Type T-51a
| This page is about the premium Japanese motor torpedo boat Type T-51a. For the regular version, see Type T-51b. |
Contents
Description
The Type T-51a is a premium gift rank III Japanese motor torpedo boat with a battle rating of 2.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced during Update "Danger Zone" as a reward for Battle Pass: Season VIII, "Field Testing".
General info
Survivability and armour
Talk about the vehicle's armour. Note the most well-defended and most vulnerable zones, e.g. the ammo magazine. Evaluate the composition of components and assemblies responsible for movement and manoeuvrability. Evaluate the survivability of the primary and secondary armaments separately. Don't forget to mention the size of the crew, which plays an important role in fleet mechanics. Save tips on preserving survivability for the "Usage in battles" section. If necessary, use a graphical template to show the most well-protected or most vulnerable points in the armour.
Mobility
Write about the ship's mobility. Evaluate its power and manoeuvrability, rudder rerouting speed, stopping speed at full tilt, with its maximum forward and reverse speed.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 77 | 25 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 55 | 18 | |
Modifications and economy
2 × 110 / 180 / 50 % 2 × 154 / 154 / 154 % | Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armament
Primary armament
Provide information about the characteristics of the primary armament. Evaluate their efficacy in battle based on their reload speed, ballistics and the capacity of their shells. Add a link to the main article about the weapon: {{main|Weapon name (calibre)}}. Broadly describe the ammunition available for the primary armament, and provide recommendations on how to use it and which ammunition to choose.
Additional armament
Describe the available additional armaments of the ship: depth charges, mines, torpedoes. Talk about their positions, available ammunition and launch features such as dead zones of torpedoes. If there is no additional armament, remove this section.
Usage in battles
The Type T-51a is one of the more tricky boats to use, with a very steep learning curve. The key defining feature of the boat is its rear-mounted gun, able to fire only in reverse, and thus has the option for a two particular playstyles:
Ambusher - Using hard cover, one can stick the stern out and use the gun with near-impunity, as the rear of the boat is a small target with little crew inside, enabling one to output a huge amount of damage before suffering any significant consequences. That said, enemy positioning has to be monitored at all times, as well as artillery strikes. Also, be careful with controlling speed and when fighting anything larger than a boat - the large-calibre guns found on destroyers can often blow the boat up even if hitting just the rear-most end of the hull. This tactic shines on the maps like African Gulf, Black Sea Port, Drowned City, Ireland Bay, or Vyborg Bay.
An alternative version of this approach is to bait enemy boats into following you, and then shooting directly back at them. Turning and then keeping the profile of the T-51a as narrow as possible is the tricky part, but the high-velocity 25 mm gun can typically sink them before they manage to inflict any significant damage back.
Torpedo boat - The T-51a has more torpedoes than any other Japanese boats of its rank or lower, and this opens some additional options, even if the torpedoes have a very short range of just 3 kilometres. Use of torpedoes is very opportunistic and typically best used against destroyers (most notably the Town and Clemson class) from behind hard cover. The key is to approach behind cover, select an enemy destroyer as a target and fire torpedoes at the alignment marker before you are directly visible to the enemy guns. Then either reverse or turn around, preferably without ever being in a direct line of fire. The large warhead of the onboard torpedoes will usually sink any destroyer with a single hit. This approach will benefit from a large amount of tall, hard cover on a way to the flanks of the destroyers, and a convenient escape routes, most notably on maps such as Japanese Port, North Port, or Norway.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- High velocity main gun with a short reload time can outdamage most peers, especially if they try to manoeuvre in a medium range
- A very narrow front and rear profile, low freeboard, especially on the rear-end
- Four torpedoes with a very large warhead that can instantly sink every ship around its BR
Cons:
- Main gun has a very inconvenient firing arc, including the steel shield on the edges of the horizontal arc, that lifts the gun up above the target, while the in-game indicator still shows the gun to be green to fire
- Offset of the gun compared to the aiming reticle along with frequent reloads make it very challenging to engage enemy aircraft
- Large side-profile makes it possible for some boats to kill the T-51a with a single barrage along the ship's length
- Very short-range torpedoes make it challenging to engage destroyers, especially in open waters
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
- Skins
- Videos
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
| Japan boats | |
|---|---|
| Motor torpedo boats | Type T-1 · Type T-14 · Type T-14 (mod. 1) · Type T-38 · Type T-51a · Type T-51b |
| PT-802 · PT-808 · PT-15 | |
| Motor gun boats | Ha-Go (mod. 1) · Type 4 (mod. 2) · Type 4 (Mod 4) |
| Asagao (YTE-01) · PG 02 | |
| Armoured gun boats | Soukou-Tei · Soukou-Tei No.4 |
| Gunboats | Chidori |
| Japan premium ships | |
|---|---|
| Motor torpedo boats | Type T-14 (mod. 1) · Type T-51a |
| Motor gun boats | Type 4 (Mod 4) · PG 02 |
| Sub-chasers | Type K-8 No.13 |
| Frigates | Akebono |
| Destroyers | IJN Satsuki · IJN Nenohi · IJN Hayanami · IJN Kiyoshimo · IJN Yuudachi · JDS Yūgure (DD-184) |
| Light cruisers | IJN Yubari · IJN Mikuma |
| Heavy cruisers | IJN Myoko |
| Battleships | IJN Yamashiro |
