SMS Von der Tann
Contents
Description
The SMS Von der Tann, 1914 is a rank V German battlecruiser with a battle rating of 6.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Hot Tracks".
General info
Survivability and armour
The SMS Von der Tann is a battlecruiser. This class of ships is supposed to have the firepower of dreadnoughts, whilst having superior speed to catch their prey. This comes at the cost of armor thickness and coverage. She doesn't have coal bunkers protecting all turrets, the front and rear turrets only have armor plates to protect their ammo. A lucky shot will knock a turret out and its ammo storage underneath, especially from other dreadnoughts. Still, the Von der Tann's armour is still very thick and can shield off most of the cruiser's shells and imprevious to destroyers.
While the lack of AA guns can be problematic against enemy aircraft, this can actually help the Vonn der Tann to preserve more of her crew in a trading firefight against enemy cruisers, as they need to damage your crew compartment or casemate turrets to kill her crew.
Mobility
Being a battlecruiser, the Vonn der Tann features superior mobility compared to battleship. Thought still slower than majority of the cruisers, getting around the map will not be a problem for her.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 60 | 34 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 51 | 29 | |
Modifications and economy
| Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Armament
Primary armament
The Vonn der Tann features eight 283 mm SK L/45 cannons inside four twin turrets. While it appears in your harbour that the ship's left and right turrets were obstructed by her lifeboats, these lifeboats will be removed once you get into the battle, allowing the left and right turrets to traverse into the other sides, and thus making her capable of doing full boardsides with decent amount of firing angle.
The gun itself, while not as powerful as other dreadnoughts with 305 mm cannons, still packs a huge punch to the enemy dreadnoughts and can do the short work out of enemy destroyers and cruisers. The gun also have good reload time for its carlibre at 20 seconds (ace crew).
Secondary armament
The Vonn der Tann features 10 х 150 mm SK L/45 cannons, five mounted on a casemate of each sides of the ship. And 16 х 88 mm SK L/45 cannons, placed in a set of four casemate on the bow, stern, and command tower, as well as four turrets on the rear fire control tower.
The 150 mm guns is very reliable against enemy cruisers at mid-to-close range (within 7 km), being able to chew up most of their crew quickly due to quick reload time of 5 seconds. Other than HEF shell, the guns have an option to load an SAP shell and APCBC shell, the SAP is largely useless due to poor penetration, while the APCBC shell can tear up the modules of lightly-armoured enemy at closer range.
The 88 mm guns is mainly acts as a supplementary weapons and can only be loaded with HEF shell. The guns doesn't pack as much punch as the 150 mm, but it is still quite useful against destroyers and PT boats.
Anti-aircraft armament
Being built during the infancy of naval aviation, the Vonn der Tann is barely equipped to deal against aerial threats. Thus her "anti-air" armaments only consists of two antique 7.92 mm machine guns, which won't help to deter any aerial threats. Essentially making her a sitting duck against enemy air support.
Additional armament
Similar with other dreadnoughts in her era, the Vonn der Tann features four underwater torpedo launchers, one mounted directly at her bow and stern each, and other two is placing on each sides of her bow. Due to this peculiar placement, the torpedo is highly situational and will not help much to destroy enemy ship. The torpedo itself is also pretty weak and slow, with only 122 kg of TNT and a top speed at only 50 km/h. Thus you should relied on her main and secondary firepower instead.
Usage in battles
As a battlecruiser, the Von der Tann is fast and well-armed. The eight 283 mm guns can deal a huge amount of damage and have a reload of 20 seconds, much faster than other battlecruisers and battleships (and the same as some American heavy cruisers), as well as capable of doing full boardsides. While other battleships can punch through your armour, cruisers will seriously struggle. Target cruisers and punish them with your strong secondary guns, colossal main battery firepower, and good reload. They'll struggle with your armour and they'll struggle to outrun you.
Your main threat will be battleships, who can angle against your guns and punch through your armour comfortably. Use your mobility to get away from, or around them, and don't be afraid to unleash some torpedoes on them if they do get too close.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Fantastic speed for a ship of its size, able to outrun any battleship and stay close to cruisers
- Out-guns and out-armours every cruiser in the game
- Can do a full boardsides with the same damage potential as SMS Westfalen
- Fantastic reload on its main guns, better than the Admiral Graf Spee despite them being the same size
- Deadly secondary armament that can punish cruisers if they come too close
Cons:
- Still slower than the majority of cruisers, can easily get left behind
- Battleships will destroy you in a gunnery duel
- Effectively no AA protection, easy target for aircraft
History
Devblog
With the appearance of HMS Invincible in 1906, the Imperial Navy found itself lacking an appropriate response as the British battlecruiser outmatched any comparable vessel in the German fleet at the time. As a result, German ship builders began working on designing an equivalent vessel in the same year under the name "Cruiser F". As the ship would eventually become Germany's first battlecruiser, its design was carefully considered, with emphasis being put on speed and protection.
By mid 1907, Cruiser F's design had been finalized and its construction approved by the Kaiser in June, christening the vessel SMS Von der Tann in honor of a Bavarian general. Von der Tann was laid down in March 1908 and launched exactly a year later, before being completed and commissioned into service in September 1910. At the time of commissioning Von der Tann quickly became the new symbol of German naval power, being not only the first German warship fitted with steam turbine engines, but also the world's fastest warship of its type at the time. After completing trials, Von der Tann was sent on a cruise to South America before returning to Germany in May 1911.
During WWI, Von der Tann participated in numerous naval operations in the war: including the Battle of Jutland in 1916, as well as participating in raids against British ports and engagements against the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea. At the end of WWI in 1918, Von der Tann along with the remainder of the German Navy was interned at Scapa Flow. In the following year, the interned German fleet along with Von der Tann scuttled itself to prevent capture by the Allies with this event marking the end of the warship's illustrious career.
Media
- SMS Von der Tann Devblog Images
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
| Germany battlecruisers | |
|---|---|
| SMS Von der Tann* | |
| Scharnhorst-class | Scharnhorst |
| * Unique ship | |
