Caernarvon Guide

Main characteristics
Price: 2 520 000 credits
Research price: 110 000 XP
1500 HP



Tech tree:

Spoiler:

Crew
1. Commander
2. Gunner
3. Driver
4. Loader (also a radioman)

Mobility

Top speed: 34,3 km/h

Engines: Rolls-Royce Meteor Mk. IVB / 650 horse power
Rolls-Royce Meteor Mk. IVC / 750 horse power
Rolls-Royce Meteor M120 / 810 horse power

Suspensions: FV221 / Max.capacity 60.00t / Traverse speed 22 deg per sec.
FV221A / Max.capacity 62.00t / Traverse speed 24 deg per sec.

Caernarvon has a decent top speed with very good acceleration for a heavy tank which altogether gives it a good mobility. Hull traverse isn't that good, but combined with nice turret traverse and very good accuracy on the move, very few tanks can outflank a Caernarvon. The last engine is very good, gives this tank good acceleration and mobility for a heavy tank.

Armor

Hull armor: 130/51/38 mm

Hull armor is definitely the weakest point of Caernarvon, British heavy tank. It has very few slopes and none of „traditional“ angling techniques are reliable when driving this tank. Upper front panel can bounce guns with lower penetration values and sometimes absorb shells as zero damage hits thanks to spaced armor plates. The biggest flaw/drawback is the ammo rack which is situated in the lower panel compartment. Basically, you need to have obstacles and use terrain to your advantage when driving this tank.

Turrets:
A43 / Armor: 152/95/95 / Rotation: 30 degrees/second / View range: 370m
A41 Mk. I / Armor: 165/112/90 / Rotation: 36 degrees/second / View range: 400m

The last turret s pretty well armored and a very strong mantlet can deflect or absorb quite a lot of shots, sometimes even those of the top tier guns with high penetration. Sides of the turret aren't that strong obviously but they will sometimes bounce misplaced shots. The turret itself is pretty small sized and hard to hit on longer distances. The commander’s cupola is really small and low placed, almost in the line with the top of the turret and it is practically impossible to hit, even from closer range.

Armament

Guns:

Spoiler:

The stock gun obviously has lower damage and penetration potential, even with superb rate of fire it posses very little threat to other tanks of tier 8, especially to higher tiers. It is of great importance to research and mount the second gun which has very good penetration values, good accuracy, RoF and aiming time but lower alpha damage compared to other tier 8 heavy tanks. This gun offers a lot of options if used properly and taking situations on the field to its advantage. The last gun has the same damage and penetration values as the previous one but gives slightly better accuracy and RoF and much better aiming time.

Radios:

WS No. 19 Mk. III / range 550 meters
WS No. 22 / range 700 meters
SR C42 / range 750 meters

Range of the two last radios in the research tree is excellent.

Suggested upgrade path: (suspension)FV221A -> (turret)A41 Mk. I -> (gun)OQF 20-pdr Type A Barrel -> (engine)Rolls-Royce Meteor Mk. IVC -> (gun)OQF 20-pdr Type B Barrel -> (engine)Rolls-Royce Meteor M120 -> (radio)SR C42

Review

This is a fast reloading, accurate and agile vehicle, those are the main features of Caernarvon. The final gun doesn't offer as much damage as other tier 8 heavy tanks, actually it is quite of a big difference, but with better RoF and accuracy it can deal a lot of DPM. Combined with decent mobility and very good gun depression this tank when fully upgraded can be a real menace on the field.The hull isn't that impressive though, the upper front plate is angled and can bounce shots with lower penetration potential and quite often will eat sells without recieving damage. Lower front panel and side armor are the real problem when playing this tank, when exposed at almost any angle, they don't give much confidence. Shots recieved in the lower panel will almost always penetrate and in many cases hit the ammo rack itself - which is the biggest drawback. There is no proper way of angling this tank, best playstyle is to keep the lower panel hidden behind terrain/obstacles and try to stay hull-down as much as possible. The turret is pretty small sized and from greater distances a hard target, also it can recieve a decent amount of zero damage hits. Caernarvon thrives mostly at long range, as a support heavy tank with a decent accuracy on the move. On city maps it's best used to keep enemy tanks perma-tracked and destroy when they are trying to peek behind corners cause of it's fast aiming time, accuracy and RoF. Hilly terrain is also very beneficial when driving this tank thanks to hull-down potential. Although not as good as with the American tanks.

The mobility on Carenarvon is very good, it accelerates well and is agile which is quite an improvement after driving its predecessor - the Black Prince. All in all, the agility, the gun is what makes the Caernarvon. Also prefferable matchmaking sometimes allows an aggressive approach, provided you use your DPM and hide your weak spots or at least make them harder to hit by constantly moving.

Advantages of tank

- Accurate, high RoF, fast aiming time, very good penetration.
- Good mobility and agility.
- Small turret can be hard to penetrate at long distances.
- Good gun depression.
- Spaced armor on the sides can absorb some shots.
- Good view range

Disadvantages of tank

- Very weak side and rear hull armor.
- Low alpha damage compared to other tier 8 heavies.
- Weak lower front panel.
- Ammo rack positioned in the lower front side of the hull.

Suggested crew skills

1. Commander: Sixth sense , Brothers in Arms , Repair

2. Gunner: Repair (or Deadeye ), Brothers in Arms , Snap shot

3. Driver: Repair , Brothers in Arms , Smooth ride

4. Loader: Safe Stowage , Brothers in Arms , Repair

Suggested equipment

Improved ventilation
Gun rammer
Wet ammo rack

Suggested consumables

Small Repair Kit
First Aid Kit
Manual Fire Extinguisher




Originally written by Njunja

Thank you it was very useful

"Decent" accuracy on the move?... Worse than US tanks at hull down?... Spaced armor on the sides?... What?...
After playing the heavy line of every nation (except E-100 line) caernarvon has the best accuracy on the move I've experienced. Unless the enemy spams gold shells, the turret of caernarvon is in my opinion superior than T32 frontally due to the hidden cupola. If you have ever seen a caernarvon properly hull down, the only thing you see is a line on top of the horizon, you barely even see the gun.

Yes, it has 6mm of spaced armor on the sides. And no, its not better then the T32. The turret is weaker and it has less depression.

i know there are better tanks, but i quite fancy one and i'm halfway through the 2nd churchill, and its a slog, so slow. is the black prince better? or am i going to go mad getting there?

ViktorKitov wrote:Yes, it has 6mm of spaced armor on the sides. And no, its not better then the T32. The turret is weaker and it has less depression.

It has less armor thickness, but it still reliably bounces tier 7-9 tanks. Sure, T32 mantlet bounces pretty much any gun, but it has a much more noticeable and easier to shoot cupola, hence "unless the enemy spams gold". Also they both have 10 degrees gun depression, but caernarvons larger hull makes it less noticeable. Also, the spaced armor (whom I really didn't notice at all), unless fixed in recent patches, doesn't make up for that caernarvons tracks are integrated into the hull (penetrating tracks damages the tank) similar to those of churchills unlike T32 whom hate non integrated tracks.

All in all, I'd say T32 is a better overall heavy that can do many different jobs whereas caernarvon is strictly only darn good at hull down.

vorlontank wrote:i know there are better tanks, but i quite fancy one and i'm halfway through the 2nd churchill, and its a slog, so slow. is the black prince better? or am i going to go mad getting there?

im playing the BP at the moment and have it fully researched other than the next tank.. so far i love it tbh as with both churchills before it, it has quite low alpha damage still but RoF makes up for it.. good armor and very good traverse speed which i think helps quite alot. still slow compared to other tier 7 heavies.. so i think you may like it vorlontank. but then again i loved both the churchills despite the speed and low damage