The Leichte Schnellboote 3 (lit. "Light Fast Boat 3"), or LS 3 for short, was one of the 12 LS-class fast torpedo boats originally ordered by the Kriegsmarine as an ultra-light version of the larger S-class fast torpedo boat. The LS-class was intended to be carried on-board various auxiliary cruisers operating overseas, and to supplement their convoy raiding operations. The LS 3 was one of the first three boats of the class, being completed on 14 October 1940 at Dornier Werft shipyard. The LS 3 was later assigned to the auxiliary cruiser Komoran, which went on to sink 10 merchant vessels and capture one of them. After a year of duty, on 19 November 1941, the LS 3 was destroyed along with its mothership Komoran in the fateful battle against the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney, which resulted into both sides being sunk.
Introduced in Update 1.79 "Project X" as part of the fleet closed beta test, the LS 3 is, at first glance, a rather unassuming reserve torpedo boat, equipped with only a single 15 mm machine gun and a pair of average torpedoes. However, despite its status as a reserve vehicle, the LS 3 is capable of causing havoc against enemy teams and even capable of going toe-to-toe against larger and more advanced vessels at a higher BR with a combination of excellent mobility, very small profile, and a fast-firing gun with excellent penetration and coverage. As with any low-tier PT boats, the LS 3's survivability is quite poor, though this can be mitigated by always facing your front at the enemy while also keeping an eye on the surroundings. In addition, while the gun has plenty of ammo count per magazine with very good traverse, it can still overheat very easily, and as such trigger discipline is vital to the success of the LS 3.
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 | ||
API-T/HEF | 33 | 31 | 25 | 20 | 17 | 15 | |
API-T/API-T/API-T/HEF | 33 | 31 | 25 | 20 | 17 | 15 | |
HEF/HEFI-T/HEF/API-T | 33 | 31 | 25 | 20 | 17 | 15 |
Seakeeping | |
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Unsinkability | |
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Firepower | |
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