Crew is the lifeblood of any war machine. Boats and ships can require as few as a handful of men or as many as thousands to operate efficiently. In War Thunder's naval battles, the Crew Loss mechanic is used to simulate victory by attrition, whether it's through sailor casualties or structural damage that would otherwise render the ship unsalvageable. Damage to critical components and special compartments reduces the percentage of crew able to perform their duties. Once the number of usable crew falls below the minimum required to operate the ship, the ship will be scuttled immediately.
Percentage of Available Crew
The percentage of available crew is displayed on the HUD. When you begin naval combat, you will notice that your crew percentage will not add up to 100%, even if you have just entered the battlefield and have taken no damage. This is because the term "100% crew" is used to represent the maximum possible degree of readiness afforded to crews that have maxed out the "Crew Interchangability" and "Leadership" skills, as well as upgraded their qualification on the vessel to Ace status.
Minimum Crew to Repair
On most ships classified as frigates or larger, there is a threshold at which there is no longer enough free crew to make repairs. At this point, the hull will fail in several places and the ship will take on water until it sinks. During this time, you will not be able to use any damage control methods. Exactly where this threshold lies depends on the number of crew on board, as well as the aforementioned crew skills that affect the ship's survivability. However, the threshold is usually reached when the percentage of available crew has dropped to the low double digits or high single digits.
For example, the destroyer USS Mitscher carries 350 men. For an expert crew with the maximum possible skill level, the vessel will become unrepairable and start to sink once only 122 men remain, listed as around 5% on the HUD. For an untrained crew, the ship will start to sink at 14%.
| Stock | Maximum | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum to Repair | 171 | 122 |
| Percentage on HUD | ~14% | ~5% |
Destruction Threshold
All vessels will be destroyed instantly once the percentage of free crew hits 0%. However, the exact number of crew this percentage represents changes depending on the skills referenced above. Using the USS Mitscher as an example again, we can see that she will always instantly sink at 0%, but where that threshold is placed is heavily dependent on the interchangeability skills of the crew.
| Stock | Maximum | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum to Survive | 147 | 105 |
| Percentage on HUD | ~0% | ~0% |
Crew Distribution
The most important factor in crew survivability is not their number, but where they're located on the ship during combat. On all ships, the crew is housed in compartments, each of which can have a different durability and number of crew. When a compartment takes damage, its crew is depleted according to the total durability of the compartment. For example, if a compartment has 500 HP and contains 4 crew, then for every 125 damage dealt to the compartment, one crew member will be lost until the compartment is destroyed. Compartments cannot be repaired, and crew will not reoccupy damaged or destroyed compartments. Crew can also be found in critical engine compartments. This means that targeting an enemy ship's boilers, engines, turrets, ammunition rooms, and command and control structures is usually an efficient way to ensure maximum crew loss. Exactly which of these modules contain crew varies from ship to ship, but in general there are two formats of crew layout often referred to in the naval community as "simple" and "complex".
Simple Layout
The simple layout is used on boats and some larger gunboats and frigates. In this model, the crew compartments span the entire watertight hull sections of the ship. This means that damage to any intact part of the hull has the potential to remove the crew and sink the ship. On these types of ships, the individual engine rooms are unlikely to contain crew themselves, as an attacker will deal crew damage to get to them anyway.
For example, the G-5 motor torpedo boat shown above has three crew compartments of varying sizes. There are two crewmen in the bow section, two in the amidships and engineering section, and one in the stern section. The pilothouse in the boat's superstructure also houses one sailor, for a total of six. When destroyed, the engines, radio room, and gun turret do not reduce the number of crew available. Since the minimum crew required to operate the G-5 is two men, the ship will not sink until one sailor is left on board. At the maximum crew skill level, an attacker would have to destroy all three hull compartments to sink the ship, or a combination of hull compartments and the bridge. Since the bridge always contains a crew member and can be repaired repeatedly, it is technically possible to destroy the G-5 without damaging the hull by destroying the bridge five times in a row. In combat, however, this scenario is highly unlikely.
Complex Layout
All bluewater vessels as well as some larger gunboats and frigates use a more complicated layout. This requires enemy shells to penetrate deeper into the hull to deal crew damage, and allows captains to take advantage of multi-layer protection schemes. In this model, the crew compartments are represented as rectangular prisms on the centerline of the ship at different points. Like on coastal vessels, they can be of any size and house any number of crew.
Important modules also contain crew. Boilers and engines typically contain the most, making them prime targets. The bridge, as well as ammunition handling, radio, and fire control rooms contain some level of additional crew. Most rangefinders and weapons on the primary and auxiliary control groups will house a small number above deck as well. Special weapons such as torpedo launchers can contain crew, but only if they are manned. Crew will not be lost if the enemy elected not to bring torpedoes into battle in the first place.
The crew distribution for Italian destroyer RN Aquila is shown above. The machinery spaces contain the most crew by far with the next best target being the crew compartments above them, outlined with white boxes. Aquila has no hull armour to speak of and therefore hitting her engines is the fastest way to sink her with crew damage. However, against battleships with large armoured citadels, targeting the more exposed crew compartments is a good way to deal damage if one finds oneself unable to penetrate the enemy's belt.
Due to the variation in crew placement between ships and the additional complexity added as they increase in size, a system exists to help captains identify the best areas to shoot. On all ships utilizing the "complex" damage model, a crew mapping feature is available under the protection analysis button in the armour viewer. The "Show crew distribution" button will cast an overlay onto the ship's hull, the colour of which depends on the density of crew in the area. Red areas have the most crew and are therefore the most damaging targets. Damage to the green areas has the least effect on the overall crew count.
