[Azur Lane] Royal Fleet Composition: Ship Girl Ranks by Role & Recommended Ships Summary [Strategy]

Azur Lane "Royal Navy" Feature! This time, we've created a ship ranking by role for the Royal Navy! We'll also cover example Royal fleet constructions! Want to play with a Royal fleet? Which Royal ships are strong? Which Royal ships have high survivability? This article is recommended for those who want to know this information.

We also recommend checking out the video explanation!

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is a faction based on British ships and culture.

As one of Azur Lane's four major factions, it is large in scale, with over 100 implemented ships. This is second only to Sakura Empire and Eagle Union.

Due to the large number of ships initially implemented, many Royal ships can be obtained from the early game, making it easy to develop "Special Event" ships.

However, because faction events are held irregularly, the number of ships added since the beginning is the smallest among the four major factions. The number of SSR or higher rarity ships implemented is even less than Iron Blood.

Performance & Tendencies

Royal vanguard ships tend to have low durability, and with their torpedo focus, they lack sustained firepower.

While destroyers and light cruisers have a good balance of shelling and torpedo attacks, heavy cruisers don't have many standout features.

Due to the repeated implementation of extremely alluring Dido-class ships, they have an impression of excelling in anti-air capabilities.

Many ships possess powerful ally support abilities, so there are rarely any issues with survivability or attack support.

Battleships often have powerful special barrages and support abilities.

Aircraft carriers tend to have strong fighter planes, making them adept at air superiority and interception.

Royal submarines have not yet been implemented. This is a difficult point for a pure Royal fleet. You'll get stuck in Chapter 14 or later without significant investment.

If you want to reduce the required investment, borrow submarines from other factions.

Ship Introduction by Role

Attackers

We've compiled a list of Royal attackers.

The strongest Royal battleship is Lion.
It's strong not only in offense but also in sustained damage and debuffs.

Battleships other than Lion
may feel underpowered in Chapter 14 and beyond.

In the special slot for battleships,
I've placed ships with fast reload.

Vanguard has a high base reload time,
and with a 20% reload boost, you can aim for 4 attacks in Ember.

PoW has an 85% reduction in initial main gun reload.
KGV has a 75% reduction in initial main gun reload under certain conditions.

The only Royal rainbow carrier is Implacable.
In terms of pure offensive performance, Albion is top.
Considering support capabilities, Centaur is also an option.

In the special slot for carriers,
I've placed ships that can perform opening attacks.

Besides these, Eagle with a 50% initial reduction,
and Argus with a 25% initial reduction are also likely candidates.

The strongest vanguard is Drake,
strengthened by her Core and exclusive equipment.

The next best is Plymouth,
but considering offensive support, she's on par with Drake,
or even surpasses her.

Shropshire and London are roughly the same.
Shropshire has a slight edge in offense.
London is better for survivability.

In the special slot for destroyers,
I've placed ships that are consistently C-rank equivalent.

Glow-worm and Nubian are destroyers with 2 main gun turrets,
which is rare for Royal.

Vanguard survivability

Here's a summary of the survivability of Royal vanguard ships.

Light Armor

Survivability for light armor ships is here.

Considering a combat time of about 60 seconds,
Jarvis in the vanguard position is top.
In consecutive battles, the 5% vanguard heal is also effective.

For long battles or consecutive battles, Neptune is overwhelmingly advantageous
as she can cycle heals and absorbs.
With ample survivability, she can easily equip anti-submarine equipment.

Other candidates include ships that can cycle healing effects
like Plymouth, Trafalgar, and Glow-worm,
and Sheffield, who can also provide damage reduction.

Medium Armor

Survivability for medium armor ships is here.

There are few Royal medium armor ships,
and besides Drake, Cheshire, and Surrey, the rest are SR or lower.

Drake is about the only one you can put in the vanguard in Chapter 14.
Up to Chapter 13, Cheshire is also fine.

Anti-air performance

Here's a summary of Royal anti-air performance.

Cheshire has the highest anti-air gun output,
but her score is on par with Trafalgar's.

Also, Trafalgar has an aviation buff,
so she will likely contribute more than Cheshire overall.

There's a significant difference between Little Cheshire in 3rd place
and those ranked 4th and below.

Sirius provides a large anti-air buff to the vanguard,
and if she can support Cheshire and Trafalgar,
an output comparable to Little Cheshire can be expected.

Bellona's air raid leadership is not considered, so it may be an option depending on the aircraft carrier adopted.

Survival Support

I've compiled the Royal Navy's survival support personnel.
Ships in blue can perform healing/absorption.
Ships in black have other abilities.

Note that there is a significant difference between A and above and B and below.
Basically, you'll want to main 1-2 ships with A or higher,
and use multiple ships with B or lower as subs.

Unicorn has high vanguard healing power and can also heal the main fleet a bit, making her an all-around type.

If you can suppress damage to the main fleet with the entire fleet,
Unicorn alone may be sufficient for healing.

For heavy damage to the main fleet, use Perseus.
Her strength lies in her healing power after two opening attacks.
The downside is her long reload time.

Illustrious deploys an absorption shield to all vanguard ships.
Her exclusive equipment also adds healing and damage reduction effects.

Her high air superiority and strong fighter interception indirectly contribute to the survival of the main fleet.

Attack Support

I've compiled the Royal Navy's attack support personnel.

Trafalgar is highly versatile and has a significant effect.
She is a powerful buffer for a Royal Navy-only fleet,
and her evasion reduction is extremely potent.

For single-target bosses, Implacable's immobilization is effective.
Damage efficiency can change by about 1.5 times with or without her.

Use Vanguard for battleship formations.
Use Bellona for carrier formations.
Use Sirius and Aurora depending on the enemy's ship type.

Carrier Performance

The various performance aspects of carriers become important in the main sea zones.

Royal Navy carriers have many fighter slots,
making it easy to gain air superiority even with SSR ships.

In terms of combat contribution,
Implacable is a must,
and Illustrious and Centaur are highly desirable.

By the way, the light carrier Unicorn has 762,
and Perseus has around 600.

Support carriers will be necessary from Chapter 15 onwards.

Support carriers benefit from having more fighters,
so the Illustrious family will likely be very useful.

Fleet Examples

Introducing a Royal Navy fleet formation for Main Sea Zone Chapter 14.

Unless otherwise specified,
we will proceed with the following conditions.

★Prerequisites
- Auto operation
- Chapter 14-4, Threat Level MAX
- Permanent ships (with modifications)
- Up to Level 125
- Affection level: Love
- Equipment enhancement up to +13
- Technology level fixed at 0
- No Offyuna
- Submarines not used (formation allowed)

All tests were conducted on 14-4, so please be cautious on other stages.

We will use permanent ships available up to August 8, 2026.
There will be no ship duplication between the first and second fleets.

Since ship technology, Offyuna, and submarines are restricted,
in-depth play is not heavily emphasized.

Equipment is not always ideal.
I try to use the cheapest options available.

Convoy Fleet

Chapter 14 Mid-Battle Fleet.

Support the vanguard with double healers,
and have the vanguard focus on offense to reduce damage to the main fleet.

Even so, the vanguard's firepower is insufficient,
so the main fleet can sometimes take heavy damage.
Ideally, use Glow-worm or Trafalgar.

I actually wanted to use Centaur or Monarch,
but they become quite fragile when equipped with their special gear,
making them unstable and unable to defend with this vanguard.

If you're going to fight without Perseus,
it might be good to use Albion.

Boss Fleet

Chapter 14 Boss Fleet.

Overall offense and survivability are lacking,
so we sacrifice Belfast to activate Pearl of the Orient,
and aim for a B victory over time.

If Belfast is replaced with Plymouth,
it might be possible to gain some time and aim for an S victory.

I actually wanted to use Warspite,
but she gets melted instantly with her special gear, so I gave up.

This Illustrious also falls easily with her special gear,
so I prioritize the evasion boost from the Manju Scepter.

Fleet Construction

If you're going to entrust the vanguard to a Royal fleet,
Drake, Plymouth, Neptune.
These are reliable choices.

Additionally, Jarvis for survival support,
Trafalgar for buffs,
and Glow-worm with its high number of attacks would be reassuring.

All the vanguards mentioned here
possess healing capabilities.

Use Lion for either the mid-battle or the boss, whichever is tougher.
It should significantly lower the difficulty.

If you don't have Lion,
progressing through Chapter 14 and beyond will be difficult
without a considerable amount of effort.

For mid-battle, use Unicorn or Perseus.
If you want to make the vanguard offense-focused, using both is an option.

For the boss battle, it would be good to use Sirius and Implacable
to prevent the vanguard from falling.

Conclusion

This time, I explained Royal fleet compositions.

As this is the first installment of our Royal feature,
there may still be areas lacking in information,
but I hope this serves as a gateway for those who want to play with Royal fleets.

In the future, if there are any major updates to the Royal faction,
we plan to update our articles and videos.
Thank you for your continued support.