USS Cleveland (CL-55) Should I get this Ship?

[ChrisDarc]

Right Now the Cleveland seems to be a bad overall ship. I remember people saying it was amazing and how great of a ship this is. Although now it seems to be fragile just as the British Cruisers. This ship is notable for the way it sets ships on fire and high rate of fire. Although the Haguro seems to be able to set ships on fire with a decent rate of fire and seems overall better. Should I get the Cleveland?

EDIT: 1-12-17 joined a game in my Scharnhorst there were quite a few Clevelands sudden spike in popularity and fellow captains said that they prefered the Cleveland over the Pensacola what is better?

 

-Thank you for Reading

 

[Paint_Huffer]

The Cleveland is actually quite durable for a cruiser. This is especially true when fighting other cruisers. However cruisers as a class tend to be rather fragile since they simply don't have anywhere near the protection that a battleship has.

 

When compared to a lot of other cruisers though the Cleveland has the benefit of having a low skill floor (doesn't take much effort to make it work), but suffers from also having a low skill ceiling since it really doesn't have anything special that above average players can leverage into a combat advantage. After looking at your stats I would say that you are currently a player that has average to marginally above average skills at the game. Overall you should find the Cleveland to be an enjoyable experience.

[Legendary_Typo]

Every cruiser is fragile, the Cleveland is on the stronger side of that spectrum.

[jmanII]

All of the previous posts are correct.  The Cleaver is really the highlight of the US cruiser line.  Be aware that most dislike the Pensacola and the New Orleans that follow the Cleveland. 

You may want to go down the British cruisers for higher tiers but the Cleveland is a keeper.

[Judge_Doom]

Cleve is good, just got to be really careful about what you get into a knife fight with.

[Submarine_Wahoo]

I honestly don't see what people like in Cleveland. It is one of the most durable cruisers tier for tier in the game (that's not an excuse to broadside other big ships, of course) and has a great volume of fire, but the ship is terrible at long distance engagements because of the horrific shell velocity: a trait that is very much needed where cruiser vs. battleships fights are concerned. In close quarters, the guns work very well as long as you avoid the torpedoes, but that is a high risk for a ship that cannot heal itself.

 

I'd rather take the Pensacola than Cleveland because the firepower is miles better.

[Kapitan_Wuff]

I do believe it is the toughest t6 cruiser bar none. It is not as good as it used to be, but its still a very good ship.

[Estimated_Prophet]

Cleve is good, just got to be really careful about what you get into a knife fight with.

 

Like New Mexico; the first thing I did when I came around an island and found a Cleveland at lest than 6k was to cackle internally with glee; "You don't have torps pal; YOU'RE MINE!!!"

 

It has slowly grown on me... I like to drive it around in the Candy Cane camo from last Christmas!

[SireneRacker]

I didn't like her at all. Rainbow shell arcs, fragile turrets and no Torpedoes as a back up. But I say go for her you will be rewarded with the Pensacola, a much better ship in most aspects.

[Taylor3006]

I love cruisers and the Cleveland is a great cruiser. No reason not to play her IMHO if you are grinding the USN line. My only regret is buying the premium camo for it. I almost never use it, almost always use the camos we get for free or as rewards.

[geser98]

I voted YES, because while I don't have Cleveland I hate going against one in just about anything. They are trollish little boats with nicely hidden citadel that's hard to hit, a lot of DPM and mad AA. She's more or equally durable than most other cruisers in her MM spread and definitely better than RAN ships in terms of survivability.

 

She's just all-round good boat.

[Psycodiver]

I didn't particularly like the Cleveland even though stats wise I did ok in it. I'm completely in love with my Pensacola, which I think is the case with most captains, you either love the Cleveland and hate everything after or the opposite.

 

The best way I found to use her, first half of the match stay at max range and shell everything with HE, this will keep the enemy of balance. Later on find a BB and start a few fires, once you start a couple fires switch to AP and farm that sweet sweet superstructure and deck damage while fires burn. If you get close in on other cruisers switch between AP and HE, the AP is surprisingly effective. Finally you need to decide on the turret upgrade, I found the extra DPM great but the lost in turret rotation cost me damage and kills a few times

[Aduial]

Right Now the Cleveland seems to be a bad overall ship. I remember people saying it was amazing and how great of a ship this is. Although now it seems to be fragile just as the British Cruisers. This ship is notable for the way it sets ships on fire and high rate of fire. Although the Haguro seems to be able to set ships on fire with a decent rate of fire and seems overall better. Should I get the Cleveland?

 

-Thank you for Reading

 

 

From what i've seen and experienced, it absolutely murders other cruisers in close quarters combat. 

[Seraphil]

If you know how to handle rainbow guns and know when it's better to get in close for AP penetration shots, then yes she is a great ship.  Without that knowhow however, you'll probably struggle.

 

If I had a choice I would still pick Aoba over her, but Cleveland would be my second for a tier 6 cruiser.

[geser98]

If I had a choice I would still pick Aoba over her, but Cleveland would be my second for a tier 6 cruiser.

 

I'd pick Furutaka over both of them

[NK_33]

Biased poll is biased, there is no F**K YES!!!! option.

 

Cruisers are fragile, and most experienced players know that a Cleveland or Atlanta that isn't killed immediately will begin burning ships down to the waterline with HE spam.   So they will get focused down by teams that would refuse to focus on any other targets.  I've drawn fire from the entire enemy battleline while our BBs were closing to brawling torp range.  Yes, rather than shooting at Tier 7 and 8 battleships, 5 enemies were shooting at a Tier 6 cruiser.

 

 

The Cleveland is worth it, and a lot of fun, but you will get focused as a principle danger, and once you learn to stay alive and spam HE over islands at the unwary, you'll learn why you're dangerous too.

[jagdoc]

it was nerfed and that ruined it

 

[Capt_Q_Sparrow]

it was nerfed and that ruined it

 

 

There was a time when you could go head to head with a Fuso or New York with this ship . Those days are gone . Like all Cruisers you need to hide behind things ( islands / other ships ) Or you will get obliterated fast . It does not take hits from AP well at all even from DDs . It can be a lot of fun if you don't get picked on .This is about as good as it gets in US cruisers until the Des Moines at T10 . Just remember Cruisers are a Battleship's Main Course so watch out for them .

[Snoopys_Odyssey]

Rainbow arcs are an advantage when firing over islands whilst using said island as cover.

 

[MakiLover69]

it's fun, its a bit bad against other cruisers/dd's that get within torp range, as you dont have torps of your own, but at range you can be a real pain in the [edited]to bigger ships. its fun. it has its flaws but fun.

[Wolvzer]

I have played the Cleveland and own it still (working for a pepsicola), my fun game was when i murdered a Konigsberg with AP at its citadel and rammed a Scharnhorst to death because it was focusing our team's Genaisnau (MVP) and wasn't torpped by the Scharn in the process

 

Its real beauty is its 5.8 second rudder shift time (with rudder module) this thing turns faster than the nerfed Atlanta (6.7 sec rudder shift w/ rudder module (used to be 5.4 secs (how it survived basically))) when its a duel and you know there is gonna be torps you can torpedobeat like a madman/ madwoman. Oh, it can also fire over islands but thats eh, if you can't even hit them. It's range is a bit on the 'eh' side 14.3km (w/ range upgrade) some other cruisers can shoot like 15km (I think).

[Leut_Janusz]

Another USN ship with low velocity, high arc shells. If I have to have the high arc shells, I'll stick with the Yorck. On the plus side, it has decent armor and good AA for the tier.

[Psycodiver]

Another USN ship with low velocity, high arc shells. If I have to have the high arc shells, I'll stick with the Yorck. On the plus side, it has decent armor and good AA for the tier.

 

Actually there is a video out there comparing IJN 8"shells to USN and they travel about the same, nice try though

[ForgMaxtor]

Cleveland is decent.  For me personally, Budyonny is far and away the best T6 Cruiser, but I consider the Cleveland runner-up at this tier.  I dislike the Aoba and Nurnberg (not saying these are not good ships; rather saying these ships don't work for me).  I haven't tried Leander yet tho.

 

I feel that Cleveland as a bit of an unusual skill curve in that she has a pretty forgiving skill floor (easy to get at least something out of, even if you're a complete potato), then a relatively flat skill curve in the middle (only a small improvement in game performance between low-average player and a high-average player), but then a big jump in potential for Unicum players.  You REALLY need to be good at high-arc, long flight time gunnery to get the most out of her guns.  Knowing exactly when to switch between AP and HE depending on what you're shooting at and the angle the target is presenting is also really important; if you only play her as an HE spammer you'll never unlock her full potential.  And it helps a lot to be thoroughly familiar with all of the game maps, and where the good spots to park yourself and fire over islands are on each.

 

[Xenostryker]

I still have my clever and IMO it performs well for its tier. It does take a bit of practice to use her to maximum effect but once you have the hang of it you will reap the rewards.

 

Good hunting.