Tier VIII Reinforcements: Marine Nationale

It's time to welcome a bunch of new Tier VIII Tech Tree ships, Captains! This time, we greet three British and three French ships. This article is dedicated to those of the Marine Nationale; you can read about British ones by clicking here. Before taking a closer look at each of our new arrivals, let's skim through the method of acquiring these magnificent boats. 

Same as the first batch of Tier VIII ships, these will be available right away for сaptains with researched Tier VII ships of the respective branches and enough XP on those. In fact, if you have 200,000 Elite XP on a ship, the newcomers will be unlocked automatically. A full upgrade from scratch requires 300,000 XP. 

Destroyer Mogador

Mogador was the namesake of her destroyer class, which comprised of two ships (her sister was named Volt”). Compared to the preceding Le Fantasques, Mogador was a step up in terms of displacement and firepower. Both she and Volta engaged at Mers-el-Kébir and ended their warpath scuttled at Toulon in 1942.

Sporting eight 5.5-inch (139 mm) guns, Mogador is close to cruisers in terms of her firepower. Powerful and fast, albeit short-range torpedoes provide another argument for picking her to sail into battle, and her solid HP pool and Main Battery Reload Booster consumable seal the deal. She lacks Smoke Generator but more than makes up for that with her top speed of 43.5 kt.

Cruiser Saint Louis

A planned successor of the Algérie class, the Saint Louis class was designed in 1939. When WWII broke out, the series was put on hold due to the impossibility of completing it in a short term. It eventually ended up being canceled altogether, with work stopping in 1940. 

Somewhat similar to Charles Martel in terms of gameplay, Saint Louis also packs decent anti-air capabilities. Her choice of consumables is as varied as it gets, including options such as the French specialty Main Battery Reload Booster, Sonar, Repair Party, and more. 

Battleship Alsace

A variant of the Richelieu class, the Alsace class was designed in response to the development of German H-class battleships—which didn’t end up hitting the seas either. The sheer size of the French battleship design would have necessitated the enlargement of the nation’s harbors, so the concept was scrapped when war broke out, just like the Saint Louis class.

With twelve long-range 15-inch (380 mm) guns housed in three quadruple-gun turrets, Alsace makes for a scary opponent. She's also fast (even more so if you consider the availability of Engine Boost), durable, and able to effectively defend herself and allies against air attacks. 

Set sail with the Marine Nationale, and turn the tide!