80 s.
  - Interval between pings: 6 s.
  - Ship bearing effect duration: 4 s.
  - Ship bearing distance: 8 km.
  - Number of charges: Unlimited.
- Added the Low-Frequency Hydrophone consumable (Renamed to the Submarine Surveillance consumable with the update's release) with the following settings:
  - Action time: 60 s.
  - Reload time: 120 s.
  - Submarines' spotting range: 9 km.
  - Number of charges: Unlimited.
  - Preparation time: 360 s.
- Disabled guaranteed detection for the submarine in the submerged position.
- The visual effects above the submarine when using sonar is now also displayed for the submarine herself.
Update 0.11.8:
- Added a visual distinction between the effect of acoustic homing torpedoes and regular ones.
- Fixed a bug that caused Credits to be deducted for resupplying only a part of the submarine's ammunition.
- Fixed a bug that caused tooltips to overlap the screen with the composition of teams when playing the submarine.
DevBlog 370:
- With the release of Update 0.11.9:
  - Preparation time for the Submarine Surveillance consumable reduced from 360 to 330 s.
Update 0.11.9:
- Readded the ping movement effect.
- Added a special indicator to notify players when there is little diving capacity remaining.
- Updated the set of sound effects for torpedo launching.
- Updated the icon for acoustic homing torpedoes.
DevBlog 454:
- New set of preliminary characteristics, incorporating the following changes:
  - Diving plane shift time increased from 11 to 19 s.
  - Dive capacity reduced from 350 to 210 units.
  - Dive capacity recharge rate increased from 0.8 to 2 units/s.
  - Acoustic torpedo range increased from 6.3 to 8.5 km
  - Torpedo tube reload time reduced from 91 to 60 s.
  - Sonar range increased from 6.3 to 8.5 km.
  - Added the "Repair Party" consumable which can be used only in the surfaced position.
DevBlog 459:
- Acoustic torpedo range increased from 8.5 to 9 km.
- Sonar range increased from 8.5 to 9 km.
- Alternative torpedo speed increased from 62 to 65 kt.
- Alternative torpedo range increased from 6.3 to 7.5 km.
- Rudder shift time reduced from 4.9 to 4.6 s.
DevBlog 470:
- Removed alternative torpedoes.
- Torpedo arming distance increased.
- Changed the parameters of the sonar:
  - Reload time increased from 7 to 12 s.
  - Ping velocity increased from 500 to 600 m/s.
  - Initial and final width of impulse will now have the same stats as standard German submarines.
  - Increased the indicated hit area of sonar pulse.
- HP increased from 10,200 to 14,100.
- Maximum dive and ascent speed increased from 1.5 to 3.4 m/s.
- Submarine Surveillance consumable range reduced from 9 to 6 km.
DevBlog 477:
- Acoustic torpedo range increased from 9 to 10 km.
- Sonar range increased from 9 to 10 km.
- Marked sector width increased from 30 to 40 m.
DevBlog 481:
- Maximum damage of acoustic torpedoes increased from 8,633 to 9,233.
- Torpedo flooding chance increased from 35 to 51% (Unlisted change).

Update 12.9:
- Available for purchase in the Armory for 250,000 Coal or 34,950 Doubloons.
Update 13.1:
- Turning circle radius reduced from 350 to 310 m.
Update 13.2:
- Torpedoes now do 10% of maximum damage up to 2.9 km, and then scale to 100% damage from 2.9 to 3 km.
- Homing torpedoes changed:
  - Arming distance reduced from 440 to 22 m.

Ships of Germany

Destroyers	II V-25 • III G-101 • IV V-170 • V T-22 • VI Ernst Gaede • VI T-61 • VI Karl von Schönberg • VII Leberecht Maass • VII Z-31 • VII Z-39 • VII Z-32 • VII Z-33 • VII Z-34 • VII Z-38 • VIII Z-23 • VIII Gustav-Julius Maerker • VIII Z-35 • IX Z-46 • IX Felix Schultz • IX Z-44 • IX ZF-6 • X Z-52 • X Elbing • X Z-42 • X Georg Hoffmann • X Lübeck
Cruisers	I Hermelin • II Dresden • II Emden • III Kolberg • IV Karlsruhe • V Königsberg • VI Nürnberg • VI Admiral Graf Spee • VI Leipzig • VI HSF Admiral Graf Spee • VII Yorck • VII München • VII Weimar • VIII Admiral Hipper • VIII Prinz Eugen • VIII Mainz • VIII Schill • VIII Mainz B • VIII Cross of Dorn • VIII Wiesbaden • IX Roon • IX Siegfried • IX Ägir • IX Admiral Schröder • IX Roon CLR • IX AL Ägir • X Hindenburg • X Hildebrand • X [[Ship:[Hindenburg]\|[Hindenburg]]] • ★ Clausewitz
Battleships	III Nassau • III Von der Tann • III König Albert • IV Kaiser • IV Moltke • V König • V Derfflinger • VI Bayern • VI Mackensen • VI Prinz Eitel Friedrich • VII Gneisenau • VII Prinz Heinrich • VII Scharnhorst • VII AL Prinz Heinrich • VII Scharnhorst B • VII Scharnhorst '43 • VIII Tirpitz • VIII Bismarck • VIII Zieten • VIII Odin • VIII Brandenburg • VIII Anhalt • VIII Brandenburg B • VIII Tirpitz B • VIII BA Tirpitz • IX Friedrich der Grosse • IX Prinz Rupprecht • IX Pommern • IX Pommern B • IX Prinz Sigismund • X Grosser Kurfürst • X Schlieffen • X Preussen • X Mecklenburg • X [[Ship:[Grosser Kurfürst]\|[Grosser Kurfürst]]] • ★ Hannover
Aircraft Carriers	IV Rhein • VI Weser • VI Erich Loewenhardt • VIII August von Parseval • VIII [[Ship:Graf Zeppelin (< 23.01.2019)\|Graf Zeppelin (< 23.01.2019)]] • VIII Graf Zeppelin • VIII Graf Zeppelin B • X Manfred von Richthofen • X Werner Voss • X Max Immelmann • X Otto Lilienthal

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