War Thunder Expands to the Ocean, Introducing Naval Battles This Fall

War Thunder has always promised that it would visit all three theaters of war -- air, land, and sea -- but have been mostly quiet on that third front since debuting with air battles and adding tank battles about three years ago.

That silence was broken today with the announcement that naval battles would be coming to Gaijin Entertainment's WW2-based game with a closed beta coming later this fall. War Thunder's naval battles will focus on the smaller combat ships -- the "Knights of the Sea," as Gaijin puts it -- such as torpedo, artillery, and missile boats, coast guard vessels and submarine chasers.

Unlike its counterpart, World of Warships, large and lumbering cruisers and battleships won't make the cut in War Thunder, being deemed "too long and slow or required design changes that made ships entirely unrealistic." Instead, such ships will serve as NPC targets for players to destroy. All of War Thunder's nations will receive naval forces.

Attendees of Gamescom in Germany later this month will get the first crack at War Thunder's naval action. After that, you can get guaranteed access to the closed beta by purchasing one of the naval starter packs, which include the Soviet Project 1124 Armored River Boat or the American PT-109 motor torpedo boat, made famous by John F. Kennedy. Open beta testing is scheduled for 2017.

You can get full details on the War Thunder site.