Developer Diary - Warships of the Pacific

[h3]Ahoy everyone![/h3][p]
My name is Slurpen_Paradox and I would like to welcome you aboard for this in-depth look at Warships of the Pacific!

My design colleague Jamor and I would like to bring you up close and personal with the ships featured in this DLC, as well as a brief look into the stories behind them. So hoist your anchor and join us, as we delve deep into the content and rich history behind this pack.

As the name suggests, this pack focuses on various warships that played a role in the Pacific theater.

This means that you will have access to a bunch of new ships for Japan, the United States and the Commonwealth, with representation for the Royal Navy and the RAN. This Developer Diary will showcase a selection of these.

In keeping with the Pacific theme of the latest expansion, there are also some new ships for Nationalist China, Communist China and the Soviet Union.

And now a word from Jamor: alongside the wonderful unit art for some of the ships featured in this pack. He will provide a bit of historical context for each ship in italics.

[/p][h3]The Rising Sun over the Pacific[/h3][p]From the earliest days of their reentry into the international community after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the Japanese understood that their island nation would never be able to defend itself nor assert power abroad without a strong navy. A relative newcomer to the international arms race, by aggressive investment and innovation they rapidly became a major naval power, beating Russia at Tsushima in 1905. Now Japan stands poised to challenge for Great Power status on the high seas.

IJN Sentoku (I-400 Class) The I-400 class holds the distinction of being the largest submarines to see operational service in WW2. First commissioned in 1944, they could carry and deploy 3 Aichi M6A seaplanes. These submersible carriers had a global range, and were intended to threaten US Navy task forces and even the American mainland. As the war situation turned increasingly desperate, the I-400 class were planned to take part in attacks on the Panama Canal locks, and even a fanciful attempt to drop biological weapons on the west coast, but neither operation was carried out before the end of the conflict. All three completed boats were captured intact and eventually sunk as target ships by the US Navy.

IJN Shinano Shinano had a short and tragic life. Laid down in 1940 as the third Yamato-class super battleship, she was hurriedly converted into an aircraft carrier following the calamitous losses the Kidō Butai suffered at Midway in 1942. While large and very heavily armoured due to her ancestry as a big gun ship of the line, the improvised nature of her conversion meant she could only carry a very small air group. In the rush to get her to the fleet, this 65,000 ton behemoth was pushed into sea trials with a poorly trained crew and inadequate damage control measures. She was torpedoed and sunk by a US submarine during her fitting out cruise in November 1944. But, just imagine what could have been if this monster had made it into a proper battle!

IJN Ise Ah, the Ise (Eee-say). In a navy renowned for visually striking and unorthodox designs, this gal is one of the wildest of the lot. From the old school casemate guns to the vertigo-inducing pagoda mast, and no less than TWELVE 14 inch guns in 6 turrets, she just goes hard no matter where you look. This particular model depicts her post-1944 refit, when she was converted to a hybrid carrier by removing her aft armament. In practice, an elderly half-battleship that could ferry a few planes but not really operate them in battle was of limited usefulness, but when you’re losing, anything that might help has to be tried. After a colourful wartime career she ended up stuck in port without fuel, eventually being sunk by repeated air attack. An older ship from 1917, by WW2 she was not the champion of speed or protection, but definitely the champion of my heart.

IJN Yukikaze The Kagero-class destroyer Yukikaze was one of the luckiest ships in the IJN: she was the only ship of her class to survive the war, and did so virtually unscathed. She did so despite numerous, ferocious depth charge duels with submarines, and participation in the Battles of Java Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, Bismarck Sea, Kolombangara, Philippines, and Leyte Gulf. During this rampage she sunk or damaged several Allied ships, giving a good account of herself in numerous operations to rescue the crew of stricken vessels as well. When she was detailed as one of the escorts of the ill-fated Shinano, the ship sent to replace her in her previous assignment was promptly torpedoed and sunk. As if that weren’t enough, she accompanied the Yamato during Operation Ten-Gō, the suicidal last ride of the IJN attempting to break the naval blockade of Okinawa. Amazingly, she survived that as well. Through all this, she was never struck by a single bomb, torpedo, mine, or shell, and only lost a few crewmen to strafing and shell fragments. Unsinkable to the end, she was transferred to the Republic of China navy as the Dan Yang, and served until 1970. What a story.

[/p][h3]The Fleet That Came Back[/h3][p]With a continental hegemony, colossal reserves of manpower and materiel, and a long nautical tradition of its own, the US Navy had immense potential power…but also considerable challenges. Constrained by the various naval arms limitation treaties and the need to split attention between two oceans, as well as budget cuts brought about by Depression-era austerity and strong isolationist sentiment, the navy had to make hard choices. As storm clouds gather in Europe and the Far East, will the US Navy be ready when the time comes?

USS Nevada Nevada, BB-36 was the first of the so-called “Standard Type” battleships built for the US Navy starting during WW1. Oil-fired turbines drove the 27,000 tonner, which featured the “All or Nothing” armour layout (a system where, instead of fairly uniform protection across the whole hull, the maximum thickness was concentrated over a positively buoyant central “citadel” enclosing the machinery, main armament, and magazines, leaving the rest of the ship relatively unprotected. The idea was that even if the unprotected parts were perforated and flooding, there would still be enough positive flotation in the citadel to keep the ship above water and able to fight and propel itself.) She was the only battleship at Pearl Harbor able to get underway, but was hit several times as she made for open water, eventually flooding in the shallow waters of the bay. After a huge effort that really does credit to the drive and ingenuity of the US Navy, she was raised and reentered service, spending the rest of the war on convoy escort and naval gunnery support duties in both the Atlantic and Pacific. Not deemed worth keeping due to her age, after the war she was used as a target ship during the Bikini Atoll nuclear tests, but again this stubborn old girl refused to succumb. Finally in 1948 she was used as a gunnery target, failing to sink despite numerous capital-class gunnery hits, until finally an aerial torpedo struck the final blow. Absolute champion.

USS Essex USS Essex, CV-9, was ordered in 1940 as world tension was ratcheting up. The Pearl Harbor attack added urgency to her construction, and she entered commission on the last day of 1942. She then participated in numerous fleet actions and strike missions all over the Pacific. Despite combat action from Marcus Island to the Japanese home islands and everything in between, she was only seriously damaged once, by a kamikaze strike in November 1944, killing or wounding about 60 crewmen. She was rapidly repaired and back in action off the Philippines the next month. Unencumbered by the former naval armaments restrictions, the Essex was bigger, better protected, and carried a larger air group than previous designs. In total, 24 Essex-class carriers were built, forming the bulk of the USN carrier force well into the postwar period. Essex herself was recommissioned after the war and served as an attack and anti-submarine warfare carrier until 1969, finally being scrapped in 1973 and potentially forming part of your grandpa’s Ford Pinto.

USS Langley USS Langley was the first aircraft carrier, CV-1. Like most of the earliest carriers, she was a conversion, built from the collier USS Jupiter. This was a time when most of the major navies of the world were starting to realize the potential of air power, and experimentation was in full swing. Recommissioned as a carrier in 1922, she carried a modest air group of 34 planes. For most of the interwar years she was engaged in the development of the USN’s first naval aviation tactics and techniques, the humble beginnings of what would become the most formidable carrier force in the world. In 1937 she was converted to a seaplane tender. When WW2 began, despite her age and antiquated design, she participated in ASW patrols. In February 1942, while ferrying aircraft to Java, she was attacked by IJN “Betty” bombers, hit by five bombs, and was left dead in the water and listing. After getting the crew off, she was scuttled to avoid capture, thus ending the career of the first US aircraft carrier.

[/p][h3]The Sun Never Sets[/h3][p]Few families of nations have more combined nautical tradition than the British Commonwealth. A navally-minded people since ancient times, the British built a worldwide empire by their intrepidity upon the seas. The “Wooden Walls of England” and her descendents once reigned supreme upon the waves, but in the 20th century that hegemony is being challenged as never before, and the senior service will be tested to its limits in a globe-spanning conflict.

HMAS Australia The development of the Royal Australian Navy paralleled that country’s transition from a colony to an independent sovereign nation. Originally a local auxiliary intended to protect imperial interests in the southwest Pacific, by the end of WW1 the increasing autonomy of Australia led them to contemplate a small battle fleet of their own. HMAS Australia was one of the more overt manifestations of this: a County-Class heavy cruiser with 8 inch guns and respectable speed, range, and protection. Built in Scotland and entering service in 1928, in the early part of the war she did convoy escort duty and served alongside the Royal Navy in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. She returned to home waters in early 1942 as Japan entered the war and Australia came under threat. From there she had an eventful career, serving in numerous battles and landing operations. During the Leyte fighting in 1944, she was hit by a fatally damaged Val dive bomber that crashed into her superstructure. She was later hit by no less than five separate kamikaze aircraft in the 1945 Lingayen Gulf operation, but returned to the fight undaunted each time. Australia was finally scrapped in 1956.

HMAS Vampire Originally HMS Wallace, A V-class destroyer of the Royal Navy, Vampire was transferred to the Royal Australian Navy in 1933. Capable of 34 knots, with a range of 6,500 km and four 4-inch guns, her class was among the most powerful of their type in the First World War, but showing their age by the thirties. Nevertheless, they were useful convoy escort and anti-submarine ships. Briefly put into reserve in the 30s, as the world situation became more tense she was returned to commission in 1938. She spent the early part of the war serving with the British Mediterranean Fleet alternating between escort, ASW, and supply missions, as well as a few unsuccessful attempts to bait the Regia Marina out into the open where it could be brought to a general fleet action. The end of 1941 saw her in the Far East, escorting the ill-fated British ships Prince of Wales and Repulse. Unable to prevent their loss to air attack, Vampire rescued as many survivors as she could. Her luck ran out in April of 1942, when she was caught near Ceylon by almost a hundred Japanese carrier aircraft. Despite gamely fighting back with her limited antiaircraft armament, she was badly hit. Vampire broke apart and sunk inside 10 minutes, her ensign still flying defiantly as the last part of the ship to slip beneath the waves. Mercifully, only the commander and 8 sailors were lost, the rest able to escape the wreck.

HMS Warspite One of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships built just before World War 1, the Warspite was known as the “Grand Old Lady” of the Royal Navy. She was slow by World War 2 standards, but still powerfully armed, with eight 15-inch guns and a host of smaller weapons. This veteran, who had duelled with SMS Von der Tann at Jutland and been hit 15 times, was modernized in 1937 as her second war approached. She led the British squadron at the Second Naval Battle of Narvik, a wild engagement at close range inside the cramped confines of the Ofotfjord, in which she sank the Kriegsmarine destroyer Erich Koellner and damaged two others, one so badly that it had to be scuttled. Later, she crossed swords with the Italian navy at Calabria, and scored one of the longest range confirmed hits against a moving target with gunfire, at an astonishing 24 km. Embroiled in fighting at Taranto, Matapan, and badly damaged by a German bomb around Crete, she was repaired and back in action in time to contest the IJN’s Indian Ocean Raid, then serve in support of operations in the Med, despite being seriously hit by a Fritz-X guided bomb. In 1944 she was part of the naval support force for the Normandy Invasion, her powerful guns raining devastation on the German defenders and interdicting their movements up to 20km inland. All this, despite her X-turret and one of the boiler rooms being permanently disabled by the bomb strike the previous year. This scarred old warrior would hit a mine while travelling home to re-bore guns and replenish ammunition, but was still not done. While the shells, mines and bombs of two World Wars couldn’t stop the Grand Old Lady, postwar budget cuts did, and she was scrapped in 1947.

[/p][h3]Against the Tide[/h3][p]Both the USSR and China have traditionally been continental powers, with the bulk of their strength on land. But even a terrestrial superpower cannot afford to allow its enemies uncontested freedom of action on its maritime flanks. Although smaller than their regional rivals, the Soviet and Chinese navies did what they could to step the tide.

USSR M49 The M-class were small coastal submarines used by the Soviet Navy. 37 meters long and displacing about 200 tons submerged, they had a 45mm deck gun and two 21-inch torpedo tubes. Over a hundred were built, with progressive series upgrades until 1947. Serving mostly with the Black Sea and Baltic fleets, where their small size and lack of range was less of a handicap, they saw extensive use, with 33 being lost. Interestingly, their small size meant they could be built in components far inland, at Nizhny Novgorod, then transported by rail for final assembly.

USSR Shchuka After the M-class, the Shchukas were the most numerous Soviet submarine type of the war, with 88 built. They took heavy losses, with 35 lost in combat or to accidents. Displacing 700 tons submerged, they had two 45mm deck guns and six torpedo tubes, four forward and two aft. Some were supplied to the nascent People’s Liberation Army Navy, forming the first submarine element of that incredibly-named organization after the war.

ROCN Ning Hai Ning Hai was one of the more modern and capable ships of the Republic of China Navy. Lacking suitable domestic shipbuilding capacity, she was purchased from Japan and entered service in 1932. A light cruiser, similar in design to the Japanese Yubari-class, she displaced 2,500 tons and carried an armament of six 140mm guns at 23 knots. While this was modest performance by international standards, it was far and away the most powerful warship in China at that time. As the flagship of the Republic of China Navy (ROCN), she was attacked by Japanese aircraft in September 1937. Hit a total of six times, she sank in shallow water. Ning Hai was re-floated by the Japanese in 1938 and returned to service in the hands of her original builders as a barracks hulk. Later, as the war situation worsened for Japan, she was recommissioned as the escort ship “Ioshima”. During her second escort mission she was hit by three torpedoes from the submarine USS Shad and sunk for a second, and final time.

PLAN Anshan Originally Gnevny-class ships of the Soviet navy, the Anshans were the first destroyers of the People’s Liberation Army Navy. Four of these were purchased in the 50s. These represented a major step by the People’s Republic to assert themselves on the world stage, with a proper blue water naval capability. With four 130mm guns, a number of antiaircraft weapons, and depth charges, they were later able to be upgraded with sea-skimming missiles. They inherited the limited range and seaworthiness of their Soviet design, but were powerfully armed for their size. They remained in service until as late as 1992, with a few remaining as museum ships to this day.

With that brief history lesson behind us, let’s talk about how the ships appear in-game!

[/p][h3]Carriers and Other Details[/h3][p]In Hearts of Iron 4, the carriers are quite big and imposing but they don’t really do much visually.
In reality, a lot happens on board carriers and it can even be quite hectic.

To reflect this, all of the new carriers feature new and unique animations. Planes will move around and take off from the ship. You can also witness elevators that move as the planes get parked and swapped out. As well as dramatic landings using the ships arresting wires!

[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]
[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]
Carriers aside, there are various other small details that have been added to help bring more life into these vessels. Flags will sway in the wind and flares can be seen as a sinking ship makes a desperate call for help before sinking into the depths.

[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]
[/p][h3]How to Access the Ships[/h3][p]Everyone will have access to the ship designer since "Man the Guns" has been merged into the base game.

With that said, it’s good to know how to access all of the ships in this pack!

Each model is tied to a country, but some are also available for Commonwealth nations.

The IJN Sentoku (I-400 Class) is actually a special project and will appear as a submarine carrier for Japan!

Some ships such as heavy cruisers will appear as a selectable model once you modify your ship into a heavy cruiser design. This can be done by selecting the heavy battery canons module. Once you have added some heavy battery canons to your design, your icons and models will change into heavy cruisers! Similar rules apply for things such as battle cruisers, those require that you equip a higher tier armor module in the heavy ship category.

Only light cruisers are available because no heavy battery module has been added!

Heavy cruiser models and icons can now be seen once we equip the heavy battery!

You may have noticed that things look a bit different from before! We have updated some things in regards to how you select your models for your template. You will now see more options without having to scroll, as well as a little preview window for each model.

I would like to mention another thing in regards to the model selector in the division designer.
Each equipment type has been separated into its own category in order to reduce clutter. Hopefully this will make it a bit easier to find what you are looking for.

You can now open a drop down menu above the model selector. Here you can select the equipment type!

[/p][h3]Historical Templates[/h3][p]We have associated the new icons and 3d models with their corresponding ships in the 1936 and 1939 start dates. For the ones that entered service later in the war, you can of course select their icon and model at will from the ship designer.


That’s pretty convenient, and it’s a great option for those that want a bit more historical flavor!

[/p][h3]Overview[/h3][p]Now that you know how to access the assets, let's have a look at an overview of all the ships featured in this pack. I have marked the owners of each ship as well as if they can be accessed by being a part of the Commonwealth.

Battleships: [/p][p]
Carriers: Cruisers: Destroyers & Submarines
Of course, all of these ships feature unique 2D icons as well! These can be equipped in the designer so that you can keep track of your unique designs:

And with that, we have reached our destination! Thank you so much for joining us on this voyage, we hope you see you again soon!

Fair winds and following seas, admirals!


[/p]