SeaAdmiral

PT, SSE, AR, DE, BFT, AFT, IFHE Ognevoi.

While we don't have any detailed armor viewers, the data from shipcomrade suggests the very opposite. Extremity armor (usually includes bow/stern) is a pitiful 13mm while the citadel armor is 140mm max. Russian cruisers post Svietlana have a uniform straight belt with no turtleback usually from barbette to barbette above the waterline, with a citadel hitbox to match (latter confirmed on gamemodels3d). While we can't trust visuals always, there is no indication of a thickened bow compared to the rest of the casemate/nonbelt hull. The only VMF CA without a visually represented belt is Moskva, but last I recalled it had similar layout. This would fit with observations that bow on can sometimes be unreliable on the Budyonny despite having a 140mm belt, as one would expect a heavily armored CA to not randomly take penetrations. A 13mm bow is overmatched by 203mm guns, and I do believe a 140mm bow cruiser would be pretty broken since that would autobounce a Yamato. Budyonny certainly can have some saving moments where the belt angled stops hits, but it isn't afforded a semi-invulnerable armor performance that some other CAs have (I can attest to my friend's Budyonny taking frontal pens from arguably weaker guns, Nurnberg style). May I ask where you got info about an icebreaker bow, and where you got the 115mm belt value? Further info supporting my theory: Nurnberg is listed as 13-35mm extremity, 13mm upper bow, 20mm lower bow, and 35mm part of the stern. Budyonny is 13-13mm for extremities.

Extremity armor, internal armor, and physical model are all critical as well. It has a 16mm bow/stern vs 25mm, and while 25mm doesn't autobounce 356mm guns, it still adds a healthy amount of protection when amplified with angling. A sleek, more regular hull is best to angle and receive less damage in (see: IJN cruisers when well angled) whereas ones that aren't as regular suffer from easy partial pens and overpens from both HE and AP such as Pensacola. An unregular hull + no turtleback + mediocre bulkheads + average bow means that taking damage when angled is highly likely. For cruiser armor in general the absolute thickness of the belt doesn't matter as much since an angled belt bounces everything anyway (provided you have more than say 76mm), and has massive diminishing returns past 127mms with the only exception being CA vs CA when one side absolutely has to show broadside. Even then citadel hitbox matters more than belt armor. You don't want to evaluate the cruiser by the worst case scenario of your belt being at a 45 degree angle or so where the thickness matters, but in the best case scenario when you are angled and taking initiative. Budyonny on paper is better armored than the New Orleans but most would say she is certainly more fragile (though she is in no need of any buffs).