Best Ship Designs in Hearts of Iron IV

Introduced with the Man the Guns DLC, the ship designer completely changed the game when it comes to managing your navy in Hearts of Iron IV. Along with the designer, patch 1.6 radically altered naval combat and added naval terrain to the game. There are an extensive amount of options when it comes to building your navy, so you might not have the ability to research every component. Prioritize which components are most important to you and temporarily downgrade some components until you get the requisite technology.

Note: If the game doesn’t let you produce some of the designs listed below, make sure you are not affected by the London Naval Treaty.

Submarine Designs

Due to submarines being nerfed in 1.12, spamming subs is no longer a viable option for fleet-building. They are really only useful for convoy-raiding and some niche fleet compositions.

Rear 1	Torpedo Tubes II
Torpedoes	Torpedo Tubes II
Engine	Submarine Engine II

Front 1	Torpedo Tubes III
Mid 1	Basic Snorkel
Rear 1	Torpedo Tubes III
Torpedoes	Torpedo Tubes III
Engine	Submarine Engine III

Front 1	Torpedo Tubes III
Mid 1	Basic Snorkel
Rear 1	Torpedo Tubes III
Torpedoes	Torpedo Tubes III
Engine	Submarine Engine III

This is the design to use if you want to lay mines in strategic areas such as the English Channel. Keep in mind that if you intend to perform minelaying operations before 1940 you should use destroyers instead. From 1940 onwards, submarines become more cost-efficient.

Feel free to upgrade any components or add a snorkel to the design below. The design has been optimized to save on production costs and skimp on combat ability since these are focused exclusively on minelaying.

Front 1	Minelaying Tubes
Rear 1	Minelaying Tubes
Torpedoes	Torpedo Tubes I
Engine	Submarine Engine I

Capital Ship Designs

Capital ships are the strongest ships and as such have the most expensive designs in Hearts of Iron IV. They’ll play an important role in any strike force group.

Carrier Designs

Carriers serve as mobile airbases that can be useful for projecting airpower on other continents or in the middle of the ocean. You will have to produce naval planes for them, normal ones won’t work for carriers.

Front 1	Open Hangar Deck
Deck Space 1	Open Hangar Deck
Deck Space 2	Open Hangar Deck
Anti-Air	Anti-Air II
Engine	Carrier Engine II
Secondary	Secondary Battery II

Front 1	Open Hangar Deck
Mid 1	Open Hangar Deck
Deck Space 1	Open Hangar Deck
Deck Space 2	Open Hangar Deck
Anti-Air	Anti-Air III
Radar/Sonar	Radar III
Engine	Carrier Engine III
Secondary	Dual Purpose Secondary Battery III

Front 1	Open Hangar Deck
Mid 1	Open Hangar Deck
Mid 2	Open Hangar Deck
Deck Space 1	Open Hangar Deck
Deck Space 2	Open Hangar Deck
Anti-Air	Anti-Air IV
Radar/Sonar	Radar IV
Engine	Carrier Engine IV
Secondary	Dual Purpose Secondary Battery IV

Battleship Designs

The backbone of any strike force is the battleship. Battleships are by far the single strongest ship you can produce in Hearts of Iron IV.

Front 1	Heavy Battery II
Mid 1	Anti-Air II
Mid 2	Aircraft Facilities II
Rear 1	Heavy Battery II
Battery	Heavy Battery II
Anti-Air	Anti-Air II
Fire Control System	Fire Control 0
Engine	Engine II
Secondary	Dual Purpose Secondary Battery II
Armor	Battleship Armor II

Front 1	Heavy Battery III
Mid 1	Anti-Air III
Mid 2	Anti-Air III
Mid 3	Anti-Air III
Rear	Heavy Battery III
Battery	Heavy Battery III
Anti-Air	Anti-Air III
Fire Control System	Fire Control III
Radar	Radar III
Engine	Engine III
Secondary	Dual Purpose Secondary Battery III
Armor	Battleship Armor III

Front 1	Heavy Battery IV
Mid 1	Anti-Air IV
Mid 2	Anti-Air IV
Mid 3	Anti-Air IV
Rear	Heavy Battery IV
Battery	Heavy Battery IV
Anti-Air	Anti-Air IV
Fire Control System	Fire Control III
Radar	Radar IV
Engine	Engine IV
Secondary	Dual Purpose Secondary Battery IV
Armor	Battleship Armor III

Battlecruiser Designs

Battlecruisers are slightly weaker than a battleship, but make up for it with increased speed. In the designs below, I avoid upgrading some components that would reduce the speed, but feel free to modify this to your liking.

Front 1	Heavy Battery I
Mid 1	Anti-Air II
Mid 2	Aircraft Facilities II
Rear 1	Heavy Battery I
Battery	Heavy Battery I
Anti-Air	Anti-Air II
Fire Control System	Fire Control 0
Engine	Engine II
Secondary	Dual Purpose Secondary Battery I
Armor	Battlecruiser Armor I

hearts of iron 4 1940 battlecruiser design

Front 1	Heavy Battery I
Mid 1	Anti-Air III
Mid 2	Aircraft Facilities II
Mid 3	Anti-Air III
Rear	Heavy Battery I
Battery	Heavy Battery I
Anti-Air	Anti-Air III
Fire Control System	Fire Control III
Radar	Radar III
Engine	Engine III
Secondary	Dual Purpose Secondary Battery II
Armor	Battleship Armor I

Front 1	Heavy Battery III
Mid 1	Anti-Air III
Mid 2	Anti-Air III
Mid 3	Anti-Air III
Rear	Heavy Battery III
Battery	Heavy Battery III
Anti-Air	Anti-Air III
Fire Control System	Fire Control III
Radar	Radar III
Engine	Engine III
Secondary	Dual Purpose Secondary Battery III
Armor	Battleship Armor III

Heavy Cruiser Designs

Compared to other capital ships, heavy cruisers aren’t worth producing in most scenarios. They lack the speed of battlecruisers and the raw power of battleships. You should only resort to heavy cruisers if you have both a weak economy and no other capital ships.

hearts of iron 4 1936 heavy cruiser design

Front 1	Heavy Cruiser Battery II
Mid 1	Heavy Cruiser Battery II
Mid 2	Anti-Air I
Rear 1	Aircraft Facilities II
Battery	Heavy Cruiser Battery II
Anti-Air	Anti-Air I
Fire Control System	Fire Control 0
Engine	Cruiser Engine I
Secondary	Secondary Battery II
Armor	Heavy Cruiser Armor III

hearts of iron 4 1940 heavy cruiser design

Front 1	Heavy Cruiser Battery III
Mid 1	Heavy Cruiser Battery III
Mid 2	Anti-Air III
Rear 1	Anti-Air III
Rear 2	Heavy Cruiser Battery III
Battery	Heavy Cruiser Battery III
Anti-Air	Anti-Air III
Fire Control System	Fire Control II
Radar	Radar III
Engine	Cruiser Engine II
Secondary	Dual Purpose Secondary Battery III
Armor	Heavy Cruiser Armor IV

Front 1	Heavy Cruiser Battery IV
Mid 1	Heavy Cruiser Battery IV
Mid 2	Anti-Air IV
Rear 1	Anti-Air IV
Rear 2	Heavy Cruiser Battery IV
Battery	Heavy Cruiser Battery IV
Anti-Air	Anti-Air IV
Fire Control System	Fire Control III
Radar	Radar IV
Engine	Cruiser Engine IV
Secondary	Dual Purpose Secondary Battery IV
Armor	Heavy Cruiser Armor IV

Screening Ship Designs

Although they aren’t as flashy as capital ships, screening ships play a vital role in naval combat in Hearts of Iron IV. Screening ships can be used to help protect capital ships or perform niche roles in combat like Anti-Air.

Destroyer Designs

Destroyers are extremely flexible and cheap to produce. You will need to produce large quantities of destroyers for them to be effective in strike forces.

Mid 1	Torpedoes II
Rear 1	Depth Charge I
Battery	Light Battery II
Anti-Air	Anti-Air II
Fire Control System	Fire Control System 0
Radar/Sonar	Sonar II
Torpedoes	Torpedoes II
Engine	Light Engine II

Front 1	Dual Purpose Battery III
Mid 1	Torpedoes III
Rear 1	Depth Charge III
Battery	Dual Purpose Battery III
Anti-Air	Anti-Air III
Fire Control System	Fire Control System II
Radar/Sonar	Radar III
Torpedoes	Torpedoes III
Engine	Light Engine III

Front 1	Dual Purpose Battery IV
Mid 1	Torpedoes IV
Mid 2	Torpedoes IV
Rear 1	Depth Charge IV
Battery	Dual Purpose Battery IV
Anti-Air	Anti-Air IV
Fire Control System	Fire Control System III
Radar/Sonar	Radar IV
Torpedoes	Torpedoes IV
Engine	Light Engine IV

One of the greatest threats to a navy is a strong air force. Anti-Air destroyers are invaluable for protecting fleets from naval bombers. The components in the design are at the 1936 level — they should be upgraded as your technology progresses.

hearts of iron 4 1936 anti air destroyer

Mid 1	Anti-Air II
Rear 1	Anti-Air II
Battery	Dual Purpose Battery II
Anti-Air	Anti-Air II
Engine	Light Engine II

This destroyer is optimized to destroy submarines. The components in the design are also at the 1936 level, however keeping these destroyers cheaper can be advantageous in order to amass more of them.

Mid 1	Depth Charge II
Rear 1	Depth Charge II
Battery	Light Battery I
Anti-Air	Anti-Air I
Fire Control System	Fire Control System 0
Radar/Sonar	Sonar II
Torpedoes	Torpedoes II
Engine	Light Engine II

This is a cheap design to sweep for mines in regions where you suspect the enemy is using them.

hearts of iron 4 1936 anti mine destroyer

Mid 1	Minesweeping Gear
Rear 1	Minesweeping Gear
Battery	Light Battery I
Engine	Light Engine I

Use this design over the submarine one to perform minelaying operations before 1940. Once you reach 1940 levels of technology you should move on to using minelaying submarines.

Mid 1	Minelaying Rails
Rear 1	Minelaying Rails
Battery	Light Battery I
Engine	Light Engine I

Light Cruiser Designs

Compared to destroyers, light cruisers are quite a bit stronger and more expensive. A combination of both screening ships will be best when building your strike forces.

Front 1	Anti-Air II
Mid 1	Light Cruiser Battery II
Mid 2	Light Cruiser Battery II
Rear 1	Light Cruiser Battery II
Battery	Light Cruiser Battery II
Anti-Air	Anti-Air II
Fire Control System	Fire Control System )
Engine	Cruiser Engine II
Secondary	Dual Purpose Secondary Battery II
Armor	Cruiser Armor II

Front 1	Light Cruiser Battery III
Mid 1	Anti-Air III
Mid 2	Anti-Air III
Rear 1	Light Cruiser Battery III
Rear 2	Light Cruiser Battery III
Battery	Light Cruiser Battery III
Anti-Air	Anti-Air III
Fire Control System	Fire Control System II
Radar	Radar III
Engine	Cruiser Engine III
Battery	Dual Purpose Secondary Battery III
Armor	Cruiser Armor IV

hearts of iron 4 1944 light cruiser design

Front 1	Light Cruiser Battery IV
Mid 1	Anti-Air IV
Mid 2	Anti-Air IV
Rear 1	Light Cruiser Battery IV
Rear 2	Light Cruiser Battery IV
Battery	Light Cruiser Battery IV
Anti-Air	Anti-Air IV
Fire Control System	Fire Control System III
Radar	Radar IV
Engine	Cruiser Engine IV
Secondary	Dual Purpose Secondary Battery IV
Armor	Cruiser Armor IV

Fleets composed of both anti-air light cruisers and anti-air destroyers are your best bet for a complete aerial defense of your navy. The components in the design are at the 1936 level, they should be upgraded as your technology progresses.

Front 1	Anti-Air II
Mid 1	Anti-Air II
Mid 2	Anti-Air II
Rear 1	Anti-Air II
Battery	Light Cruiser Battery II
Anti-Air	Anti-Air II
Fire Control System	Fire Control System 0
Engine	Cruiser Engine II
Secondary	Dual Purpose Secondary Battery II
Armor	Cruiser Armor I

Building a competent navy in Hearts of Iron IV requires well-designed ships. Remember that the naval designer allows plenty of customization, so feel free to modify the designs to fit your needs. These ship designs should help you master the seas and fulfill any objective, from raiding convoys to naval invasions.