MAS 555
Contents
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) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 112 | 45 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 80 | 32 | |
Modifications and economy
| Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
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Armament
Primary armament
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.
Additional armament
Describe the available additional armaments of the ship: depth charges, mines, torpedoes. Talk about their positions, available ammunition and launch features such as dead zones of torpedoes.
If there is no additional armament, remove this section.
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 | Torpedo Mode | ||
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
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- encyclopedia page on the ship;
- other literature.
| Italy boats | |
|---|---|
| Motor torpedo boats | MC-490 · Freccia P-493 · MAS 555 · MAS 561 · MAS 569 |
| MS-15 · MS-53 · MS-472 · Stefano Turr · VAS 201 · GIS 811 · MC 485 | |
| Motor gun boats | MS-473 · MV-611 · Sparviero |
| Motor torpedo gun boats | Saetta P-494 |
| Gunboats | Albatros |
