HE Shell406 mm Spr.Gr. L/4.4 Kz.
Initial HE Shell Velocity810 m./s.
Initial AP Shell Velocity810 m./s.
Turning Circle Radius1 050 m.
HE Shell420 mm Spr.Gr. L/4.6 Kz.
One of the last stages of a battleship design for the German Navy. The ship was fitted with triple main turrets designed at the outbreak of World War II. The project was developed based on combat experience and featured powerful torpedo protection, enhanced horizontal armor and more advanced AA guns.
Sharing the name with one of König's sister ships, Großer Kurfürst (translation: "Great Elector", from the title of Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg) sits atop the German battleship line at Tier X. She lived up to her name when released, breaking the then long-standing stalemate of Yamato and Montana by simply entering into the fray. Subtlety is not Großer Kurfürst's forte because she is detected from quite a fair distance, with the largest detection radius of all Tier X battleships.
Due to her size she possesses an effective array of secondaries along with two pairs of guns — the same caliber as her predecessor Friedrich der Große — but with triple mounts with the same AB-XY configuration. Even Montana, which shares the same triple mount turret style and layout, will respect her for her heavy broadside, while the responsive turret traverse — among the quickest turret traverse speeds of Tier X battleships — can be made even faster with upgrades. Even more, she can surpass the American battleship through barrel diameter, with her last gun upgrade being 420mm barrels still mounted in four triple turrets while still retaining the excellent traverse speed. In addition, her bustling secondary batteries ensure that any enemy getting close enough for the guns to unload will be constantly whittled down, dealing heavy damage over time or outright destroying low health ships that get too close.
Her AA is fairly typical of other German battleships, with an adequate long range punch that sadly does not follow through as planes come closer to the ship itself. Planes that make it past the long range armament will have no trouble hitting her due to her large size and abysmal turning circle. Her armor is also typical of German battleship design, with a turtle-back armor scheme that will make citadeling her at close range near impossible. Her deck armor is also quite substantial at 50mm along the center meaning that long range plunging fire from low caliber guns will have difficulty penetrating her. With her large hit point pool — the largest in the game — she will be able to weather a large amount of armor piercing rounds and keep on fighting. As per standard for German battleships starting from Bismarck, Großer Kurfürst is equipped with the Hydroacoustic Search ( ) consumable to help detect incoming threats such as torpedoes and destroyers attempting to get close or vessels hiding in smoke screens.
However, despite her impressive offensive and defensive assets, much of it is a double edged sword, helping and harming depending on the situation. Both of her guns are rather inaccurate at long range, becoming deadly only once they pass the mid range for battleships of ~11km. Her 406mm guns have a better reload rate than those found on Montana, but lack Montana's super-heavy AP shells which hampers her penetration at range while also reducing her damage per shell. Her 420mm guns are not large enough to overmatch the 32mm bow armor most battleships have at Tier X , and while she can match Montana damage per shell with the 420s, they have a longer reload time than the 406s (32 seconds versus 29 seconds, respectively). Additionally, her armor is not unbreakable as it may seem. At long ranges her deck armor is still not sufficient to stop plunging fire from other battleships from penetrating, meaning her citadel is relatively easy to penetrate at a considerable distance. Also the armor belt is actually among the thinnest at Tier X, topping out at 380mm. While she will almost never take citadel damage, her massive size and armor belt mean she will take higher-than-average normal regular penetration damage; the side benefit to this is that regular penetration damage heals back more than citadel damage when using Repair Party ( ). At close range, the trade off is well worth it when Großer Kurfürst takes a 10k-30k salvo while other battleships are destroyed in a single salvo right into their citadels.
Finally, her size also betrays her as she is remarkably easy to hit and has the largest turn radius out of all Tier X battleships at over a kilometer. While her rudder shift time is fairly quick, she is so long that she takes a while to actually begin responding to turns. Even with Hydroacoustic Search ( ) active, captains should expect to sustain heavy damage when torpedoes are inevitably being sent at her if she is not already responding. Fire and flooding are also a concern, since they deal damage based on a percentage of maximum hit points, causing her massive health pool to work against her when volleys of enemy high explosive shells start fires and torpedoes cause flooding.
Großer Kurfürst captains should expect to sustain heavy damage from all sources as she is large and easily visible from range, but she will give back better than she gets if allowed to close the range. Play to her strengths: she is not a sniping battleship, and belongs up close and personal where her peers have difficulty countering her armor scheme, large secondary battery, and rapid traverse of her guns.
Like Montana, she possesses a heavy broadside than is capable of destroying ships in one volley.
Extremely good turret traverse of 40 seconds before captain skills or upgrades.
Very large secondary battery with range starting at 7.5km.
Bow is heavily sloped with thick plating, only a lucky Yamato shell can penetrate it.
Has access to German Hydroacoustic Search ( ).
Extremely durable; can endure severe damage to either close the gap or to get away to heal.
Play style is similar to dreadnoughts; the closer she gets, the more dangerous she becomes.
Citadel is turtle-backed and is also located under the waterline, making it extremely hard to hit at close and medium range.
Anti-aircraft suite is decent at long range, but mid- and short-range AA bubbles are weak and leave her vulnerable to enemy strike planes.
AA guns are easily destroyed under sustained fire.
Lowest range out of her peers at 20.61km.
420mm guns have a reload of 32 seconds, it is tolerable. But that extra 3 seconds could be costly.
Decent rudder shift is marred by poor turning circle and long response time.
Bow and stern deck armor is only 32mm, making it vulnerable to overmatch hits from Yamato and Musashi.
Huge superstructure allows for massive HE damage and is easily lit on fire.
Turrets are poorly sloped so can be disabled by large caliber shells at close range.
Main Battery: Großer Kurfürst captains are offered an intriguing choice of main battery guns: her stock 406mm barrels that reload in 29 seconds, or these 420mm ones that reload three seconds slower but have more damage per shell. The choice of which guns to mount is largely captain's preference; those looking to punish cruiser players more quickly will likely prefer the 406s, while those seeking the additional damage against enemy battleships may opt for the 420s.
Aiming Systems Modification 1 ( ) or Secondary Battery Modification 2 ( ) are both extremely good choices in Upgrade Slot 3 , depending on whether captains build for secondaries or not. For Upgrade Slot 5, Concealment System Modification 1 ( ) reduces her detection range. With appropriate camouflage, she can choose when to engage the enemy or give a surprise shot to unnoticed enemy. Main Battery Modification 3 ( ) is the top choice for Upgrade Slot 6; the -20% loading time for secondary armament offered by Secondary Battery Modification 3 ( ) is of little benefit, unless using a proper secondary build, and AA Guns Modification 2 ( ) is only recommended for captains that intend to division with a friendly aircraft carrier (thus guaranteeing that they are paired up against an enemy carrier).
Another choice available to players is the unique Großer Kurfürst upgrade Enhanced Main Armaments ( ) from the Don't Come Close personal combat mission. This will give the captain a -15% to both main and secondary armament reload time, at the cost of -7% main turrets traverse speed and -8% main battery maximum firing range. It is advisable to use the Expert Marksman commander skill and the Spotting Aircraft ( ) consumable to counteract the negatives.
Großer Kurfürst is often configured either for secondary power, or in a survival build.
Players who wish to spend doubloons can equip Großer Kurfürst with Type 20 camouflage that lowers her detection radius, reduces the accuracy of incoming shells, reduces her repair costs, and increases the amount of experience she earns.
As a Tier X battleship, it is recommended to mount the following signals on Großer Kurfürst: India Delta ( ), India Yankee ( ), Mike Yankee Soxisix ( ) if a secondary build is used, and November Foxtrot ( ). November Echo Setteseven ( ) can be used if the player has selected an anti-air build, and Sierra Mike ( ) for higher speed can also be useful. The various economic flags can also be useful.
Großer Kurfürst, after emptying her main barrels, supported by a fellow Großer Kurfürst and Prinz Eugen.
Großer Kurfürst and a friendly Baltimore provide long-range artillery support, while moving closer to the front lines.
Großer Kurfürst spearheads the push, the friendly Baltimore in tow, her starboard secondaries already ripping into an enemy ship.
As the vanguard of the team, Großer Kurfürst sustains heavy fire from several enemy ships, but her sheer armour and massive health pool keeps the momentum going.
Despite taking massive amounts of damage, Großer Kurfürst proves her tenacity, keeping the line of battle even in the midst of shrugging off a full torpedo salvo.
The Großer Kurfürst in game is a hypothetical "what-if" ship by Wargaming that combines various elements from several German battleship design studies after the H-39, some of them only preliminary concepts. The gun caliber options include the 40.6 cm guns of the original H-39 design as well as the 42.0 cm guns of the revised 1941 "Battleship H" (H-41) design. The secondary armament includes a hypothetical navalized 12.8 cm FlaK gun. The ship shares its name with the König-class battleship Großer Kurfürst.
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939 and the German-Soviet Commercial Agreement in 1940. Soviet demands from the agreement include a substantial amount of German military equipment and technology, among them the incomplete Admiral Hipper-class cruiser Lützow, the plans to the battleship Bismarck, and preliminary sketches for a 40.6 cm triple turret. The incomplete Lützow was towed to Leningrad in mid-1940 in a less complete state than the Soviets had anticipated. In response to later Soviet orders, Germany did deliver eight 38.1 cm guns and six 40.6 cm guns for which the Soviets had requested drawings in August 1940. German engineers continued to work on Lützow until the termination of the agreements in June 22, 1941 when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa.
In September 1939, only shortly after the first two ships of the 1939 "Battleship H" (H-39) design was laid down, work was suspended due to the start of World War 2. However, the Kriegsmarine continued to develop plans and design studies for new battleships. For instance, in early July 1940, Hitler ordered the navy to examine new battleship designs and how wartime experience might be incorporated. A study from this order was completed on 15 July, and contained several recommendations for the H-class ships, including increasing the freeboard and strengthening the horizontal protection. In order to maintain displacement and speed and accommodate the increased weight of the additional armor protection, the design staff drew up an informal design, known as "Scheme A" (H-40A). The design removed one of the main battery turrets to save weight; the propulsion system was also increased in power to keep the same speed as the original design. The original diesel-only system of the H-39 was replaced by a hybrid diesel and steam turbine arrangement. The staff also prepared a second design, "Scheme B" (H-40B), which retained the fourth turret and accepted a much higher displacement. This design also incorporated the mixed propulsion system. These studies were abandoned in 1941 after Hitler decided to halt further battleship construction until after the end of the war. The design staff therefore attempted to improve the armor protection for the H-class. The 1940 designs did not form part of the design chain that resulted in the H-41 through H-44 designs.
Bomb damage sustained by Scharnhorst in July 1941 provided the impetus for the effort to increase the horizontal protection for the H-class. The designers were confronted with a significant problem: any increase in armor could correspondingly increase the displacement and more importantly, the draft. It was necessary to maintain the full-load draft of 11.5 m of the H-39 design for operations in the relatively shallow North Sea. The only option that allowed the displacement to be maintained while armor thicknesses to be increased was to reduce the ships' fuel supplies. A 25 percent cut in range was required, which was deemed unacceptable by the German Naval High Command (Oberkommando der Marine, or OKM). It was eventually determined that since deep-water anchorages on the Atlantic coast were available, it would be permissible to allow the draft to increase. The initial redesign called for an increase of only 5,000 long tons (5,100 t), 40 percent of which was additional deck armor, the remainder being used for a larger-caliber main battery.
One of the most significant changes was the decision to bore out the over-sized 40.6 cm guns to 42 cm caliber for the H-41 design. The design staff determined that modifications to the ammunition hoists and loading equipment could be easily done and that the original turrets could be retained. The OKM was aware that the British had settled on a 40.6 cm gun for the proposed Lion class; the 42 cm gun would grant the H-41 design a significant advantage over these new adversaries. The ships' armament was otherwise unchanged from the H-39, apart from an increased number of 2 cm anti-aircraft guns, of which there were now to be 34.
The ships' main armor decks were substantially strengthened: the deck was increased in thickness from 120 mm (4.7 in) to 200 mm (7.9 in) and the sloped armor at the edges was thickened from 150 mm (5.9 in) to 175 mm (6.9 in). Wartime experience with the Scharnhorst class indicated that the torpedo-defense system was insufficiently strong to protect the H-39 design from underwater damage. Beam was therefore increased, with greater width added at the ends of the armored citadel to allow a greater distance between the side wall and the torpedo bulkhead. The stern section of the torpedo bulkhead was also strengthened structurally to allow it to better contain the force of an underwater explosion. A triple bottom was also included in the design, the first time a feature was used in a German warship design. The loss of Bismarck in May 1941 also influenced the design; two large skegs were added to the outboard shafts to protect them and increase support for the stern while in drydock. The rudder system was also designed with an explosive charge to detach the rudders in the event they became jammed.
The finalized design was approved by Admiral Raeder on 15 November 1941. The new design measured 282 m (925 ft) long at the waterline, had a beam of 39 m (128 ft), and a draft of up to 12.2 m (40 ft) at full load. The increase in weight, while engine power remained constant, reduced speed to 28.8 kn (53.3 km/h; 33.1 mph). The OKM planned to begin construction six to nine months after demobilization, initially at Blohm & Voss and the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel. Deschimag, which had been awarded the contract for "J", could no longer be used due to the increase in draft, which precluded travel through the shallow Weser. Following the completion of a new, larger dock at the Kriegsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven, work would also be done there. The increased size of the ships would have lengthened the building time from four to five years.
On 8 February 1942, Albert Speer became the Reichsminister for Armaments and Munitions and gained influence over the Navy's construction programs. Speer reassigned some members of the H class design staff to work on new U-boats and other tasks deemed critical to the war effort. The Schiffsneubaukommission (New Ships Construction Commission), intended to liaise with Speer and the OKM, was created and placed under the direction of Admiral Karl Topp. This group was responsible for the design work that resulted in the H-42 type, as well as the subsequent designs. The Construction Office of the OKM formally concluded their work on new battleships with the H-41 type and played no further role in battleship development. The Commission did not discuss its activities with Raeder or his successor, Admiral Karl Dönitz, or with other branches in the OKM. As the designs for the H-42, H-43, and H-44 battleships were purely conjectural, no actual work was begun. The German navy did not seriously consider construction on any of the designs, which were so large that they could not have been built in a traditional slipway. Indeed, the Construction Office of the OKM sought to disassociate itself from the projects, which they found to be of doubtful merit and unnecessary for German victory.
The dimensions of the Großer Kurfürst in-game is closest to that of the H-42 concept; however, the larger H-class studies did not appear to seriously consider the triple 40.6cm turret, which appears to be a separate development related to the German-Soviet Commercial Agreement (1940).
The arrangement of the secondary battery is inconsistent with German battleship designs, as all H-class designs and studies had the arrangement of 6x2 15cm guns and 8x2 10.5cm AA guns.
One of the 15 cm turrets on Bismarck, the same type as would have been mounted on the H class.
This page was last modified on 19 February 2019, at 09:57.
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