Test 15.11: Houston, Marechal Deodoro, Viking and Glorioso

A historical American cruiser, a Pan-American brawling battleship, a Norwegian gunboat and a Spanish battleship with burst fire: Closed Test 15.11 introduces four very different premium ship concepts. Wargaming places the preview in the context of the final update of 2026.

Houston and Viking had already appeared in our roadmap preview. There are now concrete profiles, backgrounds and technical values, with Marechal Deodoro and Glorioso completing the group.

Four ships, four different roles

All figures are provisional test values without commander or upgrade modifiers. The preview does not confirm specific prices, acquisition methods or an exact EU release time. It is also separate from the previously announced balance changes for Update 15.10: this is the new group of test ships for 15.11.

Houston: A historical heavy cruiser with powerful repairs

USS Houston was commissioned in 1930 as a Northampton-class cruiser. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, she was the flagship of the US Asiatic Fleet. During the campaign in the Dutch East Indies, she operated alongside British, Dutch and Australian ships. She was lost in the Battle of the Sunda Strait on the night of 1 March 1942. Wargaming draws on her nickname, the “Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast.” Houston is the first ship of her class in the game.

In testing, she is a Tier VIII heavy cruiser carrying nine 203 mm guns. A fast reload and improved AP ricochet angles are balanced by floaty shell ballistics. Island positions and shorter engagement ranges can help her use that armament, while showing a broadside remains dangerous.

27 mm bow and stern plating can bounce AP shells of 381 mm and below at a suitable angle. That is not an invitation to expose her side: the wide hull and vulnerable citadel still demand careful positioning.

Repair teams, but no radar or torpedoes

Houston has Specialized Repair Teams, restoring 678 HP per second for 20 seconds, with an 80-second reload and three charges. This powerful repair option is intended to support sustained close-range engagements, although actual recovery depends on repairable damage.

Surveillance Radar and torpedoes are absent. Her third consumable slot offers a choice between Hydroacoustic Search and Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination:

• Hydro: 4.0 km ship detection and 3.0 km torpedo detection, 100-second action time, 120-second reload and three charges.
• Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination: −20% airstrike and torpedo tube reload time, +10% secondary damage and +1.2% per second additional Concentrated AA Fire progress. It lasts 30 seconds, reloads in 120 seconds and has three charges. The torpedo reload bonus does not give Houston a torpedo armament.

She also carries Damage Control Party with a 5-second action time and 60-second reload, plus Fighters: two aircraft, a 3 km radius, 60-second action time, 90-second reload and three charges.

Our take

Houston trades the often-expected American radar role for damage output and staying power. The repair teams can make a good position useful for longer, but they replace neither spotting nor protection from crossfire. Treating her as a conventional radar cruiser simply because of her nationality and calibre would miss the important distinction.

Marechal Deodoro: AP secondary guns for close combat

This is a hypothetical design. Wargaming's background imagines a fast battleship based on a pre-war French project, sold to a country such as Brazil because of the Fourth Republic's financial constraints. Brazil would have used it to modernise its fleet in the 1950s. The name comes from an earlier Brazilian coastal defence ship, itself named after the country's first president.

The Pan-American Tier VIII battleship has a 33.5-knot base speed and a substantial HP pool. Her defining feature, however, is a secondary battery of eleven triple 152 mm mounts firing AP shells.

The secondary AP has improved ricochet angles, short fuse times and good base penetration. Citadel hits on suitably exposed cruisers are intended to be possible. Against angled targets and while kiting, the developer preview describes the package as considerably less favourable.

The main battery offers good ballistics and penetration, but is not intended to be a reliable precision weapon at long range. Meanwhile, 32 mm plating leaves targets for HE with sufficient penetration, including cruiser and battleship shells and relevant secondary batteries.

Repair Party restores 377 HP per second for 28 seconds, with an 80-second reload and three charges. Damage Control Party has a 20-second action time and an 80-second reload.

Our take

Marechal Deodoro looks like a ship that needs to prepare her brawl. Speed opens routes to a flank; the AP secondaries then need suitable target angles. An early frontal push into several HE-firing opponents would instead expose precisely the protection weakness highlighted in the profile.

Viking: Six 152 mm guns, a 50 mm midsection and no torpedoes

Viking is based on the unbuilt Vickers Design 1054, developed in Britain for Norway around 1933. The project sat between a small cruiser and a large destroyer; the in-game development adds stronger propulsion and more modern AA. Her namesake was a Norwegian first-class gunboat serving from the late 1890s into the early decades of the 20th century.

In the game, Viking remains a European Tier IX destroyer. Her main battery comprises two twin mounts and two single guns, making six 152 mm barrels in total. She has no torpedoes.

The 50 mm plating amidships is intended to help particularly against smaller-calibre HE. The bow and stern remain 19 mm. At the same time, thicker plating can help incoming AP arm; Wargaming specifically identifies 203 mm shells as a threat.

Long-lasting smoke, but limited base speed

Her Smoke Generator has three charges and a 30-second action time. The clouds persist for 127 seconds, their radius is 450 m, and the reload is 160 seconds. Cloud persistence and smoke emission time are therefore distinct values.

Engine Boost adds 8% to maximum speed, lasts 120 seconds, reloads in 120 seconds and has three charges. Damage Control Party acts for 5 seconds and reloads in 40 seconds. The profile does not list a Repair Party.

Our take

Large guns and the protected midsection make Viking an unusual gunboat. Around Key Areas, however, 8.3 km base detectability, limited speed and the absence of torpedoes also matter. The plating creates opportunities against certain opponents, rather than general protection from cruiser AP or unexpected close encounters.

Glorioso: Two quadruple turrets and a 16-shell burst

Glorioso is also hypothetical. An Italian-derived design would have taken until the late 1950s to complete because of Spain's post-Civil War economic difficulties, with help from a more advanced shipbuilding industry such as Britain's. Her name recalls Spanish ships of the line from the 18th century.

The Spanish Tier X battleship carries eight 406 mm guns in two quadruple turrets. Good accuracy and ballistics come with a limited barrel count and HP pool for the tier.

Combining burst fire and the reload booster

Burst Fire and Modified Shells allows two salvos two seconds apart. If both turrets can fire, that means 16 shells in total. In exchange, maximum shell damage is reduced and the alternative mode has a longer reload.

Wargaming describes two potential uses for the booster: mitigating the long reload after a burst, or increasing output in a single exchange. Its two charges and 300-second cooldown make timing important.

Repair Party provides 379 HP per second for 28 seconds, with an 80-second reload and four charges. Damage Control Party acts for 15 seconds and reloads in 80 seconds.

The third slot offers Fighters or Spotting Aircraft. Fighters provide three aircraft, a 3 km radius, 60-second action time, 90-second reload and three charges. Spotting Aircraft grants +20% main battery range for 100 seconds, with a 240-second reload and four charges.

Our take

Glorioso looks likely to reward spotting brief opportunities to punish a broadside. Burst fire concentrates damage, but costs shell damage and time before the next attack. With 75,900 HP and vulnerable sides, the package seems better suited to planned engagements at medium to long range than forced brawls.

AA: Ranges and Concentrated AA Fire

The profiles list the following overall values and ranges:

Houston's short-range aura reaches 2.4 km, Marechal Deodoro's medium-range aura 3.8 km, Viking's short-range aura 1.5 km, and Glorioso's medium-range aura 3.5 km. The listed overall output therefore does not replace checking the engagement distance and aircraft's route.

All four profiles list Concentrated AA Fire with +50% continuous damage, +100% flak burst damage, a 40-second action time and a 5-second instantaneous-damage interval. The list gives a base progress gain of 2.5% per second, 130 seconds before progress loss begins, and a subsequent loss of 5% per second. Cooldown is 10 seconds for Houston and Viking, and 15 seconds for the two battleships. A flak damage bonus does not create flak bursts absent from Viking's listed armament.

ASW: Airstrikes and depth charges

Houston and the two battleships carry ASW airstrikes:

The aircraft each have 2,000 HP. Viking instead uses depth charges: two charges, twelve bombs per charge, a 40-second reload and up to 5,100 damage per bomb.

The profiles list standard fire durations of 30 seconds for Houston and Viking, and 60 seconds for Marechal Deodoro and Glorioso. These values also describe the unmodified test setup.

Conclusion

The four ships rely on clearly different tools. Houston combines gunnery and repairs, Marechal Deodoro speed and AP secondary fire. Viking pushes the boundary between destroyer and light cruiser, while Glorioso temporarily turns her eight barrels into a larger package of shells.

To us, the limitations matter as much as the special features: no radar on Houston, HE-vulnerable plating on Marechal Deodoro, no torpedoes on Viking and limited room for mistakes on Glorioso. Testing still has to show how well the concepts work; every value remains subject to change.

Sources

• Wargaming Development Blog – Closed Test 15.11: New Ships