Through the Spy Glass: République

This ship, crowning the first ever Tier VIII campaign, is a representation of a post-war French battleship design. She shares her secondary-gun design with the De Grasse and Colbert classes, as well as the T47 and T53 destroyer classes. Her AA guns were also deployed on the same ship classes, as well as on board the infamous Jean Bart. She's here to herald the dawn of a brave new world of roaring Tier VIII monsters and land some shells!

What name could sound more patriotic than "République"? It’s a fitting name for such a monstrous-yet-elegant battleship. With eight 17-inch (431 mm) guns in two quadruple turrets and one of the best reload times for her type and tier, République means business. Not only can she bring relentless firepower to the fray, she can also bring it fast—as a French battleship, she possesses a decent base speed paired with an Engine Boost consumable. Her citadel is well protected but not untouchable, and the main plating of her hull is 32 mm thick. If you’re correctly angled, you'll be able to bounce the majority of AP shells aside from those fired by 460 mm guns. Otherwise, high-explosive shells fired from heavy cruisers or light cruisers with Equilibrium of Power will damage just about every single part of République except for her turrets and torpedo protection. Her AA suite is also quite strong, and combined with her speed, CVs will have a relatively hard time landing their strikes accurately. 

Émile Guépratte is an excellent pick for this battleship. His Expeditious base trait will only emphasize République's already decent speed. Then, we recommend:

• Not the One for Nuisance to reduce the risk of your ship catching fire.
• Crisscross—you only have two turrets, so they might as well traverse as fast as possible.
• Émile Guépratte's unique skill, Megalomania, to give you an excellent reload time, as well as a chance to conceal between salvos.
• Master Mechanic to greatly enhance your survivability.
• And lastly, Fight Fire with Fire, because the bigger they are, the harder they burn.

Le jour de gloire est arrivé : turn the tide!