The Wirbelwind on attack heading.
The Wirbelwind is a reoccurring high-speed cruiser in the three games. The second fastest supership of all, as well as the weakest, it's the first boss you encounter in the trilogy. It has a sister ship named Sturmwind.
In Naval Ops:Commander, it's sent by the Virishian Navy to destroy a Navishian uprising, of which the player is a part of. In Warship Gunner 2, it's encountered regardless of who your commanding officer is.
Capabilities[]
The Wirbelwind is a very high speed cruiser, with it's maximum speed reaching over 100 knots and had great maneuverability. It is armed with battleship tier cannons, torpedoes and missile launchers. In Naval Ops:Commander, it was equipped with a heavy chain gun which was primarily used to damage the player's engines.
Tactics[]
In Naval Ops:Warship Gunner and Warship Gunner 2, it loops around the map in a circular pattern to pull off a hit and run tactic on the player, and after enough damage is dealt to Wirbelwind, it would start using it's missile launcher on the player additionally. In Naval Ops:Commander, it has a considerably different tactic.It would fire a barrage of shells, torpedoes and eventually missiles at the player before running away to project it's next course of attack. While charging at the player, it would fire it's heavy chain gun to damage the player's engines, making it's fire more likely to hit the player.
Defeating the Wirbelwind[]
Though very fast and able to dodge player fire, the Wirbelwind had three critical weaknesses, all of which had the same effect; machine guns,torpedoes or light chain guns. If the player shoots machine guns, torpedoes or light chain guns at the Wirbelwind's underside, it's speed would drop dramatically and became more vulnerable to attack. As well as that, it's also the supership with the least HP, making battleship tier cannons or other heavy weaponry lethal to the Wirbelwind.
Therefore, the player (if access to battleships or battlecarriers is not available) should first fire a barrage of machinegun fire/torpedoes/chain gun fire at the wirbelwind to first render it unable to dodge your attacks. Afterward, torpedoes and artillery should be fired at it before it can repair it's engines again. If the player fails to do so, note that in Naval Ops:Warship Gunner and Warship Gunner 2, the Wirbelwind will loop back to it's original location. In Naval Ops:Commander, it is suggested that the player retreat from the Wirbelwind until it starts charging again, of which then the player should anticipate the course of the Wirbelwind and prepare to fire machinegun fire/torpedoes/chain gun at the Wirbelwind again. If the player has access to heavy weaponry, then attacking the wirbelwind at close range with this weaponry should be enough to defeat it.
In Warship Gunner 2 only, attacking the radar dome behind Wirbelwind's forward bridge will cause it's attacks to become considerably less accurate. This is a good tactic to deploy if your ship is a cruiser or a destroyer.
Warship Gunner[]
Area: A-10
Endurance: 18000
Armament
38.1cm 65-Caliber
12.7cm used for both Gun
57mm Heavy Chain Gun
Oxygen Torpedoes II
20cm 12b Rocket Launcher
Guided Torpedoes II
Missile Launcher 2
[]
Area: A-10
Endurance: 5500
Weapons 35.6cm 50-Caliber
12.7cm used for both Gun
40mm Heavy Chain Gun
Oxygen Torpedoes
12cm 30b Rocket Launcher
Guided Torpedoes
Missile Launcher
Warship Gunner 2[]
(Difficulty: Hard)
Endurance 15000
Speed 93kts
Weapons
30.5cm Gun
12.7cm High Angle Gun
25mm Machine Gun
53.3cm Oxy Trp
20cm 12b MLRS
45.0cm Gdd Trp
*Note changing the Difficulty cause some stats go up or down.
Images[]
Wirbelwind's Layout.
Trivia[]
- The Wirbelwind is also the name of a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun based on the Panzer IV tank. The gun was apparantly effective against both anti-air and anti-ground targets.
- Wirbelwind in Naval ops Warship gunner 2 appears three times(Excluding the boss fight) in second playthrough: escorting Trollslegur, Escorting Vogel Sumera with high speed destroyers, and spawning with Harima, and Dreadnought when fighting Arahabaki. All of which is in second playthrough.