M-802
Contents
Description
The M-class, M-802 is a premium rank IV German sub-chaser with a battle rating of 4.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced during Update 1.83 "Masters of the Sea" with the fleet release into Open Beta Test.
General info
Survivability and armour
The M-802 is a very large craft with relatively little armour for it's size. Each of the 105mm gun mounts are in a casemated shelter with 8 mm's of anti-fragmentation armour. Both 37mm FlaK C/36 mounts are protected by 8 mm hardened steel armoured gunshields, with the 20mm mountings all having 12 mm hardened steel gun shields. Hullwise, the Type M is much more lacking, featuring 10mm rolled homogenous armoured plating only around the bridge and boiler-room.
The Type M features a crew compliment of 107 sailors, which allows the vessel to take a battering from normal munitions with relatively little issue, though fires and explosions will quickly cause crew to die. With its torpedo tubes, depth charges, and ammunition racks being entirely unarmoured, these aformentioned fires and explosions can occur quickly aboard vessels with foolhardy commanders, leading to rapid sinking of the vessel due to hull breaches and crew loss. The guns, while susceptible to larger caliber munitions, will usually survive being targeted by PT boats, as their spacing across the ship makes them relatively difficult to completely disable.
Mobility
Being a coal fired vessel, the Type M is relatively slow in its course. With a maximum speed of 31 km/h in a straight line, and 821 tonnes of displacement to contend with, the ship is not quick to accelerate or come to a stop. Its base rudder turning time of 5.4 seconds also leaves much to be desired in its turning, with course correction often involving 3 point turns compared to the PT boats it spawns near.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 46 | 16 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 31 | 11 | |
Modifications and economy
2 × 100 / 190 / 50 % 2 × 166 / 166 / 166 % | Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Armament
Primary armament
The M-802 is equipped with a primary armament of two 105 mm SK C/32 cannons. With 100 shells per gun for a grand total of 200 rounds aboard the ship, and access to 2 types of HE and a Time Fuzed HE shell, they are effective anti-PT boat weapons. Fights against destroyers are also possible with these weapons, though care is needed to avoid their return fire.
With a four second reload on such a large caliber munition, an 8°/s traverse rate, and access to high explosive with base fuze ammunition, hits to most non-destroyer vessels will cause massive damage, oftentimes instantly destroying a compartment and occasionally one-shotting PT boats. Mounted fore and aft aboard the vessel, their firing angles are superb for all forms of engagement, and ballistic performance is par for the course for the 105mm guns ingame.
Secondary armament
The Type M's secondaries are it's two 37mm FlaK C/36 mounts, fore and aft on the superstructure. Mounted above and behind the main guns, one afront the bridge and one behind the funnel, with good firing arcs, these guns make quick work of PT boats and incoming aircraft at medium to close ranges. Letting the AI control them is usually sufficient for most situations, though manual control can be taken to dispatch pesky enemies getting too close for comfort with more speed than trying to rotate the main guns. Though access to mainly HE and mainly APT belts is available, the default Universal belt offers a good balance of the two shells and is the primary ammunition of choice for these guns.
Anti-aircraft armament
Strung along the top of the bridge and tail-end of the superstructure, the Type M's anti-aircraft armament consists of 20 mm FlaK 38 mounts. Featuring one Flakvierling above and amidships of the rear 105, and two double mounts atop the bridge, the 20 mm's have full coverage of the ship, though all 3 cannot be brought to bare on any target but aircraft above the vessel. There are no customizable belts for these guns, though manual control of the Flakvierling will still remove all but armoured PT boats at any range below a kilometer nearly instantly. Against aircraft, the true effective range is under 2 kilometers when controlled by the AI gunners.
Additional armament
Being a subchaser, the Type M does have access to two 533 mm G7a torpedoes, though they are fixed in position in two deck-mounted tubes firing to either front side of the ship. With a maximum speed of 56 km/h in the water and a 14 km range, they are effective against destroyers and cruisers, and their 280 kg charge of SW39a deals a significant amount of damage on a hit.
The Type M is also equipped with depth charges as a supplicant to its torpedo armament. 4 WBG depth charges with 100 kg's of TNT a peice are mounted on launchers to either side of the rear 37mm, with 2 firing to each side. Their high weight means they land relatively close to the vessel, meaning they are only effective at destroying torpedoes approaching amidships or PT boats making close runs against the side of the vessel.
Usage in battles
Being such a large vessel with a PT boat spawn, and at a relatively high BR for PT's, the M-802 makes itself a massive target for 40mm gunfire from opposing vessels, which can quickly incapacitate the ship and detonate its ammunition stores. As such, playing the Type M with a mind towards solid cover is an absolute must. Hiding behind island tips with the 105 mm guns exposed allows for protection of the ammunition and torpedo launchers, preventing easy kills for the enemy. Her strong secondary and anti-air armament means that planes are of relatively little threat provided you keep an eye to the sky and engage them when spotted. The AA and secondary guns also allow for last minute countering of PT boats that managed to sneak up on you., which can happen quite often with the Type M's low speed. If possible, avoid bringing the torpedoes and depth charges into any serious matches, as though they can be useful in certain situations, their high likelihood of detonation leaves little point in the tradeoff outside of Enduring Confrontation matches.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Adequate armament including multiple 2 cm Flakvierlings and two hard-hitting 105 mm cannons
- Highly-effective anti-aircraft suite that is ideal for closer ranges (below 2 km)
- Multi-compartment design prevents quick sinking to small caliber fire
- Good survivability for a ship of it's size, with a large crew count
- Engine compartment is protected by armour and coal bunkers, meaning that it is hard to knock out
- Can carry torpedoes to deal with heavier targets which it cannot outgun
Cons:
- Light fleet spawn, meaning that the ship spawns with heavier-armed, faster destroyers
- Survivability is compromised by the unarmoured hull and open gunmounts which offer little protection
- Crew compliment is used up in relatively exposed positions
- Incredibly slow, with a top speed of just 26 km/h in RB - this boat will take a while to get anywhere!
- AA suite is composed of small-calibre weapons which are ineffective at longer ranges
- Relatively small main armament (two guns) means the ship will be outgunned by most ships at it's BR (including many destroyers)
History
The "M-802", really the Minensuchboot (Minesweeper) 1943, was a class of minesweeping subchaser developed by the German Navy as a simplified but enlarged version of the Minensuchboot 1940. Featuring a unique design of hull and improved firepower over it's predecessor, the 1943 proved to be an effective vessel, with some remaining in service into the 1960s.
Designed around simplifying production, construction of the 1943 was not limited to shipyards entirely. The design of the vessel called for 8-10 pieces of hull that could be created in regular factories and transported by train to a shipyard where final assembly would commence. From these pieces, the 7 segments of the boat would be constructed and finally fitted out. Due to this construction method, the 1943 only took an average of 8 weeks to completely construct, and was done so at a much cheaper cost. Final fitting out was completed in the Rostock and Koenigsberg shipyards exclusively. Of the 18 vessels built, all were coal fired due to lack of oil for other types of boilers, though some were converted to oil firing postwar in their other roles.
Though some were sold to civilians postwar, to be used as ferries and trawlers, 1 was retained by the German Navy and received periodic upgrades before being scrapped. The remaining vessels went to the British and Americans as war plunder and were scrapped soon after.
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
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- encyclopedia page on the ship;
- other literature.
| Germany sub-chasers | |
|---|---|
| M-class | M-17 · M-802 |
| R-1-class | Drache |
| Project 89.2 | Bernau |
| Germany premium ships | |
|---|---|
| Motor torpedo boats | LS 4 Esau · KM-5 · S-204 Lang · S-701 |
| Minelayers | VS-8 |
| Sub-chasers | M-802 |
| Frigates | Lübeck |
| Destroyers | Jaguar · Luchs · T31 · Z20 Karl Galster · Z25 · Z47 |
| Light cruisers | Karlsruhe |
| Heavy cruisers | Prinz Eugen |
| Battleships | SMS Nassau |
