We can finally start to have a look at the French destroyers that recently entered testing. We will look at them by going through the line and the last one that we will cover will be the premium Siroco.

Let’s now start with the tier II Enseigne Gabolde. For the people not speaking French, you can roughly pronounce that “Ensign Ga (like the “Ga” is gas) bold”. Don’t worry, overall, that’s the most troublesome one to pronounce I think.

So… the Enseigne Gabolde is the 3rd ship of the Enseigne Roux class of French destroyers. The ship’s construction was suspended in 1914 and will only resume is 1921. Because of this, the ship will receive substantial modifications compared to the initial design with, among everything else, an additional 100 mm gun at the front.

The ship would serve from 1923 to 1938 before being struck.

The French destroyers line is, of course, coming with its own load of gimmicks (including one that I am REALLY not a fan of…) as explained here:

Oui oui, Les gimmicks First of all, the French are artillery destroyers with Engine Boost, giving + 20% to the speed and Main Battery Reload consumable, accelerating the reload of the main caliber guns by 50%. When fighting in them, it is necessary to properly use the advantage in speed and the ability over a short period of time to significantly increase firepower. They have good armor-piercing shells, which at high tiers can cause damage directly to the citadel of light cruisers from a distance of 8–10 km and heavy cruisers from a distance of 6–7 km. An inconsiderate cruiser, presenting broadside, can become an easy target! A nice addition will be torpedoes with an average range of 8 km, but an impressive speed of 75 knots. The main difference is the lack of the seemingly standard and basic consumable for destroyers, Smoke Generator. But, given the fact that the destroyer at tier X can achieve speeds of up to 55 knots, this deficiency can be partly compensated for with skillful maneuvering and speed changes. In addition, the hit points of the French destroyers are allocated in the same manner as the test destroyer L’effronté (Le Terrible). This system allows destroyers to live longer under intense enemy fire. To sum up, we can say that this new concept of destroyers is more suited to those who prefer speed and an artillery heavy style of play, and for the successful implementation of all their strengths, commanders will need to develop two skills: competent positioning and a “Hit and Run” style of combat.

3D Preview En Gabolde by Harkonnen on Sketchfab

Modules Hull Engine Gun Fire Control System Main battery Torpedoes En. Gabolde (A) Propulsion: 20 000 hp PCA n° 2 Mle 1 100 mm/45 Mle 1921 550 mm 19D En. Gabolde (B) PCA n° 2 Mle 2

Please Note I will cover both the stock configuration and the fully researched configuration for the tech tree ships.

Characteristics General Main Battery Torpedo Tubes Consumables Tier II Health 7 000 HP Main Armament Maximum Firing Range 8.900 km 100 mm/45 Mle 1921 3 x 1 100 mm Torpedo Armament Maximum Firing Range 6.000 km 550 mm tube lance-torpilles 2 x 2 550 mm Maximum speed 31 kt Turning Circle Radius 450 m Rudder Shift Time 2.8 s Surface Detectability 5.94 km Air Detectability 2.04 km Detectability After Firing Main Gus in Smoke 1.8 km 3 x 1 100 mm/45 Mle 1921 Reloading Time 6.0 s 180 Degree Turn Time 9.0 s Optimal front firing angle

40° Optimal rear firing angle 51° Sigma 2.00 sigma Maximum Dispersion 88 m Shells Type of Projectile HE Alpha Damage 1 450 HP Damage 250 HP HE penetration 16 mm Explosion Size 0.27 Chance to Cause Fire 4 % Projectile Speed 740 m/s Air Drag 0.577 (WAIT WHAT????) Projectile Mass 14 Projectile Krupp 1 Type of Projectile AP Alpha Damage 1 600 HP Chance to Cause Fire -0.5 % Projectile Speed 740 m/s Air Drag 0.577 Projectile Mass 14 Projectile Krupp 2 100 Projectile Detonator 0.025 s 2 x 2 550 mm tube lance-torpilles Reloading Time 56 s Maximum Distance 6.0 km Optimal front firing angle 39° Optimal rear firing angle 38° Damage 12 233 Speed 57 kt Surface Detectability 1.2 km Slot 1 Slot 2 Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 60 s Number of charges: 2 Work time: 120 s Cooldown: 180 s Boost: +20% maximum speed Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 40 s Number of charges: 3 Work time: 120 s Cooldown: 120 s Boost: +20% maximum speed General Main Battery Torpedo Tubes Consumables Tier II Health 7 600 HP Main Armament Maximum Firing Range 9.790 km 100 mm/45 Mle 1921 3 x 1 100 mm Torpedo Armament Maximum Firing Range 6.000 km 550 mm tube lance-torpilles 2 x 2 550 mm Maximum speed 31 kt Turning Circle Radius 450 m Rudder Shift Time 2.0 s Surface Detectability 5.94 km Air Detectability 2.04 km Detectability After Firing Main Gus in Smoke 1.8 km 3 x 1 100 mm/45 Mle 1921 Reloading Time 6.0 s 180 Degree Turn Time 9.0 s Optimal front firing angle

40° Optimal rear firing angle 51° Sigma 2.00 sigma Maximum Dispersion 88 m Shells Type of Projectile HE Alpha Damage 1 450 HP Damage 250 HP HE penetration 16 mm Explosion Size 0.27 Chance to Cause Fire 4 % Projectile Speed 740 m/s Air Drag 0.577 (WAIT WHAT????) Projectile Mass 14 Projectile Krupp 1 Type of Projectile AP Alpha Damage 1 600 HP Chance to Cause Fire -0.5 % Projectile Speed 740 m/s Air Drag 0.577 Projectile Mass 14 Projectile Krupp 2 100 Projectile Detonator 0.025 s 2 x 2 550 mm tube lance-torpilles Reloading Time 56 s Maximum Distance 6.0 km Optimal front firing angle 39° Optimal rear firing angle 38° Damage 12 233 Speed 57 kt Surface Detectability 1.2 km Slot 1 Slot 2 Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 60 s Number of charges: 2 Work time: 120 s Cooldown: 180 s Boost: +20% maximum speed Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 40 s Number of charges: 3 Work time: 120 s Cooldown: 120 s Boost: +20% maximum speed

The armor

The Enseigne Gabolde is protected by 9 mm of armor for her middle section and for a part of the bow and stern (in orange) and by 6 mm for her superstructure, bow and stern.

The gun mounts are “protected” by 3 mm of armor.

Personal opinion on the ship

Right now, it’s a big “yikes”. The ship when fully upgraded has the lowest HP pool of all tier II fully upgraded destroyers, the shells have the highest air drag of the game (and I seriously hope that it’s a typo because, from the top of my head, the second worse is around 0.415.) and you only have 3 guns.

Even for the speed which is supposed to be the main strength of the French destroyers, the ship is below average and it’s only with engine boost active and flag that she comes first (and even then, the Longjiang with engine boost and flag is faster….).

Finally, as the cherry on the top, she doesn’t have a smoke generator so for evasive actions, all you can do is run and dodge…

Sooooo… yeah, right now, that’s a bit of free XP that I will need to spend.

Additional note: the ship has one interesting feature and it is the incredibly high damage of her torpedoes for this tier. 12k damage for just one hit is by far the highest at tier II.

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