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Hughes is a Tier VI American torpedo destroyer. The torpedoes travel, so target reaction time is shorter than peer DDs; this is a torpedo-spam kit, not a gun trade kit. Standout traits: best close-range AP pen in T6 DDs (237.7 mm) and top-decile long-range AP brick in T6 DDs (75.5 mm).
Hold a flank position your team can rotate behind, not a center lane your team has to defend you in. Your guns lose penetration at range, so aim AP at broadsides you can still citadel and put HE into superstructures and upper-hull sections, rather than the bow-in or belt armor your shells bounce and shatter on.
The kit pays out by saturating lanes, not by waiting for guaranteed broadsides; missed waves still force rotations and protect your team's flank. Idle torpedo tubes are the worst output state.
8 km range, 18 s duration. Detects all enemy ships within a fixed radius regardless of line-of-sight. Controls caps and punishes smoke-firing DDs.
5.0 km AA reach, best of T6 DDs.
0.9 km torpedo detect, top decile of T6 DDs. Harder to dodge.
Hughes is available in the Recon Destroyers branch of the U.S.A. Tech Tree for 9,000,000 credits after researching it in the branch. Known module upgrades cost up to 2,250,000 credits. Official source cards below may also show its temporary Early Access window before it became a normal Tech Tree unlock. 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.
Hughes sits in the Recon Destroyers branch. The highlighted path shows the local branch context inside the full U.S.A. tree.
Pair with a commander whose unique skill complements her main armament; check the build tool for current recommendations.
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Where Hughes sits among Tier VI DDs (41 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 Hughes -- 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 · 40 s reload · 5 s active
Smoke Generator2 charges · 240 s reload · 27 s emit / 121 s cloud active
Long-Range Surveillance Radar2 charges · 120 s reload · 18 s active · 8 km radar range 
Defensive AA Fire3 charges · 140 s reload · 25 s active · +100% flak burst boostAll 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: $\sigma_H = \left(\dfrac{R}{30}\cdot\dfrac{\text{idealRadius}-\text{minRadius}}{\text{idealDistance}} + \text{minRadius}\right)\cdot 30$ $= \left(\dfrac{9910}{30}\cdot\dfrac{6-0.4}{1000} + 0.4\right)\cdot 30 = 67.5\,\text{m}$Vertical dispersion ellipse height at max range: $\sigma_V = \sigma_H \cdot \text{radiusOnMax}$ $= 67.5 \cdot 0.6 = 40.5\,\text{m}$50%-hit horizontal radius: $\sigma_{H,50} = \sigma_H \cdot \text{GetHalfHitsRatio}(\sigma)$ $= 67.5 \cdot 0.32\;(\sigma = 2) = 21.6\,\text{m}$50%-hit vertical radius: $\sigma_{V,50} = \sigma_V \cdot \text{GetHalfHitsRatio}(\sigma)$ $= 40.5 \cdot 0.319\;(\sigma = 2) = 12.9\,\text{m}$Canonical community AP formula (jcw780/wows_shell), evaluated at muzzle velocity: $P = 10^{-7}\cdot K \cdot m^{0.69} \cdot d^{-1.07} \cdot v_0^{1.38}$ $= 10^{-7}\cdot 2750 \cdot 25^{0.69} \cdot 0.127^{-1.07} \cdot 960^{1.38} = 300.9\,\text{mm}$. Matches the in-game spec card.Same formula at the ship's max firing range (13.6 km), where the shell has slowed to 305.6 m/s: $P = 10^{-7}\cdot 2750 \cdot 25^{0.69} \cdot 0.127^{-1.07} \cdot 305.6^{1.38} = 62\,\text{mm}$.21 mm ≈ 127 mm caliber / 6 (standard HE penetration ratio).floor(127 mm caliber / 14.3) = 8 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 4 barrels bear on the broadside.180 degrees / 11 deg/s traverse speed = 16.4 s.2,150 HE damage x 4 broadside guns = 8,600.3,300 AP damage x 4 broadside guns = 13,200.8,600 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 5 s base reload = 103,200.13,200 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 5 s base reload = 158,400.4 broadside guns x 60 / 5 s base reload = 48.48 shells/min x 9% fire chance = 4.32.detectability / (speed kt x 2.6 community game-speed factor).range / (speed kt x 2.6 community game-speed factor).2 launchers x 4 tubes.8 (centerline launchers train across - full salvo to either side).All tubes hitting one target: tubes x per-torpedo simulated damage = 8 x 20,880 = 167,040.One side firing, all torpedoes hitting: per-side tubes x per-torpedo simulated damage = 8 x 20,880 = 167,040.Sum across every AA aura on this ship of (aura.continuous_damage x 3.5 x aura.hit_probability). Here: (18×3.5×0.95) + (18×3.5×1) = 123. 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.Hull HP 14,900 → 17,000 with hull upgrade, 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 124+ guns across the bracket. Can’t reliably bow-tank; gets bow-citadelled and overpenned.
Superstructure and extremities take HE pens and AP overpens from nearly any gun: steady chip damage. Fire resistance 30%, fires burn 30s. Range-by-range in the ballistics tool →
| Section | Plates | HP cap | Threats | Tactic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bow | 16 mm primary (range 15–16 mm) | ≈ 850 (~5% of HP) | Overmatched by 283mm+ (Graf Spee, Scharnhorst)Angle bounces 203mm16 mm: HE pens from 127mm+ | Bow-tank fits behind this exterior plate. Saturation is FAST here; the cap is often only a few thousand HP. |
| Stern | 16 mm primary (range 13–16 mm) | ≈ 850 (~5% of HP) | Overmatched by 283mm+ (Graf Spee, Scharnhorst)Angle bounces 203mm16 mm: HE pens from 127mm+ | Mirror of bow. Same fast saturation. |
| Citadel | 16 mm primary (range 10–16 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 | 10 mm primary (range 10–16 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.
Every custom exterior Hughes 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.