Hero image: H-39 in War Thunder. Image: Gaijin Entertainment
Germany’s Bluewater fleet in War Thunder is getting a new top-ranked ship. Gaijin Entertainment’s latest dev blog confirms that H-39 — a battleship Germany ordered in 1939 and never finished — arrives at Rank VII in the upcoming Eagle’s Shadow major update.
The blog calls H-39 “Germany’s biggest and strongest battleship”, at more than 63,000 tons. At around 277 metres, it is also the longest ship in the game.
Its main battery is eight 406 mm guns in four dual turrets, the largest calibre available to Germany. Gaijin compares their performance to the American 406 mm guns on South Dakota and North Carolina, though they reload more slowly than Bismarck‘s, at two shots a minute with a trained crew.
It also carries eighteen 533 mm torpedoes, with launchers at the front of the ship. The blog suggests firing a set while changing direction, rather than turning the ship’s weakest armour towards the enemy to aim them.
The armour is where H-39 departs from Bismarck, despite the family resemblance. Its external belt is slightly thinner, but its internal armour is stronger across the board. The weak spots are the front and rear — angle too far either way, and shells can bypass the internal protection and reach the magazine.
Anti-air protection is limited, and the blog advises staying close to allies with stronger air defences. Its developer comment sums up the ship as best at long range, where “there are few battleships she’ll struggle to engage, regarding both offense and defense.”
The history section explains why H-39 never sailed. Design work began in 1937, and the ship was ordered on 14 April 1939. Its keel was laid at Blohm & Voss in Hamburg on 15 July 1939, but work stopped when war broke out in September with only around 800 tons of steel in place. The navy ordered the keel scrapped in November 1941, and battleship work ended entirely in August 1942.
H-39 joins the cluster bombs already confirmed for Eagle’s Shadow. The blog does not give the update a date, saying only that it is “not far off now”, and it notes that vehicle specifications may change before release.
Source: Gaijin Entertainment – H-39: The Ephemeral Giant (Steam)