KMS Admiral Hipper

## Admiral Hipper

The Admiral Hipper, as seen in game.

"Nah you come here. Come closer and I'll give a present." - *Player "Justice," ready with torpedoes*

The KMS Admiral Hipper was a German heavy cruiser featured in the game.

## Background History

The Admiral Hipper was the lead ship of the Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruisers, named after Admiral Franz von Hipper. The Admiral Hipper was laid down in 1935 in Blohm & Voss shipyard and launched in February of 1937. Entering service in April of 1939, she saw a lot of action during World War II, notably during the Battle of the Atlantic. Her first break into the Atlantic was unsuccessful, but her second break resulted in sinking several merchant ships. Then taking part in the Battle of the Barents Sea, she sunk the destroyer Achates and minesweeper Bramble, but then forced to withdraw due to damage from two British light cruisers.

On May 3rd, 1945, following her return to Germany for repairs, she was attacked by Royal Air Force bombers, resulting in severe damage while in Kiel. Her crew scuttled her and she was later raised that same year, not serving anymore time. She was then scrapped in between 1948 and 1952.

## Tactics

### Overview

The Hipper seems to be a weak ship when first purchased but do not be fooled. Like all the German ships in the game, they are the epitome of overkill for their respective niches. The Hipper is a very deceiving ship due to it's uncompetitive stats (18K main battery damage) when compared to other cruisers and similar spec battleships. However, it packs 16 torpedoes that deals almost 15k per torpedo. To put it in short terms, The Hipper is an oversized Mahan for all intents and purposes and should be played as such. With a high max speed of 39 knots, your speed is second only to dedicated destroyers and this should be utilized to get within knifing distance to the enemy.

### Playing as Hipper

The Hipper's apparent weakness later becomes a blessing as you close in on your enemy. Because you are so apparently weak, they tend to ignore you in order to focus on bigger fish with a much more apparent bite. This is the fatal mistake that you will exploit. Get in as close as you can and when you get to about 1.5 km, Unleash all your torpedoes for a whopping 240K damage. This is sweetened by the fact that being hit with 16 torpedoes in a short period of time will most likely cause flooding to the opponents ship. Unleash all hell with your main batteries on your injured opponent, preferably with HE to set them on fire as your damage is mediocre to start with, and net you a huge cash boost and taking down preferably the most dangerous opponent on the enemy team in the process. The hipper plays like the true spirit of a German stormtrooper. You get in, unleash all hell and mess up the enemy lines, and you move on and repeat.

### Playing Alongside Hipper

The Admiral Hipper is a invaluable ship to have on your team and it is really important to keep a pro Hipper lively on your team. Escort your teammate by providing fire support or drawing drawing fire so the Hipper may get closer to deal some real damage. Due to her less-than-average AA system, she requires AA support from destroyers or fellow cruisers such as the Brooklyn. Also, adding destroyers to her escort increases gun power while adding destroyers add torpedo power Choose wisely with which you escort.

As with any ship with torpedoes, never get in the way of the Hipper unless they've already launched all torps.

### Playing Against Hipper

Should there be no greater threat in the vicinity, your primary objective should be to eliminate the Hipper ASAP as in many ways she is the poor mans Atago and her seemingly flimsy frame actually is extremely capable of doing its job. Stay at range to render her torps useless and if possible, when at close range bait her into wasting her torpedoes giving you a 60 second window to essentially punish her with impunity. If a Hipper relentlessly chases you, run away and fire repeatedly with HE shells, as they can't get in range with torpedoes and the fire will burn away their hull.

## Advantages and Disadvantages

**Advantages**

* Has an interesting main battery quirk that gives a further amount of damage from flags.
* Has two torpedo launchers per broadside.
* Devastating torpedoes.
* Fast firing guns.
* Has interceptors to provide AA boost when needed.

**Disadvantages**

* Sub par Anti Aircraft guns.
* Lacks secondary guns.
* Dispersion can get of hand sometimes.
* low HP
* Bad turning time of 38 secs.

## Editor/Contributor's Opinion

1) **XercesDenial** :- " USE THE JAPANESE FLAG AND THANK ME LATER "

## Trivia

* The ship was named after Admiral Franz von Hipper, commander of the German battlecruiser squadron during the Battle of Jutland (May 31 to June 1, 1916).

* One of the ships of the class, Prinz Eugen survived WW2 and was for a short time taken into US service with a German Crew. Ironically, when the German crew left, the American garrison cannot figure out the "German space magic" that kept the ship operational and ultimately had to use her as a test ship for nuclear tests. It survived but was leaking oil and the crew attempted to save her, only to fail. That same oil actually later caused problems to the local environment and in 2019 a team had to be sent in to repair the leaks and salvage the leftover oil, which amounted to a rather sizable number of barrels.
	+ A shame she was used in the nuclear tests given that she could have been an exotic attraction as a museum, as the only german ship from ww2 that survived intact.
* The Admiral Hipper's bell is currently on display in Laboe Naval Memorial.
* Due to its small size and the fact it carries torpedoes, this ship has been called the "Mini-Tirp" and sometimes the "Chirpitz" by players.
	+ In many respects, The Admiral hipper class was just a downsized Bismarck class with some tweaks to make them fit better into the cruiser role. In fact, when the British hunted the Bismarck they accidentally fired upon the Prinz Eugen first because their silhouettes were near identical.