Fairmile C (312)

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Rank VI USA | Premium | Golden Eagles
A-10A Thunderbolt (Early)
uk_fairmile_c.png
Fairmile C (312)
AB RB SB
2.3 2.3 2.3
Research:26 000 Specs-Card-Exp.png
Purchase:76 000 Specs-Card-Lion.png
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Description

GarageImage Fairmile C (312).jpg


The Fairmile C (312) is a rank III British motor gun boat with a battle rating of 2.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.83 "Masters of the Sea" as part of the British fleet closed beta test. It is the last of the British small boats before the destroyer-tier.

General info

Survivability and armour

The Fairmile C has a hull of 28mm wood a superstructure of 15mm wood, meaning that you can be hull-broken by large rounds, the likes of which tend to be mounted on destroyers, those ships which you will start to see after bringing this onto your roster. There is only one piece of armor: a 12.7mm steel plate on the front cannon, which is insufficient to protect the gun from damage. With such low armor, a mere 16 crew members, and a long, thin profile, you are an easy target for enemy ships, enemy planes, enemy tanks, enemy infantry, enemy stray fire, and enemy gusts of wind. Fires are a minor hazard in this ship, as anything which can start a fire on board will probably kill you before the fire alarm goes off.Same with magazine explosions.

Mobility

With a maximum speed of around 65km/h in Arcade, and 30km/h reversed, the Fairmile C's speed is simply insufficient. The rudders are similarly mediocre in the movement department. You will not be the first to the fight, but you will have enough speed to reach contested seas before the game is over... barely.

Armament

Primary armament

The Fairmile C's main armaments are a set of 40mm semi-automatic cannons, similar to the one on the Dark 1102 that comes before. One is mounted in the front and one in the rear, creating a substantial area for broadside. While twice the gun should mean twice the fun, both of them come with a caveat. The forward gun has a magazine size of 56, and then an 8-second reload. While it's low depression means that it can't always hit nearby targets, the rear gun is worse. It has the familiar 4-large magazine, and a reload time of merely two seconds. The killer is that both guns have nine spare magazines, despite the rear gun going through each one nearly ten times as fast. It will not be long before your two guns are reduced to one gun. Finally, the reload times mean that, when the two guns are used at once, there will be uneven firing periods, with some points having no shots firing and some having many.

In practice, this is a downgrade from the Dark 1102. The ability to put two cannons on target will be extremely conditional, relying on such things as angle, but also on ammo storage and reload times. Compared to the reload time being only slightly slower than the normal cycle rate, this requires much more thought and forethought while not producing a lot of extra damage on target.

Anti-aircraft armament

Coming in two BR's too late is the Fairmile C's anti-aircraft armament of 2x2 7.7m MG's and 2x2 12.7mm MG's. While this does give it a fairly significant anti-aircraft capability for its rank, what this thing needs is more anti-ship capability to defend against enemy craft running circles around you.

Special armament

Main article: Mk.VII depth charge

The Fairmile C can be equipped with depth charges. These are not useful except in close range, as there are no submarines in the game besides the poor sods who showed up in Fairmile C's. In close-quarters, they can be used as melee weapons, but in close quarters you are already within lethal (read: sneezing) range of any and all enemy craft.

Usage in battles

The Fairmile C (312) is an unusual ship, but the best way to play it is to use a simple acronym:

J - Hold J for three seconds to go back to the spawn menu and get a different ship.

This is, of course, a joke. The Fairmile C is more expensive than the first few British destroyers, so you cannot afford to use and lose this floating dumpster in every round. It is significantly slower than the Dark 1102, and it doesn't drive around or turn as quickly, either. While being a bigger target and having no other survivability-enhancing measures. It has a main armament that is theoretically more useful but in practice is far harder to use, and at minimal benefit.The only non-objective downgrade is the switch from torpedoes to AA. This is a fortuitous choice, as your slow speed and large size makes you a convenient target for planes, and high-end small boats never ever fight destroyers, ever. If they ever did fight destroyers, they would wish they had torpedoes instead, as the guns are merely okay at small-ship v small-ship combat and are borderline useless for damaging such large vessels.

Modules

Tier Seakeeping Unsinkability Firepower
I Dry-Docking Tool Set 40 mm HE 12.7 mm I Anti-Air Armament Targeting
II Rudder Replacement Fire Protection System Smokescreen 40 mm AP 12.7 mm API Auxiliary Armament Targeting
III Propeller Replacement Improved Rangefinder Depth Charges Primary Armament Targeting
IV Engine Maintenance New Pumps Artillery Support

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • The AA suite is effective for the planes it will often be going up against

Cons:

  • Expensive
  • Easily destroyed
  • The anti-ship weapons are subpar compared to what else is on the table
  • High research costs mean that modifications will come slowly
  • Using the depth charges as solitary confinement for crew members who attempt to take their chances with the open ocean results in the ship smelling like gunpowder for the next few days

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 big, take it to a separate article, taking a link to an article about the vehicle and adding a block "/ History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article.

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

See also

Links to the 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.


Britain boats
Motor torpedo boats  Brave Borderer · Dark Aggressor · Dark Aggressor TD · Fairmile D (617) · Fairmile D (697) · Fairmile D (5001) · HMS Gay Archer
  MTB-1(1) · MTB-1(2) · MTB Vosper · MTB Vosper(2) · MTB-422
Motor gun boats  Dark Adventurer · Fairmile A (ML100) · Fairmile B (ML345) · Fairmile C (312) · Fairmile C (332) · Fairmile D (601) · Fairmile H LCS(L)(2)
  HMAS Arrow · MGB-61 · MGB-75 · ML 1383 · SGB Grey Fox · SGB Grey Goose
Gunboats  HMS Spey