In August 1942, exactly at the midpoint of World War II,
a special committee was created in the British Admiralty
to design future shipbuilding programs.
It concluded that aircraft carriers should become the basis of the post-war fleet,
and that each carrier
should have a light cruiser equipped with dual-purpose main battery guns
as support...
A number of projects based on the improved Dido-class cruisers
with three or four 133 mm twin turrets were considered,
but the new First Sea Lord— Admiral Andrew Cunningham—
who knew all the drawbacks of the Dido-class ships,
strongly opposed the idea of using them.
The Belfast and Edinburgh cruisers that entered service in 1939 had solid armor,
good seakeeping characteristics, and a long cruising range;
they were also large enough for future modernization.
As such, these ships were a more natural fit for such a project.
In World of Warships,
we decided to implement one of the variants of an AA squadron cruiser
based on these improved Town-class ships
and see what it might look like.
The results were quite satisfactory.
And, following the established tradition of naming British AA cruisers,
she received the name from ancient mythology—
Hector.
With a standard displacement of about 10,000 tons and speed of 34 knots,
the cruiser easily housed as many as seven turrets with 133 mm twin guns,
four quadruple 40 mm pom-poms,
eight 40 mm Bofors guns,
and the same number of twin 20 mm Oerlikons,
plus as many as four quadruple-tube torpedo launchers.
In practice,
a number of ships of this type were transferred to the British dominions
without any change to their names.
And our cruiser today is operating under the Australian flag.
Let's now take a look at her in action...
Hector excels at supporting her allies.
The small caliber of her main armament and the short firing range
are offset by good concealment—
the cruiser can support allied destroyers capturing Key Areas,
and 14 guns with a decent reload time
will surely upset any opponents attempting to push forward.
However, due to her weak armor,
Hector will heavily suffer from an incoming accurate salvo.
The Crawling Smoke Generator consumable allows the cruiser to roam the battlefield
and carry out non-stop attacks without any fear of being spotted.
Hector also has improved acceleration dynamics
and doesn't lose too much speed while turning.
She can close the distance to her opponents effectively
and, thanks to her four quadruple-tube torpedo launchers with a good reload time,
obstruct key routes for them
or launch torpedoes with an optimal lead while staying unspotted.
Besides the Crawling Smoke Generator,
the ship's consumables are represented by Damage Control Party and Repair Party,
as well as Hydroacoustic Search or Defensive AA Fire in a single slot.
To further enhance her,
I recommend installing the following upgrades:
Main Armaments Modification 1
Engine Room Protection
Aiming Systems Modification 1 or Smoke Generator Modification 1
Steering Gears Modification 1
Concealment System Modification 1
Main Battery Modification 3
It's time for the traditional Armada raffle!
The prize is a Premium Ship IX container.
It will go to one of our channel subscribers
who hits the "Like" button under the video
and correctly answers the following question—
"How many main battery guns are installed on cruiser Hector?"
Don't forget to share your nickname and the server you play on in your comment.
And you already know our well-established tradition—
we'll announce the winner in the next Armada episode!
Fair winds and good luck to you, Captains!