FS Dunkerque

*FS* *Dunkerque* was a French battleship and was the only French ship in the game until *FS* *Alsace* was introduced.

## Tactics and Overview

*Dunkerque* is a surprisingly powerful ship when employed with the frontal bow and reverse technique. not only can she deal full damage while doing so, she is also a hard target to hit. The only real counters is to have a carrier deal with her or attack from her back where she has no primary armament. Her secondaries are incredibly accurate and do not disappoint, and at close range, turning them to bear on an enemy is an excellent idea. When fully upgraded, they often deal close to 100k damage in close-quarter combat, and help blow pesky destroyers out of the water. To top off the sweet deal, they have some of the longest reach of any secondary battery in the game at some ludicrous 1.45 KM.

## Playing Dunkerque

When playing *Dunkerque*, keep in mind that she is not a top tier battleship, though she is often pushed into the role or becomes the backbone of many teams with three or four *Dunkerques*, thanks to the new update. She is rather a more utilitarian approach to high tier gameplay that favors skill over brute horsepower. As such, learn how to position yourself facing the enemy as much as possible to increase your chances of survival. Take advantage of your speed to get to strategic points and camp close to cover. this way the enemy can only hit you from one or 2 sides rather than all sides. And use those powerful secondaries. Team up with other *Dunkerques* and form a battle squadron, which will help kill enemies with deadly efficiency. She is strong enough to hold her own when upgraded, and should lead her flank along the border and pincer into the enemy. However if you come across against higher tier battleships, it is highly advised to run as they can just brute force through you in frontal engagements.

With the 1.72.14 update on matchmaking, the *Dunkerque* will no longer face powerful enemies and becomes the king of the seas. Her increased drop chance in all crates further encourage the trend of her as the new meta. This makes her more powerful than ever as she can dominate the map without worry of higher-tier warships. Even so, enemy *Nagatos*, *Kongos*, and *Fusos* still pose a certain amount of threats to *Dunkerque*, with all of them having beefier HP pools and better damage, albeit at the cost of having to go broadside.

Her accuracy is quite unusual; if played enough, you will realise that firing a broadside gives the shells terrible dispersion, while firing head on gives excellent accuracy. This is yet another reason to fire straight on.

Unless with an urgent reason, avoid getting too close to warships that outclass her so that her higher accuracy and ability to fight bow-on can turn the tide. But in a worst case scenario, if you do end up in a brawl, do not hesitate to use your powerful secondaries by going broadside.

The best flags are speed, damage, reload and HP, as she is good in these aspects and could become monstrously powerful if fully upgraded and equipped with Brazilian flag, for example. The American flag can be a good option to opt too, since you're play-style doesn't really require you to be showing broadside or brawling much. This would boost your reload time and damage per salvo from 30K to a pretty respectable 34K albeit at the cost of some HP.

### Playing against Dunkerque

As said before, carriers are the best counters. However, when not in a carrier there is a way to take it out. If you sneak up behind it or use its own cover to travel around to the back, you may be able to destroy even with secondaries in the way. Only if your ship is high in hp and in firepower (or torps). At range it is nearly useless unless you have two ships firing at it at two different locations - one distraction and one broadsiding it. Heading directly at them is nearly a suicide mission unless your ship is fast and sturdy enough, such as Japanese battleship or a fully upgraded *Brooklyn* or *Admiral Hipper*. At close range, abuse its slow turret rotation rate to score multiple hits as you travel towards the aft and around. You may have been heavily damaged or near death, but you succeeded in sinking a *Dunkerque*. Just stay aware of other enemy ships....

## Advantages and Disadvantages

**Advantages**

* All forward facing turrets.
* Amazing turret angles (can almost shoot at the back without turning too much).
* Accurate guns with extremely tight dispersion.
* Reliable secondaries.
* Exceptionally fast for a BB.
* Brilliant movability.
* Extremely long range secondaries.

**Disadvantages**

* Quite unprotected aft (drawback of having all turrets on the front).
* AA may feel lacking at times.
* Damage flag may become requisite as 30K per salvo might start feeling underwhelming.

## Editor/Contributor's Opinion

1) **XercesDenial** - "YOU SHOULDN'T AND DON'T GO BROADSIDE!!! "

3) Player 6 - just face towards the enemy to resist attack and hit really very hard with eight shells

2) **Thathsilu894** - "Had great memories on this bad boy back then but Its playstyle has been figured now making her very vulnerable and not even threatening in matches now"

## Trivia

* She is one of the 2 ships in the game to feature Dual accuracy, With *Rodney* being the only other ship in the game sharing this trait.
* The *Dunkerque* and its sister ship Strasbourg were the first capital ships built by France after World War 1.