Premium Ship Review - VMF Murmansk

[LittleWhiteMouse]

The following is aimed at new(ish) players looking to find a little more information about various ships from events, for premium currency or for real-world cash.  The goal is to allow players to make an educated decision before parting with their time and money and to find premium vessels that suit their chosen style of play, whether that is competitive, cooperative, or simply for fun.  The idea here is to elabourate on information not commonly available through reading statistics and provide some (heavily) biased anecdotal evidence to encourage or dissuade you from making your purchase.  The usual disclaimers apply:  everyone knows the Matchmaker clearly loves me because I spend money so that's why I occasionally get really good games, not because I have any particular skills of note.

 

Other articles in this series:

• Available Ships: USS Atlanta, IJN Atago, IRN Aurora, IJN Ishizuchi, VMF Murmansk
• Pre Order Ships:  USS Sims, IJN Yubari, VMF Gremyashchy
• Limited Release Ships: KMS Tirpitz, IJN Fujin,  HMS Warspite, IRN Imperator Nikolai I, VMF Mikhail Kutuzov, ORP Blyskawica, PLAN Anshan, ROCN Lo Yang
• Gift Ships:  USS Albany, USS Arkansas, IJN Iwaki, IJN Tachibana, IJN Kamikaze, IRN Diana, SMS Emden, USS Marblehead
• Arpeggio of Blue Steel Ships:  Fog Kongo, Fog Myoko
• Condensed Reading:  Mouse's Quick Summary of Premium Ships

 

A very special thanks to KJar for offering to gift me this ship.  ♥

 

Without further ado: 

---

 

The Soviet Navy Omaha-class Cruiser

VMF Murmansk

The Humble

 

Quick Summary:   An Omaha-class cruiser using a modified (and improved upon) C-Hull upgrade with 8km range, Soviet torpedoes. 

Cost:   Sold through the online store or through the in game tech tree for 3000 doubloons.

 

PROs

• Good rate of fire of 8.6rpm with nice HE and AP values.
• Good torpedoes with 8.0km range and 14,400 alpha strike
• Small turning circle of 590m and excellent rudder shift of 3.8s.
• Good top speed of 34.0knots.
• Good flamethrower cruiser, with 12% base fire chance.
• Excellent AP penetration values -- better than the Soviet 152mm high velocity shells (for some reason).
• Superior to an Omaha in every category.

 

CONs

• Large surface detection range of 13.1km
• Large, exposed citadel which is vulnerable even to destroyer caliber weapons.
• Awful angles on her rear turret.  Lining it up to shoot against targets ahead of you will make you expose your broadside.
• Engine and Steering gears are easily damaged by high explosive fire.
• Torpedoes are slow at 55 knots and slow reloading.
• Short ranged AA compliment.

 

The Omaha-class premiums, VMF Murmansk and USS Marblehead.  They are based on the C-class and B-class hulls respectively though these ships have 8km range torpedoes as opposed to the 5.5km torpedoes found on the lead of their class.  They are excellent premium ships in their own right, though few would argue that the Murmansk has enjoyed a long reign of superiority.  The review of this ship has been a long time coming.  A special thanks to NikoPowers for facilitating the review of this ship and to Rubberlegs623 for posing so handsomely in his Marblehead as I buzzed him in this borrowed premium.

 

It was a struggle to come up with a list of flaws for the Murmansk.  It's not that it avoids the traps of the Omaha-class, but in some ways it lessens them enough to make me weigh if they truly counted as flaws.  To be fair, these are incremental improvements -- far from the cut and dry superiority this vessel once enjoyed in its storied history in World of Warships.  It's hard not to feel elitist or snobby when comparing the Murmansk to other vessels in her tier, precisely because the subtleties and nuances which make this ship great require an understanding of where she came from and how she quickly became the yardstick for balance at her tier.

 

This is an excellent premium vessel -- one of the best in the game, tier for tier.  Let's take a look why.

 

Primary Armament

The Murmansk is armed in the same manner as the C-Hull Omaha with a total of ten of 152mm rifles.  The guns are arranged in an odd layout.  She has a two-gun, fully traversing turret on the bow and stern.  This is backed up with four "cheek" canons (2 to each side) mounted in the wings alongside the bridge with a slight overlap facing forward.  Another pair face the rear, one to each side in a similar arrangement.  This gives her a maximum of a seven gun broadside, four directly to the rear and up to six firing directly forward.

 

Her gun performance is identical to that found on the Omaha and the Marblehead but with a single exception.  For whatever reason, the Murmansk has better penetration than either two ships -- a full 50% improvement that surpasses even the penetration values found on the high velocity 152mm rifles found on the Budyonny, Chapayev and Shchors.

 

The flaws of the gun are about what you would expect for a USN based artillery piece.  The shells don't have a very flat trajectory with a bit of "float' time when engaging targets at long range.  This range, though identical to the Omaha-C hull, can be improved with the use of a Float Plane which can give the Murmansk a potential reach of 17.7km.  Without the float plane, the Murmansk isn't able to fire from concealment in open water.  Her guns add 4.5km to her surface detection range, meaning that even with camouflage and Captain Skills, her surface detection range exceeds her concealment rating by almost a full kilometer.

 

These guns can also struggle to inflict HE damage against heavily armoured Battleships she might face, including the Colorado and New Mexico, making her more reliant on the high chance of fire (12%) per shell impact to burn down these behemoths.

 

The rear gun arrangement of the Murmansk.  The Marblehead (and Omaha B-Hull) has an extra pair of stacked 152mm rifles in the cheek mounts.  This rear turret will get your Murmansk killed if you attempt to use it to fire broadside shots.  It's angles of fire require you to expose your citadel to align it on enemies in your forward quarter.

 

Secondary Armament

The Murmansk has the same triple torpedo mounts found on the Omaha C-Hull -- a pair off each side to the rear quarter of the ship.  These have excellent fields of fire, roughly from 2 o'clock & 10 o'clock to almost (but not quite) 6 o'clock off each respective side.  All three of the Omaha sisters have different torpedo armaments, with the Marblehead and Murmansk having arguably the best loadouts.

 

Comparison of torpedo armaments of Omaha-class vessels.

 

The heavy alpha strike combined with the long range of the Murmansk makes even single torpedo hits devastating -- being more than capable of one-shotting any enemy Destroyer she may encounter and taking a sizeable chunk out of the HP of any cruiser.  The downside to these torpedoes is that they are not fast, nor do they reload anywhere near as quickly as her two sisters.  With only a single mount per side and a long reload, she can't saturate the waters the way the Marblehead can.  This is the one respect where the Murmansk isn't the best out of the three Omaha sisters, merely different (though to be fair, the Omaha is the worst of the three).

 

Maneuverability

The Murmansk shares the top speed of the other two Omaha-sisters at 34.0 knots, giving her great flexibility, particularly in the smaller maps found at low tiers.  This makes her slightly slower than the Kirov and Furutaka, but faster than the Konigsberg.  Where she truly excels, however, is her ability to turn.  Boasting a 3.8s rudder shift time and a tiny 590m turning circle, the Murmansk is an absolute pleasure to drive.  If you respond immediately when a collision alarm sounds, you're very unlikely to ever beach yourself.  These numbers put her categorically into Destroyer-levels of agility (she's more nimble than the Gnevny, for example) and she is hands down more agile than either two Omaha-class vessels.

 

Seeing double.  These two Murmansk are not in a division and ended up on the same team opposite an enemy Murmansk.

This is the most played premium ship on the North American server and has been a long time favourite of many players for good reason.

 

Durability and Defense

The Murmansk shares the vulnerability of her two sisters with an enormous citadel that's easily struck.  With 26,800hp, she has 200hp less than the Marblehead but she matches the Omaha C-Hull.  Her armour values aren't great though you can pull off the occasional surprising bounce when angled, but only from cruiser-caliber weapons.  You can and will lose guns often.  You can and will receive citadel hits through your bow at medium to close range from battleships.  You can and will be detonated to shells and bombs striking the forward gun emplacements. And lastly, you can expect your engine and steering gears to suffer critical damage even from high explosive round from small caliber guns.

 

The one ray of sunshine is that the Murmansk has improved AA characteristics over the Omaha.  This is unfortunately short ranged but when enemy planes stay within your defensive bubble, you can shoot down a surprising number of low-tier aircraft.  Dropping an AA-specialized Captain from a Soviet cruiser into the Murmansk can yield a healthy tally of plane intercepts.  It should be noted that she does not share the float-plane fighter found on the Omaha C-hull nor does she have access to a Defensive Fire consumable to make her AA power effective as an escort-vessel.  The short range of her mounts restrict her to a self defense role.

 

Her last consumable is a Hydroacoustic Search.  I've found this to be a rather welcome inclusion given the claustrophobic nature of many low tier maps which predicate many close encounters with destroyers and their torpedoes.

 

How to Kill It

The Murmansk, though fragile, is a potentially dangerous opponent.  In the hands of an expert player, using range and agility, she can evade many attacks for a very long time while forcing an opponent to hemorrhage hit points for any gains they make.

 

• In Destroyers, be exceedingly caution when engaging a Murmansk at close range.  She can easily bring at least three rapid fire guns to bear and as many as seven on very short notice.  In addition, her agility will make her a very frustrating target to strike with torpedoes.  If she gives you her broadside at ranges of less than 10km, fire AP beneath her funnels, particularly with Soviet and US destroyers.  You can actually win out on DPM races this way with this Soviet cruiser. 
   
• With Cruisers, be aware of her very large citadel.  Any opportunity you get to fire AP into her soft boiler room should be taken. Be aware of and respect her torpedo armament and don't take her 152mm rifles lightly.  Individually, they fire more often than those found on the USS Cleveland and they have just as good a chance at starting fires.
   
• For Battleships, close the distance.  You have to remove the evasive measures she can take to avoid long range fire.  Be aware that once you're inside 10km, torpedoes will likely be in the water, especially if you have to chase her.  Stick with AP rounds no matter what aspect she gives you.  At medium to close ranges, they will obliterate the poor armour values of this fragile cruiser.
   
• Lastly, Carriers should treat her similarly to an Omaha.  There's a potential the Murmansk could have decent AA firepower but she will not have a float plane fighter like the other Omaha-class.  Her AA values can be surprisingly good if she's specialized that way, but this is limited to short ranged, self defense guns.  Normally, her AA power is mostly forgettable and you don't have to worry about her adding much in the way to the defensive fire of capital ships in her area.

 

A Murmansk under attack by low-tier Dive Bombers.  Her AA is very short ranged but powerful in a self-defense role.  Properly specialized it can become rather respectful and a strong deterrent to tier 4 and tier 5 carriers.

 

Overall Impressions

Where to begin?  This review is coming rather late.  The Murmansk is a near infamous ship, particularly on the North American server with the fiasco with the $1 Humble Bundle back in the days of Closed Beta.  This makes her a very commonplace premium.

 

The Murmansk has been the poster child for complaints of Russian-bias.  She was hands down better than the Omaha in every single regard for a long time.  In fact, she's still so much better than the other Omaha-class cruisers, though now only in soft stats instead of also in raw firepower.  The changes made to the Omaha-class, the nerfs introduced through 0.5.3 to Captain Skills (particularly in regards to the synergy of 152mm rifles with Basic Fire Training, Advanced Fire Training and Expert Marksman have peeled away some of the gold-plated awesome with which the Murmansk was once gilded.  Had this review been penned during the Summer of 2015, it likely would have taken a much more "she's too good" overtone.

 

This was one of the reasons for my delaying providing a review of this ship.  She was a safe purchase for anyone wanting a nice safe premium to play with.  I wasn't worried about someone ending up with a bad product if they picked her up blind. The other reason was more simple:  I didn't own one and am only writing this review grace of being able to put some play time into her through my press account (LittleWhiteMouse_PA), though KJar has gone out of his way to correct that ownership issue (thanks again!).

 

As I stated in the USS Marblehead review, the Omaha-class is still a very powerful ship, even with the changes in fortune with the Captain Skills that made her gunnery so deliciously overpowered.  The Murmansk remains the best Premium purchase most players are likely to make.  She is in excellent Russian-bias company with the likes of the Gremyashchy, the Imperator Nikolai I and the Mikhail Kutuzov as being arguably the best examples of their class in their tier.  You can't go wrong with her unless you hate cruisers.

 

And finally, here's the differences between Omaha C & Murmansk

• Torpedo Armament
• Ten vs fourteen 20mm Oerlikon guns (36 vs 60dps).
• Eight vs six 76.2mm flak guns (22 vs 17dps)
• 600m vs 590m turning circles.
• 5,7s vs 3.8s rudder shift time.
• 13.5km vs 13.1km surface detection range.
• 6,7km vs 7.5km aerial detection range.
• 1772 Krupp vs 2692 Krupp on AP shells.
• Float plane fighter vs Spotter Aircraft

 

Would I recommend?

Yes.  Very yes, in fact, with the usual caveat that if you don't like this class of ship then you should stay away. The Murmansk is arguably one of the safest premium purchases a player can make.  The only downside to her is that she's not high tier, so that limits some of her premium camouflage's bonus XP gains (30% vs 50% for tier 6 or higher vessels). 

 

Recommended Modules:

• Your first slot is easy. Main Battery Modification 1 is the only one that makes sense.
• For your second slot, you've got two good choices:
  Gun Fire Control Modification 1 should be the default purchase most players make.  This will improve your ship's accuracy at range and you'll be doing a lot of long range gunnery.
  AA Guns Modification 2 is also a viable option, though an eclectic one. I moved over my AA-specialized Captain from my Chapayev and found tremendous success in intercepting enemy planes.  This increases the range of the bulk of her AA power up to 2.9km from 2.1km which comes from her 20mm Oerlikon batteries.  Don't expect miracles out of her AA but you can have some fun chasing down aircraft.
• For your third slot,  Propulsion Modification 1 or Steering Gear Modification 1 are your best choices.  Don't expect them to help too much, though.  You will still lose your rudder and engines to even HE shells.

 

Recommended Consumables:

The Murmansk comes with a Spotter Aircraft and Hydroacoustic Search.  I cannot stress enough on how important it is to equip a premium Damage Control Party.  You will lose modules and guns very, very often in this ship.  She is very fragile.

 

Dropping your Destroyer or Cruiser captains into the Murmansk will work well.  A lot of the skills overlap.  Even if your Captain is specialized for anti-aircraft work, you can still see some success in that role in low tier games, though it's hardly optimal.  The Murmansk is best played as a Destroyer hunter, picking up skills that will facilitate in spotting and running down enemy DDs at close to medium ranges.

 

Recommended Captain Skills:

Both Soviet Destroyer and Soviet Cruiser captains will have a lot of the same skills that will translate well to the Murmansk.  Even an AA-spec'd cruiser Captain isn't an awful fit, though certainly not optimal.  Demolition Expert and Situational Awareness are probably the most valuable skills you can acquire for a Captain in a Murmansk. 

 

• For tier one, Situational Awareness should be one of the first skills you grab.
• For tier two, I strongly recommend investing in Last Stand.  You're going to need this.  If a game goes by where you don't lose your steering gears, consider it a very good game.
• For tier three, Vigilance is probably your best choice.  Low tier maps have a lot of islands and some fights get very close ranged around objectives.  This can help keep you alive when the short ranged torpedoes start flying.
• For tier four, Demolition Expert is the best choice, increasing the fire chance of your HE shells from 12% to 15%. 
• For tier five, there aren't very many good choices.  Being unable to fire from concealment makes Concealment Expert less valuable though still probably the best option.

[Raptor_alcor]

Seems about right. I'd like to point out though that even though her AA is short ranged with upgrades towards AA she can make a respectable all arround escort cruiser in her tier. 

[MATip09]

Good read as always Little White Mouse.

 

 

Marblehead only has two triple tubes now.

[LittleWhiteMouse]

Good read as always Little White Mouse.

 

 

Marblehead only has two triple tubes now.

 

Doh, mixed up Hull B-Omaha and the Marblehead.  Fixing.

[TacoSallust]

Best premium ever.

[Special_Kay]

Excellent review.

 

The one facet I would disagree with you on is that the low speed of the 53-39 torpedoes (55kt) is a blessing in disguise. Oftentimes Murmansk's torpedoes are employed as weapons of area denial, and as such, the longer they're afloat the higher the chance they will encounter an enemy vessel. As you rightly point out, the alpha damage is high enough to one-shot a destroyer; only last week I sank a Farragut on Two Brothers by launching both spreads into the middle channel and scoring a hit.

 

As a long-time Murman myself (if you will permit me a Ben Stiller joke), I feel you've done a great job summarizing this ship's tactical strengths.

 

One final note via my firestarting spreadsheet: a bow-on Murmansk (firing 52 shells per minute with 30% accuracy) is capable of starting a fire in 39 seconds, on average (vs. e.g. T5 ships with DC mod 1). Adding Demolitions Expert into the mix lowers the already respectable time to 31 seconds, which is a healthy improvement.

[Aivris]

Amazing read!

 

I feel it's time for me to clean the dust off my Murmansk and take her out for a battle or two.

[Eisennagel]

 

 

I have the perception that during the 5.3.2 patch which had the skill removals for shells over 140mm, and the Mikhail raising its firing and turret turn rates, the Soviet 152mm AP got its Krupp values (penetrator values) reduced.  Even before that, these shells are already softer than the Mogami 155mm AP shells and the German 150mm.  

 

The Murmansk's AP shells have a higher Krupp value than even the Omaha's AP shells, for some reason.  

[TacoSallust]

Took her out for a couple games for the event this weekend. Three games, two three-kill games. I love her. She's so versatile, maneuverable, lethal. Not afraid of battleships, destroyers, and even most other cruisers.

[LittleWhiteMouse]

 

 

I have the perception that during the 5.3.2 patch which had the skill removals for shells over 140mm, and the Mikhail raising its firing and turret turn rates, the Soviet 152mm AP got its Krupp values (penetrator values) reduced.  Even before that, these shells are already softer than the Mogami 155mm AP shells and the German 150mm.  

 

The Murmansk's AP shells have a higher Krupp value than even the Omaha's AP shells, for some reason.  

 

I would love to get an explanation from Wargaming on how the Krupp values translate into penetration calculations in game.  We know they're better, but how they plug into a formula would be great to see.  It would be nice to know how having 50% more Krupp than the Omaha or Marblehead's AP rounds actually works in game and what that allows the Murmansk to do better than the Omaha or Marblehead.

 

[Eisennagel]

 

 

Stalinium capped AP shells?  

 

They forgot to add that on the Soviet 152mms though.

[LittleWhiteMouse]

 

They forgot to add that on the Soviet 152mms though.

 

Yep, the Soviet high velocity 152mm found on the Budyonny, Chappayev and Shchors only have 2216 Krupp.  Once again, I have no idea what that means in game terms, though.

[Takamachi_Nanoha_sg]

Great review! Though I didn't bring my Mummy out of port since the patch...maybe will sail with her one day

[LadyJess]

As always mouse a very awesome review of the Murmansk and YES she is a great ship .. if you were to just get one premium ship this is it.

[PrivateRico]

This was my first premium ship purchase and I have not been disappointed, looking over all my available options I got warm fuzzy feelings looking over this one.

[atPrick__]

She works as a great AA ship at her tier, get close and use AP and if you get beat up drop back and spam away.

 

BTW mouse, you had mentioned something about writing some stuff for Ship Comrade and was wondering when we would see it?

[Raptor_alcor]

You planning on covering the saipan when she is finally released maybe later today (don't quote me, this is just a rough guess)

[LittleWhiteMouse]

She works as a great AA ship at her tier, get close and use AP and if you get beat up drop back and spam away.

 

BTW mouse, you had mentioned something about writing some stuff for Ship Comrade and was wondering when we would see it?

 

So far, my work with ShipComrade has been duplicated here.  You can expect this Murmansk article (with an edit or two) to go up on their site later today.  My hope is to transplant all of my Premium Ship Reviews there.  It will be much easier to index them there.  Everytime I add a new review, I have to cross-link it across each article and then update the Quick Summary page.  I've neglected keeping my guide links up to date for a few months now because it's such a hassle.  The only reason I don't write directly for ShipComrade first is that I'm familiar and comfortable with the forum system here.  Particularly fussy things like graphs are easier to work with here and most of my articles include at least one.

 

You planning on covering the saipan when she is finally released maybe later today (don't quote me, this is just a rough guess)

 

The Saipan is going to be a challenge for me to write for one specific reason:  I suck at CVs and despise CV game play (I have never liked real time strategy games, so carrier game play ticks all of the boxes to make me cringe).  You can expect a lot of theory crafting and speculation in my Saipan review and not a whole lot of concrete from-experience anecdotal snippets of wisdom.  I will make one available as soon as I am able.  Time line wise, I have to be given access to the ship first. Then I will try and spend as much as 4 to 8 hours playing her -- I already feel sorry for my teams.  The article itself is another 4 to 8 hours worth of compiling data, making charts and graphs, doing the actual writing itself and finally adding a few pretty pictures. 

 

When I do get access and the ability to try her out publicly, I'll update my status and let people know when I'll be on the servers testing her out.  That will give people a timeline to work from.

[Raptor_alcor]

Sounds good and I wish you the best when you actually do play her. 

[Lert]

I will make one available as soon as I am able.

 

When you post your Saipan review I will also add my thoughts to it if that's ok, and NDA's permitting. I'm also not a carrier driver so don't expect an in-tier comparison between her and her peers, but I do have some thoughts and opinions that right now I am not allowed to say or write. And, the more opinions and thoughts we can get out to the community the better, right?

[K1ra_Yoshikage]

She is a real failsave buy for new players. With the VMF DD and cruisers she also makes more sense then at the start of the game. Very versantile and a good low level AA ship. The repair costs are low so yes you will always make credits. Less then with some high tier premiums but then t5 is noobfriendly.

 

[DokturProfesur]

Murmansk is a beastly ship. People are so scared of this thing I jammed the rudder in one direction and held off half of the enemy team by driving in circles.

[Stjernestov]

What can I say about her? I love it! I learned to play WOWs practically with her because I bought it instantly in her first shop appearance! Great credit maker, great for lit fires and for making citadels too! My favourit ship in the entire game 

PS: Nice review 

 

Now the battle is old, but was a great one

 

 

 

 

 

 

[atPrick__]

Great review Mouse.

 

Best ship in game to learn with. Not sure he she plays sans AFT but Murmansk will always be a favorite Cruiser.

 

 

[Scotty_SE]

Ironically Ive found the best deterrent for s Murmansk is the new Russian cruisers. Murmansk if driven competently will win an HE slinging contest. However, its a Citadel magnet for a Konig or Kirov.