HMS Churchill

HMS Churchill

HMS Churchill

Britain

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
3.3	3.3	3.3

Class:

Destroyer

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This page is about the British destroyer HMS Churchill (L45). For other uses, see Clemson-class.

Description

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The Town-class, HMS Churchill (I45), 1942 is a rank I British destroyer with a battle rating of 3.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.83 "Masters of the Sea" as part of the British fleet closed beta test. It is the first destroyer in the British naval tree.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armor on the Clemson is low. With 16mm of steel on the body and 4mm in the superstructure, and antifrag armor on the front of the guns, you have seen literally all of it. This is unfortunate as, with a crew of 141 and a displacement of 1500 tons, it is not hard to destroy you via crew loss. Fires are a frequent occurrence, and they would be more frequent if it weren't for the fact that many things which would cause a fire will also kill you instantly. In a true case of British naval domination, ammo explosions are rare for the same reason.

Mobility

The Clemson is of a middling speed for destroyers, capping at around 61km/s. Luckily, the superstructure is one of the most frequently damaged parts of the ship, so you might not notice in some games that it has a turning circle the size of your mother.

Armament

Primary armament

The primary armament of the Clemson is the 102 mm BL Mark IX cannon, a decently accurate thing with a good traversal speed and competent reload times. Its antifragmentation armor means that it will stay operational in the face of limited enemy fire, a fact which your ship will not appreciate because that makes it more durable than everything else on board, and which the enemy ship will not appreciate because it does barely any damage anyways.

At your disposal are three kinds of shell. The starter shell is a 4-inch HE that can give a bad day to smaller craft, but does little against other destroyers. Next is the 4-inch shrapnel shell, see previous, and the 4-inch semi-armor piercing shell, see previous but with the caveat that it's less likely to non-penetrate. At 150 rounds, you can bring 50 of each kind. Going through 50 rounds in one game is a testament to the captain's skill at surviving enemy contact, so this setup will allow you to choose your desired flavor of worthlessness in every engagement.

Secondary armament

The Clemson's secondary armament is a 3 inch naval AA Mk.V cannon. The name is misleading, as it has a single high-explosive fragmentation shell as an ammunition option. As a rear-mounted 3-inch cannon, it is a downgrade from the primary cannon in nearly all aspects except ammo capacity, which is an impressive feat. Luckily, as a secondary armament, the player can pawn off the disappointment to the crew.

Anti-aircraft armament

The single stand-out element of the Clemson is its anti-aircraft armament. With 4 20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mk.II autocannons, and then two more 12.7 mm AN-M2 machine gun pairs, it can put up to four mg's on the same target from different angles. The guns are powerful enough to tear apart any planes who wind up in the wrong place, and the volume of fire means that you can be half of an AA network. Don't let that be an excuse to sail alone in plane-infested air-waters, though, as any crew member who can shoot straight was moved to a better ship long ago.

Torpedo armament

The true power of the Clemson lies not in its guns, but in its torpedoes. This is not because it has special torpedoes (they are mediocre 533mm torpedoes), but because every other onboard weapon is virtually useless against other destroyers or larger. Also, it only has three torpedoes. It can fire out of either side, but not directly ahead or behind, and must rotate around the back to switch sides. Do not take the torpedo mode modification, being able to miss your torpedo from farther away is not desirable. The only real way to use the Clemson against other destroyers is in tight areas because of the very low damage of all other weapon systems at your disposal.

Special armament

The Clemson has the option to bring along bomb mortars in order to launch depth charges. These are useful at knife-fighting range, but as submarines are not in-game, not anywhere else. They have better range than previous ship's depth charges, however, with launchers facing to either side and one that launches them hundreds of meters directly ahead. They add a risk of being hit by any stray fire and exploding violently, killing large numbers of crew, but the ship already has that normally, so weigh your options.

Usage in battles

The proper way to use the Clemson in battle is to go back and use the Dark 1102 until you get the G-Class. The survivability is too low for a tank, the mobility is too low for a good scout or objective thief, and the damage output is around one BR too low. If you do insist on using it, there are two options:

The first is to travel in packs with other destroyers. You will get assists, but very few kills, yet this is better than getting none of neither, and your dinky anti-ship armament means that you will not register as a major threat if there is any other ship at all nearby for the enemy to notice.

The second is to make a break for where the small ships go. There, a single 4-inch gun with high traversal speed is useful, and your battery of machine guns and 3-inch secondary means that you can throw your weight around a little. You still won't be invincible, but you will be able to be a major threat and score some kills.

Modules

Tier	Seakeeping	Unsinkability		Firepower
I	Dry-Docking	Tool Set		4 inch SAP	Anti-Air Armament Targeting
II	Rudder Replacement	Fire Protection System	Smokescreen	102 mm shrapnel	Auxiliary Armament Targeting
III	Propeller Replacement	Ventilation	Shrapnel Protection		Primary Armament Targeting	Improved Rangefinder
IV	Engine Maintenance	New Pumps	Ammo Wetting	Torpedo Mode	Bomb mortar

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Great AA capability for its rank
• Very versatile depth charges

Cons:

• Inadequate main gun, compared to other naval ships
• Inadequate secondary armament, compared to other naval ships
• Survivability is low, very densely-packed crew

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 big, take it to a separate article, taking a link to an article about the vehicle and adding a block "/ History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article.

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

See also

Links to the 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

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on ship;
• other literature.