Hearts of Iron 4 Navy Guide

Hello from our Hearts of Iron 4 Navy Guide. Simple explanation of Navy aspects in Hearts of Iron IV game. Mostly dedicated for Man to the Guns DLC owners.

This is the guide Master Gizon LEMON PL it was created by. You can find the author’s link at the end of the guide.

Hearts of Iron 4 Navy Guide

Welcome to our Hearts of Iron 4 Navy Guide. This guide will show you detailed information about how to play navy in Hearts of Iron 4!

Chapter 1: Why you would even bother about ships?

Despite Navy is expensive investiment, it’s often requied to beat certain nations like UK or Japan as they are island nations or U.S. because it’s very far away.(yeah, I know, first two you can just paradroop into them). However, you need navy to protect convoys that are suppling your overseas proppeties (*Germany crying in the corner*), transport your troopers and also very important trade. Having naval dominance is just important for completing your high ambitions. Indeed, naval in hoi4 is hard, but it’s learnable. In this guide I will explain your all of this part of gaemplay and also try insert some humor.

Chapter 2: Your ships (vessels class explanation)

We have 8 ships classes(types). Everyone is fiting for their tasks.

The ships are:

2(3) Kinds of naval warfare vessels

Well, except ships classes that I mentioned a table before, we also have terms: Screen Ships & Capital Ships and also submarines

• The screen ships are your “support fire” they also try to counter damage to themselfs, so their bigger brothers survive, but their role is signifant to turn tides of battles.
• The capital ships are your main firepower destroying other powerfull ships. They are slower and definetly more expensive but they are like “commanders”
• We have also subamrines, but I don’t like them call them other kind. Submarines are explained little below

Now I will talk about their roles&capabillites in naval warfare

• Submarines a.k.a. underwater mosquitos are special ships that work underwater, that make them invisible and hard to spot. Submarines are cheap and slow. Filled with torpedos they are very efficient to convoy raid. If you add minelaying device at them, you can also create minefield to create traps and decrease enemy naval suppremacy overall.
• Detroyers are small, fast and relativly cheap screen ships. Despite their size they can be powerfull addition to battle. They main strength are speed, torpodo’s launchers and anti-submarine weapons (ASW- anti-submarine warfare). People should use them as convoy escort and common supporting ships, their torpodos will sunk or heavy damage “bigger fishes” and ASW will annihilate underwater mosquitoses called submarines. For their design in ships designer(Man to the guns content only) you should focus, like I said many times, on speed(best engines researched) torpodo launchers, deep charges and also sonars, so you will spot that damn SS. I also recommend to sign the, for scouting task force
• Light Cruisers. Light cruisers are also screeing ships but bigger than DD’s, slightly slower but better in guns. Irl often armed with torpodos too. Simlilar with destroyers, it’s good at supporting main fleet. It’s just screen job. To make your cruiser considered light you need to put light cruiser guns on your cruiser hull.
• Your first very capital ship on the list, the Heavy Cruiser. It’s basically more powerfull CL(more guns, more armor, more everything) but with that important change…. it’s capital ship. As you know it means that ship lead task force through battle. From my expierience you should design them into 1 of 2 ways: screen ship squisher(much light damage provided by support naval guns) or regular(heavy cruiser batteries for more hard damage)
• (sorry, this imagine has crown because it’s considered as pride of the fleet) Battlecruisers are heavy ships with a lot of weapons, but it has less armor than ordinary battleships however it’s faster, so it’s likely to dodge enemy guns. Famous HMS Hood and USS Alaska( well that one is questionable) were battlecruisers.
• 
• is unsuall capital ship. It has abillity to carry planes.

Chapter 3: Organazing the navy (Importance Alert)

Well, well, well….. I think most people came for this chapter. Let’s get this over with. Warships are organised into Task Forces. Task Forces are organised into Fleets.

Task Force is like squad of ships. They are executing assigned roles in assigned areas.

An example of Task Force. This one has no orders nor regions assigned, docked in Singapour port.