M-17
Contents
Description
The M-class, M-17 is a rank IV German sub-chaser with a battle rating of 4.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Direct Hit".
General info
Survivability and armour
The M-17's armour is decent for its rank, able to shrug off small to medium-calibre rounds from torpedo boats. However when facing larger-calibre guns from other gun boats and destroyers the armour lacks protection, especially the turrets which can be disabled easily. The fuel tanks are located in the centre of the hull and can result in frequent fires. However it can still take many large destroyer rounds to destroy the ship as the crew is spread out. It is preferred to upgrade the armour for even better crew and ammo rack protection.
Mobility
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 51 | 19 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 34 | 13 | |
The M-17 is very sluggish to accelerate and turn. Manoeuvres must be planned well in advance to avoid torpedoes and running aground. It is recommended to upgrade the rudder first to improve turn time as well as the engine, propeller and crew to improve both acceleration and deceleration and make it a more potent gunship.
Modifications and economy
| Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armament
Primary armament
| 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 | ||
| Sprgr. L/4.4 Kpf.Z | HE | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Sprgr. L/4.4 Bd.Z | HE | 42 | 34 | 25 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Sprgr. L/4.4 Zt.Z | HE-TF | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| 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% | |||||||
| Sprgr. L/4.4 Kpf.Z | HE | 785 | 15.1 | 0 | 0.1 | 1.55 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| Sprgr. L/4.4 Bd.Z | HE | 785 | 15.1 | 0.015 | 5 | 1.55 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| Sprgr. L/4.4 Zt.Z | HE-TF | 785 | 15.1 | 0 | 0.1 | 1.55 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
The two 10.5 cm main guns are very effective and have good reload time and muzzle velocity, able to knock out small boats in two or three well-placed hits. The upgraded armour-piercing L/4.4 Bd.Z is recommended for hardened targets such as armoured boats and gun ships but is not very effective on one-to-one with destroyers. The gun's horizontal traverse favours a broadside attack or angling about 45 degrees towards the target to minimise exposure.
Secondary armament
The M-17 is fitted with multiple 20 mm Flak cannons which are effective against small boats and, being radar-guided, is accurate against low-flying aircraft less than 2.5 km away. The short reload time contributes to a large volume of fire that can repel enemy attacks. However, the main quad 20 mm is positioned towards the stern and cannot fire directly forwards and the front is only protected by the two port and starboard cannons.
Additional armament
There are no light machine guns nor 37 mm cannons like the similar M-802. There is an upgrade to a powerful anti-submarine bomb mortar but its use is very limited and opportunistic in-game. The slow speed of the M-17 makes mines difficult to set up and use effectively.
Usage in battles
The M-17 is similar to the M-802 but without the reinforced engine armour or the torpedoes. As with most sub-chasers, it's slow and won't arrive first to the battlefield, but the ship has well armoured 105 mm main guns with enough fire power to hull break many ships or pen destroyers with base fuze HE in desperate scenarios. Facing destroyers is ill-advised as they have higher caliber guns in larger quantity.
This ship should be used at long range to allow for more time to react to smaller vessels as well as the torpedoes as the slow speed of this ship makes it a torpedo and artillery magnet. In a pinch, the vessel can litter a capture point with mines, albeit they require a lot of skill and patience to use and often act as an extra ammo rack prone to detonate. The high position of the player's angle of view makes spotting targets behind obstacles much easier.
To counter this vessel, the most vulnerable place is the bow where the ammo rack is. A single bomb or torpedo there is guaranteed to sink the vessel. The safest option would be swarming the M-17 as multiple ships at different flanks will overwhelm the ship easily.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Heavy-hitting main armament can knock out many coastal vessels
- Coastal spawn allows the vehicle to face small vessels
- Fast reload rate
- High survivability
- Can carry many mines
Cons:
- Sluggish speed makes this ship vulnerable to torpedoes
- Outgunned by destroyers
- Massive/tall target
- Low calibre AA is ineffective at long ranges
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
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
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| Stettiner Oderwerke | |
|---|---|
| Minesweepers | |
| M-class Type 1935 | M-17 |
| Germany sub-chasers | |
|---|---|
| M-class | M-17 · M-802 |
| R-1-class | Drache |
| Project 89.2 | Bernau |
