Let’s have a look at Dunkerque, the lead ship of a class of two battleships built in the early 1930s in an effort to modernize the French capital ship fleet to meet the threats posed by the navies of its neighboring countries.
Dunkerque: A Battleship for France at Rank VI
At a glance:- High top speed!
- Powerful primary gun battery.
- Unorthodox weapons layout.
- Average anti-air protection.
Meet Dunkerque!
Coming to War Thunder in the French Bluewater fleet tree, Dunkerque features a more modern battleship design representing a radical departure from pre-WWI dreadnoughts. With an advanced artillery system and a unique weapons layout as well as superior mobility, Dunkerque will soon not only become a formidable adversary to face on the high seas of naval battles but will also rightfully claim its place as the new top French Bluewater vessel. Let’s take a look!
Contrary to most other warships in War Thunder, Dunkerque features a truly unique design. Instead of having its armament spread out in a more or less even manner across the whole ship, Dunkerque’s designers opted for a more unorthodox layout, placing the ship’s entire primary battery consisting of eight 13” (330 mm) guns on the front section toward the bow. As a result, this layout always means the ship’s primary guns can fire on a single target and also provides for excellent firing angles in the forward arc.
Dunkerque’s 16 x 5.1” (130 mm) cannons forming the secondary battery are moved aft and spread out between three quadruple and two twin turrets, these guns can especially become useful to fend off smaller vessels, such as destroyers or torpedo boats at close range. Low-caliber AA artillery leaves much to be desired: only five twin mounts of non-automatic 37 mm caliber cannons, and large-caliber machine guns.
Interesting: The ship that initially crippled Dunkerque at the fateful battle of Mers-el-Kébir, HMS Hood, is also the same warship that Dunkerque conducted several patrols against Axis vessels at the outbreak of WWII.
In terms of protection, French naval designers placed significant emphasis on the use of sloped armor plates in order to save on weight while not compromising on the ship’s protection. As such, Dunkerque adopts an all or nothing armor scheme, which sees its main belt featuring 225 mm of plating while the turrets and barbettes are protected by up to 330 and 310 mm of steel plating, respectively. As a result, Dunkerque’s protection remains fairly good when facing enemy capital ships up to heavy cruisers. However, the ship is less capable at going into outright brawls with more heavily armed and armored battleships.
If this happens, Dunkerque has one ace up its sleeve: mobility! Possessing a comparably modest displacement for a battleship and very powerful machinery, Dunkerque can reach a top speed just short of 30 kts (54.6 km/h). This allows it to both chase more nimbler opponents while also enabling it to outmaneuver opponents outclassing her in a naval engagement.
Dunkerque has set course for War Thunder naval battles and is due to dock in ports with the release of the next major update. In the meantime, keep scanning the news section as we continue to release new info on the upcoming update. Until then, calm seas and good hunting captains!
Please note that this vehicle’s characteristics may be changed before it is added to the game.