Cruisers?

[Enaris]

Oh yes, I'm one of them.  Muahaha.

 

Anyway, we've been told that "cruisers" are one of the core ship types (Along with BB, CV and DD).

 

That got me wondering, what kinds of cruisers are going to be in the game? In WW2, there were really 3 major types of cruisers.  Light Cruisers, Heavy Cruisers and Anti Aircraft Cruisers.

 

Hopefully, we'll see a nice selection of them across the board, because there are interesting ships in all classes.

 

CA: This is the class we are most likely to see.  The major Japanese Cruisers (such as the Maya, the Mogami, the Mikuma) are in this class, as well as the US and British Treaty Cruisers (Pensacola, Salt Lake City, Chicago, HMS Kent ans so forth).  Then you have the later US Cruisers like the Baltimore.

CL: Many of the CL of WW2 were older designs (Japanese Jintsu, US Omaha, scads of British stuff).  However, the US had the wartime Cleveland and Brooklyn classes, which were nasty night fighters.

CLAA: A bit rarer.  The only ones I know of are the Atlanta class for the US, and then I've seen the Yahagi counted as such as well.

 

Anyway, do you think they'll try to juggle all of those into the trees? Or just focus on the CA?

[ForcestormX]

I want all three. Seriously.

[Kevik70]

hmmm don't know, they may do two lines one for light cruisers and another for heavy cruisers, seems like the best option to me. These ships will be like the meduim tanks in WoT

[SgtCain]

I will want all 3 as well :)

[MasterofGrond]

Give me glorious Mogami-class

[Appollosnos]

Im interested in playing as Light Cruisers. Especially if the destroyers are a bust for me

[Dunewarrior]

I think we'll have a mix of all three. I'm interested in crusiers as well, I think they'll be the medium tanks of the sea :)

[TenaciousTanaka]

Kevik70, on 15 August 2012 - 04:57 PM, said:

These ships will be like the meduim tanks in WoT

That is exactly what their intended function was. Besides, each nation had a cruiser doctrine which varied in a multitude of ways - much more so depending on time frame.   When we start splitting them up into heavy/light,  protected/armored type of cruisers then their functionality gets a bit more difficult to nail down.  All I can tell you right now is that I want a Brooklyn/St. Louis class light cruiser so bad I can taste it.

[bignich]

Gimme a new Orleans, gl sinking me

[Jinxed_Katajainen]

I can see the CA and CL cruisers (Maybe CA as Tier 1-5, CL as Tier 6-10 in a 'medium' tree?), but I think it will depend on how the Aircraft Carrier types work in game if we'll see a dedicated CLAA like the Atlanta class.

[bignich]

Didn't they say that aa would be controlled by the ai? Or is it just the smaller aa guns(borfors and oerkilons) and the dual purpose guns could be used for aa as well? If we can use dual purpose guns for aa, most aa crusiers will be useless. Tho 8 dual 5 inch guns would make one hell of a broadside against smaller cruisers

[Enaris]

bignich, on 15 August 2012 - 07:24 PM, said:

Didn't they say that aa would be controlled by the ai? Or is it just the smaller aa guns(borfors and oerkilons) and the dual propose guns could be used for aa as well?

I imagine AA will be done by the AI, but hopefully we'll be able to upgrade our AA guns as a ship upgrade.

As to the second part of your question.  Yeah, generally the smaller guns (5" DP and smaller) were used for AA.  That said, the Japanese did have some special shells they used on the Yamato's 18.1" guns that almost worked like shotgun shells.  Murder on the gun barrel though.

[bignich]

From what I've seen the 18 inch beehive didn't work. But if you where bombing the yamato and you noticed those bigass guns where tracking you, I know I'd need a change of underwear

[Goldeneye54]

I'll take any cruiser they give me =)

[Rickstag]

Cruisers may also include Battlecruisers and Armoured cruisers, where battlecruisers are heavily armed as battleships but with less armour and higher speeds example: HMS Hood. And where Armoured cruisers, mainly the Panzerschiffe Deutschland class, involved heavy cruiser ship size, speed and armour but armed heavily with large caliber 11'' guns.

[Mermaid_Witch]

Brookyln or Cleveland for me.  The Brooklyns could send 300 rounds a minute downrange.  That was enough to decimate anything that wasn't a battleship.

[P76Leyland]

i think they will have a spread of different crusers.  some fast some slow .. it would make for a very ordanary battle if both teams turned up the same.   Just like in WoT having different light vehicles some that zip around and a medium speed  with a half decent gun and turn on a dime others are just speed freaks that dont even carry ammo because they wont damage a tree if they hit it

 

I am soo looking forward to the game mechanics that this will bring

[sheep21]

Gimme a town class light cruiser, preferably an Edinburgh sub-class one!

[Gigaton]

Rickstag, on 16 August 2012 - 03:26 AM, said:

Cruisers may also include Battlecruisers and Armoured cruisers, where battlecruisers are heavily armed as battleships but with less armour and higher speeds example: HMS Hood. And where Armoured cruisers, mainly the Panzerschiffe Deutschland class, involved heavy cruiser ship size, speed and armour but armed heavily with large caliber 11'' guns.

The pocket battleships had to make some compromises to get that main battery, however (unlike armoured cruisers, which were more balanced in design). Perhaps most importantly, they were not really that well protected, the scheme being less than ideal for a heavy cruiser sized ship. Deutschlands were also on the slow side (speed would have been quite decent for WW1 era cruiser, not so much during WW2), though their from of propulsion had several other advantages over turbine ships.

I do agree that their armament is reminiscent of the armoured cruisers of the old (technically, interwar era cruisers whatever the designation were all armoured cruisers, as opposed to protected cruisers).

[Swoosh101]

If we have carriers anti aircraft will be very important.

[Argent108]

Cleveland for light and Baltimore for heavy.  If we go a little after the war the Des Moines class with automatic 8-inch guns are going to be fun.

[Ltngstrike]

I am hoping to be able to experience a light cruiser.  My namesake Uncle served as a signalman aboard the USS Nashville (CL-43) from the time of it's departure from Mare Island, CA in 1943 till the end of the war.  He participated in much of MacArthur's island hopping campaign,  the USS Nashville was MacArthur's flagship much of the time (My Uncle did not speak highly of the man).   I have many of his pictures and letters from his time aboard including his cruise book photo album which I cherish.

 

A family story originating from my Uncle claims that MacArthur wanted the peace treaty with Japan to be signed on the decks of the Nashville but he was over ruled by Truman, hence the signing on the Big Mo.  I don't know if this is true or not but its a good story!

 

 

The USS Nashville circa 1945

[Rickstag]

On CLAAs, from 1931-1944 the RN had an outstanding AA fire control system, called the HACS or the High Angle Control System. They were quickly upgraded with the advent of radar and proved to be supremely effective against hostile enemy aircraft. An example:

 

"By May 1941, RN cruisers, such as HMS Fiji, were engaging the Luftwaffe with stabilized HACS IV systems with GRU/GRUB and Type 279 Radar with the Precision Ranging Panel, which gave +/- 25 yd accuracy out to 14,000 yds. HMS Fiji was finally sunk after running out of AA ammunition but her HACS IV directed 4-inch AA gun battery fended off Luftwaffe attacks for many hours."

 

Between 1939 and 1942, this radar assisted fire control system had logged:

 

Certain kills: 524.

Probable kills: 183.

Damage claims: 271.

 

This technology was eventually combined with US radar innovations in 1944 leading to the famed radar-assisted accuracy that the Missouri class battleships enjoyed.

[mr3awsome]

I wanna County Class Cruiser

also i will play all the types of Cruisers they release

[Tanz]

Japanese Tone or Mogami Class :wub: