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Clemson is a Tier III American gun-focused destroyer that excels at taking comfortable duels against other destroyers. While her stats may seem average, her hull upgrade provides her strong guns that let her open and control fights against other destroyers. Standout traits: once upgraded, most gun barrels for T3 DDs (8).
Push into capture zones to try and spot the enemy destroyer but don't push completely through: your concealment range is high compared to other T3 DDs. Use your smoke to escape tough scenarios that you can't easily win. Be careful turning broadside to get all your guns to bear: it makes you an easy target!
Your torpedoes are numerous, but are best saved for ambushes or last-ditch scenarios.
+8% speed, 120 s duration. Engine Boost consumable temporarily raises top speed. Mobility on demand to reposition, chase a kill, or break contact.
112.0 s smoke cloud linger, best of T3 DDs. Each puff stays up longer after you stop laying it, holding the shield.
3.0 km AA reach, top decile of T3 DDs.
~17.9 s to 90% of top speed, worst of T3 DDs. Sluggish rebuild after a turn or stop; the engine power-boost fades early, so the mid-range crawls.
5.92 km surface detect, bottom decile of T3 DDs. Visible before you can react; position early.
Clemson is available in the Universal Destroyers branch of the U.S. Tech Tree for 85,000 credits after researching it in the branch. Known module upgrades cost up to 17,000 credits.
Clemson sits in the Universal Destroyers branch. The highlighted path shows the local branch context inside the full U.S. tree.
U.S. destroyers are "jacks-of-all-trades" and masters of none. They can perform in nearly any role needed from a destroyer: spotting the enemy, showering them in fire-starting shells, or unleashing torpedoes.
Pair with a commander whose unique skill complements her main armament; check the build tool for current recommendations.
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Where Clemson sits among Tier III DDs (11 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 Clemson -- 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 · 24 s emit / 112 s cloud active · 450 m radius
Engine Boost2 charges · 180 s reload · 120 s active · +8% speed bonusAll 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: Horizontal scatter at a fixed 5 km, from the same verified dispersion model as the rows below - a knife-fight-range anchor comparable across ships.Vertical dispersion ellipse height at max range: 50%-hit horizontal radius: 50%-hit vertical radius: Canonical community AP formula (jcw780/wows_shell), evaluated at muzzle velocity: . Matches the in-game spec card.Same formula at the ship's max firing range (11.4 km), where the shell has slowed to 280.4 m/s: .AP penetration at a fixed 5 km, read off the same PC-validated ballistic curve as AP Pen Close/Far: the shell's impact velocity at that range fed through the canonical community AP formula . Fixed anchors make ships directly comparable at the same fighting distance; the Charts card plots the full curve.17 mm ≈ 102 mm caliber / 6 (standard HE penetration ratio).floor(102 mm caliber / 14.3) = 7 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.Stock guns: 3 of 4 barrels bear on one beam. Top guns: 6 of 8. Alpha and DPM pair each configuration's salvo with its own reload.180 degrees / 10 deg/s traverse speed = 18 s.Zero upgrades: 1,500 HE damage x 3 broadside guns = 4,500. All upgrades (top gun, 6-gun broadside): 1,500 HE damage x 6 broadside guns = 9,000.Zero upgrades: 1,700 AP damage x 3 broadside guns = 5,100. All upgrades (top gun, 6-gun broadside): 1,700 AP damage x 6 broadside guns = 10,200.Zero upgrades: 4,500 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 7 s base reload = 38,571. All upgrades (top gun, 6-gun broadside): 9,000 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 7 s all-upgrades reload = 77,143.Zero upgrades: 5,100 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 7 s base reload = 43,714. All upgrades (top gun, 6-gun broadside): 10,200 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 7 s all-upgrades reload = 87,429.Zero upgrades: 3 broadside guns x 60 / 7 s base reload = 25.7. All upgrades (top gun, 6-gun broadside): 6 broadside guns x 60 / 7 s all-upgrades reload = 51.4.Zero upgrades: 25.7 shells/min x 6% fire chance = 1.54. All upgrades (top gun, 6-gun broadside): 51.4 shells/min x 6% fire chance = 3.09.detectability / (speed kt x 2.6 community game-speed factor).range / (speed kt x 2.6 community game-speed factor).4 launchers x 3 tubes.12 (centerline launchers train across - full salvo to either side).All tubes hitting one target: tubes x per-torpedo simulated damage = 12 x 10,833 = 129,996.One side firing, all torpedoes hitting: per-side tubes x per-torpedo simulated damage = 12 x 10,833 = 129,996.Sum across every AA aura on this ship of (aura.continuous_damage x 3.5 x aura.hit_probability). Here: (1×3.5×1) + (5×3.5×0.95) = 20. 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. Flak is NOT included: flak stops triggering once planes are inside 2.5 km, and its avoidable burst damage is shown separately in the Flak bursts section.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 8,800 → 10,900 with hull upgrade, 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 96+ 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 10%, fires burn 30s. Range-by-range in the Compare tool →
| Section | Plates | HP cap | Threats | Tactic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bow | 10 mm primary (range 10–21 mm) | 1,700 (16% of HP) | Overmatch not possible in its bracketAngle bounces 127mm10 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 | 10 mm primary (range 10–13 mm) | 1,000 (9% of HP) | Overmatch not possible in its bracketAngle bounces 127mm10 mm: HE pens from 127mm+ | Mirror of bow. Same fast saturation. |
| Citadel | 13 mm primary (range 10–13 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 | 6 mm primary (range 6–21 mm) | 600 (6% of HP) | 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). |
| Turret (module, per magazine) | separate HP pool, does not drain ship HP | 5,500 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. |
| AA mount (76 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 | 3,300 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 Clemson can equip, from in-game data.
GamingDiver has indexed official WG mentions for this ship, but none are focused enough to show as a primary source card here. Low-context list, crate, comparison, or passing mentions are intentionally filtered out.