Gouden Leeuw

Tier X Dutch Cruiser ' offers a playstyle like no other tier X cruiser. She possesses battlecruiser-like armor and main battery guns, while having light cruiser concealment. Like all other Dutch cruisers, she carries the special airstrike armament.

Attributes

has an above average armour scheme, featuring a 25mm upper bow with a 40mm “icebreaker” lower bow. This makes it nearly impossible to citadel her through her bow. Her stern plating is fully 25mm, easily overmatchable by enemy battleships. However, she has excellent side plating of 40mm armour, more than enough to cause all enemy battleship shells to ricochet off her side when angled. While kiting, captains should look to either dodge enemy battleship shells or to ricochet them with this 40mm plate (instead of the 25 mm stern). Despite an above-waterline citadel, her 25mm turtleback makes her citadel relatively resistant to shots from enemy cruisers. However, this does not protect her citadel against battleship AP shells. Finally, captains should beware that  burns for 60 seconds rather than 30 seconds, making her vulnerable to fires.

’s guns are nearly identical to that of Tier VII Scharnhorst, sharing her gun caliber and shell velocity while having minor improvements in penetration, salvo damage, and dispersion. Despite an improved 16 second reload, her dpm is still lackluster, ranking among the worst out of all Tier X cruisers. To make up for this, her guns have high shell velocity and great alpha as compared to her contemporaries. The AP shells in particular pack a surprisingly hard punch when used against enemy cruisers and battleships. They have enough penetration to citadel enemy cruisers at all ranges and even certain enemy battleships at mid to close range.

’s airstrikes reload every 100 seconds, with a maximum of two charges. They are best used against targets which are large and immobile, whose movements are easier to predict (such as battleships or large cruisers). In addition, due to the pattern of how the bombs fall, more bombs will hit on targets that are bow or stern in to an airstrike rather than broadside to it. These high damaging bombs can penetrate up to 37mm of armor. Used in tandem with main battery HE, can be a great firestarter, using the bombs to force a use of a damage control party and following up with fires due to main battery H.E shells.

With a 12.7 second rudder shift and a 790m turning circle, ’s maneuverability is average as compared to other Tier X cruisers. The same cannot be said for her AA – she has one of the best anti-aircraft suites at Tier X, with outstanding mid-range continuous damage. As such, her AA menaces enemy aircraft, often destroying entire squadrons before their attack run starts.

For a large cruiser, is surprisingly stealthy. She can use this stealth to reach aggressive positions wherever necessary which she can then hold with her excellent armour.

has access to standard Damage Control Party, Hydroacoustic Search, Defensive AA fire, and a special low-downtime repair party with a cooldown of just 40 seconds. This short downtime mitigates her 60 second burn time, allowing her to hold aggressive positions.

Game Play