The Project 161 gun boat series was born in the besieged city of Leningrad in 1943. They were designed to seek and destroy enemy torpedo boats, as well as to provide fire support for landing troops. All 20 boats in Project 161 were attached to the Soviet Baltic fleet, and had been intensively involved in action to liberate Leningrad and following operations in the region.

In War Thunder, the MBK-161 (1943) is a premium gun boat of rank II in the Soviet naval lineup. When you see the MBK-161, her battle purposes will become obvious - the deck is festooned with cannons and machine guns of different calibres to make any salvoes as deadly and concentrated as possible. The main calibre guns are two 76mm cannons in tank turrets from the Soviet T-34 tank, located in the middle of the deck ahead and behind the wheelhouse. 37mm calibre gun assisted by a 45mm utility gun in the stern. A few high-calibre machine guns crown this compact but deadly artillery line up.

The MBK-161 gun boat features perfect firepower and decent durability, but her speed leaves a lot to be desired, being able to reach 13-14 knots (~ 25 kph) maximum. This certainly limits the boat’s tactics for assaulting or defending one capture point or making headway. The MBK-161 is slow but true. Make sure to shoot accurately and the powerful armament will do the rest!

Vehicles covered will be available in Operation “Shipyard” which we will discuss later.

The War Thunder Team