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AL Richelieu is a Tier VII French sniper battleship (18.4 km): the long main battery reach lets her land AP citadels from positions where peer BBs have to push to engage. HE pen sits at the 1/4 caliber ratio instead of the standard 1/6, so HE spam is a real damage option here - pens roughly 1.5x more armor than a same-caliber peer's HE round. Standout traits: top-decile burny secondaries in T7 BBs (12).
Anchor a flank at 16-19 km with bow toward the closest threat, then use the speed advantage at 32 kn to rotate to the cap that needs a second battleship rather than the one your team already has. Mobility means you can pick which fight you are in; do not waste it by holding center the whole match.
The mobility advantage is about picking which cap fight you arrive at, not about leading the brawl line; a fast BB that overextends loses HP that the kit cannot trade back.
HE pen at the 1/4 caliber ratio instead of the standard 1/6. HE-spam is a real damage option here, not just a fire-starter; pens roughly 1.5x more armor than a same-caliber peer's HE, shared by 15/48 T7 BBs.
+8% speed, 180 s duration. Engine Boost consumable temporarily raises top speed. Mobility on demand to reposition, chase a kill, or break contact, uncommon in T7 BBs.
18.43 km main battery reach, best of T7 BBs.
15.72 km surface detect, bottom decile of T7 BBs. Visible before you can react; position early.
57300.0 HP, bottom decile of T7 BBs. Trade hits sparingly.
AL Richelieu is a Premium ship and not available to unlock in the Tech Tree. Acquisition paths: Containers and Campaign. Container chances are shown as the listed odds of receiving this exact ship, dividing grouped ship-pool odds across the resolved ships and including nested container paths when a crate can drop another crate.
Pair with a commander whose unique skill complements her main armament; check the build tool for current recommendations.
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Where AL Richelieu sits among Tier VII BBs (48 ships). Notable standouts are shown first; the rest of the cohort-ranked stats are in the expand below. Acquisition variants (Black Friday, Founders Edition) are counted once with their base ship, not as separate peers.
Not standouts for AL Richelieu -- here's where she sits on every other ranked stat in the cohort. Stats tagged NORM are tied across more than half the cohort, so the value is the cohort default rather than a standout.
Damage Control Party∞ charges · 80 s reload · 15 s active
Repair Party3 charges · 80 s reload · 28 s active · 8,022 HP (14% of max HP) total heal (per charge) 
Defensive AA Fire3 charges · 140 s reload · 25 s active · +100% flak burst boost
Engine Boost2 charges · 180 s reload · 180 s active · +8% speed bonusAll values are ship base stats with modifications and upgrade changes denoted inline.
Numbers the spec table cannot show directly: alpha-strike math, DPM, dispersion, AP penetration. Click the formula chip on any row to reveal how it is calculated.
Horizontal dispersion ellipse width at max range, from the verified WoWS dispersion model: $\sigma_H = \left(\dfrac{R}{30}\cdot\dfrac{\text{idealRadius}-\text{minRadius}}{\text{idealDistance}} + \text{minRadius}\right)\cdot 30$ $= \left(\dfrac{16750}{30}\cdot\dfrac{10-2.2}{1000} + 2.2\right)\cdot 30 = 196.7\,\text{m}$How wide your shells scatter at 10 km, from the same dispersion model as the max-range figure above. Picking a fixed range makes this number directly comparable from ship to ship: max-range dispersion makes a longer-range gun look worse even when it's tighter at any common range. The interactive Dispersion tab on the Charts card plots the full curve from 0 to max range.Vertical dispersion ellipse height at max range: $\sigma_V = \sigma_H \cdot \text{radiusOnMax}$ $= 196.7 \cdot 0.6 = 118\,\text{m}$How tall the same scatter ellipse is at 10 km. Comparable from ship to ship for the same reason as the width value above.50%-hit horizontal radius: $\sigma_{H,50} = \sigma_H \cdot \text{GetHalfHitsRatio}(\sigma)$ $= 196.7 \cdot 0.344\;(\sigma = 1.8) = 67.6\,\text{m}$50%-hit vertical radius: $\sigma_{V,50} = \sigma_V \cdot \text{GetHalfHitsRatio}(\sigma)$ $= 118 \cdot 0.344\;(\sigma = 1.8) = 40.6\,\text{m}$Canonical community AP formula (jcw780/wows_shell), evaluated at muzzle velocity: $P = 10^{-7}\cdot K \cdot m^{0.69} \cdot d^{-1.07} \cdot v_0^{1.38}$ $= 10^{-7}\cdot 2100 \cdot 885^{0.69} \cdot 0.38^{-1.07} \cdot 830^{1.38} = 681.7\,\text{mm}$. Matches the in-game spec card.Same formula at the ship's max firing range (23 km), where the shell has slowed to 535 m/s: $P = 10^{-7}\cdot 2100 \cdot 885^{0.69} \cdot 0.38^{-1.07} \cdot 535^{1.38} = 371.9\,\text{mm}$.95 mm ≈ 380 mm caliber / 4 (improved HE penetration: German BBs, Yamato-class, and a handful of others).This ship's HE shells use a 1/4 (~0.25) caliber-to-pen ratio instead of the standard 1/6 (~0.167) - 0.25 in this case. Lets HE pen ~95mm armor instead of ~63mm. Hits every German cruiser (150mm CL, 203mm CA) and BB (350mm+), British heavy cruisers / Lion / Nelson, a handful of other premiums.floor(380 mm caliber / 14.3) = 26 mm (AP auto-penetrates plating this thick or less).AP shell over-penetration splash radius; scales with shell mass. Wickes 102mm = 3, standard 152mm CL ~ 20, Iowa 406mm ~ 270, Yamato 460mm = 400, Incomparable 650mm = 550 (max). Larger value = bigger splash damage area when AP over-pens.All 8 barrels bear on the broadside.180 degrees / 5 deg/s traverse speed = 36 s.6,300 HE damage x 8 broadside guns = 50,400.11,000 AP damage x 8 broadside guns = 88,000.50,400 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 28.5 s base reload = 106,105.88,000 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 28.5 s base reload = 185,263.50,400 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 25.7 s installed reload (Main Battery Mod. 3 = -10%) = 117,665.88,000 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 25.7 s installed reload (Main Battery Mod. 3 = -10%) = 205,447.8 broadside guns x 60 / 28.5 s base reload = 16.8.8 broadside guns x 60 / 25.7 s installed Artillery reload = 18.7.16.8 shells/min x 40% fire chance = 6.74.18.7 shells/min x 40% fire chance = 7.47.Sum across every AA aura on this ship of (aura.continuous_damage x 3.5 x aura.hit_probability). Here: (107×3.5×0.75) + (100×3.5×0.7) + (22×3.5×0.75) = 584. Covers AA-only mounts plus dual-purpose secondaries (Bismarck 105mm, USN 5"/38 cruiser secondaries) and dual-purpose main batteries (Sumner-class 5"/38, Akizuki-line 100mm). Formula validated against in-game captures on California, Sumner, Manfred von Richthofen, Dante Alighieri (exact) and within +/-17% on the remaining verified ships.Longest-reaching aura across AA-only + dual-purpose auras.SUM over AA auras of (aura DPS x aura range km). A plane crossing the AA bubble is exposed to each aura for a time proportional to that aura's range, so long-reach DPS is worth more than the same DPS in a short bubble. Units: DPS*km; used to rank overall AA threat across the cohort.Max dispersion = range (km) × 57 + 30. Each dispersion type sets its own slope; this is not a percentage applied to a standard baseline.5 km × 57 + 30 = 315 m.Sum across all secondary families of (per-side barrels × 60 / reload_s × alpha), where per-side barrels = mounts × barrels-per-mount / 2 (the guns that bear on one broadside target). Per-family: 6×2 100 mm (6/side) × 60/4 × 1400 = 126,000 + 3×3 152 mm (4.5/side) × 60/12 × 2200 = 49,500. Assumes every shell hits (real hit rate is lower; the Brawl matchup tool on the Compare page folds in dispersion + target armor).Maximum HE damage per shell across secondary HE families. Best on this ship: 2200 from the 152 mm family.Maximum per-shell fire chance across secondary HE families (before target fire resistance is applied). Best on this ship: 12% from the 152 mm family.Maximum HE armor penetration across secondary HE families (caliber × 1/6 for most nations; 1/4 for German/UK BBs). Shells whose pen falls under a plate's armor thickness shatter for 0 hull damage though fire chance still applies. Best on this ship: 25 mm from the 152 mm family.Hull HP 57,300, distributed across 5 hull zones, each with its own plate thicknesses, saturation cap, and pen thresholds. HP caps are estimated from the standard WoWs damage-allocation model.
Overmatched by only MusashiARP Musashi. Angled, everything else bounces.
Citadels come from a flat broadside at close range; held past ~30° of angle, AP shatters or bounces.
Superstructure and extremities take HE pens and AP overpens from nearly any gun: steady chip damage. Fire resistance 37%, fires burn 60s. Range-by-range in the ballistics tool →
| Section | Plates | HP cap | Threats | Tactic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bow | 32 mm primary (range 32–50 mm) | ≈ 2,865 (~5% of HP) | Overmatched by 460mm+ (Aki, Musashi)Angle bounces 410mm32 mm: HE pens from 203mm+ | Bow-tank fits behind this exterior plate. Saturation is FAST here; the cap is often only a few thousand HP. |
| Hull (midship) | 19 mm primary (range 19–355 mm) | ≈ 42,975 (~75% of HP) | Overmatched by 283mm+ (Scharnhorst, Scharnhorst '43)Angle bounces 203mm19 mm: HE pens from 127mm+ | Largest HP pool. Citadel sits behind these plates; thinner deck and side plating absorb the rest. |
| Stern | 32 mm primary (range 32–150 mm) | ≈ 2,865 (~5% of HP) | Overmatched by 460mm+ (Aki, Musashi)Angle bounces 410mm32 mm: HE pens from 203mm+ | Mirror of bow. Same fast saturation. |
| Citadel | 330 mm primary (range 18–405 mm) | no cap | Citadel pen: full damageOver-pen: ×0.10 damage | Effectively no cap; citadel pool sits at ~165k HP on every ship. An AP citadel penetration deals the shell's full damage, the biggest single hit available; only over-penetrations are damped, to ×0.10. |
| Superstructure | 24 mm primary (range 24–405 mm) | no cap | Any HE ≥16 mm pens at full damage | Any HE ≥16 mm pens at full damage. HE-spam target, and the section saturates fast (often only a few thousand HP). |
Saturation cap = HP a section can absorb before further damage to it is reduced (the "bow-tank" effect). Citadel pool is ~165k on every ship (effectively no cap); damage is gated by pen/over-pen multipliers instead. Superstructure saturates fast but HE always pens regardless of the plate thickness. Rudder (and other module HPs) are a separate pool from ship HP: damaging a module doesn't drain ship HP. Incapacitated modules like the rudder and engine are restored by DCP, but secondary and AA mounts destroyed at 0 HP stay out for the rest of the battle.
Balance updates affecting AL Richelieu. Cards are condensed; use each source link for full context.
Every custom exterior AL Richelieu can equip, from in-game data.
Filtered to official World of Warships: Legends pages where this ship is a focus, reward, line member, or high-context variant mention.