T6 French Premium: Battleship Dunkerque Disappoints

[Pupu_prpr]

As the NDA on the Dunkerque has now ended I can post my commentary on that ship. I was not very impressed.

 

 

Weak guns, terrible AA, huge size, weak armor, weak torpedo and HE protection, weak secondaries.. Sure the speed is nice and the turret placement is great, but that's simply not enough to earn my recommendation. Go to 12:35 for AA testing and 16:52 for recommended Modules and Captain Spec.

[aboomination]

[painless]

Damn i was hoping it would be one tasty omelette du fromage and it turns out to be a week old soggy french fries..

[Getzamatic]

Dammit, I was really looking forward to this ship!

 

 

[byronicasian]

That's disappointing to hear. The paper stats seemed so good.

[Vanhal]

That's disappointing to hear. The paper stats seemed so good.

 

Yes and no... The guns seem slightly worse than i expected, but the HE danger was to be expected, considering the ship big flat deck immediately brings Izumo to mind. Also, the huge, high board ship with thin armor and huge citadel (like Izumo again) was not a good sign. AA indeed seemed a lot stronger on paper though.

 

Still, this is a bit of disappointment as this thing is friggin beautiful.

[Verdius]

Was quite excited for this beautiful ship. I hope WG will buff it before release because not in a million years will I be buying this as it is. It also kind of makes me worried about a future French tech tree and how they will implement other ships like Richelieu and Strassbourg.

[Pekoe_Darjeeling]

I could say how much disappointed I am but actually I don't care so lol premium ships

 

[anonym_MfZ6T7iwWpUC]

 

I see nothing in that review that surprises me, and it doesn’t dissuade me from thinking about getting it. If you have read some history books before playing the Dunkerque, it will enable you to understand its limitations before playing it. In order to understand the Dunkerque, its philosophy and design, you need to understand the Deutschland. The Dunkerque was a direct response to that. Its sole purpose was to hunt down and defeat the Deutschland. It was never designed to take on anything with 14” or larger caliber guns. Its armour was designed to withstand German 11” shells.

 

Dispersion, I wouldn’t expect good dispersion. In reality, it had terrible dispersion, just as the Richelieu class did. That issue wasn’t fixed until after WW2 ended. As the guns were designed to defeat the Deutschland, I wouldn’t expect them to be great against genuine BB’s, competent yes, but not great. The secondaries were known to be poor, including its AA capabilities.

 

Knowing all that should give you a heads up on what to expect. With that in mind, you are not going to put yourself at the very front of your teams thrust. You would be a little cautious to start with. Observe the other team’s movements, and pick your targets carefully.

 

The Dunkerque may be a BB, but it’s a hybrid built for a specific reason, a bit like the Atlanta if you like. Now you can’t always pick your fights, but if you come up against other T6 BB’s, you are more than likely going to come out second best.

 

You are going to need perseverance to get your head around it. Just don’t expect a full blooded battleship, because it never was one.

 

[ReaperChief]

I see nothing in that review that surprises me, and it doesn’t dissuade me from thinking about getting it. If you have read some history books before playing the Dunkerque, it will enable you to understand its limitations before playing it. In order to understand the Dunkerque, its philosophy and design, you need to understand the Deutschland. The Dunkerque was a direct response to that. Its sole purpose was to hunt down and defeat the Deutschland. It was never designed to take on anything with 14” or larger caliber guns. Its armour was designed to withstand German 11” shells.

 

Dispersion, I wouldn’t expect good dispersion. In reality, it had terrible dispersion, just as the Richelieu class did. That issue wasn’t fixed until after WW2 ended. As the guns were designed to defeat the Deutschland, I wouldn’t expect them to be great against genuine BB’s, competent yes, but not great. The secondaries were known to be poor, including its AA capabilities.

 

Knowing all that should give you a heads up on what to expect. With that in mind, you are not going to put yourself at the very front of your teams thrust. You would be a little cautious to start with. Observe the other team’s movements, and pick your targets carefully.

 

The Dunkerque may be a BB, but it’s a hybrid built for a specific reason, a bit like the Atlanta if you like. Now you can’t always pick your fights, but if you come up against other T6 BB’s, you are more than likely going to come out second best.

 

You are going to need perseverance to get your head around it. Just don’t expect a full blooded battleship, because it never was one.

 

I totally agree with this. I won't buy this premium, but I will happily wait for the Strasbourg in about a year from now. My feeling is that this ship will get people ready for possibly French cruisers at the end of the year just as the Tirpitz came just around when the German cruisers came. Taking that into account and that the British cruisers are coming this fall, it might happen.

[piritskenyer]

I'm so gonna prove Flamu wrong.

[Sophia_Mus]

The Dunkerque was build in response to Scharnhorst and Gneisenau as well as the Deutschland class, and as such she was intended as

a battlecruiser meant to fight other bc and armored ships and NOT to fight the likes of Fuso and New Mexico, (suddenly not Nagato or Colorado).

If you use her like Scharnhorst against enemy cl/ca and other bc you will most likely get a good experience, but if you ignore her limitations and

use her against real bb's then you ask fore some serious trouble.

 

Play her the right way and have fun. Fail to do so and be sad.

 

[piritskenyer]

So wait, you did the AA test with no AA upgrades and no rudder shift mod? 

[creamgravy]

It's worth noting Fuso HE will do that to all battleships. The first salvo usually saps the bow compartment with 33% damage rounds, that's almost 1900 per shell (superstructure it's probably taking 16.5% by now) You only need 5 hits to do 10k.

 

 

[piritskenyer]

Battleship HE does damage and sets fires. Who woulda thought.

[KillSlim]

Would this ship be more suited at T5 if unbuffed?

[22cm]

[edited]

[22cm]

[edited]

 

[anonym_MfZ6T7iwWpUC]

The Dunkerque was build in response to Scharnhorst and Gneisenau as well as the Deutschland class, and as such she was intended as

a battlecruiser meant to fight other bc and armored ships and NOT to fight the likes of Fuso and New Mexico, (suddenly not Nagato or Colorado).

If you use her like Scharnhorst against enemy cl/ca and other bc you will most likely get a good experience, but if you ignore her limitations and

use her against real bb's then you ask fore some serious trouble.

 

Play her the right way and have fun. Fail to do so and be sad.

 

 

That’s not correct. The Dunkerque was a direct response to the first Deutschland been laid down in 1929. It took the French a while to agree to what they wanted. But the Dunkerque was ordered in 1932, and launched in 1935. The Scharnhorst (partly a response to the Dunkerque, but not totally) was ordered in early 1935, and laid down in mid-1935.

The Richelieu, contrary to popular belief, was a direct response to Italy announcing it would build two 35,000 ton battleships with 9 x 381mm guns. The main thought process of the French admiralty between the wars, was the possible threat in the Mediterranean by a resurgent Italy. The Deutschland woke them from their malaise and made them look towards their closest threat.

[anonym_MfZ6T7iwWpUC]

 

I totally agree with this. I won't buy this premium, but I will happily wait for the Strasbourg in about a year from now. My feeling is that this ship will get people ready for possibly French cruisers at the end of the year just as the Tirpitz came just around when the German cruisers came. Taking that into account and that the British cruisers are coming this fall, it might happen.

 

​I agree, the Strasbourg should be noticeably stronger. I wonder if it will be the same tier?

[ReaperChief]

 

​I agree, the Strasbourg should be noticeably stronger. I wonder if it will be the same tier?

 

Most likely the same tier with better stats.. Just like the Bismarck is to the Tirpitz..

[Capt_QuoNiam_2015]

Flamu demonstrates subconsciously that you still can do well in this ship by finishing top of his team with more than 100 k dmg...  So Flamu, just lok at your own performance and see that she doesn't perform that badly; for God's sake ! 

 

[Unintentional_submarine]

Flamu demonstrates subconsciously that you still can do well in this ship by finishing top of his team with more than 100 k dmg...  So Flamu, just lok at your own performance and see that she doesn't perform that badly; for God's sake ! 

 

That's not how you compare ships.

He can do well in any ship. That doesn't mean all ships are good.

 

I managed a 98k battle in Furutaka way back when she truly was bad... But that most certainly didn't mean I thought she was a good ship, or that she was at that time (she is now).

 

You play the ship in multiple battles and compare it to your experience in other ships of similar tier and class. Flamu did well in this battle, he generally does well. He is somewhat better than me, and yet a bit more than 100k is nothing special in a Fuso or New Mexico for me. My Fuso sits at 80k average and Flamu's at nearly 83k. So if this was a particularly good game, then it was pretty weak.

[Carnivore81]

 

That's not how you compare ships.

He can do well in any ship. That doesn't mean all ships are good.

 

I managed a 98k battle in Furutaka way back when she truly was bad... But that most certainly didn't mean I thought she was a good ship, or that she was at that time (she is now).

 

You play the ship in multiple battles and compare it to your experience in other ships of similar tier and class. Flamu did well in this battle, he generally does well. He is somewhat better than me, and yet a bit more than 100k is nothing special in a Fuso or New Mexico for me. My Fuso sits at 80k average and Flamu's at nearly 83k. So if this was a particularly good game, then it was pretty weak.

And u doubt He would have Come to this conclusion. With only this match. I thInk He tested it more often . 

[Unintentional_submarine]

And u doubt He would have Come to this conclusion. With only this match. I thInk He tested it more often . 

 

That much was obvious from the amount of XP the ship had.

 

Interestingly iChase came to the same conclusions, pretty much to a point, that Flamu did.