Battlefield tours - Eastereggs in WoWS

[togMOR]

You probably know iChase from the NA server and his

on Youtube.

Inspired by this, i´ve started to undertake my own expeditions into the vast, unknown lands of the different WoWS maps ...

I "hijacked" a thread in the german forum section, which originally just linked to iChase´s videos, to post my discoveries there.

Since i came across this topic regarding the "mysterious ship" on the Polar map here, i thought i might share those journeys here as well.

 

For the sake of convenience i´ll start with the a.m. Polar / New Land map ...

 

When first introduced, the map was just water and islands (and snow, ice, etc.)

Patch 0.5.8 brought the static scenery and with the recent update 0.5.9 the dynamic objects have been added.

 

Grid E/F10 - Island outside the map border
The scene resembles the rescue of the last survivors of the ill-fated Nobile polar expedition by the soviet icebreaker KRASSIN on July 12, 1928 from the ice, where they survived the bitter acrtic conditions in the famous red tent.
In May 1928 the italian polar explorer Umberto Nobile undertook another attempt to reach the North pole with his new airship ITALIA. During the return leg from the pole back to the base in Kings Bay (nowadays Ny-Alesund / Spitsbergen) the ITALIA crashed on May 25 onto the ice, which left the gondola on the ground and severed from the airships hull, which drifted away with 6 crew still on board and remaines lost without a trace until today.

With some delay various international search and rescue missions where launched for the expedition by air and sea. Those attempts demanded further victims among the rescuers, notably the norwegian polar pioneer Roald Amundsen.

Link, Link, Link, Link

 

Since 0.5.9 the airship ITALIA gracefully hovers around high above the icy waters and is slowly criss-crossing the map

 

Grid G/H7 - Makeshift airfield / landing strip with planes
The eyecatcher here are undoubtly the colorful and huge soviet Tupolev TB-3 /ANT-6 planes
Designed as a heavy bomber in the early 1930s, several TB-3 were converted into ANT-6 for civilian use. Some TB-3 4M-34R were specially converted into ANT-6-4M-34R and further customized for the use in the arctic and polar regions. These planes served from 1937/38 onwards for polar flight missions.
Searching for the particular registration CCCP-H-169 (SSSR-N-169) didn´t led anywhere at first but with the help of an online translator i found some useful information on the russian forum Polarnaya Posta.
This plane did numerous flights into the arctic and was one of the transport and supply planes for the 1937 Papanin-Expedition to the North pole.
Link, Link, Link

 

 

By now a flight of four of these planes is crossing the map repeatedly in east-westerly direction

 

Since we´re already airborne, i´ll add the last flying object on this map.

A lonely airplane with bright red wings is gliding through the clear sky, crossing from south to north.

It is a Tupolev ANT-25 or RD, as it was designated later.

This plane was an experimental design for long range flights, which is where the alternative designation RD (russian рекорд дальности - distance record) comes from.
Only a few were ever built, but the planes indeed set various records for long distance flights until the late 1930s.

Most motably were the non-stop flights from Moscow to San Francisco and Portland / USA in 1937.

Link

 

 

 

[togMOR]

Back on the ground ...

Grid D3/4 - West side of the island - Landing strip / airfield with more planes

Instead of mighty four-mots we find some comparably smaller aircraft sitting around.

 

 

The biplanes are ARK-5, converted and customized Polikarpov R-5 for the use in the arctic.

Searching for the registration CCCP-H127(SSSR-N-127) was as difficult as it was for the ANT-6 at first. But thanks to GoogleTranslator the russian Polarnaya Posta forum revealed some information and data on this particular plane.

According to the posts there, the N-127 and her sister plane N-128 did some flights in the arctic region and flew even as far as Franz-Josef-Land in 1936.

Link, Link, Link, Link

 

 

Further up the landing strip, just above the waterline, sits a well known flying boat.

Easily recognisable are the lines of a Dornier J Wal (Whale)

These tandem engine flying boat was designed first in the early 1920s and became the ancestor for a highly successful series of further types and designs, both for military and civilian use in numerous countries around the globe.

And again, searching the web for the registration CCCP-H233(SSSR-N-233) ...

Although the hull number appears within the context of arctic flying in the Laptev sea area on several occasions, no reliable data came up so far.

Link, Link

 

Grid E/F8 - Island with jetty and fishing vessel alongside

 

It took me quite a while to identify this craft since the name plate in front of the wheelhouse is rather fragmented.

Anyhow, this is the former norwegian vessel POLSTJERNA (Polaris/Polar star) built in 1949 and engaged in ... seal hunting for over 30 seasons.

Someone at the map design department probably had a funny moment when he/she decided to place an object like that on a newbie / low-tier map .....

The vessel is now an exhibit in the Polar Museum of Tromsø in Norway.

Link, Link, Link

 

 

Last, but not least, another dynamic object is on the east side of the map.

Slowly sailing southwards is the US american brigantine CARNEGIE, purpose built in 1908 for the Carnegie Institution of Washington for the research of the earth´s magnetic field.

Made almost entirely of wood, the ship made various scientific cruises around the world for almost two decades until 1929, when she was lost due to an accident which led to her complete destruction by fire.

Link, Link, Link

 

 

As mentioned on the Carnegie Institution of Washington's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism website (linked above) the institution had another vessel chartered for the same purpose before they built the Carnegie.

This vessel was the GALILEE of a similiar design.

If you are comparing the images of both ships carefully, you may notice that each one has distinctive features.

Galilee has that high framework observation bridge constructed between the masts, whereas a deckhouse with two spherical observation cupolas sits on the same spot on Carnegie.

As far as the available images show, none of them had both features. I assume that the map designer simply merged these two ships into one.

Nevertheless, an interesting history ...

[SBS]

This is great, keep it up 

 

[CLyDeThaMonKeY]

Great read Don't see this map to often. I'm guessing next time I'm gonna be more busy looking at stuff instead of paying attention to the battle

 

[aquiles7389]

Nice job!

[Tuccy]

Awesome summary. Love to search for easter eggs myself - this is awesome. I never go into so many details  

[Takru]

Awesome summary. Love to search for easter eggs myself - this is awesome. I never go into so many details  

 

Yeah... right...

[Tuccy]

I notice big flashy things, like Mont St. Michel and burning Liberty ships - I definitely am not getting into the nitty gritty of planes or fishing boats

 

[piritskenyer]

I notice big flashy things, like Mont St. Michel and burning Liberty ships - I definitely am not getting into the nitty gritty of planes or fishing boats

 

The Mt.-St.-Michel? WHEEERRREEEE?

[Tuccy]

 

The Mt.-St.-Michel? WHEEERRREEEE?

 

Search a bit. It is pretty well visible 

[piritskenyer]

Oh, come on! I usually am occupied with shooting other people!

[sLendeR4skin]

Oh, come on! I usually am occupied with shooting other people!

 

Load up the training room with inactive bots and you have 20 min to search for things

 

[Greyshark]

 

Search a bit. It is pretty well visible 

 

Mont Saint Michel spotted!

 

 

 

[Tuccy]

Yep, that's it By coincidence I knew about this landmark coming ever since my visit to Lesta studio earlier this year - when we were shown the map creation department and suddenly I saw on one of the screens something that looked familiar... The map design guys are really stuffing the maps with all sorts of cool stuff, I want to take the time one day and scour this very map for bits and pieces of the Atlantic Wall...

[Greyshark]

Yep, that's it By coincidence I knew about this landmark coming ever since my visit to Lesta studio earlier this year - when we were shown the map creation department and suddenly I saw on one of the screens something that looked familiar...

 

About landmarks looking familiar... Does this island look familiar to anyone?

 

 

 

[Unintentional_submarine]

And now on Fault Line we have The Lion's Head. With teeth and all. Looks quite intimidating, and nice.

[togMOR]

I notice big flashy things, like Mont St. Michel and burning Liberty ships - I definitely am not getting into the nitty gritty of planes or fishing boats

 

 

Mont Saint Michel spotted!

 

And now on Fault Line we have The Lion's Head. With teeth and all. Looks quite intimidating, and nice.

 

Hi Folks,

 

thanks for the hints on Mont St. Michel.

I just noticed that they changed a lot on several maps, besides the pure terraforming on Fault Line and Two Brothers.

Just sent my Battlefield Tours Expedition Team back on Fault Line ...

[orlathebeast]

 

About landmarks looking familiar... Does this island look familiar to anyone?

 

 

 

 

cast away island ?

[Greyshark]

 

cast away island ?

 

Hmm. no I had this one on my mind:

 

 

 

[togMOR]

 

The map has received some facelift to the landscape and got some changes to the scenery with the recent patches 0.5.10 and 0.5.11.

Most of the work comprised the reshaping of the islands shorelines, same as on the map Two Brothers.

But the map designers relocated and added some scenery as well.

So i took another tour over the map to cover the present status.

 

Grid G3 - Lighthouse on the islands southern tip

The prominent structure high above the passing battlefleets is the norwegian lighthouse Grip Fyr (Grip fyrstasjon) located at Grip, a village close to the town of Kristiansund.

LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK

 

 

Grid F3 - small village with jetty

 

The village is entirely generic. Anyhow, the small boats moored to the jetty are worth to take look at.

The fishing vessel SPAWN was covered already by iChase in his first video, but still couldn´t be properly identified up to date.

It looks like a Seiner type boat ...

 

 

With the second craft i got more luck. Still not 100% certain, but it is the closest call i got ...

A small tugboat of the Project 73 for riverine or harbour duties, by the name VOSTOK (russian for East) it is surely of russian/soviet origin.

LINK

 

 

 

 

 

[togMOR]

Moving on ...

 

Grid D4/5 - Village with harbour and a lot of ships

 

Easily the largest settlement on the map, its harbour has the largest amount of different ships, boats and even planes tied up to its jetty.

 

* Tuna boat LIBERTY

Searching for that ship lead to many close calls and some dead ends.

Anyhow, the design is that of a typical US west coast tuna clipper from the 30´s, which were built in large numbers back then.

The closest hit i got so far is a LIBERTY built in 1948 in Tacoma WA.

LINK

 

 

* Motor yacht KINNERETH

A cabin cruiser built in 1948 in Cambden / Maine as a leisure and fishing boat.

LINK

 

 

* Sailing yacht WHITE HERON

Built in 1940 at Riverside / Rhode Island

LINK

 

 

* Fishing vessel TINY BOY II

An Alaska Limit Seiner, designed by H C Hanson in 1941. The "Limit" apparently stands for some kind of standardized ship size in terms of fishing capacity.

LINK, LINK

 

 

* small craft COLUMBIA / New York

Didn´t find anything about that ...

 

 

Besides the floating stuff there is some flying stuff too ...

* Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing (Beech 17)

Developed as a business plane in the early 30s, this type was used for travelling, air races and military transport alike.

The registration NC17078 leads to a still existing Beech, but I didn´t find any hints that may link this number to any special event or person.

LINK, LINK, LINK

 

 

Grid D9 - Sawmill with jetty and ships

This place changed its appearance with the last updates and got some vessels placed on the jetty.

 

 

* Puffer STARLIGHT

Those tiny steamers were called Clyde Puffers and built over decades in Scotland around the Clyde and Forth for the canal and coastal trade between those areas and the Hebrides.

LINK, LINK

* Tug PLUTO

Back then featured in iChase´ first video, still nothing found regarding the name Pluto.

Nevertheless, digged out the Design 320. A small harbour tug, developed in the 1940s for the Army Corps of Engineers of the US Army and built in numbers well into the 50s.

LINK

 

 

And now something totally different ...

Grid E/F8 - the lions head

When i first noticed the remodelled island, i thought WTF ...

 

 

[togMOR]

Grid E10 - "Mare Islands" Yard and port

 

This base was relocated from F10 to G10 with update 0.5.10 and got the port added.

Why did i name the base Mare Island Yard? When i searched for some of the "remarkable" buildings back then, i located two of them on the premises of the former Mare Island Naval Yard in California.

I don´t know what purpose these buildings served during that time, but the larger one could have been some kind of office building.

With the help of GoogleEarth and Maps i found the real life pendants pretty quick.

 

* 375 G St, Vallejo, CA 94592

LINK to GoogleMaps

 

 

* 690 Walnut Avenue

LINK to GoogleMaps

 

 

When the base was moved up here, the designer added a large harbour to it.

 

All but one two ships in there are identified so far.

Waiting to be named is are the large, grey freighter up front and a fishing vessel on the left.

If you are taking a closer look to the cargo ship it seems that the hull is made of wood. Maybe that is a hint to proceed ...

The other ships are:

* cargo steamship MOJAVE

After all it was quite easy to identify the vessel ... by the name plate above the bridge deck.

Built in 1918 by Seaborn Shipyards Co., Tacoma WA, and abandoned in 1923 at Mallows Bay on the Potomac River, Maryland.
The ship was a "Standard Wooden Steamship" from the U.S. Shipping Board's Emergency Shipbuilding program, built by the design 1001 drawn up by the boards head naval architect Theodore Ferris, hence commonly known as Ferris ships.

LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK

 In April 1917, after much debate, the United States entered World War I, which had been raging in Europe for nearly 3 years. It very quickly appeared to the U.S. Shipping Board (USSB) that the country would not have enough ships to bring supplies, food, and ammunition to support the U.S. troops, especially in view of the effectiveness of the German U-Boats. The Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) therefore decided to contract for 703 wooden cargo steamships to supplement its budding fleet of steel cargo ships. This created great controversy; at the time, wood was already obsolete for large ship building, and even reciprocating steam engines were considered old-fashioned. The main type of wooden ship followed the Theodore "Ferris" design (USSB design #1001), a 270' long, coal-fired, "three-island" ship of 3,500 deadweight tons.

 

 

 

* tugboat FURIE, same as on the sawmill jetty

picture removed due to page limit. There is one further up.

 

 

* fishing vessel POLSTJERNA (Polar Star)

Built in 1949 in Risør / Norway the vessel was employed in the seal-hunting business. Today it is preserved as a shoreside museum exhibit in the Polarmuseum of Tromsø.

LINK, LINK, LINK

 

 

* tug T.I.D.50

TID tugs were a standardized british wartime design for a series of tugboats, built during World War II on several british shipyards.

LINK

 

 

* french tug BUFFLE

It was quite a challange to get hold of this vessel. Even with the name and port of registry easily readable, the search results were ... meager at first.

Without doubt i´m looking for a french ship here. Since i do not speak one word french, i had to rely on these funny online translator websites.

A brief history (at least the best interpretation of the translators goobledigook):

The tug was ordered by September 1936 for service in the port of Dakar. It was not before May 1938 that the building contract was signed with the shipyard and another year later (May 1939) that the keel was laid.

Upon completion the ship was commisioned by the end of the first quarter 1940 and immediately sailed for Dakar via Casablanca and Oran, where it arrived on June 12th.

BUFFLE´s moment of fame came in September the same year, when the Free French (and their british allies) launched the Operation Menace in order to capture the port of Dakar and take over the city from the Vichy.

During the shore bombardement the danish freighter TACOMA caught fire and was towed to the open sea by Buffle.

Afterwards she assisted the (Vichy)french battleship RICHELIEU, by then moored inside the port, by towing her stern around so that she got a better arc for her main turrets to return fire onto the british warships off the coast.

LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK

 

 

Grid H7 - small village with jetty

This island wasn´t inhabited before the patch.

Moored to the jetty are two small crafts, which are much lookalike by design.

I couldn´t find anything about the boat named SUSAN, but its sister with the US Coast Guard number CG-40451 got some hits.

The craft belongs to a class called 40ft Utility boat. These boats were designed for the US Coast Guard in the 1950s. More than 230 were built over a decade.

 

Looking up the registration CG-40451 i found a USCG database entry regarding a 1966 award for heroism for the Officer in charge:

 For heroism on the afternoon of June 28, 1966 while serving as Officer in Charge of CG-40451, engaged in rescue operations following explosions aboard the damaged British tanker ALVA CAPE anchored in Gravesend Bay, New York.  While pumping operations were in progress to remove naphtha from the tanker, an explosion rocked the ALVA CAPE and fire spread over the vessel.  A man was sighted hanging by one arm from the railing of one of the barges alongside the ALVA CAPE.  Petty Officer YOUNGBLOOD, then a Seaman, maneuvered the CG-40451alongside the man who jumped and was caught by crew members. Moments later, another explosion shook the damaged tanker, hurling the officer in charge of a New York City fireboat into the water. Petty Officer YOUNGBLOOD immediately headed the CG-40451 toward the man, and despite a further explosion, searing heat and leaping flames, reached the fireman who was wearing boots and a heavy coat and pulled him aboard

 LINK, LINK, LINK (pdf file)

 

 

[togMOR]

With update 0.5.11 the map designer added some dynamic scenery as well.

In addition to the cars and trucks, which are running around the streets on the islands, we got some flying stuff on Fault Line too.

 

* Grumman G-21 Goose

with update 0.5.12 the flight paths have been changed and the planes are flying in groups now

LINK

 

 

* a Douglas Dolphin

with update 0.5.12 the flight paths have been changed and the planes are flying in groups now

Developed in the early 1930s as a flying boat, it was redesigned as an amphibian shortly after. Mostly sold to private customers, some planes were used by the military as well.

Four planes even found their way to Australia during WWII, being sold to the australian goverment for the service in the RAAF.

The plane with the registration NC14204 was one of this batch and commisioned by 1943 into military service.

LINK, LINK, LINK

 

 

* a Ford Tri-Motor lumbering overhead

with update 0.5.12 the flight paths have been changed and the planes are flying in groups now

LINK

 

 

Thats it for Fault Line for now ...

[togMOR]

 

Introduced with the recent update 0.5.11, this low tier map doesn´t hold as many eastereggs and goodies as other maps do.

Most of the static scenery consists of an array of small houses on several islands, with jetties on some places. They pretty much look the same, like just copy & paste.

The Limit Seiner TINY BOY II is moored to some of them.

LINK, LINK

 

 

In addition to the known TINY BOY II there is however also a new ship, which i´d seen the first time modelled here.

Judging by the name ГОРДЫЙ (Gordyi / Proud) it is apparently some russian or soviet vessel.

However, i couldn´t find any reference to that name other than modern naval ships. Perhaps the naming might be some artistic freedom, since the boat isn´t a warship but some kind of fishing vessel.

Grid D5 and Grid F7

Jetty with fishing vessel ГОРДЫЙ

 

 

Grid F8 - Settlement with flying boat ashore

Without a doubt this is a Dornier J WAL (Whale). The same flying boat is part of the scenery on the Polar map.

Although the hull number CCCP-H233(SSSR-N-233) appears within the context of arctic flying in the Laptev sea area on several occasions, no reliable data came up so far. Unfortunately, I could still find no information regarding the history of the aircraft.

LINK, LINK

 

 

Grid E9 - Village with Dornier WAL and vessel ГОРДЫЙ

By the look of the prominent building in the center and the weather observation station this could easily be some kind of scientific station.

 

 

That was it for the ground scenery on Archipelago.

But the real eastereggs are the planes that circle overhead. They are hard to notice, especially if you are in the midst of combat and not paying attention to the sky above you.

I did notice those planes for the first time only when i was watching a stream.

 

All in all there are 3 planes flying around. But they are not crossing the map in a straight line as the planes do on Polar or Fault line.

These follow a flight path shaped like an upside down U in a clockwise orientation.

 

* Polikarpov U-2 / Po-2PL
*** at game count 17:00 the plane is at grid C/D3 ***

The plane was developed in the late 1920 as a multipurpose and training aircraft for both civilian and military use.

Many different variants were produced and when the last plane run of the production lines it had been built by the tenthousends.

During the WW2 the planes fullfilled many tasks from training crafts to liasion duties. it even served as light night bomber (look up Night Witches) and did supply runs into the occupied hinterland to supply partisans.

 

The version depicted here is a mixture of the Po-2L (Cabin) and Po-2P (Floatplane) versions, consequently designated Po-2PL.

I´m not sure if the PL variant made it into production but I found some data on russian websites and aircraft forums.

An analogous translation via online translator:

In 1945, one Po-2L was equipped with floats for testing purposes and designated Po-2PL.
Tests in October 1945 showed that takeoffs and landings with up to 3 persons are easiliy possible and the plan behaved similiar to the standard version.

Furthermore, the floats could be exchanged with a regular landing gear within a short time.

LINK, LINK, LINK

 

 

* Lissunov Li-2

*** at game count 13:30 the plane is at grid F10 ***

This plane cannot betray its line of ancestry. Same as the japanese Nakajima L2D it is an offspring to the american Douglas DC-3, built under license in the Soviet Union.

Originally the license was purchased in order to built passenger planes for the domestic Aeroflot under the designation PS-84. It took some good effort in time to "translate" the original design into the metric system and to adjust parts and components to local technologies and supplies.

With the german invasion of the Soviet Union all civilian PS-84 were placed under military control and converted for military use. By then they were designated Li-2 after the projects lead designer Lisunov.

Production of the redesigned plane went on until after the war. The Li-2s were used as transports for troops and supplies, evacuation lifts and so on.

 

Searching for the ingame plane didn´t bring up much again. The only hint to a Li-2 with the number 002 came from the camouflage section of a modelling website.

A very free interpretation of the description there:

Aircraft Research Institute of the [soviet] Airforce, Summer 1943

My guess is, the plane might have been assigned to some kind of training unit or flying school.

LINK

 

 

* Berijew MBR-2
*** at game count 07:30 the plane is at grid D2 ***

A light multipurpose/reconnaissance flying boat, built between 1930 and 1942 for the different soviet fleets.

The best i could find out about the plane with the tail number 7 is that it served with the Air Force of the Black Sea fleet and took part in the fighting around Sevastopol in November-December 1941

LINK

 

 

 

Thats it ....

[togMOR]

A small update on Fault Line

 

wooden cargo ship MOJAVE