HMS Tiger
Contents
Description
The Tiger-class, HMS Tiger (C20), 1960 is a Rank V British light cruiser
with a battle rating of 5.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.87 "Locked On" as a reward for the "Battlefield Engineer" event.
General info
Survivability and Armour
Armour
Overall HMS Tiger has adequate, but not impenetrable, protection with large areas vulnerable in a close-range engagement. The armour on HMS Tiger follows an all or nothing scheme with only the critical areas of the ship protected. The belt consists of a main 89 mm RHA section that extends across most of the ship's length, protecting just above and just below the waterline. There is also the second section of 51 mm RHA that extends above the main belt to provide additional protection to the engine compartment. The main guns are lightly armoured, ranging from 55 mm RHA on the front turret face to 20 mm RHA on the turret sides. The strongest armour on HMS Tiger is the 50 mm RHA deck armour that covers the entire length of the ship. Unlike the majority of its tech tree equivalents, this armour is situated on the weather deck, effectively protecting not just the engines rooms but all systems below the bridge and turrets. This provides effective protection against plunging fire from all guns smaller than cruiser calibre.
The main battery magazines are poorly protected with only half of each covered by the main belt. Additionally they situated entirely above the waterline, making them highly vulnerable to detonations. These magazines are also massive, each taking up an entire turrets worth of space within the ship. Compared to the main magazines, the secondary magazines are significantly smaller and more protected, situated entirely behind the main armour belt.
The bridge and radio room sit exposed in the superstructure opposed to below deck or within an armoured conning tower. This makes them extremely vulnerable to any form of gunfire, not just cruiser calibre shells.
Survivability
Survivabilty on HMS Tiger is lower than a lot of cruisers of the same size. This can be attributed to her overall low number of guns combined with her exposed main battery magazines. As the main armament consists of only two turrets a couple of shells from a high calibre gun can entirely knock out her main guns, removing her ability to retaliate. The secondary guns don't fare much better as they are also low in number and easy to damage. The biggest boon to her surviablity is her crew count of 880, meaning any shells that don't cause damage to a critical system will have minimal effect on the performance of the ship.
Mobility
Write about the ship’s mobility. Evaluate its power and manoeuvrability, rudder rerouting speed, stopping speed at full tilt, with its maximum forward speed and reverse speed.
Armament
Primary armament
The main armament consists of four 6 inch/50 QF Mark N5 guns mounted in two turrets, one forward and one aft. These guns are able to fire 6-inch HE stock and 6-inch AP as a T1 modification.
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of
warhead |
Penetration in mm @ 90° | |||||
| 1000m | 2500m | 5000m | 7500m | 10000m | 15000m | ||
| 6 inch AP | APHE | 290 | 266 | 210 | 174 | 141 | 90 |
| 6 inch HE | HE | 71 | 61 | 55 | 55 | 55 | 55 |
| Shell details | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of
warhead |
Velocity
in m/s |
Projectile
Mass in kg |
Fuse delay
in m: |
Fuse sensitivity
in mm: |
Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent): | Ricochet: | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||
| 6 inch AP | APHE | 768 | 58.9 | 2 | 10 | 884 | 48° | 63° | 71° |
| 6 inch HE | HE | 768 | 59.9 | N/A | 0.1 | 7,100 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
The main armaments strength comes not from the weight of their broadside, as it only consists of four shells, but from their reload speed. The main calibre reload varies from 3s to 3.9s depending on crew skills, giving HMS Tiger by far the quickest reload of a gun this size. Her quick reload allows her to rapidly switch ammunition types to best suit the current situation. It also means her overall shells per minute is comparable to other cruisers, even with her low barrel count.
The mounting for these guns is also very versatile due to their quick turn rate of 17° per second and wide firing angles of ±150°. This allows her to quickly react to changes in the engagement, taking under 18s to fully rotate her turrets and only 10.5s to turn them 180°. These wide firing angles also mean she can show minimal broadside to get all her main guns engaged, reducing the chance of an enemy shell penetrating her belt.
Because these guns are the dual purpose they fire at anything and everything within range, micromanagement of priorities by the captain can greatly increase their effectiveness.
Secondary armament
The secondary armament consists of a small amount of the best dual-purpose guns currently fitted to a ship, the 3 inch/70 Mark 6 cannon. This cannon is mounted in three twin mounts in various positions across the ship (one front and one on either side of the superstructure), proving good all round firing arcs with minimal blind spots. These turrets only fire one type of ammunition, the 3 inch NC101 HE-VT radio fused shell.
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of
warhead |
Penetration in mm @ 90° | |||||
| 1000m | 2500m | 5000m | 7500m | 10000m | 15000m | ||
| 3 inch NC101 HE-VT | HE-VT | 34 | 27 | 21 | 16 | 12 | 8 |
| Shell details | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of
warhead |
Velocity
in m/s |
Projectile
Mass in kg |
Trigger radius
in m: |
Fuse sensitivity
in mm: |
Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent): | Ricochet: | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||
| 3 inch NC101 HE-VT | HE-VT | 1036 | 6.8 | 10 | 0.1 | 480 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
These guns effectiveness is minimal against other cruisers due to them only being able to fire high explosive. However this round is highly effective at killing smaller, less armoured ships, even ships as large as destroyers are quickly dealt with. The guns main strength against other surface vessels lies in their extremely quick reload, between 0.35s and 0.57s depending on crew training. This means that a literal rain of high explosive rains down on any ship within their targeting range, doing low but rapid damage to any unarmoured section.
The secondary armament is best left to be aimed by the AI gunners in most situations due to the high levels of lead required to hit any target at a decent range.
Anti-aircraft armament
The only anti-aircraft armament consists of the same dual purpose guns that constitute the secondary armament, the 3 inch/70 Mark 6 cannon in three twin turrets mounted in various positions across the ship (one front and one on either side of the superstructure). These guns really shine in the anti-aircraft role as they are able to throw up a large wall of accurate, high damage flak. This is due to their excellent fire rate and arcs of fire. These guns are not a perfect shield against air attack however as they struggle to lead the target correctly until the aircraft is within 3km, a dangerously short distance to dodge a torpedo attack.
The wide firing arcs of these guns leave most approaches to the ship covered by at least two turrets, with particularly high approaches able to be engaged by all three. However, two major blind spots at the rear and front of the ship leave certain attack angles unguarded.
The best use of these anti-aircraft guns requires an active role from the captain, changing the angle of the ship to maintain at least one gun, if not two, on target. Additionally, the guns start firing when an aircraft is at around 8km from the ship. This is too far out of their effective range to do any damage of not and is simply a waste of precious ammunition. The deactivation of the anti-air armament until the target is within 3km makes the guns much more deadly.
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:
- Fastest firing cruiser guns in the game
- Extremely deadly, extremely fast firing secondary armament against unarmoured vessels and aircraft
- High crew count
Cons:
- Low broadside shell count of only four shells
- No torpedo armament
- No mid or short range AA armament
- Two major secondary armament blind spots at the front and aft
- Under protected magazines can lead to an early death
- Unarmoured bridge and radio room
History
The three Tiger-class cruisers were initially laid down as Minotaur-class cruisers early on in WW2. However, their construction priority was considered low as British naval warfare at the time centred a lot around anti-submarine warfare - a role which ships of this class weren’t intended to fill. Thus, the ships would only be partially completed by the end of WW2, with their design being acknowledged as outdated.
After WW2, the decision was made to complete the ships’ construction, but to a different design. Work on completing the new Tiger-class light cruiser began in the early 1950s with the ships seeing completion by the end of the decade. The ships were refitted and modernized extensively, however, they remained outdated designs due to rapid advancements in technology and the changing nature of warfare. As a result, the class was soon afterwards converted into helicopter cruisers and went on to serve with the Royal Navy until the late 1970s. Tiger-class light cruisers were the final British 6-inch gun armed cruisers and the world's last large-calibre artillery ships, no one else has built such ships.
- From Devblog
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, 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
| Britain light cruisers | |
|---|---|
| Emerald-class | HMS Enterprise |
| Dido-class | HMS Dido |
| Leander-class | HMNZS Leander |
| Arethusa-class | HMS Arethusa |
| Town-class | HMS Belfast · HMS Liverpool · HMS Southampton |
| Tiger-class | HMS Tiger |
| Abdiel-class* | HMS Abdiel |
