Dark Adventurer

Dark Adventurer

Fairmile B (ML345)

Dark Aggressor

Dark Adventurer

Fairmile B (ML345)

Dark Aggressor

Britain

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
2.0	2.0	2.0

Class:

Motor gun boat

Boat

Research:14 000

Purchase:32 000

Show in game

Description

The Dark-class, Dark Adventurer (FPB 1101) is a rank II British motor gun boat with a battle rating of 2.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.83 "Masters of the Sea" as part of the British fleet closed beta test.

General info

Survivability and armour

Dark Adventurer has the following armour layout:

• 114 mm 8cwt QF Mk I gunshield: 12.7 mm, hardened armour
• Hull: 40 mm, wood
• Superstructure: 15 mm, wood

Dark Class, Dark Adventurer (FPB 1101) internals (starboard side). Note the ammo racks below the forward gun.

Dark Adventurer has practically no armour to speak of. Even light machine guns will easily penetrate anywhere on the boat. The 12.7 mm gunshield is largely superficial, and any direct hits will knock out the gun. There are also two large ammunition racks in the bow that cannot be removed unless the ammo for both the 114 mm 8cwt QF Mk 1 and the 40 mm QF Mark VII are used up. In addition, being a small boat herself, Dark Adventurer can be hull-broken by any gun larger than 4 inches (102 mm). With only a crew of 15, altogether, this makes Dark Adventurer's survivability very low. However, aside from the ammo racks in the bow, this shouldn't really be seen as a drawback, but rather as a typical aspect of boats of this size.

Luckily though for Dark Adventurer, within its battle rating range, there are only two boats with guns large enough to hull-break it: itself, with its own 8cwt QF Mk I (114 mm), and AF D3, with its 10.5 cm SK C/32 (105 mm). In general, these are rather rare to come across and both can be destroyed relatively quickly by Dark Adventurer. Don't sail in a straight line or otherwise present an easy target, and make use of cover to close the distance.

Since Dark Adventurer only has two guns, and of those two, only the 40 mm QF Mark VII mounted on the aft is particularly useful, Dark Adventurer can be played behind cover, leaving only the aft gun exposed. This way, the ammo racks and, more importantly, the middle and bow compartments are hidden. All three compartments of the hull need to be destroyed to knock out Dark Adventurer (with the exception of hull-break), so being able to hide two-thirds of the hull while still being able to keep the most effective gun in action is a major advantage. That said, doing this exposes the engines.

Mobility

Mobility Characteristics
Game Mode	Upgrade Status	Maximum Speed (km/h)		Turn Time (s)	Turn Radius (m)
		Forward	Reverse
AB	Stock	73	27	~26.46	~45.62
	Upgraded	100	37	~17.53	~28.67
RB/SB	Stock	64	24	~29.42	~52.03
	Upgraded	74	27	~23.53	~40.57

Dark Adventurer's maximum speeds, mobility, acceleration, and stopping are all average, not too much better or worse than any other boats around its battle rating.

Armament

Primary armament

In its primary armament group, Dark Adventurer has a single 113 8cwt QF Mk I mounted in front of the bridge. There are 100 rounds of ammunition available for it. It can traverse horizontally at a rate of 30°/s and vertically at a rate of 25°/s. With a stock crew, the gun can be reloaded in 6.5 seconds; with an aced crew, it can be reloaded in 5 seconds. The gun can hull-break certain boats if the shot destroys a compartment.

Guidance for the Primary Gun Turret
Horizontal	Vertical
±180°	-8°/+12°

There is only one ammunition option available:

• 114 mm HE

Penetration Statistics
Ammunition	Type	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		1,000 m	2,500	5,000 m	7,500 m	10,000 m	15,000 m
114 mm HE	HE	30	30	30	30	30	30

Shell Details
Ammunition	Type	Projectile Mass (kg)	Velocity (m/s)	Explosive Type	Explosive Mass (kg)	TNT Equivalent (kg)	Fuse Delay (m)	Fuse Sensitivity (mm)	Ricochet
									0%	50%	100%
114 mm HE	HE	10	457	TNT	2.5	2.5	0.3	0.1	79°	80°	81°

Secondary armament

In its secondary armament group, Dark Adventurer has a single 40 mm QF Mark VII mounted on its aft. The gun has a magazine size of 4 rounds and has 1500 rounds of ammunition available for it. It can traverse horizontally at a rate of 40°/s and vertically at a rate of 34°/s. With a stock crew, the gun can be reloaded in 0.38 seconds; with an aced crew, it can be reloaded in 0.19 seconds. Firing for too long will cause the gun to jam.

Guidance for the Secondary Gun Turret
Horizontal	Vertical
±180°	-10°/+89°

There are three ammunition options available:

• Universal: AP-T/HEFI-T
• 40 mm HE clips: HEFI-T/HEFI-T/HEFI-T/AP-T
• 40 mm AP clips: AP-T/AP-T/AP-T/HEFI-T

Penetration Statistics
Ammunition	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
HEFI-T	_	_	_	_	_	_
AP-T	80	77	66	57	50	45

Special armament

Dark Adventurer can carry two Mk.VII depth charges in front of the aft 40 mm QF Mark VII gun, one facing each broadside. The depth charges can be dropped one at a time, with the one on the starboard side always dropping before the one on the port side. Before spawning, the detonation time delay can be set anywhere between 3 seconds and 10 seconds.

Mass (kg)	Explosive Type	Explosive Mass (kg)	TNT Equivalent (kg)
196	TNT	130	130

Usage in battles

The main armament of Dark Advententurer is a single 114 mm 8cwt QF Mk I. This gun has a powerful HE round with an explosive mass of 2.5 kg of TNT, and, since its larger than 4 inches, it can also hull-break most of the smaller boats seen around this battle rating. Hull-break is triggered by destroying an enemy boat's compartment, and, if done successfully, it will result in a one-shot kill. Despite being one of the only guns at this battle rating capable of hull-breaking, the gun overall is poor. Its rate of fire is relatively slow at 12 rounds per minute, and its muzzle velocity is very low at 457 m/s, both of which contribute to making the gun difficult to use at long ranges and against fast-moving targets. Even at close ranges, it gets outperformed by Dark Adventurer's other weapon anyway. The 8cwt QF Mk I is the primary armament in name only.

The secondary gun, the 40 mm QF Mark VII, is actually a far superior weapon, and there is generally no reason to even use the 8cwt QF Mk I over it. The QF Mark VII is a 40 mm Bofors L/60 gun, one of the best naval automatic cannons in the game, and Dark Adventurer is one of the lowest battle rating vehicles to receive it. Where the 114 mm 8cwt QF Mk I lacks, the 40 mm QF Mark VII excels. Its rate of fire, though a bit low for an automatic cannon, is much higher at 160 rounds per minute. The gun's magazine size of only 4 rounds may seem like a disadvantage on paper, but in practice, the reload is quick enough that the gun can fire continuously as if there wasn't a reload at all. The QF Mark VII also has a much larger effective range of roughly 3.25 km thanks to its higher muzzle and relatively large projectile mass. This allows Dark Adventurer to outrange, and thus be effectively immune to, many guns at this battle rating, most notably the 2 cm/65 C/38 (20 mm) and the Oerlikon Mk.II (20 mm), both of which have a maximum range of roughly 2 km.

The QF Mark VII has a very powerful HE round for its calibre as well as an impressive AP round, the latter of which has a maximum penetration of 80 mm of armour, more than enough to trivialize any armour Dark Adventurer might come across. The gun is very powerful and doesn't require much ammunition to destroy most of its enemies, usually less than 10 rounds if all rounds hit. In fact, it's actually quite rare that Dark Adventurer will use up more than a couple hundred rounds of ammunition throughout the entire match. This is good because firing the gun for too long (indicated by the red circle around the crosshair) will cause the gun to jam and will require a substantial amount of time before it can be fired again. Always pay attention to the red circle and try to never let the gun jam.

Despite how good the QF Mark VII might be, though, the boat it's mounted on has some issues. The first of these is rather obvious: the gun is mounted on the rear of the boat, which of course prevents it from firing forwards. Because of this, there is a ~25° dead zone to either side in which the gun is unable to fire. Second, the survivability of Dark Adventurer is close to nonexistent, especially when considering the ammo racks in the front of the hull. Dark Adventurer can either be played at long range to outrange enemy fire or by using hard cover to hide the hull. Either playstyle is really dependent on the map and is mostly down to player preference. Regardless of how Dark Adventurer is played, she shouldn't be the first to charge into action. If an enemy is met straight-on, time is needed to turn the hull to allow the QF Mark VII to fire, enough time for a smart enemy to inflict major damage.

Depth Charges

It should be noted that Dark Adventurer can carry two Mk.VII depth charges. Being an anti-submarine weapon and without the presence of submarines in the game, their usage against surface targets is very situational. Sailing up right next to a slower target and dropping a depth charge can lead to some success, though again, this is very situational. If attempting this, remember that depth charge on the starboard side always drops first and that there is no reason to use any depth charge activation time setting above the minimum 3 seconds, since higher delay times means the depth charge will sink further, and thus away, from the target. For the most part, though, there is no reason to even take them into battle since if they're not dropped, they essentially become extra ammo racks to shoot at.

Ammunition Choices

The 40 mm HE clips should be the primary ammunition choice since it contains the highest ratio of HE to AP rounds. HE rounds have the highest effectiveness against aircraft and boats, so the choice that maximizes this is the best. A small amount of 40 mm AP clips should also be taken to deal with armoured targets. AP rounds can also be used against boats coming towards Dark Adventurer straight-on. Whereas HE rounds would just explode on an already destroyed bow compartment, AP rounds can pass through and deal damage to the rear of the boat.

Modules

Tier	Seakeeping	Unsinkability		Firepower
I	Dry-Docking	Tool Set		40 mm HE clips
II	Rudder Replacement	Fire Protection System	Smokescreen	40 mm AP clips	Auxiliary Armament Targeting
III	Propeller Replacement			Depth Charges	Primary Armament Targeting	Improved Rangefinder
IV	Engine Maintenance	New Pumps			Artillery Support

Pros and cons

Pros:

• 40 mm QF Mark VII: large explosive mass, high armour penetration, very quick reload, can out-range most enemies
• 114 mm 8cwt Mk I can hull-break certain boats

Cons:

• 40 mm QF Mark VII is mounted on the rear, cannot fire directly forwards
• 114 8cwt Mk I: very low muzzle velocity, low rate of fire, difficult to use
• Two large ammo racks below the forward gun, cannot be removed
• Lack of torpedo armament

History

The Dark class fast patrol boats, also known as the Admiralty Type "A" Fast Patrol Boat (FPB), were 18 patrol boats used by the Royal Navy, with another 8 built for export. The class was originally ordered in the late 1940s, calling for a new diesel-powered FPB, with Saunders-Roe eventually winning the design contract in early 1952. The Dark class was built between 1954 and 1958 primarily by Saunders-Roe alongside several other British shipbuilding companies. The Dark class had interchangeable armaments and could be configured as motor torpedo boats, as motor gun boats, or as minelayers. These armaments include:

• 4x 21-inch torpedoes
• 1x 40 mm Bofors gun (forward), 2x 21-inch torpedoes
• 1x 40 mm Bofors gun (aft), 1x 4.5-inch cannon (forward)
• 16x mines

The Dark class boats had a length of 71 ft. 8 in., a beam of 19 ft. 5 in., a draught of 6 ft. 1 in, and a standard displacement of 50 long tons and were the first of their kind in Royal Navy service to use diesel engines. Each boat was powered by two 18 cylinder Napier Deltic diesel engines, each producing 2,500 bhp and driving a single shaft, with an exhaust port on the port side hull. The first few Dark class boats were painted entirely in standard grey. However, the port side of the hulls would quickly become stained by the diesel exhaust fumes, even after only a short period of use. Initially, an experimental paint scheme was tried on HMS Dark Biter (P1104) around March 1956 that had the rear hull painted in black with the front hull still in grey. This, too, was found to be unsatisfactory, and eventually, it was decided that the entire hull of the Dark class boats was to be painted in black.

Eighteen Dark class boats served with the Royal Navy. All of these were built with wooden hulls and aluminium decks on aluminium hull frames with the exception of the final boat, the unique HMS Dark Scout (P1116), which had an all-aluminium welded construction, a redesigned bridge, and transom exhaust ports. In addition to these, eight more Dark class boats were also built for export, all built by Saunders-Roe: two standard boats to Finland; five riveted, all-aluminium boats with an additional electric drive system to Burma; and one standard boat to Japan. A further nine Dark class boats were planned to be built as well for Royal Navy service, but these were all cancelled in 1955. During the 1960s and 1970s, of the 18 Dark class boats in Royal Navy service, two were used as target practice with one being sunk. The surviving 17 were sold to various places, including several to Italian law enforcement in the late 1960s.

HMS Dark Adventurer, pennant number P1101, was the first of the Dark-class boats. She was built by Saunders-Roe in Beaumaris and was completed on 28th October 1954. She was sold in early 1970.

Media

Images

• 
• 

See also

• Dark Aggressor
• Brave Borderer

External links

• [Development] Newsflash from IgroMir 2016! New ships and first look at Japanese Ground Forces!
• Coastal Forces Veterans Forum - The British "Dark" Class
• British Military Powerboat Team - Dark Class Boats
• mprints.co.uk - SARO Dark Class MTBs
• Wikipedia - Dark-class patrol boat