Pr.123K
Contents
Description
The Pr.123K "Komsomolets" is a rank III Soviet motor torpedo boat with a battle rating of 2.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced during Update 1.79 "Project X" when the Soviet fleet was implemented into the game.
General info
Survivability and armour
The Pr.123K, like the majority of PT boats, has no armour. As this is a boat of the same class as its predecessor in-game (Pr. 123bis), it has the same vulnerabilities - easily destroyed engines and frequent fires.
Mobility
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 135 | 46 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 96 | 33 | |
The Pr. 123K "Komsomolets" has excellent mobility that is very comparable to the reserve G-5 torpedo boat. This ship has an excellent top speed of 120+ km/h in AB, as well as great acceleration and snappy rudder response. These factors combine with the Pr. 123K's small silhouette to make the ship almost impossible to hit at longer ranges - this plays as its biggest advantage which leads to a sort of "hit and run" playstyle. If you have mastered the playstyle of the G-5 reserve torpedo boat, you will master the Pr.123 easily.
Modifications and economy
| Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armament
Primary armament
The Pr. 123K has half the number of machine guns than Pr. 123bis, but they have a larger caliber (dual 14.5 mm KPV machine guns). This is a generally disadvantage at this battle rating, because the vast majority of boats you will face will have no armour and so volume of fire is more important than the power of the ammunition.
However the KPV is a very powerful gun, and with API ammunition it can do considerable internal and crew damage, destroying any other small boat in the game with 2-3 reloads, and even significantly reducing the crew of much larger vessels such as destroyers. Effective use of the guns requires good understanding of lead and aiming offsets for speed and angle - opponents will often not adequately compensate for your speed, while you can be causing damage at ranges up to 1.5km
The guns are mounted in the stern, giving a very wide angle of fire excluding a relatively small angle either side of straight ahead.
Additional armament
The Pr. 123K is equipped with 2 x 450 mm wet-heating 45-36NU torpedoes, which are placed on the sides of the boat. When released, they are fired forwards already at speed, which allows you to get a jump on any opponents who are in the torpedo range. It is a good idea to rush tougher opponents and fire your torpedoes very close to them to guarantee a hit (use this tactic at higher battle ratings to get rid of the toughest ships).
The Pr. 123K can carry 4 BB-1 depth charges, which can be used as time-based mines or as traps for opponents who are circling you. It is advised to read the full BB-1 article which covers its uses in more depth.
Usage in battles
The Pr. 123K can seem as a downgrade from the previous Pr. 123bis, with two less machine guns placed in a position that forces you to expose your side to shoot. However, the ship does have a more powerful set of guns, which can be combined with the ship's excellent mobility to make use of ambush / hit-and-run tactics.
The Pr. 123K does best in base-capturing abilities as it can easily reach bases before most other boats. Thus, at the start of each game, you should rush straight for the bases. After the bases are captured, you can move into ambush tactics, as the Pr. 123K has relatively weak survivability and will be shredded in any brawls. Thus, you have to play very carefully, and always stay at speed, or you will get picked off very quickly by gun boats with large guns. You should be the person to capture points for your team, and stay a nuisance for the enemies.
Against smaller vessels such as MTBs, the two 14.5 mm machine guns are usually more than enough. However, note that these guns will bob considerably when travelling at high speeds making aiming extremely difficult. Thus, ambush tactics are important - the boat who shoots first will almost always win the engagement. You should try to ambush other MTBs who are already distracted in order to maximise your ship's survivability. Against larger destroyers, the Pr. 123 gets two large torpedoes which are usually enough to one-shot anything up to the size of a destroyer - make use of these torpedoes to get rid of larger vessels such as early destroyers.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Extremely mobile with a high top speed and snappy control response
- Very small silhouette makes this boat extremely difficult to engage at range
- Two heavy-hitting machine guns capable of shredding through most boats at its BR
- Gets access to torpedoes which can easily destroy anything up to the size of a destroyer
Cons:
- Absolutely no armour and just 7 crew members cause the ship to have terrible survivability
- Hull is made of wood and can easily be set alight by machine-gun fire
- Two less guns than the preceding Pr. 123bis
- Inability to engage opponents right in-front due to the positioning of the dual machine-gun turret
- Only two torpedoes which fire forward, compared to four on many comparable MTBs
History
Pr. 123K “Komsomolets” was the last variant of the Pr. 123 series of motor torpedo boats built by the Soviet navy during and shortly after the Second World War. The ship differed from previous Pr. 123 versions due to the removal of one 12.7 mm DShK machine gun turret, the installation of a heavier 14.5 mm machine gun turret, and the installation of two Identification Friend-or-Foe (IFF) and target search radars. As well, the ship carried a new design of smoke generator designed to operate for longer periods of time. In total, 205 boats were built from 1949 to 1951.
The Pr. 123K was the final development of the Pr. 123 class, and had improved armament and sensor equipment. Compared to the previous Pr. 123bis, several changes were made to the basic ship design. The Pr. 123K was built with a new, more spacious open bridge, which housed the steering and control equipment. As well, the Pr. 123K lost the forward machine gun turret of the Pr. 123bis, while the rear turret was upgraded to a dual KPV machine gun turret. The ship had less powerful engines compared to the Pr. 123bis (200 less hp per engine), but was capable of a higher top speed thanks to a lighter and more hydrodynamic hull . Finally, the ship gained two new radars - the “Zarnitsa” air-search radar and the “Fakel-M” IFF device. Both were mounted on a dome behind the bridge.
In total, 205 Pr. 123K boats were built between 1949 and 1951, several years after their earlier counterparts. Of these, some ships were delivered without the radar installation. Two ships were modified with single and dual hydrofoils (being the A-10 and A-11 models), which were capable of even higher speeds in tests. As well, over 100 Pr. 123K MTBs were exported to Warsaw-pact countries. The ships had a long service life, some ships remaining in export service until 1990.
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 ship;
- other literature.
| USSR boats | |
|---|---|
| Motor torpedo boats | D-3 · G-5 · G-5 (ShVAK) · Pr.123-bis · Pr.123K (A-10bis) · Pr.123K · Pr.183 |
| Motor gun boats | TKA-412 · MO-4 · OD-200 · Pr.253L · Pr.183 BM-21 · Ya-5M |
| Motor torpedo gun boats | Pr. 206 · Pr.206-M · MPK Pr.12412 · MPK Pr.12412P · MPK Pr.11451 |
| Gunboats | Groza |
| Armoured gun boats | BMO · MBK-161 early · MBK-161 late · MBK pr.186 · MBK pr.186 (MK 85) · Pr.1124 early · Pr.1124 late · Pr.1124 MLRS |
| Pr.191 · Pr.191M · Pr.1204 · Pr.1204 late | |
