TBD Devastator

Unit Card:

WASTBDDevastatorStatCard.jpg

Set - Rarity - Number

War At Sea - Common - 20/64

History:

nrnstraswa
The TBD Devastator was the United States Navy's first monoplane torpedo bomber. At the time of its arrival, it was state of the art. However, by the start of WWII, it was already obsolete compared to other nations' bombers.

The TBD featured a single .30 caliber (updated to .50 cal. later on) machine gun in the cowling, and a .30 cal. machine gun for the rear gunner.
However, the Devastator was slow, sluggish, and the torpedoes it carried were unreliable.

The Devastator got its first major victory in the Battle of the Coral Sea, assisting Dauntlesses in sinking the Japanese light carrier Shoho and damaging the carrier Shokaku.

The TBD Devastator's final operation ended in tragedy, in the pivotal Battle of Midway. Running a lethal gauntlet of fully alerted A6M2 Zekes (lack of fighter protection), and heavy Japanese AA, the TBDs sent against the Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga , Hiryu, and Soryu were shot down or forced to flee, all without scoring one hit.

As a result, less than a handful of TBDs returned to their carriers that day. Almost immediately, the TBD was pulled from the front lines, as the superior TBF Avenger was ready for delivery.

Reviews:

RaySpruance
The TBD Devastator is probably the weakest carrier torpedo plane in the game. This plane should probably be used only to attack subs off the St. Lo. Draw the CAP is useful, but not really worth the 9 points on the aircraft. If you want a front line carrier based aircraft, bring on the Avenger.

mercenary_moose
A Betty that stumbled its way on to an aircraft carrier. Their stats are identical, except for a switching of abilities, but the Devastator loses the Betty's best feature: its low cost. What you have is a torpedo bomber that doesn't hit hard when it does make it to its target, is easy prey for just about anything that wants to shoot at it, and whose only ability assists in getting it killed even faster. It's not even useful for hunting subs off of St. Lo; for two points more the Baby Avenger does a far better job at that. My best advice for the Devastator is to never play it, but if you want some use out of it you can always burn it in a sacrificial offering to the Dice Gods.

Aran55633
Cheapest option for a carrier-borne torpedo bomber in the USN with the same torpedoes as the newer Avenger, and cheaper than any option in the Japanese navy. However, the Armor of 4 and VA of 6 are both so low compared to the Avengers that you really just can't use this unit…

Plastic Figure Notes:

TBD-Devastator.jpg
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