Destroyer Command
Encyclopedia
Destroyer Command is a naval simulation
released by Ubisoft
in 2002 and developed by the now-defunct Ultimation Inc. The game placed the player in command of a destroyer
during World War II
, featuring campaigns from both the Pacific War
and the Battle of the Atlantic. Customized missions may be played and players can select the opponent's forces and their own. Players can also have the chance to choose the difficulty rating in different games by adjusting the different realism ratings such as Table Fog and Unlimited Ammo. One of the features was the ability to play against owners of Silent Hunter II
online, allowing both destroyer and U-Boat
commanders to square off against each other.
Playable campaigns
Ship types that can be commanded by the player[2]
Weaponry that can be controlled by the player[3]
and HMS King George V (41)
, and the light carriers of the United States are not complete. Worst of all, the multiplayer interoperability with Silent Hunter II was also buggy and highly unstable,plus the Bogue class CVEs (which were American) have the Royal Navy Ensign.
Another example of historical inaccuracy is the inclusion of the Japanese destroyer Miyuki, which was lost in 1934, 5 years before World War II even began. The carrier force of the Japanese Navy is also horribly incomplete, featuring only the Ryujo, Chitose, and Soryu classes.
and was received with mixed reactions from naval enthusiasts.
Simulation
Simulation is the imitation of some real thing available, state of affairs, or process. The act of simulating something generally entails representing certain key characteristics or behaviours of a selected physical or abstract system....
released by Ubisoft
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
in 2002 and developed by the now-defunct Ultimation Inc. The game placed the player in command of a destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, featuring campaigns from both the Pacific War
Pacific War
The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...
and the Battle of the Atlantic. Customized missions may be played and players can select the opponent's forces and their own. Players can also have the chance to choose the difficulty rating in different games by adjusting the different realism ratings such as Table Fog and Unlimited Ammo. One of the features was the ability to play against owners of Silent Hunter II
Silent Hunter II
Silent Hunter II is a WWII U-boat combat simulation from Ubisoft for Windows 95/98/ME. It was originally being developed by Aeon Electronic Entertainment, the developers of Silent Hunter, but they had to leave the project unfinished, and Ultimation Inc. finished it...
online, allowing both destroyer and U-Boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
commanders to square off against each other.
Details of the game
Playable Missions[1]- 20 Historical Missions( Examples are 'Battle of Savo IslandBattle of Savo IslandThe Battle of Savo Island, also known as the First Battle of Savo Island and, in Japanese sources, as the , was a naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II, between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval forces...
') - 5 Training missions
- Over 600 million customized missions can be generated.
Playable campaigns
- 2 campaigns that include the entire Pacific and Atlantic warfare with 20 missions each.
Ship types that can be commanded by the player[2]
- Bagley class destroyerBagley class destroyerThe Bagley class of destroyers was built by the United States. All eight ships were ordered and laid down in 1935 and subsequently completed in 1937. Their layout was based upon the Gridley-class destroyer design, but they retained the power plants of the Mahan-class destroyers, and thus had a...
- Benham class destroyerBenham class destroyerTen Benham-class destroyers were commissioned into United States Navy during 1938 and 1939. Much of their design is based upon the previous Gridley- and Bagley-class destroyers...
- Benson class destroyerBenson class destroyerThe Benson class was a class of 30 destroyers of the U.S. Navy built 1939–1943. The first ship of the class was the . The U.S. Navy customarily names a class of ships after the first ship of the class; hence the Benson class....
- Clemson class destroyerClemson class destroyerThe Clemson class was a series of 156 destroyers which served with the United States Navy from after World War I through World War II.The Clemson-class ships were commissioned by the United States Navy from 1919 to 1922, built by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, New York Shipbuilding...
- Farragut class destroyer (1934)Farragut class destroyer (1934)The Farragut-class destroyers were a class of eight 1,365-ton destroyers in the United States Navy.Following provisions of the London Naval Treaty of 1930, the ships were laid down between 1932 and completed by 1935...
- Fletcher class destroyerFletcher class destroyerThe Fletcher class were a class of destroyers built by the United States during World War II. The class was designed in 1939 as a result of dissatisfaction with the earlier destroyer leader types...
- Gleaves class destroyerGleaves class destroyerThe Gleaves-class destroyers were a class of 66 destroyers of the United States Navy built 1938–1942, and designed by Gibbs & Cox. The first ship of the class was the USS Gleaves . The U.S. Navy customarily names a class of ships after the first ship of the class; hence the Gleaves class...
- Gridley class destroyerGridley class destroyerThe Gridley-class destroyers were a class of four 1500-ton destroyers in the United States Navy.The initial two ships were laid down on June 3, 1935 and commissioned in 1937. The second two were laid down in March of 1936 and commissioned in 1938....
- Mahan class destroyerMahan class destroyerThe Mahan-class destroyers served in the United States Navy before and during World War II. The lead ship of the class was named for Alfred T. Mahan, a US Naval officer and influential theorist on sea power....
- Porter class destroyerPorter class destroyerThe Porter-class destroyers were a class of eight 1,850-ton destroyers in the United States Navy.The first four ships were laid down in 1933 by New York Shipbuilding and the next four in 1934 at Bethlehem Steel Corporation in Quincy, Massachusetts...
- Somers class destroyerSomers class destroyerThe Somers-class destroyer was a class of 1850-ton United States Navy destroyer based on the Porter-class. They were answers to the large destroyers that the Japanese navy was building at the time, and were initially intended to be leaders for destroyer flotillas...
- Sims class destroyerSims class destroyerThe Sims-class consisted of 12 destroyers in the United States Navy, built in seven various shipyards, and commissioned in 1939 and 1940. It was the last United States destroyer class completed prior to World War II. All Sims-class ships saw action in World War II, and seven survived the war...
- Allen M. Sumner class destroyerAllen M. Sumner class destroyerThe Allen M. Sumner class was a group of 58 destroyers built by the United States during World War II. Another twelve ships were completed as destroyer minelayers...
- Wickes class destroyerWickes class destroyerThe Wickes-class destroyers were a group of 111 destroyers built by the United States Navy in 1917-1919. Along with the 6 preceding Caldwell class and 155 subsequent Clemson-class destroyers, they formed the "flush-deck" or "four-stack" class. Only a few were completed in time to serve in World...
Weaponry that can be controlled by the player[3]
- 5"/38 caliber gun-Dual Purpose
- 4 inch/50 SP gun( In the game, it could be used as a dual-purpose gun but in actual field, the maximum elevation of the gun is a 20 degrees, which is inadequate to attack opponent high-speed planes.
- Light guns(They are Bofors 40 mm gunBofors 40 mm gunThe Bofors 40 mm gun is an anti-aircraft autocannon designed by the Swedish defence firm of Bofors Defence...
and Oerlikon 20 mm cannonOerlikon 20 mm cannonThe Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original design by Reinhold Becker of Germany, very early in World War I, and widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others...
( They can be used to hit small, soft-skinned crafts( For example LCU) too with great effect) - 600 lb,500 lb,200 lb depth charges
- 21 inch Torpedoes( From launchers grouped in pairs of 3 to 5)
Versions of the game[4]
- There are two versions of the game, ver 4.0.3 and ver 4.10. The former had some technical failures while the later perfects most of them, but the vessel identification error is not fixed.
- A patch is also available for players to download that fixes the vessel identification crash and makes many scenearios either easier or harder by removing or adding U-Boats or aircraft such as 'Kate' Bombers.
Failures of the game
Unfortunately, the game was released in a very buggy and clearly unfinished state. A very big failure is that there is not a single crew member to be seen and certain historical missions are distorted( For example, during the Casablanca mission, the gunnery support force only comprises a single battleship instead of the actual historically correct amount. This causes the mission to be hard to complete due to the strong naval guns(8x15" and 9x6") on the battleship Jean Bart and coastal batteries). Secondly, the naval forces available in the war are not correctly shown. Examples of this are nonexistent United Kingdom battleships HMS Vanguard (23)HMS Vanguard (23)
HMS Vanguard was a British fast battleship built during World War II and commissioned after the end of the war. She was the only ship of her class and was the biggest, fastest and last of the Royal Navy's dreadnoughts, and the final battleship to be launched in the world...
and HMS King George V (41)
HMS King George V (41)
HMS King George V was the lead ship of the five British King George V-class battleships of the Royal Navy. Laid down in 1937 and commissioned in 1940, King George V operated during the Second World War as part of the British Home and Pacific Fleets...
, and the light carriers of the United States are not complete. Worst of all, the multiplayer interoperability with Silent Hunter II was also buggy and highly unstable,plus the Bogue class CVEs (which were American) have the Royal Navy Ensign.
Another example of historical inaccuracy is the inclusion of the Japanese destroyer Miyuki, which was lost in 1934, 5 years before World War II even began. The carrier force of the Japanese Navy is also horribly incomplete, featuring only the Ryujo, Chitose, and Soryu classes.
Reflection on the game by reviewers
The game was critically panned, receiving a score of 2.5 ("Terrible") from GameSpotGameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
and was received with mixed reactions from naval enthusiasts.
Sources/References Used
- [1] DC manual Page 5-7
- [2] Website:http://www.destroyercommand.com/shipyrd1.html
- [3] DC reference guide
- [4] EULA of DC Patch
External links
- Official Site
- Latest Patch that fixed the vessels identification crash is shown here.