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Nelson is a Tier VI British fire-starter battleship: her improved-penetration HE farms fires and chips angled targets her AP cannot crack, so the kit is sustained HE pressure from range rather than bow-in trading. A heavy Repair Party sustains the trade. 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 HE alpha in T6 BBs (6,900) and top-decile deck armor in T6 BBs (102 mm).
Anchor a flank at 14-17 km with bow toward the closest threat. Rotate one or two map cells with the team rather than holding solo; a battleship alone on a flank is a free focus target for the enemy.
A battleship caught broadside by two same-tier guns at mid range loses more HP than any single salvo trades back, so rotate with the team or hold your angle instead of charging in first.
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 9/32 T6 BBs.
Repair Party heals 2.0%/s, best of T6 BBs. Restores more HP per active second than peers.
68.0 mm AP arming threshold, bottom decile of T6 BBs. Over-pens thin plates; the trade-off pays off when most targets are battleship belt armor.
~40.0 s to 90% of top speed, bottom decile of T6 BBs. Sluggish rebuild after a turn or stop; the engine power-boost fades early, so the mid-range crawls.
Nelson is a Premium ship and not available to unlock in the Tech Tree. Acquisition path: Containers. 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 Nelson sits among Tier VI BBs (32 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 Nelson -- 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 Party2 charges · 80 s reload · 20 s active · 23,760 HP (40% of max HP) total heal (per charge) 
Secondary Battery Booster3 charges · 160 s reload · 30 s active · +100% grouping · -50% dispersionAll 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: $\sigma_H = \left(\dfrac{R}{30}\cdot\dfrac{\text{idealRadius}-\text{minRadius}}{\text{idealDistance}} + \text{minRadius}\right)\cdot 30$ $= \left(\dfrac{16000}{30}\cdot\dfrac{12-2}{1000} + 2\right)\cdot 30 = 220\,\text{m}$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: $\sigma_V = \sigma_H \cdot \text{radiusOnMax}$ $= 220 \cdot 0.6 = 132\,\text{m}$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: $\sigma_{H,50} = \sigma_H \cdot \text{GetHalfHitsRatio}(\sigma)$ $= 220 \cdot 0.331\;(\sigma = 1.9) = 72.9\,\text{m}$50%-hit vertical radius: $\sigma_{V,50} = \sigma_V \cdot \text{GetHalfHitsRatio}(\sigma)$ $= 132 \cdot 0.332\;(\sigma = 1.9) = 43.8\,\text{m}$Canonical community AP formula (jcw780/wows_shell), evaluated at muzzle velocity: $P = 10^{-7}\cdot K \cdot m^{0.69} \cdot d^{-1.07} \cdot v_0^{1.38}$ $= 10^{-7}\cdot 2266 \cdot 929^{0.69} \cdot 0.406^{-1.07} \cdot 788^{1.38} = 659.6\,\text{mm}$. Matches the in-game spec card.Same formula at the ship's max firing range (20 km), where the shell has slowed to 468.5 m/s: $P = 10^{-7}\cdot 2266 \cdot 929^{0.69} \cdot 0.406^{-1.07} \cdot 468.5^{1.38} = 321.8\,\text{mm}$.102 mm ≈ 406 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) - 0.251 in this case. Lets HE pen ~101mm armor instead of ~67mm. Hits every German cruiser (150mm CL, 203mm CA) and BB (350mm+), British heavy cruisers / Lion / Nelson, a handful of other premiums.floor(406 mm caliber / 14.3) = 28 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 9 barrels bear on the broadside.180 degrees / 4 deg/s traverse speed = 45 s.6,900 HE damage x 9 broadside guns = 62,100.12,000 AP damage x 9 broadside guns = 108,000.62,100 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 30 s base reload = 124,200.108,000 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 30 s base reload = 216,000.9 broadside guns x 60 / 30 s base reload = 18.18 shells/min x 46% fire chance = 8.28.Sum across every AA aura on this ship of (aura.continuous_damage x 3.5 x aura.hit_probability). Here: (64×3.5×0.75) + (91×3.5×0.7) + (14×3.5×0.75) = 428. 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: 6×1 120 mm (3/side) × 60/5 × 1700 = 61,200 + 6×2 152 mm (6/side) × 60/12 × 2150 = 64,500. 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: 2150 from the 152 mm family.Maximum per-shell fire chance across secondary HE families (before target fire resistance is applied). Best on this ship: 9% 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 59,400, distributed across 5 hull zones, each with its own plate thicknesses, saturation cap, and pen thresholds. HP caps are the exact in-game values, not estimated.
Overmatched by 79+ guns across the bracket. Can’t reliably bow-tank; gets bow-citadelled and overpenned.
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 30%, fires burn 60s. Range-by-range in the ballistics tool →
| Section | Plates | HP cap | Threats | Tactic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bow | 25 mm primary (range 25–76 mm) | 5,200 (9% of HP) | Overmatched by 380mm+ (Bayern, Richelieu)Angle bounces 356mm25 mm: HE pens from 150mm+ | Bow-tank fits behind this exterior plate. Saturation is FAST here; the cap is often only a few thousand HP. |
| Hull (midship) | 25 mm primary (range 9–356 mm) | 44,600 (75% of HP) | Overmatched by 380mm+ (Bayern, Richelieu)Angle bounces 356mm25 mm: HE pens from 150mm+ | Largest HP pool. Citadel sits behind these plates; thinner deck and side plating absorb the rest. |
| Stern | 25 mm primary (range 25–108 mm) | 3,600 (6% of HP) | Overmatched by 380mm+ (Bayern, Richelieu)Angle bounces 356mm25 mm: HE pens from 150mm+ | Mirror of bow. Same fast saturation. |
| Citadel | 356 mm primary (range 32–356 mm) | ≈ 165,500 (effectively 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 | 16 mm | 2,900 (5% of HP) | Any HE ≥16 mm pens at full damageDamage multiplier ×0.6 | Any HE ≥16 mm pens at full damage. HE-spam target, and the section saturates fast (often only a few thousand HP). |
| Turret (module, per magazine) | separate HP pool, does not drain ship HP | 29,700 magazine HP | Magazine detonation1–30% chance · below ~75% HP | Per-turret powder-magazine HP. Detonation chance scales from 1% (no mag damage) to 30% (full mag damage); this range is the in-game value. Detonation can't roll while the ship is above ~75% HP (the standard detonation-protection threshold, not a per-ship stat). Smaller magazines saturate to the 30% ceiling faster. |
| Secondary mount (152 mm mount) | separate HP pool, does not drain ship HP | 800 per-mount HP | Destroyed at 0 HP | Per-mount HP for the heaviest secondary on this ship. A mount destroyed at 0 HP is out for the rest of the battle; DCP does not repair destroyed mounts. Smaller (lighter-caliber) secondaries typically share the same HP value. |
| AA mount (40 mm mount) | separate HP pool, does not drain ship HP | 200 per-mount HP | Destroyed at 0 HP | Per-mount HP for the heaviest AA on this ship. An AA mount destroyed at 0 HP stops shooting down planes for the rest of the battle; DCP does not repair destroyed mounts. HE shells specifically target AA mounts since the small-caliber HP pool falls fast. |
| Rudder (module) | separate HP pool, does not drain ship HP | 17,800 module HP | Incapacitated at 0 HP | When module HP reaches 0 the rudder locks at its current angle until DCP repairs it. Repair via Damage Control Party. |
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 Nelson 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.