15.7: Aircraft Carriers and AA Update - Affected Ships

15.7: Aircraft Carriers and AA Update

WG are delivering a new set of improvements for aircraft carrier and AA gameplay. Update 15.7 will bring a set of changes that have been in testing for some time, aimed at making anti-aircraft defense more impactful and easier to use, and reinforcing a carrier's role in team support.

{tocify} $title={Table of Contents}

Flip your mobile device to landscape for better viewing.

Work In Progress

AA Defense Priority and Concentrated AA Fire

The old Priority Sector mechanic is being replaced. There will no longer be a need to track the direction of incoming aircraft and frantically switch broadsides, just press "O" or "~" to activate AA Defense Priority. It will be a standard damage boost that now covers a full 360 degrees and is available to ships as a baseline AA tool.

Building on top of that is a new Concentrated AA Fire. Think of it as an improved, stronger version of AA Defense Priority that need some time to build up though. We're introducing it to discourage enemy airplanes from consistently attacking the same ship and it's designed to work with that goal in mind. 

Concentrated AA Fire will have a progress bar that fills when your AA guns are firing at enemy aircraft in range. Once charged, long-press "O" or "~" to unleash it and temporarily boost your AA defenses even further.

 

When active, Concentrated AA Fire deals instantaneous damage to enemy aircraft repeating at certain intervals, and increases continuous AA and shell explosion damage. Note that the actual AA performance boost you might get is dependent on certain factors: instantaneous damage is based on an enemy squadron's HP and effective continuous damage is defined by the ship's AA guns.

Concentrated AA Fire parameters

Ship Type	Continuous AA Damage	Shell Explosion Damage	Instantaneous Damage / 5 s
Aircraft Carriers	+25% (+50% for VII Atlanta, Atlanta B, Flint)	+200% (+400% for VII Atlanta, Atlanta B, Flint)	3.5% of enemy squadron's HP
Battleships
Cruisers
Destroyers			5.0% of enemy squadron's HP

• Action time: 40.0 s
• Condition to charge: 2.5 % per second of active AA fire
• Time before you start losing progress: 130.0 s
• Progress loss per second: 5.0 %

A few practical notes:

• The progress bar begins to drain slowly if not charged for some time, but won't drop once its fully charged. This allows you to save an activation for a strategic moment.
• Concentrated AA Fire shares a cooldown with AA Defense Priority, as they support the same underlying combat system.
  • The Concentrated AA Fire progress bar can be charged while activation is on cooldown.

Together, these changes give every ship a way to boost its AA without relying on a specific consumable. AA Defense Priority will be your regular tool, while to get its enhanced form you can wait for Concentrated AA Fire to charge up.  

And to make sure you can feel the impact of your improved AA fire, we've updated its sounds. They are way beefier than before! 

Defensive AA Fire Changes

🛠️ How Auxiliary & Torpedo Weaponry Coordination Works

This new consumable broadens utility beyond anti-air defense to enhance multi-weapon efficiency across your auxiliary armament:

• Concentrated AA Fire: Provides progress gain toward Concentrated AA Fire.
• Secondary Battery Upgrade: Improves shell damage for secondary guns.
• Torpedo & Airstrike Reloads: Reduces the reload times of both Torpedo Launchers and Airstrikes.

Special Variants & Ecosystem Adjustments:

• Improved Variant: Ships that previously carried an improved Defensive AA Fire consumable (such as several U.S. destroyers) will receive an improved version of Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination.
• HE Airstrike Variant: Select ships equipped with HE Airstrikes (such as Dutch cruisers) will receive a version with a reduced bonus to Airstrike reload time.
• Ecosystem Integration: Related Commander skills, signal flags, and ship upgrades are being adapted accordingly to complement the new consumable.

⚡ Key Takeaway:

If your ship previously relied on DFAA in that slot, check the categorized list below to see how your fleet lineup is affected.

Complete List of Affected Ships by Nation

Click on any nation section below to expand and view the full list of ships receiving the new consumable.

 Commonwealth (9 Ships)

• Cruisers: Gambia, Hector, Delhi, Hobart, Uganda, Auckland, Encounter, Cerberus, River Gambra

 Europe (9 Ships)

• Cruisers: Elli
• Destroyers: Velos, Friesland, Öland, Östergötland, Halland, Lappland, Södermanland, Dalarna

 France (25 Ships)

• Cruisers: De Grasse, Dupleix, Montcalm, Toulon, Bayard, Le Havre, BA Utnapishtim..., Colbert, La Galissonnière, Algérie, Charles Martel, Cherbourg, Saint-Louis, Brest, Henri IV, Marseille, [La Galissonnière], Metz, Carnot, Brennus, Condé
• Destroyers: Marceau, Châteaurenault

 Germany (38 Ships)

• Cruisers: Graf Spee, Leipzig, HSF Graf Spee, München, Weimar, Nürnberg '44, München B, Prinz Eugen, Mainz, Schill, Mainz B, Cross of Dorn, Wiesbaden, Schill B, Siegfried, Blücher, Roon CLR, Bremen, AL Hindenburg, Bremen G, Deutschland, Nürnberg, Scheer, Yorck, Knesebeck, Hipper, Manteuffel, Roon, Prinz Adalbert, Hindenburg, Reinhard, [Hindenburg], Clausewitz, Clausewitz +
• Destroyers: ZF-6, ZF-6 G, G. Hoffmann, G. Hoffmann G, F. Schultz, Elbing, Lübeck
• Battleships: Mecklenburg

 Italy (3 Ships)

• Cruisers: Duca d'Aosta, Abruzzi, Varese

 Japan (38 Ships)

• Cruisers: Yūbari, Maya, ARP Myōkō, ARP Ashigara, ARP Haguro, S. Dragon, E. Dragon, ARP Nachi, Tone, Atago B, ARP Takao, ARP Maya, Azuma, AL Azuma, Chikuma II, Chikuma II G, Suzuya, Suzuya G, Suzuya VL, BA Takahashi, Azuma B, Yoshino, Yoshino B, Kushiro, Zaō CLR, Aoba, Gokase, Myōkō, Omono, Mogami, Shimanto, Ibuki, Takahashi, Zaō, Yodo, Atago, Yari, Zaō P, [Zaō], Kurama

 Netherlands (9 Ships)

• Cruisers: Van Speijk, Prins van Oranje, Pr. van Oranje G, Haarlem, Johan de Witt, Gouden Leeuw, Vrijheid
• Destroyers: Groningen, Tromp

 Pan-America (11 Ships)

• Cruisers: Nueve de Julio, Almte. Grau, C. Aguirre, Almte. Irízar, Cnel. Bolognesi, I. Allende, Santander, San Martín
• Battleships: Sete de Setembro, Pérez Gacitúa, Comodoro

 Pan-Asia (20 Ships)

• Cruisers: Lanzhou, Wukong, Narai, AL Harbin, Tianjin, Incheon, Zhuge Liang, Rahmat, Chumphon, Harbin, Sejong, Jinan
• Destroyers: Loyang, Fenyang, Loyang B, Zhu Que, Ship Smasha, Nanning
• Battleships: Xuan Ming, Sun Yat-Sen

 Spain (7 Ships)

• Cruisers: Numancia, Almte. Oquendo, Baleares, Asturias, Cataluña, Andalucía, Castilla

 Great Britain (27 Ships)

• Cruisers: Dido, Cheshire, Tiger '59, Hampshire, Nottingham, AL Cheshire, Érne, Monmouth, Hawkins, Devonshire, Surrey, Albemarle, Drake, Goliath, Cyclops
• Battleships: Hood, Renown '44, S. Thunder, Thunderer, Renown, Rooke, Hawke, Duncan, St. Vincent, St. Lawrence
• Destroyers: Anthony

 USA (61 Ships)

• Cruisers: Atlanta, Indianapolis, Atlanta B, Boise, Flint, Wichita, Congress, Rochester, San Diego, Bridgeport, AL Montpelier, Vallejo, Alaska, Tulsa, Alaska B, Cambridge, Fort Worth, Fort Worth G, Puerto Rico, Salem, Hawaii, Austin, Puerto Rico B, Hawaii G, Pensacola, Dallas, New Orleans, Helena, Baltimore, Cleveland, Buffalo, Seattle, Des Moines, Worcester, Protector, [Cleveland], Jacksonville, Annapolis, Jacksonville +
• Destroyers: Monaghan, Sims, Sims B, Kidd, Benham, Halford, Black B, Black, Johnston, GQ Johnny, F. Sherman, Laffey, Hull, Nicholas, Farragut, Mahan, Benson, Fletcher, Gearing, Frank Friday, Gearing P, [Gearing], J. Humphreys, J. Humphreys +
• Battleships: Texas, Florida, W. Virginia '44, Tennessee, Indiana, Wisconsin, Wisconsin G, Kansas, Minnesota, Vermont, Volunteer State, Connecticut, Utah

 USSR (38 Ships)

• Cruisers: Molotov, Makarov, Lazo B, Kutuzov, Ochakov, P. Bagration, D. Pozharsky, Kiberpankov, Kronshtadt, Kozma Minin, Moskva, Stalingrad, Smolensk B, Smolensk, Sevastopol, Komissar, PTRPVLSK, Budyonny, Shchors, Chapayev, Tallinn, Dm. Donskoi, Riga, A. Nevsky, Petropavlovsk, Lazo, Bagration, Vyazma, [Moskva], V. Monomakh, Petrozavodsk, Novosibirsk
• Destroyers: Neustrashimy, Neustrashimy B, Ognevoi, Udaloi, Grozovoi, [Grozovoi]
• Battleships: Zarya S., BA Hovercraft

Due to the changes described above, the overall effectiveness of AA defense in battle will be the same as or higher than before — even without Defensive AA Fire. Within the updated system, all the core AA tools will be built into a ship, and we saw this as an opportunity to replace the "mandatory" AA consumable with something more valuable. Our goals are to offer more flexibility in builds and gameplay without compromising game balance or ship identity — and, for ships with a choice of consumables, to create real competition for popular options like Hydroacoustic Search. That's why we decided to enhance all of a ship's auxiliary weaponry making it useful across various ship types and situations.

As AA fire will become more impactful with these changes, we will apply slight adjustments to the balance. 

Targeted Tactical Consumables

We've given AA its due — now it's only fair that the flight decks get some attention. We want to strengthen aircraft carriers team support role and give them more opportunities to lend a hand to allies. 

Update 15.7 adds two new squadron consumables that work similarly to the tactical consumables already used by some surface ships. These will be activated directly from a squadron, opening a tactical map to select a target within range. While delivery is typically swift, in certain rare situations, it can be shot down. 

Here are the new Targeted Tactical Consumables:

Firefighting Assistance: a water drop that immediately extinguishes all active fires on the target and grants temporary fire immunity. Added to attack aircraft and torpedo bombers of tech tree Japanese and German aircraft carriers from Tier VI and up.

Repair Assistance: a drop that restores ship HP over time. Added to attack aircraft and torpedo bombers of British tech tree aircraft carriers from Tier VI and up.

The tactical map will show allied ships currently on fire, as well as ships that already have an active Targeted Tactical consumable applied to them. 

Same-type Targeted Tactical consumables cannot stack on one ship. We have tuned these consumables to be meaningful support tools that complement your existing teamplay rather than a deciding factor in a match.

---

Information on New AA Mechanics

We have received a lot of feedback about the changes to AA made in 15.7, specifically on the update to priority sector, and we want to clarify one of the main changes.

The O key now has TWO functions related to your AA defenses:

Tap "O" — AA Defense Priority

Activated by tapping O. It covers 360 degrees around your ship and ramps up your AA damage output for a short period of time.

Hold "O" — Concentrated AA Fire

Activated by long-pressing O. Provides a large buff to your ship's own AA damage output, while dealing a percentage of the squadron's HP repeatedly throughout the duration.

• The meter builds up as your AA guns fire, visible directly above your ammo and consumable selection.
• When active, the icon turns from white to grey, and the surrounding ring begins to deplete.
• Provides even ships with poor baseline AA a significant defense against loitering aircraft.

Tactical Note: Concentrated AA Fire cannot be activated while AA Defense Priority is active or on cooldown. Because Concentrated AA Fire is significantly more powerful, hold off on activating standard AA Defense Priority if your meter is close to full so you don't lock yourself out of your strongest defense.