U-boats, for the win.

[SpeshulK111]

Anyone here ponder the idea of fielding a german navy. Composed majorly of Submarines. Or any nation for that matter... Intriguing I know...

[dictator_wanna_be]

not if they have lots of destroyers... but it would be cool to give german subs "wolfpack" ability which gives them a bonus for 2 or more subs... :)

[Sean-Khan]

If they are difficult to destroy, they might be moderately expensive. It seems that fielding several destroyers will be important, as they will help against subs AND battleships. On the other hand, they may be vulnerable to fighters... we come back to rock-paper scissors :)

[XAos]

Considering how poorly Bismark will do against Iowa. The Germans clearly need some balencing advantage. With no german fighters or carriers, it's unlikly to be aircraft. Which doesn't leave many options except submarines. I'd guess a German fleet will have to be a lot of submarines. With just enough surface ships to deal with the enemy ASW ships (destroyers). Which at least matches the historical composition of their fleet. But that depends a lot on what the victory conditions are.

The destroyers are clearly going to be the "jack-of-all-trades" unit;
ASW
Torpedoes to fight battleships or cruisers
and some AA. e.g. preview-4 mentions a destroyer as the prefered AA escourt for Shokaku.

[polar]

They will probably have some torpedo values, but at what range?

Also, some units should have an ASW value. I'm suppriced that we have seen NONE so far.

How 'jack of all trades' they are realy depends on the destroers protections values.

Having 2 or 3 in armor would for instance make a difference versus fighters.
(with 2 attack dice scoring 2 hits is not that difficult, but 3 is much more difficult)

With an virtual armor of 5, 6 or 7ish a heavy cruisers (9 attack dice) can kill them outright at long range. The difference between 5 or 7 would be big I think.

Likewise 2, or 3 hull points?

[polar]

Also, regarding IOWA v Bismark: bismark is MUCH cheaper. And actully, on 1 versus 1, the fight may be very even.

[MarcusAurelius]

They will probably have some torpedo values, but at what range?

With 10 21" torpedo tubes, I'd expect the torpedo attack for the USS Fletcher destroyer to be equal to or slightly better than the HMAS Canberra (with 8 21" torpedo tubes). Maybe 3/2/1/- instead of 2/2/1/-.

I think range 3 torpedo attacks will probably be reserved for Japanese destroyers and cruisers carrying Long Lance torpedoes. Tone should make a fairly good comparison for Kagero — I'll guess its torpedo attack will be either 3/2/1/1 or 2/2/1/1.

[MarcusAurelius]

Having 2 or 3 in armor would for instance make a difference versus fighters. (with 2 attack dice scoring 2 hits is not that difficult, but 3 is much more difficult)

With an virtual armor of 5, 6 or 7ish a heavy cruisers (9 attack dice) can kill them outright at long range. The difference between 5 or 7 would be big I think.

Likewise 2, or 3 hull points?

I'll be very curious to see armor stats for destroyers in War at Sea, as well. The HMAS Canberra had a 1" armor belt, 1-3/8" deck armor and up to 3" surrounding the magazines.

To keep weight down, destroyers like the USS Fletcher carried minimal armor. There was no armor belt whatsoever. A half-inch of armor surrounded critical systems (engines, boilers, pilothouse) to protect against heavy machine-gun fire. I'd have to think that a single hit from a 6" or 8" gun would be about it.

Based on that, my guess would be an armor of 2, vital armor of 5 or 6, and 2 hull points at most. Sub chasers and PT boats would likely have even lower defensive stats — although you could argue that their small size and high speed make them harder to hit.

[horacus]

Well, we have to wait to see the stats of the submarines to see how they will work first of all.

[Yankee_Dynasty]

I guess we will have to wait and sea but a German fleet would be awesome.

[XAos]

Also, regarding IOWA v Bismark: bismark is MUCH cheaper. And actully, on 1 versus 1, the fight may be very even.
That depends on the appropriate definition of "Much cheaper" See; For odds of Iowa V's Bismark. (http://maxminis.com/Forums/tabid/104/forumid/67/postid/695589/view/topic/Default.aspx) Do you think those odds are describable as "the fight may be very even"..?
Iowa is only 15 points more expensive than Bismark. but from those odds it should be between 40% & 70% more expensive (74+ points). I suppose it could be argued that Bismark's more powerfull secondaries give it an advantage over Iowa against enemy destroyers. But Iowa's extended range-5 should be a comparable (or larger) advantage.