Supertest: French Tier X Premium Cruiser Latouche-Tréville

Since I am back to writing articles and the public test isn't up yet, I thought I might as well go with one of the ships in testing on the live server and... you guessed it, I picked the French one.

It's also an opportunity for me to look at how the stuff I used to do on WordPress translates on Blogger. I will have to see if I stick with these HTML tables or find another presentation style.

Historical background

Just like her predecessor Carnot, at tier IX, Latouch-Tréville is based on a fusion of two French designs of large cruisers from the 1920s. These designs would eventually lead to the Dunkerque-class battleships.

In 1926, in an effort to counter the Italian Trento-class heavy cruisers, the Chief of the Naval General Staff, Admiral Henri Salaun, requested a new series of capital ships. The initial design called for a 17 500 tons battlecruiser armed with a main battery consisting of two quadruple turrets with 305 mm guns and with both turrets at the front (in game, Toulon).

With the potential future threat of the German Deutschland-class Panzerschiffe, the 17 500 tons design was abandoned in favor of a much larger one. The new “Croiseur de Bataille de 37 000 tonnes” was a massive battlecruiser armed with twelve 305 mm guns in three quadruple turrets for the A design and six 406 mm guns in three twin turrets for the B1 design. In essence, these designs were pretty much an enlarged version of the Suffren-class.

There was, however, a tiny issue. No shipyard in France was able to build such massive ships, and so the idea was abandoned.

A follow-on design, much smaller, was then proposed called “Croiseur protégé de 23 690 tonnes”. This design was armed with ten 305 mm guns in two triple and one quadruple turret. However, the level of protection it would offer wasn’t enough against the 283 mm guns of the Deutschland-class, which were considered the main threat at the time.

With some pressure from the French Parliament, a new set of requirements was issued, calling for a ship with an armor protection able to resist 283 mm guns as well as a main battery of eight 330 mm guns. This would lead to the construction of the Dunkerque-class as we know it today.

In World of Warships... it's a bit of a mess. Carnot was the “Croiseur protégé de 23 690 tonnes” for the armament but on the hull of the “Croiseur de Bataille de 37 000 tonnes” (most likely the A2 variant considering the position of the funnels). Latouche is effectively a gun-swapped Carnot, this time using the armament of the 37k tons design but she retains the secondary armament layout of the 23 690 tons one. She also gets a postwar modernization with modern AA, secondaries, and radar.

The ship is named after Louis-René-Madeleine de Latouche-Tréville, an officer of the French navy in the 18th century.

If you want to learn more about the history of the Dunkerque-class and the designs that led to it, here is a video from Drachinifel covering it:

Ship's preview

Ship's permanent camouflage

As a reminder, this is a ship in testing; anything can change, so don't look at her like she would already be released.

Modules

Hull	Engine	Gun Fire Control System	Main battery	Torpedoes
Latouche-Tréville	Propulsion: 160 000 HP	PCA n°10 Mle 1	305 mm/50 Mle 1930 in a turret	550 mm 23DT

General Characteristics

Tier	X
Health	66 800 HP
Torpedo Damage Reduction	31 %
Displacement	38 270 tons
Dimensions
Overall length	254.5 m
Beam	30.52 m
Overall height (keel to the highest point on the ship)	36.63 m
Freeboard	10.43 m
Main Armament
Maximum Firing Range	20.100 km
305 mm/50 Mle 1930 in a turret	3 x 4 305 mm
Secondary Armament
Maximum Firing Range	8.300 km
127 mm/54 Mle 1948 on an Mle 1948 mount	10 x 2 127 mm
Torpedo Armament
Maximum Firing Range	9.000 km
550 mm tube lance-torpilles	2 x 3 550 mm
Maximum speed	34.5 knots
Turning Circle Radius	870 m
Rudder Shift Time	14.4 s
Surface Detectability	14.340 km
Air Detectability	10.000 km
Detectability After Firing Main Guns in Smoke	11.420 km

Consumables
Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3	Slot 4
Damage Control Party Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 60 s	Hydroacoustic Search Number of charges: 3 Work time: 100 s Cooldown: 120 s Torpedo spotting range: 3.5 km Ship spotting range: 5.0 km	Engine Boost Number of charges: 3 Work time: 180 s Cooldown: 90 s Maximum speed: +20%	Repair Party Number of charges: 3 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 60 s HP regeneration speed: +0.6%/s Casemate damage regeneration: 50% Citadel damage regeneration: 33%
	Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination Number of charges: 3 Work time: 30 s Cooldown: 120 s Secondary shells damage: +10% Torpedo reload time: -20% Airstrike reload time: -20%

Combat Instructions	Heavy Secondary Barrage
Effects
Secondary battery reload time	-70%
Maximum secondary battery shell dispersion	-60%
Secondary battery HE shell armor penetration capability	+60%
Action time	60.0s
Charging
Hit with the main battery on an enemy ship	+8.0%
Time before losing progress	50.0 s
Progress loss per second	5.0%

Main Armament

3 x 4 305 mm/50 Mle 1930 in a turret
Maximum Firing Range	20.100 km
Reloading Time	27.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	30.0 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	29°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	42°
Sigma	2.05 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	217 m (battlecruiser dispersion)
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE - 305 mm HE OEA Mle 1931
Alpha Damage	4 250
Penetration capacity	51 mm
Fire chance	25 %
Projectile Speed	905 m/s
Air Drag	0.27
Projectile Mass	426.0 kg
Type of Projectile	AP - 305 mm AP OPf Mle 1931
Alpha Damage	8 700
Projectile Speed	870 m/s
Air Drag	0.265
Projectile Mass	442.0 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 225
Projectile Detonator	0.033 s
Detonator threshold	51 mm
Ricochet Angles	45° - 60°

Secondary Armament

10 x 2 127 mm/54 Mle 1948 on an Mle 1948 mount
Maximum Firing Range	8.300 km
Reloading Time	4.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	3.0 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	503 m (standard secondary dispersion)
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE - 127 mm HE Mark 41
Alpha Damage	2 100
Penetration capacity	21 mm
Fire chance	7 %
Projectile Speed	808 m/s
Air Drag	0.308
Projectile Mass	31.5 kg

Torpedo Armament

2 x 3 550 mm tube lance-torpilles
Reloading Time	85.0 s
Maximum Distance	9.000 km
Optimal firing angles at the front	30°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	30°
Damage	14 833
Flooding Chance	246%
Speed	60 knots
Surface Detectability	1.3 km

Anti-air Armament

10 x 2 127 mm/54 Mle 1948 on an Mle 1948 mount
Sector firing range	0.1 km - 6.0 km
Hit chance	90 %
Sector's damage	53
Sector's damage frequency	0.29 s
Sector's damage per second	186
Flak clouds number	8
Flak cloud damage	1680
6 x 2 57 mm/60 Mle 1951 on an ACAD Mle 1948 mount
Sector firing range	0.1 km - 3.8 km
Hit chance	90 %
Sector's damage	74
Sector's damage frequency	0.29 s
Sector's damage per second	259

ASW Airstrike

LeO H-470 - Depth charge airstrike 650 lb bomb Mk55
Reloading Time	30 s
Number of charges	2
HP per plane	2 000
Attack range	0.5 km - 8.0 km
Number of planes in the squadron	1
Number of bombs in payload	2
Damage	4 900
Detonation timer	3.5 s - 4.5 s
Explosion radius	375 m
Fire chances	28%
Flooding chances	300%

The Armor

External armor protection:

Turtleback:

Citadel armor protection:

Turrets protection:

Hidden armor protection inside the stern and middle section:

Personal Opinion

Right now, I'm feeling a little lukewarm with this ship. 

Carnot herself isn't a particularly outstanding ship at tier IX, and in my opinion, it really wasn't necessary to give Latouche an even longer main battery reload time just because she gets an additional two guns. As a reminder, there are ships like Rhode Island around with stronger guns for the same barrel count that are just as accurate (if not more, considering the US battleships dispersion upgrade). Now... Latouche gets better armor than Carnot and an improved Repair Party to go with the secondary gimmick, but considering how much damage Carnot takes due to how high she sits on the water, I'm not sure that these will help sufficiently. 

At least Latouche also gets torpedoes.

Regardless...

Thank you for reading this article!

Have a good one and see you soon!