The Luchs was a German Raubtier-class torpedo boat. The Luchs was laid down on 2nd April 1927 and commissioned on 15th April 1929. Her main armament as built was made up of three single 10.5 cm SK C/28 cannons and two triple 500 mm torpedo tubes. After modernisation in 1932, the ship received three 12.8 cm SK C/34 cannons as replacement for the older 10.5 cm ones. The anti-aircraft protection was also added in form of two 2 cm C/38 autocannons. The 500 mm torpedo tubes were removed and replaced by two triple 533 mm launchers amidship. During the Spanish Civil War, the ship made multiple non-intervention patrols. On 18th February 1940, she escorted Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Admiral Hipper that were participating in Operation Nordmark, a search for Allied shipping in the North Sea. During the Norwegian campaign, she landed troops tasked with capturing Kristiansand and OdderØya Fortress. During the battle, on 9th April, cruiser Karlsruhe was sunk by torpedoes from British submarine HMS Truant, while Luchs managed to evade the torpedoes. After the evasion, Luchs went for a depth charge run, damaging the submarine in the process. The damaged Truant managed to escape. On 1th April, she and her sister Seeadler assisted heavy cruiser Lützow after being torpedoed by HMS Spearfish. On 26th July, she was escorting damaged Gneisenau back to port, when at 15:49 an explosion occurred. Luchs broke in half and sunk with loss of 102 men. Gneisenau's lookouts reported torpedo tracks in the water, and it was assumed that Luchs was hit by torpedoes aimed at Gneisenau. Luchs was sunk by HMS Thames, which was lost with all hands shortly after sinking of Luchs most likely due to hitting a mine.
The Luchs was introduced in Update "New Power". As a starter premium ship, Luchs possesses the highest calibre cannons of all starter destroyers, coupled with very high fire rate. However, it also come with its own drawbacks, such as only 100 rounds per gun and unprotected magazines located on the waterline. The turrets are protected by 8 mm thick antifragmentation armour making them immune only to low calibre machine gun fire. Luchs is also one of the faster destroyers with a max speed of 63 km/h, her torpedo armament is made of the G7a torpedoes which have 358.4 kg TNT eq explosive yield and speed of 81 km/h with 6 km range, making them overall a very versatile weapon.
Ammunition | Type | Armor penetration (mm) at a distance: | |||||
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10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1000 m | 1500 m | 2000 m | ||
HE | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | |
HE | 59 | 52 | 44 | 39 | 35 | 30 | |
HE-TF | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 |
Belt | Belt filling | Armor penetration (mm) at a distance: | |||||
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10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1000 m | 1500 m | 2000 m | ||
AP-T/AP/HEF-T/HEF | 36 | 35 | 29 | 24 | 21 | 18 | |
AP/AP-T/AP/HEF | 36 | 35 | 29 | 24 | 21 | 18 | |
HEF/HEF-T/HEF/AP | 36 | 35 | 29 | 24 | 21 | 18 |
Seakeeping |
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Unsinkability | |
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Firepower | ||
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