Vanguard

Revision as of 23:34, 5 February 2019

{{WoWs_Ship |Promo=

|Anno= The last battleship of the British Royal Navy. Due to specific conditions during the construction phase, she combined high speed and powerful AA guns with up-to-date equipment while still using largely obsolete main battery guns.

' was first released for sale worldwide on 16 November 2018.

|Performance= ' is essentially an up-tiered Warspite, even so far as possessing identical guns to that of her Tier VI cousin (albeit with improved shells). Like Warspite, ' has excellent maneuverability and main battery accuracy among battleships at her tier, but suffers from comparably weaker armor to her counterparts in the other nations’ tech trees. Even when compared to her tech-tree counterpart, Monarch, ' has a noticeably larger and easier to hit citadel. Like all British battleships, ' is covered with 32mm plating that makes her highly vulnerable to heavy cruiser high explosive shells and IFHE equipped light cruisers and destroyers.

Her main battery is an improved version of that found on Warspite, with similar dispersion characteristics and the all-too-familiar turret traverse speed, or lack thereof. Her armor piercing shells have a faster muzzle velocity that allows for an easier time with long-range gunnery, while her high explosive shells are similar to that of Monarch and other tech-tree British battleships, with high alpha damage. With only eight guns, '’s firepower against other battleships, and even some cruisers, often feels anemic. This is offset somewhat by a quick reload of 25 seconds on her main battery, and her aforementioned accuracy. Her AP shells struggle to do much damage on battleships even when broadside and any angling will cause them to bounce off without doing any damage. As a result, s AP is best used against enemy cruisers, as they are less likely to overpenetrate and cause minimal damage while her HE should be used against enemy battleships. Her HE shells, while having high damage, have a rather average fire chance more akin to battleships of other nations.

The largest flaw that captains of ' will find is with her firing angles. Both her forward and rear firing angles are atrocious, requiring significant amounts of broadside to be shown in order to bring all guns to bear on a target. As ' does not possess a well protected or low citadel (unlike Monarch), exposing large amounts of the ship's side armor will often lead to catastrophic amounts of damage taken when fired upon by enemy battleships. Captains are encouraged to remain angled with only her fore or aft set of guns on target if there’s any possibility of an enemy returning fire. Luckily, '’s excellent rudder shift time (just 9.7 seconds) can allow her to “wiggle” her remaining set of guns onto and off of targets quite quickly.

' is best played from mid-range, where her lack of armor is less noticeable, and her accurate low-volume firepower can be better put to use. Her slow turret traverse and easily hit citadel make her sub-par at brawling, while her small turning circle and good concealment allow her to disengage quite easily. Fans of Warspite or [[ should have no problems playing '; captains who have no experience with Warspite may struggle with her peculiarities, but she is easy to learn, and is a capable Tier VIII battleship.

|Pros=

• Good rudder shift time and turning circle make ' great for dodging torpedos.
• Most accurate Tier VIII battleship thanks to relatively low dispersion and high sigma.
• Concealment is able to be dropped to as low as 12.0 km.
• Excellent medium range anti-aircraft armament.
• Has 1/4 pen and high damage on her HE shells.
• Good reload time for main guns, with 25 seconds.
• Good belt armor.
• She has an improved version of the Repair Party  consumable, though not as good as Conqueror but similar to Warspite. Her Repair Party  also has a quick recharge time also, that can be brought down to 54 seconds.
• Surprisingly nimble for a battleship, with a high top speed.

|Cons=

• Armament can feel lacking against higher tier battleships, due to her mediocre AP.
• Very bad turret traverse angles.
• Takes large amounts of damage from High Explosive rounds that can penetrate her 32mm plating.
• Large citadel makes attempting to use all turrets very risky.
• Low volume of main battery shells makes bad dispersion hurt worse.
• Abysmal torpedo protection.
• While her HE shells have high damage, as per standard with British battleships, they don't have the high fire chance also typical of other British battleships(her fire chance is only 34%, which is the same as Bismarck and Tirpitz)
• Lacks access to Spotting Aircraft  and Catapult Fighter .

|Research= As a premium ship, ' doesn't have any upgrades to research.

|OptimalConfiguration=

|Upgrades= The recommended upgrades for ' are as follows:

• Slot 1: Main Armaments Modification 1 *
• Slot 2: Damage Control System Modification 1 
• Slot 3: Aiming Systems Modification 1 *
• Slot 4: Damage Control System Modification 2 *
• Slot 5: Concealment System Modification 1 

Slot 1 allows players to choose between two viable options. Main Armaments Modification 1 is generally recommended, but players who wish to increase the survivability of the secondary and anti-aircraft armaments may choose to mount Auxiliary Armaments Modification 1 .

Slot 3 provides further options for specialization. Most players will choose to mount Aiming Systems Modification 1 to increase the ship's surface warfare capability. However, due to slow turret traverse, some players may mount Main Battery Modification 2 at the cost of a 5% slower reload. For anti-aircraft builds, players should mount AA Guns Modification 2 ().

Slot 4 gives players a choice between two good options. For increased survivability, players should mount Damage Control System Modification 2 . For increased maneuverability, Steering Gears Modification 2 should be mounted.

|CommanderSkills=

The skill set for ' is fairly typical of other British battleships, with Priority Target at Level 1, Expert Marksman at Level 2, Superintendent at Level 3, and Fire Prevention and Concealment Expert at Level 4. The remaining points should be put into Adrenaline Rush, Expert Loader and Jack of All Trades. Mounting the Unique British commanders on her is a very good option because of the extra bonuses for Expert Marksman and Jack of All Trades.  

Recommended Commander Skills
Cost (points)	Endurance		Attack		Support		Versatility
1	Priority Target Situational Awareness indicator will show the number of opponents currently aiming at you with main battery guns. ★★★	Preventative Maintenance -30% to the risk of incapacitation of main turrets, torpedo tubes, steering gear, engines. ★★	Expert Loader -50% to reload time when shell type is switched. ★★★	Air Supremacy -5% aircraft restoration time.	Direction Center for Fighters +1 fighter to carrier fighter squadrons or catapult fighters.	Improved Engine Boost +10% Aircraft engine boost time.	Incoming Fire Alert Indicator of long-range enemy artillery fire. ★	Last Gasp Completely restores the engine boost for the last attack flight of the carrier's planes.
2	High Alert -10% to reload time of Damage Control Party consumable. ★	Jack of All Trades -5% to reload time of all consumables. ★★★	Expert Marksman +2.5 deg/sec to traverse speed of guns with a caliber up to 139mm. +0.7 deg/sec to traverse speed of guns with a caliber above 139mm. ★★★	Torpedo Acceleration +5 knots to torpedo speed. -20% to torpedo range.	Smoke Screen Expert +20% to the radius of the smoke screen.	Improved Engines +2.5% Squadron speed.	Adrenaline Rush -0.2% to reload times of all types of armament for each 1% of total health lost. +0.2% squadron speed for each 1% of total health lost. ★★★	Last Stand The ship remains able to move and maneuver while the engine or steering gears are incapacitated.
3	Basics of Survivability -15% to time of repair, fire extinguishing, and recovery from flooding. ★★	Survivability Expert +350 ship HP for each ship tier. +15 aircraft HP for each ship tier.	Torpedo Armament Expertise -10% to reload time of torpedo tubes.	Aircraft Armor Reduces continuous damage to aircraft in all AA defense zones. -10% continuous damage.	Basic Firing Training -10% to reload time of main battery guns with a caliber up to and including 139mm and all secondary battery guns. +10% to continuous damage from AA guns.	Superintendent +1 additional charge to all consumables mounted on a ship. ★★★	Demolition Expert +2% chance of HE shells causing a fire on target. +1% chance of rockets causing a fire on target. +5% chance of HE bombs causing a fire on target. ★★	Vigilance +25% to detection range of enemy torpedoes.
4	Manual Fire Control for Secondary Armament Tightens dispersion of shells from secondary batteries. -15% for Tier I-VI ships. -60% for Tier VII-X ships. Manually selected target only.	Fire Prevention -10% to the risk of fire. The maximum number of fires on a ship is reduced to three. ★★★	Inertia Fuse for HE Shells +30% to the armor penetration capacity of HE shells. -1% chance of fire on target caused by shells <=139mm. -3% chance of fire on target caused by shells >139mm. ★	Sight Stabilization Speeds up the aiming of a carrier's aircraft. +5% attack aircraft aiming speed. +5% torpedo bomber aiming speed. +10% dive bomber aiming speed.	Advanced Firing Training +20% to firing range of main battery guns with a caliber up to 139mm and all secondary battery guns. +15% damage/sec. within the explosion radius of shells fired from long-range AA defenses.	Massive AA Fire Instantaneous Damage +100%. Priority AA sector cooldown +50%.	Radio Position Finding Shows the direction to the nearest enemy ship. The enemy is alerted that a bearing has been taken.	Concealment Expert -10% to the detection radius of all ships and aircraft. ★★★
Key: ★★★ - Extremely Useful       ★★ - Frequently Useful       ★ - Occasionally Useful      No stars - Meh     Χ - Not recommended

|Consumables= ' can equip the following consumables:

• Slot 1: Damage Control Party 
• Slot 2: Repair Party 

Premium variants of the consumables can be equipped to improve her performance in battle.

|Camouflage= As a premium ship, ' comes included with Type 10 camouflage that lowers her detection radius, reduces the accuracy of incoming shells, reduces her repair costs, and increases the amount of experience she earns.

|Signals= Vanguard captains should mount standard signal flags to improve the ship's performance in battle. Sierra Mike () flags are recommended to increase the ship's top speed. India Delta () and India Yankee () flags should be mounted to improve the ship's survivability. November Foxtrot () flags should also be mounted to decrease consumable cooldown time. Lastly, economic and special signal flags can be mounted to increase the ship's economic gains per battle.

Recommended Signal Flags
Combat
Juliet Charlie -100% to the risk of magazine detonation. ★	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. +5% to the risk of your ship's magazine detonating.
Juliet Whiskey Unaone +15% chance of causing flooding. +5% to the risk of your ship's magazine detonating.	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 .

Note: Use of the Juliet Charlie signal makes detonation impossible.

|History=

HMS Vanguard at anchor, date and location unknown.

History

Design

The last battleship of the Royal Navy, HMS Vanguard was designed relatively rapidly. Originally, the Royal Navy had planned to match current and future construction of the German, Italian, and Japanese navies with the six ships of the Lion-class, with two ships being included in each budget from 1938 to 1940. Although the two battleships of the 1938 program, Temeraire and Lion, were laid down in June and July of 1939, it became readily apparent that none of the ships would be available until 1943, due to difficulties in manufacturing new 406mm (16”) guns. Because of this, design studies were launched that July in regards to utilizing four twin turrets of the BL 15”/45 Mk.I kept in reserve (from the Courageous-class battlecruisers, which had been rebuilt as aircraft carriers), and Vanguard became a hybrid variant of the Lion-class, utilizing the elderly BL 15”/45 Mk.I. As her construction was halted and restarted multiple times during World War II, she incorporated numerous modifications to reflect the lessons learned by the Royal Navy during the conflict.

Her hull form remained largely the same as that of the Lion-class, which included the utilization of a transom stern, for greater efficiency at high speeds. Thus, despite her weight gains over the process of modification, she retained her 30-knot top speed, making her both the fastest battleship to ever be built by the Royal Navy, but also the only battleship ever built with a transom stern. Operational range was improved by increasing fuel stowage from 3,720 tons in the Lion design to 4,423 tons, mimicking a similar modification to the King George V-class battleships.

In order to prevent the draft from becoming too deep to traverse the Suez Canal, beam was increased by 2.5 meters, and the upper part of the main armor belt was thinned by an inch, leaving 356mm abreast the magazines and 343mm abreast the machinery spaces. The lower portion, 2.5m tall, tapered from 356/343mm to 114mm at a bottom edge. The armor belts were connected by 305mm transverse bulkheads and in order to defend against splinter damage from near-missing bombs and shells, a 51mm splinter belt protected the waterline past the citadel, extending stem to stern. Additionally, as a result of the Battle of Denmark Strait, 38mm bulkheads were added to the magazines behind the longitudinal torpedo defense bulkhead for additional protection. The torpedo defense bulkhead was made of two 22mm plates (22 + 22mm) and extended from just fore of ‘A’ barbette to just aft of ‘C’ barbette, where only the 38mm bulkhead protecting the magazines provided defense against torpedo impacts. The horizontal armor was identical to the King George V and Lion-classes, 127mm over the machinery spaces, and 152mm over the magazines. The protection of the main battery turrets was replaced, with 330mm faceplates and 152mm turret roofs. Barbettes were 330mm towards the beam, but tapered to 279mm on the centerline. The protection of the secondary battery was improved in order to protect them from 500-lb. bombs, being increased to 64mm compared to other mounts. Due to the British belief that there was no gain from armor conning towers against heavy shells, armor for it was only proof against splinters and low-caliber shells. The torpedo defense system was also improved over King George V, with the depth being increased from 3.96 meters to 4.57 meters. It designed and extensively tested to resist 1,000 lb. of TNT (454 kg).

The main battery of the Vanguard was made up of eight old but reliable BL 15”/42 Mk.I guns, mounted in four twin Mk.I/N RP.12 turrets, which were fitted with RPC (Remote Power Control) for training (but not elevation, this still used the older Follow-the-Pointer system), making Vanguard the first British battleship to have RPC for her main battery. Due to the layout of the turret and turret stalk, it was not possible to reverse the main hoists for shells and charges, which would have prevented the charges being placed below the shell rooms (thus reducing the chance of a shell reaching the propellant and potential triggering a fatal explosion). In order to keep the improved arrangement, an extra set of hoists was added to bring up charges from the propellant magazine, to a special handling room above the shell rooms. Thus, the actual magazines could remain below the shell rooms in spite of the turret stalk arrangement. All structures in the turret were reinforced so that Vanguard could use supercharges for her guns, increasing muzzle velocity from 749mps to 804mps, but these were never issued. Her main battery was controlled by the AFCT (Admiralty Fire Control table) Mk.X, the most advanced version of British surface-fire control available, and was designed from the start to incorporate radar technology. The Fire Control tables were fed by two directors utilizing the Type 274 Fire Control Radar and a 30-foot (9.1-meter) Coincidence rangefinder, the largest ever put in the director of a Royal Navy battleship.

The secondary battery was made up of the same dual-purpose 5.25” guns as the King George V-class battleships, but used an improved mounting (RP.10 MK.I*) with greater degrees of automation, allowing the sustained rate of fire to reach nine rounds per minute per gun (versus the previous 7.5 rpmpg). The mounts traversed and elevated twice as fast as the older ones, had full RPC, and utilized the American Mk.37 dual-purpose Fire Control System. Their four directors was equipped with the Type 275 Fire Control Radar. The light AA battery was made up entirely by the famous Bofors 40mm auto-cannon, with over seventy-three barrels in total, most mounted in ten RP.50 sextuple mounts, but also two in STAAG mounts. All these mounts featured RPC and each were directed by a Type 262 fire control radars (for 11 total). Eleven other 40mm Bofors were also mounted in Mk.VII rounds.

Service

|HistoricalGallery=

• 

  HMS Vanguard after launching, 30 November 1944.

• 

  Construction of Vanguard’s main battery turrets, fall 1945.

• 

  Vanguard arrives at Cape Town, South Africa, 17 February 1947.

• 

  Vanguard during NATO Operation Mainbrace, 1952.

• 

  A Westland WS-51 Dragonfly coming in to land on the ship's foc'sle.

• 

  Vanguard in Rotterdam, June 1952.

• 

  Vanguard anchored at Spithead for the Coronation Review of Queen Elizabeth II, 15 June 1953.

• 

  Vanguard departs Portsmouth headed for the breakers, 4 August 1960.

• 

  Vanguard being dismantled, 1960.

|Video=

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