USS Marblehead

[Tomio_Hara]

I got a Marblehead! Yay! It's tier V, so it is bottom tier 70% of the time. Boo! 

                 Jokes asides, how do I play my new American light cruiser? Since it will be bottom tier most of the time, I need tips on how to play it as bottom tier. It is good at fighting destroyers though when they are spotted. This is my first US cruiser since the St Louis which then I jumped into the S.C. after that. After a few games I have come up with a few pros and cons to it. Ship needs a buff!

   Pros:

• Lots of guns
• Good RoF
• HP is decent (I guess)
• Torpedos 
• Makes more credits 

 

   Cons:

• No armor at all
• Sorta sluggish
• No radar (although hydro-acoustic search but I generally can tell when a dd has launched corps at me unless undetected)
• Is tier V, which in and of itself is bad right now because of V's +2/-1 mm.
• Many of the guns can only be used broadside on, which when bottom tier is a death sentence.
• Important edit, forgot the detection range is several hundred meters more then the maximum firing range

 

 

[Tomio_Hara]

Ship seems like it would be great against low tiers if it still faced them

[Molonious]

I never had much like with it personally, maybe it's the tier thing, but she really just has never worked for me.

[Panzer1113]

Ahh, Santa did deliver some presents.... and some coal.....  Got one also, nothing like taking a WW1 crusier into tier 7 matches.  Stay with the group, preferably behind someone that others will shoot at.  Torps are really slow, so best at suicide range.  Any other ship, and I mean any other ship, will view you as harvestable ( choice easy meal), and once seen people will shoot at you from across the map since very easy to cit.   As long as the battle only contains tier 4 ( no Nicos) and only tier 5 competition in Emeralds, Omahas, and KKs, ya good. Have fun ( as long as fun is getting deleted early).

[El_Judarino]

It's biggest strength is actually the whacky gun arrangement, you can point six barrels straight ahead or astern and only eight on a broadside, meaning you give up very little firepower when presenting your narrowest face to the enemy. It's also nice to have guns strewn about everywhere as it means you can maneuver wildly whilst still keeping barrels trained on the enemy.

 

That said, it still suffers greatly when facing tier 7s.

 

To make best use of it, I'd reccomend DD hunting near cover, abusing that new "priority target" captain skill, and constantly moving that rudder when it indicates people are targeting you.

 

Folks forget about your torps alot, so don't be afraid to let them loose between salvos, especially if you can avoid making it obvious that you just launched them (the arcs are fairly handy for this).

 

 

[Fishrokk]

I would say, "Hide your citadel!", except your armor pretty much precludes that.

 

You know, I still have fun whenever I play my Murmansk, but it has been a while.  Be as productive as you can with your guns, but keep your head on a swivel when you are in any battleship's gun range.  Know if they are targeting you, and if they are it is much more important to use your rudder than your guns.

 

Try not to be in range of more than one battleship if you can help it.  When I'm driving a BB and see an Omaha/Murmansk/Marblehead, I practically salivate.  They pop like zits.

[Sotaudi]

There are two things to be aware of to make the best use of the Marblehead's weapons.  First, note the gun layouts.  It is based on the Omaha B hull, which means there is a dual gun turret fore and aft.  There are also two casemate guns on each side of the hull just behind the turrets.  The casemate guns have a limited firing arc going from just barely past straight ahead (or aft for the aft guns) to somewhere shy of mostly aft (or forward for the aft guns).  This arrangement means that, for a full broadside, you can get both dual gun turrets and four single gun casemates on a target at a time, for a total of eight guns.

 

However, as you have likely determined, the ship builders appear to have decided to duck tape extra citadels on the Omaha class cruisers hulls, making it less than optimal to spend much time giving enemies full broadsides to shoot at.  That's okay, because if you look at the arrangement of the guns, you find that firing directly forward or directly aft, the Marblehead can still get six guns (one turret and all four forward casemate guns on a target directly ahead, and the same aft).  If the target is much to the left or right, you can get only four guns on the target due to the limited forward or aft arcs of the casemates.  That is still okay because it doesn't take much to turn a bit to the starboard, fire four guns, and then turn a bit to port and fire the other two guns.  You can then rinse and repeat, either getting all six guns on the target as they come to bear directly forward or firing four then two as you swing back and fourth.  Either way you keep six guns in play without giving a full broadside to the enemy, which would only gain you two extra guns.  Because the forward and aft gun arrangement is the same, you can do this moving towards a target or away from it.

 

And thus, you find the key to effectively using the Omaha guns, the "Omaha Wiggle."  Maintain a small profile zig-zagging towards or away from your target while keeping six guns in play, only turning further to get eight guns in play when you are not being shot at.

 

The second thing to note about the Marblehead is its torpedoes.  They are slow (49 kts), you only have three per side, and they don't do a ton of damage.  However with a range of 8.2km, they are much longer range than the standard Omaha's torpedoes, which only travel 5.5km.  They also have the fastest reload of all the Omaha class cruiser torpedoes, 38 seconds.   While the Murmansk (based on the Omaha C hull) torpedoes have the same 8.2 km range and do more damage, that is almost twice the reload speed of the Murmansk.  In fact, it is fast enough that you can fire a spread off one side of the ship, turn enough to bring the other side tubes to bear on the same target, fire them, and by the time you turn back to get the first set on the target again, your first set of tubes have reloaded.  That means in addition to keeping six guns on a target using the Omaha wiggle, you can turn a bit more to each side, and keep a near constant stream of torpedoes headed towards a target  -- all while you are dodging incoming fire by constantly zig-zagging and periodically being able to get your extra aft or forward guns involved as you turn.  Due to the torpedo tube placement, it is a bit more effective doing this moving away from a target than moving towards them (i.e., you have to turn more going forward).

 

In regard to the Radar issue, Radar is limited to Tier VII and above, and even then, it is limited to only certain cruisers at Tier VII.  It only becomes more widely available to all cruisers at Tier VIII.  No Tier V or VI ships have it.  Conversely, Hydroacoustic search is a decent tool.  It does not have the same range as radar, but it can still detect ships hidden in smoke within its range while being also able to detect torpedoes farther out, something radar cannot do.  It also lasts longer than radar.  Don't sell hydro short.

 

[Triela50]

Best ship on the game

[shan5481]

Speaking of the Marblehead... What's this about the new turret layout in the update? 

Also, Marblehead plays like a B hull Omaha... Which you don't have. Putting it into perspective, it has the same amount of guns as the St. Louis in terms of shell output (excluding secondaries). Marblehead/B hull Omaha are basically faster, lighter armored St. Louis' with torps. 

[KalishniKat]

Marblehead is great against 5s and 4s, unfortunately I always end up vs 6s and 7s making it tough to survive too long. Torpedoes are USELESS..do next to no damage.

[pikohan]

Best ship on the game

 

Not as good as Krispy Kreme 

[TheKrimzonDemon]

Ah, if you're broadsiding to fire you guns, you're really doing it wrong. Marble's guns are mounted fore and aft, all you have to do is go right at your target, or run away, and half your guns are trained. If you're close enough to use your torps, well, if you ain't in co-op, you're dead already, so, just say NO to torps. There, you no longer have any reason to be broadside to anything. 07

[goldeagle1123]

Marblehead, the REAL review. 

 

Pros:

1 extra gun per braodside

 

Cons:

Inferior to the Omaha/Murmansk in every other conceivable way other than number of guns, and by a huge margin

[ReddNekk]

Marblehead is great against 5s and 4s, unfortunately I always end up vs 6s and 7s making it tough to survive too long. Torpedoes are USELESS..do next to no damage.

 

Amen there pard. I'm ALWAYS up against T-VI and VII opponents. And the torpedoes sucketh most heinously! (6233 max damage) The fast reload time (38 seconds) doesn't do squat to offset that piss poor damage.

 

With most ships, facing opponents that are 2 tiers higher aint much of a problem. But tier fives generally do not fair well against tier sevens.

[Taylor3006]

I love the Omaha classes, they are the only ships I normally take into PvP. When uptiered, always sail with a BB, stick with them, fire HE at anything they are shooting at. If a DD gets close, you go full speed and take it out before it can get close to your BB. The Marblehead is a great ship at its tier, kinda sucks when fighting higher tiered ships but the upside is you get more exp if you smack them around before yer blown to bits.

[HMCS_Devilfish]

Over 2000 games in Murmansk and made 3 million XP ,love the boat 'Murmansk is pretty much a Marblehead I have slightly better rudder shift than you but now with the gun buff Marblehead has slightly better Gun reload at just under 7 seconds for Murmansk is 7 seconds reload , this class has no secondary's, Hydro is useful for detecting Torps sooner rather than finding DDs

 

It is fradgile and so " must!" Be played accordingly

It has the best rudder shift for Cruisers  in game .. thats its major strength the ability to dodge BB shells at 10 k+

A must have Captain skill is priority target,incoming fire alert, Demolition expert and the new HE round, fly fire flags and the one that I like is speed trials that give more speed and hense faster turning

The guns are great at V but up against Vl-Vll Cruisers its tough because they are stronger but you can outurn them but its a good battle at range

The torps are slow so dont expect wonders there I generally fire only when not targeted because to do so exposes broadside ... its a fun ship and my favorite

[desmo_2]

I've had the Marblehead since it was first introduced with the PAX Marblehead challenge.  I used to absolutely love her.  The Omaha's have very good guns and great rate of fire.  With smart play I could lay waste to destroyers, burn down battleships, and drop citadels on other cruisers.  She was one of my most played ships.

 

With the current matchmaking putting her in Tier 6 and 7 matches the majority of the time, I just haven't played her (the Honorable campaign has also kept me in T8+ for a while, now).  T7 cruisers laugh at Marblehead and take great glee in disintegrating her with little effort.  Battleships at that tier can erase her with one salvo.  I haven't had her out in PvP in quite a while.  During the Christmas Convoy campaign there were a few "play one match" tasks that allowed Co-op, so I took old girl out a few times.  In Co-op she is ridiculous fun.

 

 

[StoptheViolins]

Hey, the Krispy is awesome - people ignore it until it is too late (I can always kill it later with fire, right?).

 

The Marblehead is ok, just play it like a big frail DD and you should be fine.

[AVR_Project]

I agree.   It's a fun ship in co-op.

You've got to stay focused in Random, though.  There are few right things and a zillion wrong things to do -- better get to work eliminating those 'wrong' things.

Eventually, you will get the 'moves' down and will be doing evasive maneuvers without even thinking.

Always maintain a little angle on your opponent.  You are easy to hit dead-on to or from.

Personally, I try to stay clear of tier 5 these days, but I've had a couple high tier games lately.

Grinding anything at tier 5 is dreadful nowadays.