With the big three to be included when they debut. These being U.S., Germany, and the USSR - with other nations, including underwater submarines from Japanese forces, to follow. After a successful submarine test run with the Halloween event last year, Wargaming have been hard at form adding them to World of Warships proper. As a brand-new fourth class being added to the game, expect a pretty major shake-up.

As per our preview, submarines add a third dimension to the battlefield. Namely the ability to dive underwater. Where, things get pretty tense.

The submarine in World of Warships has three depth levels, the first sitting above the surface, the second at periscope level, and the third fully submerged and ready to fire. The deeper it goes the slower the submarine moves, with an oxygen meter introduced to limit pure invisibility; forcing players to use the vessel strategically and come up for air from time to time. Of course, going underwater doesn’t make a submarine completely invulnerable from attack, as faster ships like Destroyers will be able to track them by following and staying within detection circles to mimic the process of triangulation.

Once overhead depth charges will automatically drop into the water, with a few precise hits taking out the deep-sea threat.

It all sounds very cool - and here's a look at some World of Warships subs in motion.



Submarines will be limited to three Tiers when they debut, with the first batch announced as follows:

The United States: the Cachalot (Tier VI), Salmon (Tier VIII) and Balao (Tier X).
Germany: the U-69 (Tier VI), U-190 (Tier VIII) and U-2501 (Tier X).
USSR: the S-1 (Tier VI), L-20 (Tier VIII) and K1 (Tier X).

Wargaming will be rolling out the new class in a measured manner, starting with limited Super Test phase before opening full U-Boat control to the public. If all goes well, a public PvP event will occur later in the year with a full deployment to take place sometime in the first-half of 2020.

Perhaps the coolest aspects of the new class which we learned from our hands-on preview was that once the submarine fully submerged you're basically blind, with only sonar to guide you. Add in the creaks and sub-sounds of underwater metal acting all weird, plus ominous music that ramps up the claustrophobia - and you could even say the new class brings a touch of survival horror to the experience.

Click Here to Read Our Full Preview 'Submarines Bring Underwater Terror to World of Warships'