The Wickes-class high-speed transport is an American troop transport vessel.
Description[]
At the beginning of World War II, the United States Navy still had a large number of old destroyers under commission, mostly launched between 1916 and 1921. They belonged to three different, but very similar classes, all of them with a flush deck and four smokestacks. Because of that, they are often regarded as one class and are called "flush deckers" or "four-stackers". With 156 ships built the Clemson-class was the largest group among them, with the Wickes-class following behind at 111 ships. These old ships were outdated by the 1930s, especially in their armament, but their hulls still provided reliable platforms for other services such as minelaying, minesweeping or tending sea planes. 32 of such ships, among them 17 Wickes-class destroyers, were converted to high-speed transports (US Navy designation APD, which means transport destroyer). In the conversion, the two forward boilers were removed along with their smokestacks, giving space to accommodate 200 troops. Their armament was also reduced but modernized, with the torpedo launchers sacrificed to give room for four LCP landing craft. These APD ships were mainly used in amphibious operations, but they also participated in other duties such as escorts, transports, and submarine hunters.
The APD in BattleGroup42 is based on the Wickes-class destroyer. The armament consist of two 4"/50 caliber (102mm) guns and three dual-barreled Oerlikon 20mm cannons. Its true potential lies in its capacity to launch four landing vehicles at once. This allows a more rapid troop deployment to the hostile shore compared with other warships.
There are two variants for the ship: one with four LCVP, the other with two LVT(A)-2 Water Buffalos and two LVT(A)-1s.
It appears on 4208-Gavutu Islands, 4211-Safi Port, 4407-Operation Crossbow and 4409-Angaur.
Trivia[]
- The ship is simply known as "APD Transport" in the game.