Yuzo's Yapping

With Update 15.9, we are getting the last ship to join the Holiday convoy event. Here is the Sovetsky Soyuz's larger cousin, the Rodina. Historical background Rodina is based on the 1939 Project 23bis from the Soviet Navy. Work on this design began soon after the initial Project 23 (also known as the Sovetsky Soyuz-class) was laid down, and it was intended as an improved version of it. The key improvement the Soviets wanted was for the top speed of the ship to be 30 knots instead of 28 knots. They also wanted improved anti-air defence, which was becoming increasingly important, and to replace the Italian Pugliese torpedo defence system with a multi-bulkhead design. When it came to the increase in speed, the engineers had to deal with the issue of keeping the machinery of the initial Project 23. They decided to go with the idea of lengthening the ship and fitting better propellers. This came with the side effect of the ship also being slightly wider, which allowed them to replace t...

The last ship to enter testing with Update 15.8 is the first European (and Polish) submarine, the Orzeł. Historical background ORP Orzeł was the lead ship of the eponymous class of submarines of the Polish Navy. She was built in the Netherlands, being laid down in August 1936, launched in January 1938, and commissioned in February 1939. It wouldn't take long for Orzeł to be put to good use, as just a few months later, Germany would begin the invasion of Poland in September. Orzeł was deployed as per the Worek Plan, which consisted of Poland using its five available submarines: Orzeł, Sęp (Orzeł's sister ship), Wilk, Żbik, and Ryś, to try and stop Germany from landing troops on the Polish coast as well as destroy any enemy ship that would be employed in bombarding Poland's coastline. As things took a turn for the worse and the operation proved unsuccessful, Orzeł was forced to abandon her position to join the Baltic Sea. She was attacked by German minesweepers on the way ...