Caernarvon Defender

Defender tanks are all based on tech tree tanks, all have boosted mobility, autoloading guns, and strengthened armour.

The Caernarvon Defender is similar to the tech tree Caernavon, but with an autoloader with three 280 alpha shells and good accuracy. It has similar armour, but is slightly stronger frontally, and has better mobility but a worse top speed.

Click the table of contents below to access the section you want:

1. Armour
2. Gun
3. Mobility
4. Equipment, provisions, & consumables
5. Special features
6. Gameplay advice
7. Overall
8. Is it worth getting?
9. Most recently sold for:
10. Camo cost:
11. Historical info:

Armour

(The Caernarvon Defender in the images is using Enhanced Armour)

Drag slider right -> to view 225mm AP
Drag slider <- left to view 265mm APCR

Armour on flat ground:
Upper plate 262-290mm
Lower plate 110-120mm
Turret 240-330mm+
Gun mantlet 285mm
Cupola 100mm

Side armour:
Caernarvon Defender’s sides are flat and only 50mm thick, so they can be overmatched by guns that are 150.1mm or larger.

50mm is also just quite weak, so the tank shouldn’t be sidescraped.

There is a 5mm spaced armour box covering the turret ring, and the track guards are counted as 5mm spaced armour.

Armour vs tier 7 tanks:
Tier 7 enemies will be completely unable to penetrate the turret front and upper plate with both standard and premium ammo.

A few exceptions (other than TDs) can penetrate the turret on flat ground, these being the Smasher, Titan H-Nd, Ju-To, AMX M4 45, or Type 62 which have premium ammo of over 250mm penetration.

The lower plate and cupola are both easily penetrable to tier 7 tanks.

Armour vs tier 8 tanks:
No tier 8 tank can penetrate the upper plate of the Caernarvon defender with standard ammo, and most will struggle to penetrate, even if using premium ammo (however if the hull is turned it will be slightly weaker, as the tank has a very slight pike-nose shape).

The only tanks that have a chance to penetrate the turret with standard ammo are the T34, the M6A2E1 EXP, or tier 8 TDs. All other tanks will need premium ammo to penetrate, and most tanks will have enough penetration to go through on flat ground.

Lower penetration tanks (ones with 245mm or less on premium penetration) will face the same issues as tier 7 tanks. 245mm of penetration isn’t high enough to consistently penetrate the turret front, however it will occasionally go through (due to penetration level RNG).

When using gun depression, the turret will be slightly harder to penetrate, increasing by roughly 7mm in effective thickness. If using enhanced armour, then you’ll need more around 263mm of penetration to go through reliably.

Armour vs tier 9 tanks:
Again, most tier 9 tanks won’t be able to penetrate the upper plate with standard ammo, however most tier 9 tanks will have enough premium penetration to go through.

The turret will be penetrable to the standard ammo of most tier 9 heavies, but not tier 9 mediums or lights.

Most tier 9 tank destroyers can penetrate both the upper plate and turret with standard ammo.

Gun

Caernarvon mounts a 20-pdr (83.4mm gun).
In game its stated as a 100mm gun, but this is wrong. The caliber is 83.4mm.

-Alpha damage is 280 on AP, 240 on APCR, and 340 on HE
-It has 3 shells in the magazine, with a 3s intra-clip reload, so in 6s it can burst out 840 damage.
-It has a 19.9s reload, giving it 1945 DPM
-Penetration is 218mm on AP, 250mm on APCR, and 45mm on HE
–Estimated aim time is 3.9/4.2s
–Base aim time is 2.6s, but it can get down to 2.12s.
-Dispersion is 0.326/0.293
–Gun handling is 0.16/0.14/0.15, or 0.14/0.12/0.13 with Vertical Stabilizer.
-Gun depression is -10 degrees
-After-shot-bloom is 3.000

Overall this is a good gun. It doesn’t really look that impressive when compared to other tier 8 autoloaders, but what it loses in alpha damage, it makes up for with better gun accuracy stats (Since most heavy autoloaders have 310 alpha with the same intra-clip, but worse accuracy).

Its alpha is fairly low for a heavy, but burst damage is decent at 840. Gun depression is very good, penetration is decent, and clip reload is slightly faster than most autoloader heavies. The aim time is unimpressive, but is made up for with great gun handling and accuracy for a heavy tank.

Another point to note is after-shot-bloom, which is 3.000, better than any other tier 8 tank (that includes every autoloader). This means that the Caernarvon Defender can unload its shells a lot more accurately, since after each shot the gun will remain fairly accurate and lose less dispersion form firing.

Mobility

-Top speed is 30km/h, reverse is -14km/h
-Traverse speed is 31.8 deg/s on hard terrain, and 26.5 deg/s on medium terrain.
-In game acceleration rate is shown as 17.8 hp/t, it has a very strong 948 horsepower engine for its 53 ton weight.
-Actual acceleration rate is 17.8 hp/t on hard terrain, and 14.8 hp/t on medium terrain.
–Ground resistances are 1/1.2/1.8

Overall this is decent mobility. The top speed is quite limited, but reverse speed is decent. Hull traverse is quite slow on both terrain types. Acceleration is extremely good, both base acceleration, and effective acceleration. The tank is able to essentially just instantly reach its top speed without any issue, and this is complemented by its great terrain resistances.

Top speed is low, and traverse is slow, coupled with a large hull, this tank feels quite clunky and awkward to drive. Its saving grace is that it can get up hills quite fast and maintain its top speed relatively easily due to that strong engine, but its top speed just isn’t that high.

Equipment, provisions, & consumables

Caernarvon Defender has no special provisions or consumables.

Calibrated Shells:
Vents do work well on this tank, as they improve most stats slightly, importantly the DPM, accuracy, aim time, and magazine reload. However, calibrated shells are generally the better choice.

Even though the Caernarvon Defender has decent penetration, 250mm on APCR is not ideal, and is still one of the lower penetration heavies in tier 8. Using calibrated shells will allow the tank to easily go through more heavily armoured plates (such as the tier 9 Ho-Ri II for example) which 250mm of penetration just won’t work against.
It also improves both standard ammo and HE, which are always helpful.

Calibrated shells would increase the AP penetration from 218mm to 229mm, APCR from 250mm to 263mm, and HE from 45mm to 50mm.

Enhanced Armour:
Due to the large and fairly flat turret front of the Caernarvon Defender, it benefits quite a lot from enhanced armour.

Enhanced armour would increase:
-Turret front from 240mm to 250mm in effective thickness (flat ground), or from 247mm to 257mm when using gun depression (this makes a big difference against 250-260mm of premium penetration).
-Upper plate from 262mm up to 273mm in effective thickness (on weakest point).
-Hull side armour from 50mm to 52mm (stops overmatch from 150.1mm-156mm guns)

Improved assembly can also work well, since the tank’s base armour is still good and will still stand up to all standard ammo. Use improved assembly if you want to focus on staying alive longer during the battle and improving the HP, improved assembly would increase the tank’s HP from 1800 up to 1908.

Improved Control:
The Caernarvon Defender has a perfect combination of mobility stats to not need engine accelerator:
-Its engine power is very high, with great acceleration and terrain resistances.
-Its top speed is quite low.
-Its traverse speed is poor.

So, the tank does not need more engine power, as it has high acceleration, and can easily reach its top speed, which is fairly low (less demand on a strong engine). Due to this its better to take improved control, which would result in:

-Traverse speed of 32.7 deg/s on hard terrain, and 27.3 deg/s on medium terrain.
-Actual acceleration rate of 16.7 hp/t on hard terrain, and 13.9 hp/t on medium terrain.

The acceleration is still very impressive for a heavy, and its traverse speed is slightly better (important for maintaining speed and agility, but also to turn your armour to the enemy).

Vertical Stabilizer:
The Caernarvon Defender doesn’t need refined gun. Its a heavy tank that brawls on the frontlines, so it doesn’t often get time to fully aim in each shot (which is where refined gun gives benefit), and is constantly moving around and turning the tank. The Caernarvon Defender also already has great dispersion, so it just doesn’t need improving.

Vertical stabilizer would make the tank more accurate when its moving and turning, and also after its stopped moving and aiming in. It just gives the tank a more consistent gun in the active and closer range playstyle the tank has.
Vertical stabilizer also importantly improves after-shot-bloom, very important on an autoloader which has to fire out shots very quickly. Vertical stabilizer would reduce this from 3.000 down to 2.550, but with the “soft recoil” crew skill, it can go down to 2.340.

Special features

The Caernarvon has no actual special mechanic, but the track repair speed is extremely fast.

With a level 7 “repairs” crew skill, and when using toolbox equipment, the tank has a track repair time of just 3 seconds, which is a very quick repair time, especially for a heavy. Generally if you get tracked, you can easily repair it without using consumables before the enemies reload.

Gameplay advice

The Caernarvon has similar gameplay to heavy autoloaders already in the game. Tanks such as the Emil I, M-III-Yoh, Somua SM have the most similar gameplay, but its also comparable to the Emil 1951.

Its a fairly standard tank, with good armour, good mobility (but low speed & traverse), and a good gun, so it plays a fairly standard heavy tank role.

General gameplay:
The Caernarvon Defender should be played on the heavy flank of the map. Its low speed means it will be hard to keep up with the faster mediums, and its slow traverse, weak sides, and large hull size make it very prone to being circled.

On the heavy flank, try to use hulldown positions wherever possible, since if enemies can see the lower plate, its very unlikely they will bounce off the tank. Also always angle the hull towards the front, since the sides are very large and also very weak, the front is also a pike-nose, so its strongest when its not angled.

Try to avoid trades with enemy heavy tank autoloaders, as they have the same intra-clip reload, but most have 30 more alpha damage. These tanks will take the same time to deal their damage as you, but will just deal more. Its better to try take advantage of non-autoloader tanks, or catch autoloaders when on their reload.

Use hulldown or gun depression positions:
The Caernarvon Defender has quite a small cupola, so once the lower plate is hidden, the armour of the tank is very hard to penetrate.

The lower plate is by far the tank’s biggest weakness on its armour, since its large and also very weak (it can easily be HESH penetrated by tier 8-9 tanks with premium HESH). Hiding this will give the tank the most effective armour, and most tanks will be unable to penetrate. The only other weakpoints are its small cupola, or the turret face.

When in a hulldown or gun depression position, keep moving the tank back and fourth. The turret face is flat and weak to premium ammo, but has a very strong gun mantlet in the center. If you keep the tank moving slightly, then it increases the chances that enemies miss the turret face, and instead hit the edges or gun mantlet.

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The Caernarvon Defender has quite standard gameplay for a heavy tank, it just has an autoloader gun instead of a cyclic one. Take it to the heavy flank, use gun depression, and try to hide the lower plate.

Overall

Armour – 5/10
Gun – 7.5/10
Mobility – 6.5/10
Speed – 3/10

Caernarvon Defender is overall a good tank.

Armour is good. The upper plate is very strong, but lower plate and sides are weak. Turret is strong but penetrable to premium ammo. HE protection is poor for a heavy.
Gun is good, it has great accuracy, gun handling, after-shot-bloom, -10 gun depression, and good burst damage of 840. Alpha damage isn’t very high at 280, with fairly low DPM.
Mobility is fairly good. Engine power very high, and acceleration is very quick. Hull traverse is slow, though reverse speed is decent. Turret turns quite quickly.
Speed is fairly low at 30km/h.

Is it worth getting?

The Caernarvon Defender is worth getting for players who love autoloader heavies with good frontal armour. Its strong upper plate and good turret are both great for hulldown gameplay, and its great accuracy is a noticeable differentiating factor to other heavy tanks.

For other players, this tank isn’t so worth it. Its not that special, as its very similar to other autoloader heavies (or even regular heavies), it just has some slight differences (lower alpha for more accuracy, or lower speed for more acceleration); and these aren’t enough to make it that unique or worth getting.

The Caernarvon Defender is worth 7,500 gold. Its a good tank, but not super special or unique in terms of that it offers. Its fairly easy to play due to its good armour and gun, and and isn’t boring to play either.

Most recently sold for:

Lockboxes release – October 2023

Camo cost:

Historical info:

Caernarvon Defender’s appearance and concept is based on 2 real tank projects, the FV221 Caernarvon, and the Centurion Mark III 32-pdr rigid mount turret.

(You can see a “non-skinned” version of this configuration in WoT PC, shown here.)

-The Caernarvon was an upgrade of the FV201 Universal Tank, and the predecessor to the FV214 Conqueror. Its historical configuration was a Centurion Mark II/III turret with a 20-pdr Type A Barrel gun.

-The Centurion Mark III 32-pdr rigid mount was a test for a rigidly mounted, recoilless gun, tested to see the impact that such a system would have on a crew and the tank, and not a tank intended for combat.

These 2 projects were never meant to be married to the same tank, so the Caernarvon would never have mounted the Centurion Mk. III 32-pdr turret/gun. However, as the Caernarvon could mount the Centurion Mk. III turret to its turret ring, such a configuration is fully possible, it was just never done.

The 32-pdr gun was not an autoloader (this is just a trait of the Defender tanks), and its gun caliber was 94mm.

(To add to the confusion: The Caernarvon Defender mounts a gun that is called “100mm”, but is actually an 83.4mm caliber, and its mounted in a mantlet specifically designed for a 94mm gun.)

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