VTB-14
Contents
Description
The VTB-14 is a rank I French motor torpedo boat with a battle rating of 1.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Dance of Dragons".
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 | 124 | 38 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 89 | 27 | |
Modifications and economy
| Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armament
Primary armament
When looking at 7.7mm guns in naval forces, it's common sense to compare the Darne M1922 with the 1916 Lewis gun found on the British MTB-1 and MTB Vosper series boats at the same battle rating. In fact, the ballistics between these two guns are very close, as the bullets share the same mass. The Darne M1922 has a somewhat slower muzzle velocity but a much higher rate of fire, more bullets per magazine, and can reload almost three times faster. This makes it a superior weapon to use on the fly. However, its overall damage per second is lower due to having only two barrels vs the 4-8 per British vessel.
While weapons of this calibre work well against open-topped tanks, they struggle to do meaningful damage through the hull of a boat. As such, they're complemented best by quick movement, extraordinary volume of fire, and ambush tactics. For maximum effect, captains will want to get close to retain as much shot velocity as possible and target vulnerable areas. This is particularly important if the opponent's hull is angled. Precise fire into flat sides of the hull will allow you to pick off crew compartments, since the bullets struggle to reach vital components like the engines. Raking the opponent's gun positions may help you approach in one piece, but only if there are no gunshields present to stop your shot.
The difference in belts relates to their ratio of AP and API rounds. The damaging effects of these two bullet types are nearly identical, so the choice of belt isn't particularly important. However, the solid AP shot is slightly heavier and thus is listed as having slightly increased penetration under certain circumstances. The incendiary filler in the API rounds appears to have negligible effect on surface targets, if any can be observed at all, but incendiary rounds are theoretically better against aircraft. The choice of which type of belt to take is up to personal preference.
While the gun mounts on the VTB-11, 13, and 14 differ from those on the VTB-8 and 9, the performance is the same. The only difference is that they're mounted slightly higher in the superstructure which negligibly increases the zone around the boat in which the gun can't reach.
- Universal: AP · T · AP · T
- 7.7 mm AP belt: AP · AP · AP · T
- 7.7 mm API belt: IT · IT · IT · IT
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | ||||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| T | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | |
| AP | 9 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 | |
| IT | 8 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay | Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| T | 835 | 0.01 | - | - | - | 47° | 56° | 65° | ||||
| AP | 830 | 0.01 | - | - | - | 47° | 56° | 65° | ||||
| IT | 830 | 0.01 | - | - | - | 47° | 56° | 65° | ||||
Additional armament
The M1909R is the same torpedo carried on the reserve VTB-8 that captains should already be familiar with. Being a pre-WW1 torpedo, the M1909R has the shortest range of any torpedo carried on a reserve coastal vessel (2 km), along with an average speed (61 km/h) and payload (144 kg). Suffice to say, the user will need to get as close as possible to the enemy before launching, provided 50 meters of distance is left between launcher and target for the torpedo to arm. Released by a center-line chute on the stern, captains don't need to worry about angling boat to aim the launchers. Unlike the torpedoes found on the VTB-8 which drop over the side of the vessel, those found on VTB-14 drop perfectly in line with the keel, requiring less course adjustment to achieve a firing solution, but slightly increasing their travel time. It is best to use the M1909R in close-range ambushes from behind cover. Targets should mostly consist of other coastal vessels and destroyers due to the torpedo's small payload which can be entirely absorbed by battleship torpedo protection systems rated to withstand 250 kg of TNT.
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:
- Fast and agile
- Stable gunnery platform at high speeds
- 360° arc of fire for both guns, with very good vertical guidance
- Good survivability for the BR
- Small silhouette
- Tiny steering gear is very unlikely to suffer critical damage
Cons:
- Poor firepower
- Limited selection of ammunition
- Very short range of the torpedoes, making them extremely situational
- Torpedoes dropped from the aft of the vessel take longer to reach the target, but this additional distance increases the likelihood that the torpedo will arm itself before hitting the target at point-blank range.
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
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
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
| Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire (ACL) | |
|---|---|
| Motor Torpedo Boats | |
| VTB-8-class | VTB-8 · VTB-9 |
| VTB-11-class | VTB-11 · VTB-13 · VTB-14 |
| Destroyers | |
| Jaguar-class | Leopard |
| Battleships | |
| Bretagne-class | Lorraine |
| See also | Loire Aviation |
| France boats | |
|---|---|
| Motor torpedo boats | VTB-8 · VTB-9 · VTB-11 · VTB-14 |
| VLT-1 · VLT-2 · VTB-19 | |
| MTB-96 | |
| Motor gun boats | L9059 · La Combattante · VTB-13 |
| Gunboats | La Suprise |
