Großer Kurfürst

Sharing the name with one of the Kaiser's sister ships, Großer Kurfürst (translation: Great Elector from the title of Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg as he was called "The Great Elector") is the newcomer to the tier X battleship scene. Shortened to "GK" or simply the "Kurfurst", she will live up to her name as "the great elector" as she breaks the long standing stalemate of Yamato and Montana by simply entering into the fray. Subtlety is not this battleship's forte because she is detected from quite a fair distance, the furthest of all 3 of the Tier X battleships.

Due to her size she possesses an effective array of secondaries along with two pairs of guns -- the same caliber as her predecessor Friedriche der Große -- but with triple mounts with the same AB-XY configuration. Even Montana, who shares the same triple mount turret style and layout, will respect her for her heavy broadside, while the responsive turret traverse (already the best Battleship traverse at Tier X) can be made even faster with upgrades. Even more she can surpass the US battleship through barrel diameter with her last gun upgrade being 420mm barrels still mounted in four triple turrets while still retaining the excellent traverse speed. In addition her bustling secondary batteries ensure that any enemy getting close enough for the guns to unload will be constantly whittled down, dealing heavy damage over time or outright destroying low health ships that get too close.

Her AA is fairly typical of other German battleships, with an adequate long range punch that sadly does not follow through as planes come closer to the ship herself. Planes that make it past the long range armament will have no trouble hitting her due to her large size and abysmal turning circle. Her armor is also typical of German Battleship design, with a turtleback armor scheme that will make citadeling her at close range near impossible. Her deck armor is also quite substantial at 50mm along the center meaning that long range plunging fire from low caliber guns will have difficulty penetrating her. With her large hit point pool (the most in the game at 105k) she will be able to weather a large amount of armor piercing rounds and keep on fighting. As per standard for German battleships starting from Bismarck, the Kurfurst is equipped with the hydroacoustic search radar to help detect incoming threats such as torpedoes and destroyers attempting to get close or vessels hiding in smoke screens.

However, despite her impressive offensive and defensive assets, much of it is a double edged sword, helping and harming depending on the situation. Both of her guns are rather inaccurate at long range, becoming deadly only once they pass the mid range for Battleships of ~11km. Her 406mm guns have a better reload rate than Montana (28 seconds), but lack the Montana's superheavy AP shells which hampers her penetration at range while also lowering her damage compared to Montana. Her 420mm guns are not large enough to overmatch the 32mm bow armor most ships have at Tier X, and while they make the damage equal the Montana's they increase her reload time to 32 seconds per salvo. Additionally her armor is not unbreakable as it may seem. At long ranges her deck armor is still not sufficient to stop plunging fire from other battleships from penetrating, meaning her citadel is relatively easy to penetrate at a considerable distance. Also the armor belt is actually the thinnest overall, topping at 380mm compared to Montana's 409mm and Yamato's 410mm. This means when broadside on she is more likely to take regular penetrating hits from AP shells, thus allowing heavy broadside ships like Montana or Amagi to deal considerable damage with regular Penetrations of their AP shells.

Finally, her size also betrays her as she is remarkably easy to hit and has THE largest turn radius out of all the tier X battleships at over a kilometer. While her rudder shift time is lower than either Montana or Yamato she is so long that she takes a while to actually begin responding to turns. Even with the Hydro Acoustic Search, expect to sustain heavy damage when torpedoes are inevitably being sent at her if she is not already responding. Fire and flooding are also a concern, since they deal damage based on a percentage of maximum hit points, causing her massive health pool to work against her when volley's of HE start fires and torpedoes cause flooding.

When you go out in the Kurfurst, expect to sustain a load of heavy damage from all sources as you are large and easily visible from range, because you can do the same to the enemy fleet if allowed to close the distance. Play to her strengths: she is not a sniping battleship, and belongs up close and personal where her peers have difficulty countering her armor scheme, large secondary battery, the rapid traverse of her guns.