MBK-161 early

MBK-161 early

MBK-161 early

USSR

III Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
3.3	3.3	3.3

Class:

PREMIUM

Armored gun boat

Heavy boat

Boat

Purchase:Bundle or Gift

MARKET

Description

The MBK-161 early modifications is a premium gift rank III Soviet armoured gun boat with a battle rating of 3.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced during Update 1.91 "Night Vision" as a reward for the Operation Shipyard event.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armourfront / side / back

Citadel30 / 52 / 18 mm

Main fire tower40 / 45 / 45 mm

Hull6 mm (steel)

Superstructure4 mm (steel)

Number of section4

Displacement158 t

Crew39 people

MBK-161's armour is extremely thick for a ship of its size, reaching 52 mm for the center section and 60 mm for the superstructure. The vessel also comes with 39 crew, this is twice as much as most other PT boats.

Her compartments, especially the middle section and superstructure, are armoured all around. This means they will remain intact, keeping their crew alive. There are even 30 mm thick plates inside the ship to separate front to middle and rear to middle sections. Ships firing high explosive rounds will only lower your crew to about 20-40%, and not be able to do any damage after that. You will not be brought down by even destroyer's HE salvos easily. Cannon APHE and aircraft will make short work of you however.

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB34 / 13 km/h

RB25 / 9 km/h

Your forward speed is just above 25 km/h. This is extremely slow, most aircraft will bomb you without any issue. You won't be able to reach capture points in time, and rely on good lines of sight to engage enemies. Plan your route in advance, as you will not have enough time to change course later on.

Mobility Characteristics
Game Mode	Upgrade Status	Maximum Speed (km/h)		Turn Time (s)	Turn Radius (m)
		Forward	Reverse
AB	Stock	___	___
	Upgraded	34	13
RB/SB	Stock	___	___
	Upgraded	25	9

Modifications and economy

Repair cost

AB1 394

RB1 111

Crew training10 000

Experts67 000

Aces400

Research Aces570 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

2 × 80 / 110 / 50 %

2 × 136 / 136 / 136 %

Modifications

Seakeeping	Unsinkability	Firepower
Dry-Docking Rudder Replacement Propeller Replacement Engine Maintenance	Damage Control Division Fire Division Smokescreen New Pumps	Anti-Air Armament Targeting 45mm_ussr_21k_o240_naval_he_ammo_pack Auxiliary Armament Targeting 45mm_ussr_21k_naval_ap_ammo_pack 76mm_ussr_navy_AP_ammo_pack Primary Armament Targeting Improved Rangefinder 45mm_ussr_21k_naval_base_fuse_he_ammo_pack

Armament

Primary armament

2 х Turret76 mm/40 F-34 cannon

Ammunition192 rounds

Vertical guidance-5° / 25°

The MBK-161 (1943) has 2 turrets on the main deck, which are the same ones you can find on the T-34 (1942) medium tank. The two turrets present the 76 mm F-34 cannon, practically with the same characteristics as the ground model.

• The 76 mm OF-350M is the stock shell you will start with, and it is the best of the two available. With a explosive mass of 621 g, a well-fired salvo is enough to set enemy ships on fire and take almost a third of their crew members in the majority of cases. It can be used against early destroyers, as they do not have a lot of protection.
• The 76 mm BR-350A is a ballistic high explosive shell that sacrifices explosive power in exchange of a higher penetration. You will successfully penetrate every vessel you shoot at, but the post penetration damage is not as powerful as with the HE. It requires 4 mm of armour to activate, and in the common scenario it will pass trough the enemy clear, only taking a few crew and the module behind. Use it only against heavy armoured boats such as the Russian PR and MBK boats. It can also be fired against early destroyers, but with the small amount of explosive filler will produce little damage.

The guns are very reliable, and work perfect against any type of enemy boat. The turning is a little bit slow, so try to figure out where will be the enemy before it shows up so you can have both guns facing the target.

Secondary armament

Turret45 mm/46 21-K cannon

Ammunition500 rounds

The MBK-161 (1943) carries a 45 mm cannon with quick reloading time and good accuracy at close range. This, with a lower calibre than the turret cannons, turns faster and can be a solution for quickly moving targets when your turrets are facing the apposite direction. It can be loaded with the following ammunition:

• The 45 mm OR-73A HET: As stock you get a High Explosive shell with low penetration and small amount of explosive. It has a high velocity, but it does not compensate the damage produced.
• The 45 mm O-240 HE: An HE shell which contains 118 g of explosive and a stable penetration of 5 mm at any distance and angle. It produces higher damage, and is quite a good shell both for naval and air targets.
• The 45 mm BR-240 APHE: It is the only shell of the calibre that penetrates up to 75 mm at 100 meters. It has a significance reduction of explosive filler, but can still make damage if it hits an enemy module.
• The 45 mm F-73 HE: It is an HE shell with a time fuse, which means you can adjust the explosion time. It has quite similar explosive filler as the O-240 shell, but with an improved penetration of about 21 mm at 100 meters. It is the best shell for anti-air purposes.

It is recommended to use it as an anti-aircraft gun with the F-73 shell, as it can make a lot of damage if hits at the correct timing. Nevertheless, it can perform great against enemy ships.

The MBK-161 also carries a 37 mm 70-K automatic cannon, with a standard belt of ammunition. It is a good AA armament, delivering powerful hits to enemy aircraft that dare to get close to you. As a secondary armament it also performs great, similar to the one present in the BMO. It is placed at the stern of the ship, so take care to frontal attacks.

Take care when the AI is controlling the 37 mm cannon, as it will tend to shoot rounds until overheating the gun, leading to a malfunction that will cost some precious time. Try to look for planes and only activate the AA when it is close enough.

Anti-aircraft armament

Turret37 mm/67 70-K automatic cannon

Ammunition2000 rounds

Belt capacity5 rounds

Fire rate180 shots/min

3 х Turret12.7 mm DShK machine gun

Ammunition2000 rounds

Belt capacity50 rounds

Fire rate600 shots/min

The MBK-161 also carries three 12.7 mm DShK machine guns with standard belts, situated 2 of them at the port and starboard side of the bridge, and one at the very top. They can hit hard if the enemy attacks from the front and the rear. Elevation does great until a certain angle, so attack from above may present a threat.

Additional armament

The MBK-161 carries one the most unique armaments for a boat: a 82 mm BM-37 mortar. It shoots 82 mm shells, with a explosive filler of 0.4 kg of TNT equivalent.

Unfortunately, it can only fire at a fixed range of 300 meters around the mortar, and the parabolic shot takes around 17 seconds to land. It is pretty difficult to actually hit a moving target, and it does not guarantee to make a perfect shot. As it was developed as an armament against ground forces near rivers, it has no real use in naval battles. It is quite unique, and maybe it can have a role in the future.

Usage in battles

The MBK-161 (1943) is quite an interesting ship to play, due to its unique set of characteristics - heavy armament, good armour, and rediculously bad manoeuvrability. This ship excels at longer range combat, making full use of it's super-heavy main armament, but can also excel at shorter ranges by making use of it's massive burst damage output.

Tactics:

The MBK-161 can work very well in certain situations, particularly longer-range engagements. This is because of its great weapons load, namely two 76 mm cannons. While they don't fire particularly fast, they hit very hard and can do a lot of damage to naval targets. Assuming you have decent accuracy, you can easily sink any ships at the MBK-161's BR with a couple of shots. The MBK-161 also carries a sizeable secondary and anti-aircraft armament consisting of one single 45 mm 21-K cannon, one single 37 mm 70-k automatic cannon and three single 12.7 mm DShK machine guns. These weapons give the MBK-161 a highly effective secondary armament, capable of shredding both enemy naval vessels and aircraft. Finally, the MBK-161 does carry a mortar, but this weapon is mostly useless and can only do damage in certain situations, i.e. when an enemy ship hides stationary behind an island.

The MBK Pr. 186 is quite survivable for a ship of it's size, with 39 crew members and a sizeable main armour belt consisting of 52 mm of rolled homogenous armour, making the ship almost impervious to any enemy HE shells under 152 mm and AP shells under 85 mm. This armour covers the ship's machinery and ammo racks, meaning that the MBK-161 is extremely hard to kill with just HE shells. However, the ship's survivability is hampered by the lack of heavy armour at the fore and aft, just 12-18 mm - while thick enough to protect the ship against small-arms fire, this armour is woefully inadequate against any cannon fire. As well, many ships have access to SAP and AP rounds which will easily penetrate and destroy the vessel. Thus, the overall survivability should not be relied upon exclusively, as the ship will be shredded by any heavier weapons carried by larger vessels at it's BR, such as early destroyers. The ship should make use of available land cover to protect the vessel from enemy fire and preserve survivability.

Finally, the MBK Pr. 186 suffers from a rather mediocre manoeuvrability, with a poor turning circle and a rather disappointing top speed of 25 km/h in RB. Thus, the ship cannot be relied upon to capture zones, as it will take ages just to get to the capture point. In general, this ship should be played as a longer-range sniper, maximising the use of its powerful armament.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Heavy main armament of two fast firing 76 mm cannons
  • Cannons have surprisingly good rotation rates allowing them to be brought to bear quickly
• Extensive secondary and auxiliary armament
• Very well armoured for a ship of it's size including a main armour belt of 52 mm - enough to block even some 152 mm HE shells!
  • Vital components are completely covered by the main armour belt
• Low silhouette makes it quite difficult to hit

Cons:

• Excruciatingly slow with a top speed of 25 km/h in RB
• Fore and aft ends are not heavily armoured with just 12-18 mm of RHA
  • Parts of the vessel are completely unarmoured; hits to the fore and aft ends can quickly disable the ship's crew
• Limited firing arcs for the 76 mm main guns; aft turret cannot fire directly aft, as it is blocked by the 37 and 45 mm guns

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ship in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the ship and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Ship-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the ship's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the ship;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• Operation "Shipyard": MBK-161 (1943) - Shallow Water Battleship

USSR premium ships
Motor torpedo boats	G-5 (ShVAK) · Pr.123K (A-10bis)
Motor gun boats	TKA-412 · Pr.183 BM-21 · Ya-5M
Motor torpedo gun boats	MPK Pr.12412P
Armoured gun boats	MBK-161 early · MBK pr.186 (MK 85) · Pr.1124 MLRS · Pr.1204
Sub-chasers	MPK Pr.122bis
Frigates	Rosomacha
Destroyers	Kerch · Ryany · Leningrad · Stroyny · Smelyi · Neustrashimy · Blagorodnyy
Light cruisers	Murmansk · Kerch · Zheleznyakov
Battleships	Marat