VAS 201
Contents
Description
The Baglietto 68t, VAS 201 is a rank I Italian motor torpedo boat with a battle rating of 1.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Starfighters".
General info
Survivability and armour
The VAS 201 has 40 mm of wood in the hull and 15 mm of wood in the superstructure as armour, and doesn't have a composite armour. It has terrible survivability because it is slow so you can't quickly cover yourself from incoming enemy fire, plus the crew present (26 crew members) can be knocked out easily by any enemy ship, so be careful when engaging enemy ships.
Mobility
The VAS 201 is not very manoeuvrable. With her 2 engines, she reaches a maximum speed of 53 km/h in AB and 38 km/h in RB, which slow for its BR. It is possible that several enemy ships will overtake you easily. Even larger sub-chasers and minesweepers can keep up with you.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 53 | 35 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 38 | 25 | |
Modifications and economy
| Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armament
Primary armament
The VAS 201 is equipped with two 20 mm/65 Breda autocannons, one at the bow and one at the stern. When facing forward, only one gun can shoot and in order to get the rear gun on target, a large part of the ship needs to be exposed. The autocannons themselves have quite a low rate of fire and very small clips of 12 shells, although they are reloaded very quickly. The damage is similar to the German or the American 20 mm autocannons, although it has a lower damage than the German one and lower fire rate compared to the American one
Additional armament
The VAS 201 is equipped with 2 x W.200 torpedoes. They are average in most statistics, although they have a somewhat low speed. As the boat faces entirely small and nimble enemies, torpedoes in general are not too effective as the enemy can dodge them with ease. In the low tiers, torpedoes are very situational, so it's advised to leave the ship without torpedoes as they can act as an external ammorack, which can destroy the ship if hit.
The VAS 201 can equip 16 x B TG depth charges. They are next to useless, as they are made to destroy submarines, which are not yet in the game and all ships can escape the blast of the depth charge. Overall it's a very situational weapon, that's not advised to use or equip, as it can act as an external ammorack, which can destroy the ship if hit while not adding any considerable advantage.
Usage in battles
The VAS 201 is a slow game ship - its biggest drawbacks are the poor top speed, small clips and no protection whatsoever. Sadly these cons cover most of what can make a ship good so the VAS just is quite a below average ship, especially compared to the MS-15 (same firepower and survivability, almost twice the speed) and S-38 (pretty much better in everything except size). Overall, although it's not quite the best you can have, it's still a solid boat for its battle rating.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Two 20 mm cannons deal a lot more consistent damage, compared to the reserve MAS 555
- Can shoot forwards and the firing arc of the rear gun is not bad
- Very fast clip reload of the main armament
- Good torpedoes
Cons:
- Tiny 12-round clips for the main armament and a slow rate of fire
- Although more stable than the reserve MAS 555, it's still not the most stable gun platform at the battle rating, can roll a lot in sharp turns
- Quite slow
- Terrible survivability
- No anti-aircraft defense
- Bad turn time
History
After the design and production of the MS, they saw the validity of this platform in the field of escort with anti-submarine properties, especially in more littoral scenarios.
Between 1942 and 1943 were made on the basis of the hull of MS-11, the anti submarine lookouts type VAS-201, in 3 series that differed in construction materials - wood or composite -, for the motorization, speed of 18-21 knots and variable armament, which includes:
a maximum of 30 depth charges
37mm, 20mm and 8mm machine guns and cannons
Mine-dredging equipment
Eventually 14 ships survived, left to the Italian Navy largely employed for dredging activities, during which in 1947 was lost VAS-246.
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| Italy boats | |
|---|---|
| Motor torpedo boats | MC-490 · Freccia P-493 · MAS 555 · MAS 561 · MAS 569 |
| MS-15 · MS-53 · MS-472 · Stefano Turr · VAS 201 · GIS 811 · MS 444 · MC 485 | |
| Motor gun boats | MAS 441 · MS-473 · MV-611 · Alano · Sparviero |
| Motor torpedo gun boats | Saetta P-494 |
| Gunboats | Albatros · Alcione |
