Premium Ship Review: Gallant

[LittleWhiteMouse]

The following is a review of HMS Gallant, a ship kindly provided to me by Wargaming at no cost to me. This is the release version of the vessel and these stats are current as of July 19th, 2017.  Please be aware that her performance may change in the future.

 

Are you excited?  I'm excited!  More Royal Navy ships!  Whoo!

 

Quick Summary:  A small, agile destroyer with an uninspiring main battery. She has a heavy torpedo armament with the ability to launch each fish individually, but she's held back by poor launch angles.
Cost: Bundles started at $21.99 USD with a port slot.
Patch and Date Written: June 8th, 2017 to July 18th, 2017, Patch 0.6.6 to 0.6.7.1

 

Closest in-Game Contemporary

Gaede, Tier VI German Destroyer
Degree of Similarity: Clone / Sister-Ship / Related Class / Similar Role / Unique

As much as I would like to compare these to the Polish Grom-class, Gallant shares a lot in common with Ernst Gaede, the tier VI German Destroyer, especially when the German ship is armed with its (admittedly awful) 128mm guns. Am I foreshadowing bit? 

 

PROs

• Gallant has an 8% chance per shell to start fires and the highest Fires per Minute chance of any Tier VI DD.
• Powerful torpedo armament doing 15,433 damage per hit, with 8.0km range and 61 knot top speed.
• Torpedoes may be dropped individually in the same manner of Royal Navy cruisers.
• Tiny turning circle of 540m with excellent rudder shift time of 3.0s.
• Second best surface detection range at her tier of 6.8km.
• Small target -- less than 100m long.
   

CONs

• Small hit point pool of 12,000hp.
• Weak main battery armament of four 120mm guns and low DPM.
• Short 10.2km range and clumsy firing angles on #4 turret.
• Worse shell ballistics than the American 127mm/38s with even more "float".
• Horrible fire angles on her torpedoes with a maximum forward fire angle of 68º off the bow.
• High learning curve with making optimal use of her torpedoes.
• An absolute laughable lack of any credible AA power.

 

HMS Gallant surprised me when she was announced to be coming to World of Warships.  As fighting vessels go, she was in the thick of the action in the early part of the war but she didn't participate in any major surface engagements as far as I could tell.  It made me wonder why we were seeing Gallant represent the G-class destroyers in World of Warships when there were examples such as Glowworm which saw surface action against capital ships to draw from.  Everything began making sense when the Dunkirk Scenario was unveiled. 

 

She's not the first British premium destroyer released in the game (that honour goes to HMS Campbeltown at tier III), nor is she first British-built destroyer in the game (that distinction goes to ORP Blyskawica).  What she does provide, however, is a glimpse of what the British destroyer line may end up being in the future.  It remains to be seen how many of the features on HMS Gallant will become standard to the British destroyers.

 

Sharkbait_416 of the World of Warships wiki team has volunteered to join me in this review.  He'll be providing a look into HMS Gallant's history and his impressions of the ship.  Take it away!

 

The Sharktank
HMS Gallant, hull pennant H59, was a G-Class destroyer of the Royal Navy, launched on August 26, 1935. With the outbreak of WWII in 1939, Gallant began operating in the North Sea, primarily tasked with escort and patrol duties. Throughout the course of these duties, Gallant participated in rescue operations which saved the crews of multiple stricken ships, such as SS British Councillor, SS Santos, and HMS Princess Victoria. On May 25, 1940, Gallant was detached from North Sea operations to partake in Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of Allied forces from Dunkirk. On May 26, Gallant arrived in the channel. On May 27, Gallant and HMS Vivacious were notified that ORP Blyskawica was tasked to meet them. The Admiralty wanted the three ships to enter the port of La Panne to evacuate RAF personnel. However, Blyskawica was unable to locate the two British ships. The next day, Gallant embarked troops and transported them to Dover. Gallant made a second trip to Dunkirk on May 29, embarking more troops. Prior to arriving at Dover, Gallant was attacked by Luftwaffe dive-bombers. Despite suffering slight damage, Gallant managed to return to Dover under her own power. In total, Gallant rescued 1,466 personnel from the beaches of Dunkirk.

In June 1940, Gallant assisted in the search for Scharnhorst and Gneisenau but was unable to locate the two German ships. In July, Gallant was tasked for duty in the Mediterranean, where she joined Allied forces to assist in operations in the West Mediterranean Sea. On October 20, 1940, Gallant used depth charges to assist in sinking the Italian submarine Lafolè. On November 27, Gallant fought in the Battle of Cape Spartivento as a part of Force B. While supporting convoy operations in the Straits of Sicily off Pantellaria, Gallant hit a mine on January 10, 1941. The force of the explosion tore the bow from the ship, killing 65 crewmen and injuring 15. The remainder of the ship was towed stern-first to Malta. Gallant began undergoing repairs, continuing into 1942. On April 5, 1942, a bombing raid resulted in a near miss that severely damaged Gallant. Due to extensive damage, Gallant was declared a constructive total loss. Gallant was used as a blockship in St. Paul’s Bay and scrapped in 1953.
 

Rerences: http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/4391.html & http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-25G-HMS_Gallant.htm
Picture courtesy of Wikipedia.

Options
Gallant uses the same Smoke Generator consumable as the Japanese and Soviet Destroyers.  This differs from Campbeltown, the other British premium, whose Smoke Generator echoes that found on American Destroyers.  On the USN DDs. the emission time is longer and so is the duration of each individual cloud.  This isn't the case on HMS Gallant.  So, everything is standard here.

 

Consumables:

• Damage Control Party
• Smoke Generator
• Engine Boost
   

Module Upgrades: Four slots, standard cruiser upgrades

Premium Camouflage: Type 10, tier VI+ Standard. This provides 50% bonus experience gains, 3% reduction in surface detection and 4% reduction in enemy accuracy.

 

Remember to equip as many premium consumables as you can reliably afford on a per-match basis.  The module options you'll be using are the standard fare for destroyers.

•  In your first slot, take Magazine Modification 1.  Seriously, don't take take Main Armaments Modification 1 unless you're going into Ranked and taking Juliet Charlie signals -- you're more likely to have your entire destroyer blown out from underneath you before you permanently lose one of your weapon mounts to direct damage.  This way you can mitigate some of those detonations.
• In your second slot, Aiming Systems Modification 1 is the way to go.  Note, if you're playing the Dunkirk Scenario, you want to take AA Guns Modification 2 for the extra range.  It's useless otherwise, but you WILL NEED IT in the scenario if you're trying for 5 stars.  Don't skimp out on this.
• In your third slot, take Damage Control Modification 1.  The other two are terrible (not that DCM1 is much better).
• And finally, in your fourth slot, take Propulsion System Modification 1.

If you have access to Super Upgrades, there's only one really worth considering and that's Engine Boost Modification 1.  This would replace your Damage Control Modification 1 upgrade in your third slot.

Firepower

Primary Battery: Four 120mm rifles in an A-B-X-Y superfiring configuration.

Torpedo Armament: Eight tubes in 2x4 launchers rear mounted down the centerline of the ship.

 

 

 

Gallant's gunnery is pretty close to terrible.  They may have decent gun handling and a nice krupp rating on her AP shells, but almost everything else is awful.  Her 120mm guns are the smallest caliber at her tier and an armament we would expect on tier IV destroyers, not VI.  Understandably, on a per-shell basis, they have some of the worst alpha strike qualities, besting only German 128mm HE shells.  With her four guns, this makes her volleys rather anemic.  But there's worse to come:

 

The ballistic arcs on her 120mm/45 guns are worse than the American 127mm/38s. 

 

While Gallant has better muzzle velocity than Farragut's weapons, the shells are lighter and lose speed more quickly.  At ranges greater than 5.0km, Farragut's 127mm/38s have better shell flight times over distance.   Gallant's shells take 8.62s to hit targets at 10km compared to Farragut's 8.31s with HE shells.  Gallant's range normally caps out at 10.2km, so this slow shell time to distance cannot be seen in full measure without Advanced Fire Training.  With it, you'll see shell flight times of approximately 1 second per km traveled at ranges in excess of 10km.

 

This makes Gallant's guns utterly ill-suited to engaging anything short of a slow turning Battleship or Carrier at range.  You can largely forget about making use of AP except at stupidly close ranges where you'd be better of dumping fish into them instead.  To engage enemy destroyers, she needs to be close -- ideally no more than 7km to 8km at most before the lead times greatly inhibit accuracy.  And more often than not, she will not want to engage enemy destroyers in the first place. 

 

Gallant has two saving graces where her guns are concerned.  She has a decent (but not great) rate of fire.  With a 5.0 second reload, she can put out twelve rounds per gun.  So while she may not be able to compete with any of her peers on a per-volley basis, she can out-muscle Japanese destroyers in a protracted gunnery duel through sheer volume of fire.  On paper, she should also be able to compete with Ernst Gaede, the German tier VI, however in practice this often proves to be a fool's errand.  Gaede's guns have better ballistic arcs and, more importantly, a lot more health.  

 

The second saving grace is more memorable.  Gallant has a very high chance to set fires per shell.  At 8% per hit, when coupled with her four guns and rate of fire, Gallant becomes the best potential fire starter at tier VI.  While this will not help her against enemy destroyers, it does speak to a specialization which favours making the lives of enemy Battleships quite miserable.

 

Overall, Gallant is only a better overall gun platform than Fubuki and Hatsuharu which is pretty poor marks.  She edges out Shinonome too, but only just.  She needs to force a slug fest to out perform the IJN premium. The reliable 6-gun alpha strikes are quite valuable as they can often decide a duel against a mid to low health enemy destroyer, forcing them to back off even if they have a DPM advantage.  It's Gallant's ability to set fires which really redeems these guns.  Without it, her main battery would be utterly lamentable.

 

The worst part is that Gallant's guns feel very comfortable to use -- so much so that you might grossly over estimate how well they perform.  They turn decently.  Their rate of fire is nice.  They cause lots of fires.  This got me into a lot of trouble when it came to dueling with other destroyers.  I'd feel I had the advantage only to see just how uneven a contest it actually was when I got myself butchered.   Do not make this mistake.  Gallant's guns aren't good.  They're not terrible, but they can cause you more problems than they'll solve.

 

 

Gallant largely redeems the poor qualities of her guns with her torpedo armament.  They aren't without their (oh-so minor) faults.  For a torpedo specialist, her range of 8.0km is decent but not enough to make captains of the Japanese destroyers sit up and take notice.  Their 1.3km detection range gives opponents nearly eight seconds to react which is alright, but not great.  The same could be said of their 61  knot top speed which is perfectly adequate but, again, nothing special or worth celebrating.

 

But here's where things get exciting:  Gallant has the same launch options as British cruisers.  To be clear, the two fire options for Gallant are a narrow spread or to fire off her torpedoes individually.  She does not have the wide-spread option found on other destroyers.  

 

It's this single fire option which is so desirable.  This greatly increases the flexibility of Gallant's torpedo armament,  whether this be dropping more complex patterns for opponents to dodge or holding fish in reserve when a target may think themselves safe from harm.  On paper, the advantages of Gallant's single fire torpedoes are many.  In practice?  Many of these advantages are locked behind an admittedly difficult set of player skills, acquired only from experience and the lessons learned from lots of mistakes.  Veterans of British cruisers will have a leg up on the competition here.

 

Gallant's torpedoes are individually hard hitting at 15,433 damage and with eight tubes, Gallant's potential damage for a full launch exceeds all ships with the exception of Shinonome and Fubuki which launch nine.  Even so, Gallant's torpedoes hit harder individually than Shinonome, so she's not far behind these Japanese torpedo specialists.

 

The are a couple of serious flaws with her torpedoes.  They have a punitively long reload of 96s for one, even for a quad launcher.  This is common to launchers with more tubes, and Gallant loses out so significantly to the other torpedo-specialists with shorter reloads on their triple launchers with Shinonome having only a 73s reload while Fubuki and Hatsuharu  make due with 76s.  The second drawback are the awful firing arcs of Gallant's launchers.  They only have a 55º launch arc with a rearward bias.  The furthest forward they can target is nearly 70º which is appalling and can really hurt Gallant in close quarter brawls or when navigating through islands.  This limited fire sector also means she can't use her torpedoes defensively very well, as she has to present her broadside to dump them into the water.

 

So for all of their good hitting power, Gallant cannot launch her fish often and when she can, you may find yourself fighting the fire arcs of her launchers in order to do so.

Summary:

• Her torpedoes are powerful.
• Single fire torpedoes are awesome, but it's going to take some practice to make them work.
• The limited fire arcs of her torpedoes can be immensely frustrating.
• The only thing saving Gallant's guns from being a complete write off is their good rate of fire and high fire chance.

 

Manoeuvrability

Top Speed: 36.0knots
Turning Radius: 540m
Rudder Shift: 3.0s

Maximum Turn Rate: 8.6º per second.

 

Gallant is rather average for a tier VI destroyer when it comes to her top speed, though all of the destroyers with the exception of the Gnevny-class (including Anshan) slot in and around 35.5 to 36.5 knots.  What she does have is great handling, however.  She answers her rudder very quickly and can throw herself about in the water like no one's business.  She's only held back by he modest top speed.  She keeps over 30 knots in a turn, though just barely, and this limits her maximum rate of turn to 8.6º per second.

 

Durability
Hit Points: 12,000
Maximum Protection: 16mm

 

Gallant's 12,000 hit points sits on the low side of average at her tier.  She has more hit points than Farragut or Hatsuharu but less than the Gnenvy-class and Fubuki-class ships which make up more than half the destroyer population at tier VI.  Gallant is tiny as far as ship length goes, but sadly she's also rather tall.  This combines to make her a comfortable target to shoot at, unfortunately.

 

Gallant does not have the DPM or accuracy over range to afford trading fire with other gunships.  This is a risky venture even when she's top tier against tier V gunships like Podvoisky, Nicholas and Okhotnik.  Only do so from a position of extreme advantage if you have to at all.

 

Concealment & Camouflage

Base Surface Detection Range: 6.84km

Air Detection Range: 3.36 km

Minimum Surface Detection Range: 5.97km

Main Battery Firing Range: 10.18km

Surface Detection Rank within Tier:  2nd

Surface Detection Rank within Matchmaking:  16th of 34.

 

Gallant has a decent concealment rating.  Properly specialized with a 10pt Captain and with her Premium Camouflage, Gallant will get her surface detection range down to just a hair beneath 6.0km.  The only ship at her tier that bests her here is Hatsuharu with a 5.8km surface detection range.  This is good news for an under-gunned destroyer that struggles to trade blows with any of her contemporaries.  Perhaps most impressive is her small aerial detection range which is better than any of the other destroyers at her tier. 

 

As a tier VI destroyer, Gallant sits in that unfortunate 'sweet spot' shared with tier VII destroyers where their concealment seems decent until measured up against the ships she faces.  She's larger than most of the tier V destroyers she faces, and while she's much more stealthy than tier VII DDs, she finds herself out done by tier VIII gunships like Lo Yang, Benson and Akizuki -- all of which can make her life miserable in short order.  It's a rare game where she'll ever be the stealthiest thing out on the water.

 

Gallant is really built for this short-ranged attack.  Her torpedoes give her a 2.0km stealth firing window which is enough room to comfortably manoeuvre.  Sadly, this does fall within the range of radar equipped ships that begin appearing at tier VII.  Skirting too close to the edge of her launch window also puts her dangerously close to the 5.58km range of Hydroacoustic Search on tier VIII German Cruisers

 

It pays to take a moment to study team rosters and identify problem ships lest you trip over them at inopportune moments.

 

Anti-Aircraft Defense

AA Battery Calibers: 12.7mm
AA Umbrella Ranges:  1.2km
AA DPS per Aura:  4

 

No.

That small cloud of smoke is about to get really crowded with air dropped torpedoes in a moment.

 

Pageantry and Gallantry

Thanks to the Dunkirk scenario, there are going to be another build to consider for HMS Gallant, optimizing for achieving 5 stars in the scenario.  For now, let me cover the basics for Random and Ranked Battles.  As ever, we start with a core build of 10 skill points.

• Begin with Priority Target to increase your situational awareness when you no longer have concealment.
• Next, take the destroyer standby, Last Stand to give you passable engine power and rudder shift when these modules get damaged.
• You have a choice at the next tier.  Torpedo Armament Expertise should be taken if you want to emphasize your torpedo rate of fire.  Alternatively, take Demolition Expert to supplement your already excellent fire starting qualities on your guns.  Do not double up on these at this stage.
• Finally, take Concealment Expert to get your surface detection down to 5.97km with camouflage installed.

Here are the next skills to consider:

•  Tier 1, Preventative Maintenance.  For those who hate Priority Target, this can be taken as an alternative.  This reduces the likelihood of critical damage occurring to any of your modules (except the Magazine).
• Tier 2, Jack of All Trades.  This is handy for those players that like dropping smoke for their allies.
• Tier 2, Expert Marksman.  This will increase your gun rotation rate from 10º per second up to 12.5º.
• Tier 2, Smoke Screen Expert.  Are you a bro that drops smoke for your big friends in Ranked?  Be an even bigger bro with bigger smoke!
• Tier 2, Adrenaline Rush.  This is a long running favourite of many players.  It increases your rate of fire of guns and torpedoes as you take damage.  At 50% health, this shaves off almost 10s from your torpedo reload and increases your rate of fire from 12.0rpm to 13.2rpm.  Always handy.
• Tier 3, Survivability Expert.  This will increase Gallant's hit points from 12,000 to 14,100hp.  Note that this won't give you advantage enough to reliably outgun other gunships that are at the same health you are, but it does provide more of a buffer.  This can be especially handy in Ranked Battles.
• Tier 3, Basic Fire Training.  Bump up that rate of fire from 12rpm to 13.2rpm.  Don't worry about what it does to your AA power.  It's not relevant in these game modes.
• Tier 3, Vigilance.  Spot those torpedoes early for your big friends.
• Tier 4, Inertial Fuse for HE Shells.  You can bump up her effective HE penetration from 19mm up to 25mm with this skill.  This is enough to stack direct damage against any capital ship you face in Ranked Battles, provided you don't hit the armoured belt, as opposed to being stuck trying to hit the superstructure.
• Tier 4, Advanced Fire Training.  I would recommend against taking this one, but it does have it's uses.  This bumps up your maximum range from 10.2km up to 12.2km.  Keep in mind your shell flight time is almost 1s per kilometer at those ranges.
• Tier 4, Radio Location.  Like high tier IJN Destroyers, sometimes it's nice to know where the things you don't want to face in a gunfight are likely to be.

I personally would recommend the following builds:

Random Battles:  Core skills (Demolition Expert and Torpedo Armament Expertise both for a total of 13pts).   Then take Inertial Fuse for HE Shells and Adrenaline Rush.

Ranked Battles:  Core skills (Torpedo Armament Expertise or Demolition Expert, not both to start).  Then take Survivability Expert.  Spend the last six points where you will based on your play style.  For cap control, take Basic Fire Training and Adrenaline Rush.  For support, lean closer to Vigilance and Smoke Screen Expert.

 

Finally we come to the scenarios.  For Dunkirk, you want to emphasize your AA power (silly, I know, but you'll need it).  Your core skills look like this:

• Take Preventative Maintenance first.  No surface ships will be targeting you with their main batteries.
• Next, take Last Stand.  The artillery will knock out your engines and steering gears on occasion.
• After that, take Basic Fire Training to buff your AA power.
• Then take Advanced Fire Training to buff your AA range up to a "massive" 1.44km. 

This build is pretty useless for outside of the scenario, but what are you going to do?  This "AA Build" only works because of the funny low-health values of planes in this specific scenario, so don't hold any illusions this has any worth outside of it.

Some other useful skills include:

• Tier 2, Jack of All Trades, to help bring your smoke generator off cool down faster.
• Tier 2, Smoke Screen Expert, to give your allied ships more cover when you drop your smoke.
• Tier 3, Vigilance, to spot those torpedoes sooner.

That's it.  This is such a specialized build, I really doubt anyone will have the spare Captain to do it, but maybe you have more doubloons available than sense?

When in doubt, you can always suicide-torp battleships at close range.

 

Overall Impressions

Skill Floor: Simple / Casual / Challenging / Difficult

Gallant is very much like IJN Destroyers where she requires just a little more understanding of destroyer game play to make her perform.  She isn't utterly dependent upon her torpedoes for doing damage, but without a good grasp of how best to optimize them, inexperienced players will find this ship frustrating.  The good news is that her guns are quite comfortable to play with.  The bad news is that her guns will get her into more trouble than not which is a formula for disappointing many consumers.

 

Skill Ceiling: Low / Moderate / High / Extreme

Gallant will challenge players to really master aiming their torpedoes manually without the use of the leading marker.  This is a new skill for some players to learn and it will only improve their overall game play.  This bumps up her carry potential somewhat in the hands of a true expert.  Her guns are also quite serviceable in the right circumstances, but knowing when to fight and when to cut your losses is something that comes only with experience (or spider sense).

 

The Sharktank
HMS Gallant can be a thorn in the side of the enemy team throughout a match if played properly. My overall impression is that she is very good at one thing—launching torpedoes from concealment. Her single-fire torpedo launchers enable her to achieve more hits than the wide-spread setting. This is exceptionally useful in launching torpedoes at ships that are bow-on, such as those charging a smoke screen. However, this may also result in missing all torpedoes if they are improperly aimed.

Gallant benefits from excellent maneuverability and a tight turning circle, which enables her to weave and dodge incoming fire if spotted. Much like the British cruisers, Gallant is most effective when maintaining her concealment, whether it be in a smoke-screen or skirting her detection range. Her mediocre HP pool and poor gun performance mean that direct engagements with cruisers and other destroyers are not recommended unless in self-defense. Her abysmal anti-aircraft armament rating means that an enemy carrier may freely fly squadrons of planes over the Gallant, keeping her spotted. To have a great battle, it is imperative to pick-and-choose engagements wisely. Because of this, Gallant truly excels when she has a commander that is specialized with Concealment Expert. This provides Gallant with a 2-kilometer stealth-firing window for torpedoes, and ample range for maneuvering and repositioning while avoiding detection.

Gallant’s playstyle is very appealing, but it is important that players have a solid understanding of spotting and detection mechanics in-order to utilize Gallant to her maximum potential. She is not the type of ship that can outgun an enemy destroyer in the beginning of the game after charging into the objective. Instead, patience and smart tactics will result in players being rewarded with opportunities to take advantage of Gallant’s primary strength, her torpedo armament. In summary, I feel that Gallant is a strong torpedo boat, but suffers from being situational, especially in matches with aircraft carriers. It requires a patient and vigilant captain who takes note of the positions where enemy ships were last spotted to predict their movements. These predictions are essential in maintaining concealment and succeeding in carrying out ambush style attacks on enemy ships, a tactic that Gallant excels at.  

Mouse's Summary:

• Gallant plays closer to an IJN DD than a Soviet or USN Destroyer
• Single fire torpedoes are nice .. but only if you can aim.  They'll be a detriment otherwise.
• Her guns feel more comfortable to use than her torpedoes, but her torpedoes are more powerful than her guns.
• Like IJN Destroyers, she becomes more deadly the longer she can survive into the match.  If you die early, you're not getting the most out of this ship.  Stay alive.  Then she'll shine.

 

HMS Gallant is a pretty uninspiring premium.  Her gimmick resides solely in her ability to drop single-fire torpedoes.  Should the future British Destroyer line have this ability too, short of them having some flaw (like no HE shells), Gallant isn't going to age well. 

 

Her guns are okay, but she doesn't have enough of them and they don't hit hard enough.  Her torpedoes are really good, but they didn't blow me away.  Specializing a ship around their torpedo armament really makes their performance flirt with feast or famine -- either you have jaw dropping, amazing games or you strike out and muddle through with a pittance of rewards.  It frustrated me to no end that her guns are comfortable to use and (generally) suck while her torpedoes are not comfortable to use and (generally) rock.  If only I could bring the latter to bear more often without finding myself beached or making myself a bigger target for guns / torpedoes / airplanes.  If only the former wouldn't let me down when I find myself going toe to toe with anything more shooty than a Fubuki.

 

For all of the average components that make up HMS Gallant, she's not without her charms.  The sum of her parts creates a versatile ship that, while vulnerable to enemy destroyer gunships (and aircraft -- but all destroyers suffer equally there), can still manage to be a thorn in the side of the enemy fleet.  Success with this ship hinges on how well a player can make her torpedoes perform.  And she's got most of the right tools for facilitating that.  She's not slow.  She's pretty stealthy.  She handles like a dream.  She's got enough guns to defend herself.  In theory, Gallant should work for most players.

 

I wasn't inspired, however.  Gallant didn't romance me the same way some other premiums have -- even the lackluster ones.  Is that a flaw of the ship?  I think so.  I couldn't get excited for this ship.  Time will tell if I'm proven wrong and the community embraces this one as one of their own.

 

Would I Recommend?

 

• PVE Battles
  How well does the ship maintain profitability in Co-Op modes and how does she fare against bots?

Mouse:  The big question is how will she do in the Dunkirk scenario?  Well, she combines elements of both freely available destroyers.  Gallant has the fast gunnery of Anthony and the Smoke Generator of Cyclone, so she'll do alright against the Schnellboots but she'll really struggle to shoot down aircraft unless you've built her with AA pew pews in mind.  In regular PVE play, treat her like an IJN Destroyer and you'll do alright.

Sharkbait_416:  Yes; I would recommend Gallant for PVE battles. At Tier VI, Gallant has minimal service costs. She maintains a fair margin of profitability in well-played PVE battles, but premium consumables should be avoided to maximize income. Gallant fares well against bots due to her concealment. She can provide support to teammates, such as a smoke screen, while also engaging enemy ships with her single-firing torpedo launchers. However, her main battery guns are of a small caliber and suffer from long shell flight times, which makes hitting small and agile targets, such as PT boats, difficult.

 

• Random Battle Grinding:
  This includes training captains, collecting free experience, earning credits and collecting signal flags from achievements.

Mouse:  It all comes down to how well you think you can perform with your torpedoes.  Personally, I would give Gallant a pass here.  While she's perfectly adequate when top tier, she's really going to struggle when bottom tier in the same manner as Fubuki and Shinonome.  If that's your cup of tea or you can stomach being the (severe) underdog, then go nuts, my friend.

Sharkbait_416:  Yes; I highly recommend Gallant for random battle grinding. She truly shines with a 10-point commander that is specialized with Concealment Expert. With this skill, Gallant has a 2-kilometer stealth-firing window for her torpedoes. Those who are familiar with single-firing torpedo launchers may be able to hit a target with every torpedo in the salvo. Good concealment and high-damage potential equate to a ship which is highly rewarding for those grinding for XP and rewards.

 

• For Competitive Gaming:
  Competitive Gaming includes Ranked Battles and other skill-based tournaments. This also includes stat-padding.

Mouse:  Is Gallant better than the other tier VI destroyers for Ranked Battles?  She's not better than Anshan or Shinonome, but I would say she's better than Gaede or Farragut in this environment.  I'll give her a green-light here, but you'd be much better off with Shinonome or Anshan if you can your hands on them.

Sharkbait_416:  No; although Gallant is very powerful due to her torpedoes, she is easily countered by aircraft. Additionally, she is not very competitive in a fair fight with other destroyers of the same-tier, due to a smaller pool of hit points and poor gun performance. As much as I like her, Gallant is situational in competitive gaming scenarios. Generally, I would advise players to choose another ship for competitive gaming unless they are extremely competent in maintaining concealment, dodging incoming gunfire, and avoiding overextension on the map. Still, an aircraft carrier can easily ruin Gallant’s match by keeping her spotted with squadrons of aircraft.

 

• For Collectors:
  If you enjoy ship history or possessing rare ships, this section is for you.

Mouse:  Eh.  HMS Gallant has some story to her, but my initial reaction when I heard this ship was coming was "why not Glowworm?".  I suppose if you want to own a little piece of Dunkirk memorabilia then snag her up. 

Sharkbait_416:  Yes; Gallant served the Royal Navy honorably. Throughout the course of her service history, she saved the lives of nearly 1,500 personnel and sailors. Though she may not have the fame of other ships in the Royal Navy, Gallant served in numerous operations and escorted multiple convoys before being mined in the Mediterranean Sea. With her addition to the game coinciding with the Dunkirk Scenario, players can recreate her heroic actions in saving over 1,466 personnel from the beaches of Dunkirk in May 1940.

• For Fun Factor:
  Bottom line: Is the ship fun to play?

Mouse:  Nope, I did not enjoy my time with Gallant.  Her torpedoes are frustrating to use.  Her guns aren't.  Her guns suck though and her torpedoes don't.  How to frustrate Mouse 101.

Sharkbait_416:  Yes; Gallant is very fun to play. As mentioned above, a captain specialized with Concealment Expert provides Gallant with a 2-kilometer stealth firing window for her torpedoes. Her single-fire launchers allow for the possibility of hitting every torpedo in a salvo. Gallant does best in battles with a high number of battleships and no aircraft carriers. In such games, Gallant can inflict serious casualties on the enemy team. It’s very satisfying to watch a single-file line of 8 torpedoes swim toward a battleship, knowing the unsuspecting battleship is in for a world of hurt!

• What's the Final Verdict?
  How would the ship rate on an Angry YouTuber scale of Garbage - Meh - Gud - Overpowered?

GARBAGE– I hate it!  Maybe it sucks.  Maybe it's boring.  Maybe I resent how it was implemented in the game.  You won't know unless you read the full review, but this is quotable, gosh darn it, so you'll forget anything the article actually said and run with this.
Mehbote – It's alright.  Frankly, this describes almost every ship in the game.  People get really cheesed when I describe their favourite, super-competitive ship as meh, so I do it often.
Gudbote – The best thing ever.  These are ships I like to play.  Maybe it's good.  Maybe it's fun. Maybe I'm trolling you. You dunno, but you'll make a big deal that I said X was a good ship when you preferred Y. 
OVERPOWERED – I hate playing against it!