euro ships HNLMS de Ruyter - Euro cruiser Tier IV

[Necro_von_Cortex]

HNLMS de Ruyter was a (very) light cruiser of the Royal Nederlands Navy  and one of a kind as she would have no sisters.

 

She was laid down in 1933 and would commision in October 1936.

Because of  The Great Depression and a rather pacifistic sentiment in Netherland, the design would be made as cheap as possible,

A decision which likely contributed to her rather short career.

Ruyter was sent to aid her seemingly more powerful predecessors, The Java Class, in the Dutch East Indies. Leaving the area defended by a total of 3 light cruisers as well as a Flotilla Leader, HNLMS Tromp. However, Ruyter was weak compared to other light cruisers.

The ship would survive air raids just fine but she would suffer a fatal torpedo hit from a japanese cruiser on the 27th of February which would spark a fire, cause flooding and knock-out the electricity onboard, sinking the ship in less than 3 hours and claiming some 367 souls including an admiral onboard and the captain.

 

de Ruyters' Advantages

-Welcome AA firepower

-Spotter plane available

-"Modern" mid 1930's design.

 

Surviveability

This is a light cruiser, only twice the weight of your average destroyer and lighter than other light cruisers such as Atlanta.

Deck:              30mm

Belt:                30-50mm             

Turrets:          30-100mm

Barbettes:      30mm

C.tower:         30mm

 Bulks:            30mm

 

Artillery

3x2+1x1 - Bofors 15cm  - Sources gives 2 models, it's either the 149/50 or the 15.2cm L/53 a potential upgrade for better gun.

 

Torpedoes

There are no torpedoes onboard, they will be missed.

This is seemingly a downgrade fromTier III SMS Helgoland and SMS Novara which both had quiet a few, though with a weak payload.

 

AA Guns

This ship has a strong AA suit available compared to earlier suggestions.

8x1   - FN-Browning M2 -12.7mm     - SR   49   dps   @ 1.5 km

10x1 - 40mm L/56 M36 Bofors         - MR 197 dps   @ 3.5 km 

This is a great in-tier rating worth about 29 Points, a bit weaker than a Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya without BFT and perhaps the first Tier IV to have 40mm L/56 Bofors guns. 

 

Navyweps.com suggests the15.2cm L/53 guns are DP, which would boost the stats further at a tier where it isn't really needed yet.

8x1   - FN-Browning M2 -12.7mm     - SR   49   dps   @ 1.5 km

10x1 - 40mm L/56 M36 Bofors         - MR 197 dps   @ 3.5 km 

7x      - 15.2mm Bofors L/53              - LR    58  dps   @ 5.5 km w. 2 FlaK clouds

 

Maneuverability

The noted top speed is 32kn, The ship itself is also light with handeling characteristics simular to Atlanta  and Flint. However with a weaker power/weight ratio.

 

Conclusion

This ship is far more modern than previous presented vessels, it has a nice AA suit and up to date guns. 

No real refits were made so no major change can be made via Hull B except some health & rudder shift time.

Post research I got a mixed feeling about this ship, it lacks things such as torpedoes, but speed and AA as well as spotter plane kind of pushes it up to Tier V 

for now it's posted as a von Cortex ship Tier IV.

 

She comes from:

Tier III light Cruiser SMS Helgoland/Novara: https://forum.worldofwarships.eu/topic/142674-sms-helgoland-euro-cruiser-tier-iii/?tab=comments#comment-3675522

and should lead to:

 

Tier V light Cruiser HNLMS Java: (coming soon)

[Mrs_Ragdoll]

I would like to see more Dutch ships in the game besides the Friesland, but I don't think we had much ships (I'm Dutch myself). Or they're all low tier which I don't play anymore. But it would be nice for other players who are interested and maybe there are a few Dutch ships for the midtiers? I like to play tier 7 up to 10 mostly myself. Is there any other Dutch ship that can be made for WOWS for mid- or high tier or did we only really have the Friesland?

[Linkaex]

Yes

[Yedwy]

Looks more like T5 TBH

[invicta2012]

9 hours ago, Mrs_Ragdoll said:

I like to play tier 7 up to 10 mostly myself. Is there any other Dutch ship that can be made for WOWS for mid- or high tier or did we only really have the Friesland?

Oh yes... we've had a few suggestions for Dutch ships over the years, so there's the De Zeven Provincien class cruisers (in either their pre or post war configuration) which are a Tier VII or VIII, and Design 1047, which is a Scharnhorst/Odin style fast battleship/battlecruiser. 

 

The problem with the Java/De Ruyter classes is that they are both lightly armoured - think Omaha/Kirov - have quite a slow rate of fire for 6 inch gun cruisers (around 10 seconds), and have no torpedoes. They do have aircraft, though,  guns with a decent muzzle velocity and penetration, and a decent top speed, so a Murmansk type Tier V BB- harassing cruiser sounds very possible. 

[Necro_von_Cortex]

4 hours ago, Yedwy said:

Looks more like T5 TBH

It does look rather modern indeed and it is by the in-tier standard. 

But it just comes up short when it comes to stats and I doubt it would have the same "lucky-charm" you can experience in Viribus Unitis.

All other Tier V cruisers either have more artillery, or the same + secoundary guns.

The speed is mediocre for a light cruiser.

Most if not all other cruisers have torpedoes at that tier.

The armour is only really covering the front face of the turrets, everything else has poor protection.

 

The only outstanding features are the AA rating and the spotter plane both of which are rather situational.

 

You could argue the 15.2cm L/53 guns are better than the average 6" gun in-tier but I consider them an upgrade to fill in gaps, also it's not confirmed by other sources they were onboard. I'm sure Wargaming doesn't really care about such historical details however.

[Yedwy]

Give her 17km range with german HE pen and slightly buffed fire chance and a crawler smoke and she ll do fine as T5 even with 10s reload

[Captain_Newman]

Some of these premiums would be nice, sure, but - surely there's enough existing designs (some built, some paper) to create a Pan Eu cruiser line? We need AA cruisers back...

[creamgravy]

1930s DR is tier 6 (aka a Dutch Leander/HungHe)

 

Java is significantly weaker (like Emerald)

[Bad_Boy_Bon_Bon_Biter]

3 hours ago, Captain_Newman said:

We need AA cruisers back...

 

+1

 

How very true, especially in low mid tires.

 

I am sure EVERY ONE wants to punish T4 T5 seal clubber CV,s.

 

   

[Karasu_Hidesuke]

4 hours ago, Yedwy said:

Give her 17km range with german HE pen and slightly buffed fire chance and a crawler smoke and she ll do fine as T5 even with 10s reload

 

Concealment could be one area that can be 'optimized' for game purposes.

[Yedwy]

4 hours ago, Captain_Newman said:

We need AA cruisers back...

Sparrows? 

[invicta2012]

1 hour ago, Buccaneer1 said:

I am sure EVERY ONE wants to punish T4 T5 seal clubber CV,s.

Well, yes. Some of those WW2 C and D class cruiser conversions, or a modified Black Swan class, would do the job. HMS Delhi would be particularly amusing - in her mid war refit configuration she has the same armament as the USS Kidd, which should make things tough for a Hosho or two. 

[Karasu_Hidesuke]

3 hours ago, invicta2012 said:

Well, yes. Some of those WW2 C and D class cruiser conversions, or a modified Black Swan class, would do the job. HMS Delhi would be particularly amusing - in her mid war refit configuration she has the same armament as the USS Kidd, which should make things tough for a Hosho or two. 

 

Or... HMS Amethyst?

[invicta2012]

50 minutes ago, Karasu_Hidesuke said:

Or... HMS Amethyst?

+ Simon the Cat, of course. More cat content is needed.