MAS 555

MAS 555

Saetta P-494

MS-53

MAS 555

Saetta P-494

MS-53

Italy

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.0	1.0	1.0

Class:

Motor torpedo boat

Boat

Research:2 900

Purchase:700

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Description

The Velocissimo Classe 500, MAS 555 is a rank I Italian motor torpedo boat with a battle rating of 1.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Starfighters".

General info

Survivability and armour

The MAS 555 has a wooden hull and superstructure and no steel protection, thus making it damageable by virtually everything, including small calibre machine gun fire. With its crew count of 13, it has slightly more survivability than most other reserve boats, but nothing too special or notable.

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)		Turn Time (s)	Turn Radius (m)
		Forward	Reverse
AB	Stock	___	___
	Upgraded	112	45
RB/SB	Stock	___	___
	Upgraded	80	32

Armament

Primary armament

The firing angles of the autocannon, unable to fire directly in front

The primary armament, in fact the only armament, is an Italian 20 mm cannon. It has a firerate of 240 shots/min and a 12 shot magazine before reloading for a minimum of 1.8 seconds. The cannon is unable to shot in front of the ship, it is necessary to locate broadside or turn your ship 180 degrees.

Three different belts containing two different shells are available:

• Perforante mod.35 (unlocked by default): API-T · HEFI-T
• Granata mod.35: HEFI-T · HEFI-T · HEFI-T · API-T
• Perforante mod.35: API-T · API-T · API-T · HEFI-T

These belts are mostly the same, the HEFI-T belt is slightly more suitable against wooden boats, like PT-6 and the MTB 1, as well as low flying aircraft, while the API-T belt is slightly more suitable against component damage and steel boats, like the LS 3 and the G-5.

Torpedo armament

Two 450 mm steam turbined Si 200 torpedoes on the left and on the right of the ship are a useful tool against larger sub chasers and gunboats when being able to sneak up. They have a maximum speed 81 km/h, a range of 3 km, and an explosive filler of 200 kg, enough to destroy any ship at the battle rating.

Special armament

The MAS is one of the reserve boats able to carry six B TG depth charges with an explosive filler of 50 kg. These however are extremely situational and most of the time defensive in nature, as you have to drive in front of the enemy ship, or wait for the enemy to pass you, to utilize these weapons. Furthermore, 50 kg of explosives is very weak for a depth charge, as most others have around 100-140 kg of TNT, limiting effective use even further.

But despite the drawbacks, making a kill with these is one of, if not the most, satisfying ways to destroy an enemy player and equally humiliating for those who are on the receiving end.

Usage in battles

The MAS 555 is a rather strange boat, despite being the reserve boat equipped with the largest calibre, its slow firerate and small magazine, as well as the inability to fire directly forwards drastically limits its potential. However, it can still be a significant threat to other ships.

The best strategy whilst using the cannon is not to drive forward into battle, but to turn your rear to the enemy, and sailing in reverse. This way you can negate the limiting firing arcs at the front and still only reveal a small part of the hull, which extends your life expectancy by a few crucial seconds. The best way is to stay behind cover and move only rearwards when engaging and then back into cover. A one on one fight against almost any other PT boat will not go in your favour, therefore the element of surprise is most important.

Modules

Tier	Seakeeping		Unsinkability		Firepower
I	Dry-Docking		Tool Set		Granata mod.35
II		Rudder Replacement	Fire Protection System	Smokescreen	Perforante mod.35
III	Propeller Replacement				Depth Charges	Primary Armament Targeting
IV		Engine Maintenance	New Pumps		Artillery Support

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Excellent speed forwards and in reverse
• High crew count increases survivability

Cons:

• Cannot fire directly forward
• Small 12 shot magazines, therefore low fire rate
• Very unstable gun platform, can be very difficult to make full use of each clip
• Although it has the highest calibre armament of all reserve boats, the 20 mm does not consistently inflict damage unlike its counterparts

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

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• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the ship;
• other literature.