Mk 28 Mod 2 5"/38 - BB's 5/6/7

[Dr_Venture]

So I figured it's time for "that thread" to pop up again...this disparaging lack of decent AA mounts on US Battleships from tier 5 to 7. Now before you say "well carriers need a chance" I'd just like to point out how stupidly easy it is to kill a 5/6/7 BB in a CV and come out of it with few losses. Now one would argue "well this makes cruises useless" well no...they ditch you're slow [edited]anyway and they don't make credits for shooting down planes. Finally there is the "well DD's would suck!" well lets be honest here...most DD's will ambush you with torps one way or another and if they get into 5km of you the jig is already up.

 

20mm guns are arguably...useless at any range planes are already dropping on you by the time you start shooting. 40mm's have been nurfed...this leaves the buffed 5's. Now on these BB's you will lose those (in my opinion) worthless single mounts mounted in the hull and the single 5" aa guns. and replace them with dual purpose guns. The number of guns actually stays the same as most of these ships have 5 of the single mounts in case-mates in 4 to 5 of the single AA guns on the deck. It just means more guns can be used either on planes or ships...which to be honest they should. 

 

A Hulls - Launching Configuration

B Hulls - Pre December 7th Configuration

C Hulls - 1945 final form

 

Now I think personally...if you're going to grind out the final hull of an expensive BB, you should have some decent eye candy to look at...like so:

 

Nevada Tier 5: 

 

Pennsylvania Tier 6:

 

Tennessee Tier 6:

 

 

Maryland Tier 7:

 

 

West Virginia Tier 7:

 

 

[Dr_Venture]

Seriously...no one wants dual mounts 5 inch guns? 

[Dabba]

I dunno. I have my American BBs AA speced and they do pretty well shooting down planes. At least the ny and new mexico. Colorado as I recall was even better with the top hull. Of course the dual mounts would be great. But keep in mind they took away the historical quad mounts off norcal and iowa so this would never happen. 

[ButtonsPushed]

I think BB's in lower tiers could use some additional AA, I could get behind what you are suggesting. 

[Shatara422]

I'd like to see these, though US 5" guns are balanced weird as is. Colorado, for example, would probably lose surface range, since she has 5km secondaries, but North Carolina's guns are 4.5km. But then Iowas are 5km, despite being the same guns with the same directors as North Carolina. Also, 5"/25 has the same AA range as the 5"/38, and the same surface range as the 5"/51s...

[Hans_Von_Lohman]

I think the reason we don't see these fully upgraded ships is that they're slated to be made as premium ships.

[Jarink]

It's an idea with some merit. One of the major roles of US BBs later in the war was as an AA platform since they could mount so many DP guns.

 

However, I would also like to see the imbalance between TBs and BBs at Tier IV addressed. It's horrid. BBs have a couple of machine guns at best, which is no deterrence to TBs. Lack of maneuverability means they're easy pickings.

Escorting cruisers don't even help, as at that level they're barely able to defend themselves.