USS Newport News
Contents
Description
The Des Moines-class, USS Newport News (CA-148), 1972 is a gift rank V American heavy cruiser with a battle rating of 6.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced during Update "Apex Predators" as a reward for the 2022 Winter Quest event.
General info
Survivability and armour
USS Newport News is a Des Moines-class heavy cruiser. This heavy cruiser class is a further development of the Baltimore-class, and as such, is decently armored just like its predecessor. The most noticeable difference is that the 6" (152mm) main belt has been extended to cover the main battery turrets. There are also several 5" (127mm) bulkheads dividing the citadel into sections, which will help isolating damage in engine and ammunition compartments.
Her main battery turrets are armored similarly to those on Baltimore-class cruisers. Compared to the older turrets, these have slightly thicker armor on the sides and the roof. However, they are significantly larger than the older turrets, and may receive more hits as a result.
Compared to those found on Baltimore-class cruisers, her main battery barbettes have less area consisting of shells. Whether this result in a reduced risk of detonation requires further testing in combat. However, she has a big weakness - the magazine of her second turret extends above the waterline. A penetrating hit under her second turret can be devastating.
Like other American cruisers, she lacks meaningful torpedo defense. Captains should watch out for torpedo attacks at all times. If taking a hit is inevitable, try to maneuver the ship so that it takes the hit as close to the bow as possible, since most of the bow is empty space and you can survive with just some flooding.
Mobility
Write about the ship's mobility. Evaluate its power and manoeuvrability, rudder rerouting speed, stopping speed at full tilt, with its maximum forward and reverse speed.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 71 | 29 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 61 | 25 | |
Modifications and economy
| Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armament
Primary armament
USS Newport News has 8 inch/55 Mark 16 (203 mm) main guns. These are fundamentally the same gun barrels as those on the Baltimore-class heavy cruisers, but now boasts a much higher rate of fire (10 rpm vs. 4 rpm of its predecessors), thanks to an automatic loading mechanism. This provides USS Newport News formidable firepower and makes her a serious threat to enemy cruisers.
Note, however, USS Newport News still carries the same amount of main battery ammunition as the Baltimore-class heavy cruisers. Captains will need to allocate their ammo types carefully and keep an eye out on the ammo count during battle, or they might find themselves out of shells in the middle of a firefight.
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 1,000 m | 2,500 m | 5,000 m | 7,500 m | 10,000 m | 15,000 m | ||
| 8 inch Mk.14 Common | Common | 110 | 98 | 80 | 66 | 56 | 43 |
| 8 inch Mk.21 APCBC | APCBC | 390 | 348 | 289 | 243 | 207 | 165 |
| 8 inch Mk.25 HC | HE | 61 | 61 | 61 | 61 | 61 | 61 |
| 8 inch Mk.17 SP Common | SP Common | 131 | 116 | 95 | 79 | 66 | 50 |
| Shell details | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (s) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||
| 8 inch Mk.14 Common | Common | 823 | 117.9 | 0.035 | 9 | 4.84 | 47° | 60° | 65° |
| 8 inch Mk.21 APCBC | APCBC | 762 | 151.9 | 0.035 | 9 | 2.21 | 48° | 63° | 71° |
| 8 inch Mk.25 HC | HE | 823 | 117.9 | 0 | 0.1 | 9.5 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| 8 inch Mk.17 SP Common | SP Common | 823 | 117.9 | 0.035 | 9 | 4.61 | 48° | 63° | 71° |
Secondary armament
The USS Newport News has 6 dual-purpose, double-barrel 127 mm turrets, a common layout found on late-war US light and heavy cruisers. They have an excellent SP Common shell for use against lightly armored destroyers, and a VT-fused HE shell for use against aircraft.
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 1,000 m | 2,500 m | 5,000 m | 7,500 m | 10,000 m | 15,000 m | ||
| 5 inch AAC Mk.34 | HE | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 |
| 5 inch AAVT Mk.31 | HE-VT | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 |
| 5 inch SP Common Mk.46 | SP Common | 150 | 125 | 93 | 71 | 56 | 45 |
| Shell details | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (s) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||
| 5 inch AAC Mk.34 | HE | 792 | 25 | 0 | 0.1 | 3,220 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| 5 inch SP Common Mk.46 | SP Common | 792 | 25 | 0.01 | 6 | 906.5 | 48° | 63° | 71° |
| Proximity-fused shell details | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (s) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Arming distance (m) |
Trigger radius (m) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||||
| 5 inch AAVT Mk.31 | HE-VT | 792 | 25 | 0 | 0.1 | 457 | 23 | 3,220 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
Anti-aircraft armament
The USS Newport News we have in the game is in her 1962 state, after modifications to be a fleet flagship. The installation of flagship facilities required removal of most of her 3 inch AA guns, leaving only one dual mounts on each side of the bridge. As a result, USS Newport News relies mostly on her secondary 5" guns for air defense. That said, these 3" guns, firing VT-fused HE shells by default, are powerful in their own right, and can be a last resort defense against aircraft and small boats.
Usage in battles
Describe the technique of using this ship, the characteristics of her use in a team and tips on strategy. Abstain from writing an entire guide – don't try to provide a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought. Talk about the most dangerous opponents for this vehicle and provide recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of playing with this vehicle in various modes (AB, RB, SB).
Pros and cons
Summarise and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in the bulleted list. Try not to use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - use substitutions with softer forms such as "inadequate" and "effective".
Pros:
- Well-armored for a cruiser and can take a lot of punishments when angled properly
- Very large crew of 1,799
- Relatively resistant to small-to-medium caliber crew drain, since she isn't covered in AA mounts
- Decent mobility
- Formidable firepower - her main battery is basically 2.5 Baltimore-class heavy cruisers firing together
- Has access to air search and tracking radars
Cons:
- Painful stock grind due to the terrible default common (SAP) shell
- BR of 6.3 means she tends to see battleships more often than her peers at 6.0, but she is similarly powerless against these enemies
- Only two dual-mount 3" guns for AA, one for each side of the ship. Very atypical for a US cruiser, which is normally covered in AA mounts.
- Has the same amount of main battery ammunition as the Baltimore-class cruisers despite a much higher rate of fire. Easy to run out of ammunition if not careful.
- No torpedo armaments, like most WW2 American cruisers
- No access to scout planes
- The magazine of her second turret is above waterline and can be easily hit
- Both of her fire control rooms are also close to the waterline. If they are both destroyed, the ship will be unable to calculate the lead point
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
| USA heavy cruisers | |
|---|---|
| Pensacola-class | USS Pensacola |
| Northampton-class | USS Northampton |
| Portland-class | USS Portland |
| New Orleans-class | USS New Orleans |
| Baltimore-class | USS Baltimore · USS Pittsburgh |
| Des Moines-class | USS Des Moines · USS Newport News |
