[2023] The French naval CBT is over! Meet the new heavy cruiser; Dupleix

We’re pleased to announce the end of the closed beta testing of the French bluewater navy and present a new French Premium heavy cruiser to boost your first steps in the mastering of the French ships!

Captains! The closed beta testing of the French bluewater navy is over! French warships are now available for research by all players, so hurry up to the bridge!

CBT participants have already trained their crews for perfect control of French ships, and so that newcomers can quickly compete with them in skill, we are pleased to announce the new French Suffren-class Dupleix heavy cruiser Premium to boost research in new ships and get a great bonus in Silver Lions!

Dupleix Pack

• Price: 54.99
  
• Suffren-class, Dupleix, 1942 (Rank 4, France)
  
• 2000 Golden Eagles
  
• Premium account for 30 days

To purchase, navigate to Shop > Online Store whilst in the in-game hangar.

Dupleix, heavy cruiser, France, rank IV. Premium
Features:

• Improved protection
  
• Linear layout of the main turrets
  
• Good speed

The French heavy cruiser Dupleix belongs to the Suffren class, which is already familiar to French navy testers from the cruiser Colbert. Rapid-firing 203mm main guns, good sailing performance and solid air defense capabilities are complemented by reinforced armor. Let’s see in detail.

So, the main difference between Dupleix from Colbert, aside from her premium status, is a modified and improved armoring. While Colbert could only offer the captain a narrow 50mm armor belt along the hull, the Dupleix is slightly better protected. The plates of the main armor belt are 60 mm thick and, most importantly, cover a much larger area. On the sides of the hull in the central part of the hull, the plates descend below the waterline, the sections covering the main guns magazines at the bow and stern have an elongated profile. Internal protection of the boiler rooms has also been improved. Of course, this armor is not able to withstand most armor-piercing rounds even from light cruisers, but Dupleix can count on more stable protection of vital modules when being hit by cruisers’ HE and even semi-AP shells at acute angles.




The auxiliary guns have also been slightly changed. The Dupleix is armed with the same 90mm guns as the Colbert, but here they are placed in four twin mounts instead of eight single mounts. Anti-aircraft artillery is represented by four twin mounts of 37 mm cannons, a pair of quadruple Hotchkiss guns, as well as 13.2 mm Brownings for short range combat. Like her sister, the Dupleix also has a torpedo armament of a pair of three-tube launchers in the central part of the deck.




Reinforced armor obviously affects the mobility of the cruiser. Nevertheless, Dupleix can accelerate to quite tolerable for its class 32 knots (almost 60 km/h).

Purchase the Premium heavy cruiser Dupleix in the Gaijin online store and welcome aboard the ships of the French fleet in War Thunder!