Dunkerque

Dunkerque

Lorraine

Leopard

Dunkerque

Lorraine

Leopard

France

VI Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
6.7	6.7	6.7

Class:

Battleship

Research:400 000

Purchase:1 080 000

Show in game

Description

The Dunkerque-class, Dunkerque, 1939 is a rank VI French battleship with a battle rating of 6.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Firebirds".

General info

Survivability and armour

Armourfront / side / back

Citadel210 / 225 / 125 mm

Main fire tower330 / 250 / 335 mm

Hull25 mm (steel)

Superstructure16 mm (steel)

Number of section10

Displacement35 500 t

Crew1 381 people

Dunkerque's enormous ammo racks prone to being penetrated negate any benefits from otherwise decent armour scheme for her BR

Dunkerque is a relatively interesting design, as far as survivability goes. On paper, her armour scheme is very capable, with fascinating multi-layered design: First the external skin of 25 mm structural steel (which provides marginal protection) covers the armour of 225 mm at -11 to -13° construction angle (that inverse angle makes armor extra-effective against plunging fire, further increasing the impact angle). Then there's a second layer of internal armour, 40 mm at 27° construction angle, and behind that, an additional 40 mm at 0°. Inside the vessel, along most of the length of the hull, there's an additional fuel tank further separated with 25 mm structural steel from the magazines and engines. Decks are protected split in 3 sections: Aft deck has a single layer of 150 - 100 mm. Armour below the main superstructure is 22 - 20 mm top layer, then 115 mm main deck and 40 mm final layer. Main magazines are protected by 125 mm with 40 mm below it.

This complex protection, however, creates an illusion of safety.

In reality, an number of shells can damage magazines with shrapnel going through the bottom deck. Additionally, barbette of the front primary gun turret decreases to 50 mm, making any shell able to penetrate two plates of 220 mm and 50 mm capable of spraying front magazines with shrapnel. Plunging fire is also dangerous, while armor scheme makes it pretty much impossible for cruisers to penetrate it, the battleships armed with AP shells can have a lucky shell dive right into the magazines.

Finally, the front armour of just 210 mm is a very attractive target for multiple vessels, including some of the heavy cruisers, being able to penetrate it with the AP shells, under a favourable conditions, making it challenging to use Dunkerque in a pursuit role.

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB66 / 23 km/h

RB56 / 20 km/h

For a battleship, Dunkerque is relatively mobile, having good speed in a straight line, acceptable turn rate and a well protected bridge and steering gear, making it more likely for her to maintain high mobility under enemy fire. That said, this mobility is limited by her large size, in effect, making it essential to plan two steps ahead especially when it comes to evading enemy torpedoes.

Mobility Characteristics
Game Mode	Upgrade Status	Maximum Speed (km/h)		Turn Time (s)	Turn Radius (m)
		Forward	Reverse
AB	Stock	___	___
	Upgraded	66	23
RB/SB	Stock	___	___
	Upgraded	56	20

Modifications and economy

Repair costBasic → Reference

AB25 320 → 32 966

RB31 147 → 40 553

Total cost of modifications303 000

474 000

Talisman cost2 600

Crew training310 000

Experts1 080 000

Aces2 400

Research Aces950 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

450 / 600 / 100 %

220 / 220 / 220 %

Modifications

Seakeeping	Unsinkability	Firepower
Dry-Docking Research: 12 000 Cost: 19 000 290 Rudder Replacement Research: 17 000 Cost: 27 000 410 Propeller Replacement Research: 15 000 Cost: 23 000 360 Engine Maintenance Research: 25 000 Cost: 39 000 600	Damage Control Division Research: 12 000 Cost: 19 000 290 Fire Division Research: 17 000 Cost: 27 000 410 Shrapnel Protection Research: 15 000 Cost: 23 000 360 Ventilation Research: 15 000 Cost: 23 000 360 New Pumps Research: 25 000 Cost: 39 000 600 Ammo Wetting Research: 25 000 Cost: 39 000 600	Anti-Air Armament Targeting Research: 12 000 Cost: 19 000 290 130 mm 1933 SAP Research: 12 000 Cost: 19 000 290 330 mm 1935 SAPCBC Research: 12 000 Cost: 19 000 290 Auxiliary Armament Targeting Research: 17 000 Cost: 27 000 410 130 mm 1934 HE-TF Research: 17 000 Cost: 27 000 410 Primary Armament Targeting Research: 15 000 Cost: 23 000 360 Improved Rangefinder Research: 15 000 Cost: 23 000 360 Hydroplane Research: 25 000 Cost: 39 000 600

Armament

Primary armament

2 х Turret4 x 330 mm/52 model 1931 gun

Ammunition448 rounds

Vertical guidance-5° / 35°

Two four-gun turrets make for a unique setup

Dunkerque has one of the most unique primary armaments among battleships in the game, being armed with two turrets of 330 mm. The turrets are protected by 310 mm cemented armour over barbettes and a further 330 mm turret face at a 22° construction angle, making them unlikely to stop most of the battleship-grade AP shells, but they are relatively safe from SAP rounds or vessels armed with lower-calibre guns. The guns have an internal bulkhead modelled between each of the pairs of guns, but each Main Calibre Turret behaves as a single unit within the damage model, so even if only one pair of the Main Calibre Guns is damaged, all of them on the turret will be unable to fire.

The gun comes with two types of shells:

• SAPCBC - Despite being named "330 mm OPF", 330 mm Obus Perforant, or Armour Piercing, the shells are modelled as SAPCBC due to their unusually high percentage of explosive filler. This, in the calculation method used for War Thunder's naval mode, gives them 540 mm penetration at 0° at 1000 m, which in effect means that the guns are unfit to deal with the top-tier battleships Dunkerque will commonly encounter in battles. That said, the large explosive filler, high muzzle velocity, and average spread make them perfectly capable of dealing with lower BR battleships and heavy cruisers with ease.
• HE - With an impressive filler, equivalent to 66 kg, or over triple that of SAP, the high-explosive rounds are able to easily overwhelm any soft target, with even a single shell being capable of inflicting a crippling amount of damage. With an average of over 1 tonne of TNT fired every minute, Dunkerque's sustained TNT equivalent on target is comparable to IJN Mutsu or USS Tennessee, making her relatively efficient at stripping the crew off exposed positions and initiating fires.

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		1,000 m	2,500 m	5,000 m	7,500 m	10,000 m	15,000 m
OEA Mle 1935 HE	HE	74	74	74	74	74	74
OPF Mle 1935 SAPCBC	SAPCBC	540	512	470	433	400	348

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (s)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
OEA Mle 1935 HE	HE	885	522	0	0.1	66	79°	80°	81°
OPF Mle 1935 SAPCBC	SAPCBC	870	560	0.025	20	18.21	48°	63°	71°

Secondary armament

2 х Turret2 x 130 mm/45 model 1932 gun

Ammunition800 rounds

3 х Turret4 x 130 mm/45 model 1932 gun

Ammunition1600 rounds

Three turrets of 130 mm/45 model 1932 (130 mm) (front: twin-mount, aft: quad-mount)

Quite unusually, the secondary armament is split into two types of 130 mm turrets - an aft cluster of three quad-gun turrets and an additional set of twin-gun turrets on each side of the main superstructure. Sharing very good firing angles and an unusually high rate of fire for the secondaries on a battleship, these guns are effective counters to torpedo boats and destroyers alike. With the secondaries being able to easily fire five times for each full reload cycle of the main guns, it is possible to effectively use them in manual control, ensuring maximum accuracy and the ability to deal with multiple targets simultaneously.

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		1,000 m	2,500 m	5,000 m	7,500 m	10,000 m	15,000 m
OEA Mle 1934 HE	HE	36	36	36	36	36	36
OPF Mle 1933 SAP	SAPBC	71	62	50	41	34	26
OEA Mle 1934 HE	HE-TF	36	36	36	36	36	36

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (s)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
OEA Mle 1934 HE	HE	840	29.5	0	0.1	3.52	79°	80°	81°
OPF Mle 1933 SAP	SAPBC	800	32.1	0.035	5	1.76	48°	63°	71°
OEA Mle 1934 HE	HE-TF	840	29.5	0	0.1	3.52	79°	80°	81°

Anti-aircraft armament

5 х Turret2 x 37 mm/50 model 1933 gun

Ammunition2000 rounds

8 х Turret4 x 13.2 mm Hotchkiss machine gun

Ammunition7200 rounds

Belt capacity30 rounds

Fire rate476 shots/min

An important part of the ship's armament responsible for air defence. Anti-aircraft armament is defined by the weapon chosen with the control Select anti-aircraft weapons. Talk about the ship's anti-air cannons and machine guns, the number of guns and their positions, their effective range, and about their overall effectiveness – including against surface targets. If there are no anti-aircraft armaments, remove this section.

Usage in battles

Describe the technique of using this ship, the characteristics of her use in a team and tips on strategy. Abstain from writing an entire guide – don't try to provide a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought. Talk about the most dangerous opponents for this vehicle and provide recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of playing with this vehicle in various modes (AB, RB, SB).

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Excellent firing angles for both primary and secondary weapons
• Very high sustained TNT equivalent per minute for the HE and SAP shells (if they manage to penetrate the target)
• Multiple redundant fire directors along with a well-protected bridge and steering gear

Cons:

• Main gun magazines are prone to exploding
• Penetrating a turret will cut down the firepower by half
• Inadequate penetration of the SAP shells and no dedicated AP rounds
• No radar or HE-VT shells, along with very poor 37 mm autocannons and a small number of low-calibre guns, resulting in relatively poor anti-air armament
• Very large vessel makes for an attractive target to surface vessels and bombers alike

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ship in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the ship and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Ship-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the ship's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the ship;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• [Devblog] Dunkerque: Spear Point

Arsenal de Brest
Avisos
Arras-class	Arras
Light Cruisers
Duguay-Trouin-class	Duguay-Trouin · Primauguet
Heavy Cruisers
Suffren-class	Colbert · Dupleix
Battleships
Bretagne-class	Bretagne
Dunkerque-class	Dunkerque

France battleships
Courbet-class	Courbet · Paris
Bretagne-class	Bretagne · Lorraine
Dunkerque-class	Dunkerque