[2022] HMS Glorious: An Outrageous Warship Design

HMS Glorious is a WWI-era British battlecruiser purpose-built for an ambitious plan to defeat Germany through a naval invasion on its eastern flank. Despite the plan itself never materialising, the ships necessary for it did and thus captains will soon have the chance to take command of this highly unorthodox warship design, arriving in War Thunder as part of the next major update “Fire and Ice”!

Briefly: An extremely lightly armoured but nimble British battlecruiser design, sporting 15’’ cannons.

HMS Glorious, battlecruiser, Britain, Rank V
Features:

• Powerful 15’’ cannons
  
• Very thin belt armour
  
• Excellent mobility
  
• Numerous secondary guns
  
• Weak AA protection

In War Thunder, HMS Glorious will be a new battlecruiser arriving at the top rank of the British bluewater fleet in the next major update “Fire and Ice”. Unlike other warships of this type already present in the game, HMS Glorious really takes the definition of what a battlecruiser is supposed to be to the extreme - featuring quite superb firepower and mobility but at the cost of having been fitted with virtually no meaningful protection. Captains, prepare to meet the epitome of the naval equivalent of a ‘glass cannon’!

As we already mentioned, HMS Glorious can boast some serious firepower. While not quite matching some of the battleships it’ll undoubtedly face on the battlefield, this rather light vessel is fitted with a pair of twin 15’’ (381 mm) canons of the same type also fitted to the familiar HMS Hood, introduced in a previous update. In addition, HMS Glorious can also engage surface targets with its six triple 4’’ (102 mm) cannons, spread throughout the ship’s superstructure. The modest anti-air armament of the ship consists of three 3’’ (76 mm) cannons. Lastly, rounding off HMS Glorious’ arsenal is an additional 14 533 mm torpedo launchers, with a pair being submerged below the ship’s forward turret whereas the remaining six twin launchers are situated in fixed positions at the ship’s aft. As a result, HMS Glorious is capable of engaging a vast variety of surface targets, but remains vulnerable to aerial attack, like most ships of its era.

Fun Fact: During its carrier conversion, the 15’’ turrets from HMS Glorious were placed in storage and were later on reused in the outfitting of HMS Vanguard - the Royal Navy’s last battleship.

On the other hand, British shipbuilders outfitted HMS Glorious with very thin armour. Although by nature battlecruisers trade protection for speed and firepower, HMS Glorious only features minimal protection in the form of a 76 mm thick belt. As a result, HMS Glorious is about as well protected as some interwar light cruisers and is therefore susceptible to take damage from high-calibre rounds fired by heavy cruisers and especially battleships. Therefore, captains might want to rethink leading the charge against the enemy whilst commanding HMS Glorious.




However, not being weighed down by excessive armour also means that HMS Glorious’ displacement could be kept rather low. This, in combination with a 90,000 horsepower steam propulsion system ensures an impressive top speed of 32 kts (59 km/h), thus allowing HMS Glorious to keep pace with other cruisers on its team. This is a particularly handy trait when captains can keep up with dedicated anti-air cruisers, capable of extending their protective sphere around HMS Glorious and thus eliminating one of the ship’s weaknesses.



HMS Glorious is soon docking in players’ ports with the release of the next major update coming soon to War Thunder. In the meantime, be sure to keep scanning the horizon for more news as we continue sharing the latest on what the upcoming update has in store for you. Until then, calm seas and happy hunting captains!