USS Mississippi
Contents
Description
New Mexico-class, USS Mississippi (BB-41), 1945 was the second of three New Mexico-class ships. The New Mexicos would be overall similar to the preceding Pennsylvania-class, with the notable addition of longer barreled 50-calibre guns and a new turbo-electric drive. Laid down in April 1915, Mississippi would be commissioned in December 1917; this would leave her crew training during the remainder of the First World War, seeing no action in this conflict. She would be modernized during the interwar period, giving her more powerful engines which increased her top speed past the typical 21.0 kn found on Standard-type battleships. USS Mississippi would see extensive action throughout WW2, with her first notable action taking place in the Aleutians. She would go on to participate in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, before moving on the Peleliu and later the Philippines. She would take part in the Battle of Surigao Strait, however with her older radar she would have significant difficulty acquiring targets, firing only one salvo during the engagement, after the order was given to cease fire. However, this gives her the distinction of being the last battleship to fire on another battleship, ever. She would then continue supporting operations in the Philippines before moving to shell Okinawa, taking multiple kamikaze hits during this timeframe. She would be present in Tokyo Bay for the signing of Japanese surrender. Postwar, she would be converted first into a gunnery training ship, and then into a test ship for new weapons, notably testing the US Navy's first ship-to-air missile. She would serve in this capacity until being decommissioned and sold for scrap in 1956, being broken up in 1957.
USS Mississippi was introduced as a reward for the 2023 Winter Extreme event, the first rank 6 event ship. Compared to earlier battleships such as the USS Nevada or USS Arizona she is slightly faster with a similar armour scheme, and she is also the first USN Battleship in War Thunder with the long barreled 14-inch gun, giving her greater penetration as well. This does come with the downside of only having the earlier 5-inch 25 calibre anti-aircraft gun instead of the later 38 calibre dual purpose guns, making her less effective against lightly armoured ships such as light cruisers and destroyers. Overall a solid battleship focused more on capability against other capital ships, with strong anti-aircraft ability as well.
General info
Survivability and armour
The USS Mississippi, like other American battleships, was designed to be able to resist her own 14-inch guns at expected battle ranges. Her main armour belt of 13.5 inches is one of the thickest in-game, the same as the earlier USS Arizona. Expected battle ranges when designed were at or exceeding 9 km, which is more than is typical in War Thunder. The armour will be strong, but captains are still recommended to angle when facing powerful ships such as the HMS Hood. The belt gets progressively thinner the further underwater it is, from 13.5 inches above the waterline, to 11 inches a little under the waterline and then 8 inches below that, before dropping to 1.5 inches down to the fuel tanks.
In her 1945 refit, USS Mississippi has underwater torpedo bulges which can defeat warheads of up to 250 kg TNT equivalent. This will completely defeat American torpedoes such as the Mk.15 and soften the blow from heavier torpedoes such as the G7a, but hits from the Japanese Type 93 torpedo will typically result in either critical damage or a lost ship. Great care should be taken when facing Japanese cruisers or destroyers.
Tied with the USS Arizona, the turrets are some of the most well-armoured turrets in the game, with angled 18-inch plates on the turret faces, 9 inches on the sides and slightly thinner 12.6-inch armour on the barbettes. With that said, the turret roofs still only have a relatively thin 5 inches of armour; this typically won't be an issue but at extremely long range heavy calibre shells could potentially arc into the top of the turret instead of the mantlet, posing a potential weakspot. The citadel deck armour is much improved over the earlier Arizona, with the main armoured deck sitting at 5.5 inches to trigger the fuze of any incoming arcing shells and a secondary 2.75-inch plate beneath to catch any shrapnel before they reach the magazine.
USS Mississippi's magazines have rather poor placement, having the triple threat of being near the hull, at the water surface level and additionally having the shell rooms positioned directly above. Any hits to the shell rooms or at the waterline are prone to magazine detonation, immediately dispatching the ship. Captains should be extremely wary and attempt to avoid any hits to this area, especially by
Mississippi utilizes the "all or nothing" armour scheme. This armour philosophy brings the maximum armour to bear where it is needed, for example, the citadel. This is perfect for fighting enemy capital ships at range, as AP shells will pass through areas without armour without fusing, and allows for thicker armour over vital sections of the ship. However, keep in mind that this also makes the unprotected areas of the ship vulnerable to taking damage from smaller ships. These components may not be vital, but some crew still resides in these areas and constant repairing will still bleed Mississippi of crew. Therefore it is recommended to avoid repairing non-critical components whenever possible, as this will quickly drain the reserves of uninjured crewmen.
Mobility
As with other standard-type battleship, the Mississippi is awfully slow. With a top speed at only 47 km/h (AB)/40 km/h (RB), she would often be left behind even by some other battleship. Her agility is also quite lacking, and as such it would be nearly impossible to dodge torpedoes if spotted too late.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 47 | 21 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 40 | 18 | |
Modifications and economy
| Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Researching the APCBC first is a must. While stock, the Mississippi is nothing but a pinata due to how weak her stock shells is, especially for a ship with such a long reload time. After getting rank II modification, researching HE-VT shell for the secondary is highly recommended as it allowed the Mississippi to finally damage the surface vessel with her 5-inch guns. Then you can either upgrade her mobility of turret rotation so that it wouldn't feel as sluggish as before. The rest can be chosen at your own liking.
Armament
Primary armament
The Mississippi features 12 x 14 inch/50 Mk.11 cannons, arranged in A-Bs-Xs-Y triple turrets as her main armament. This is essentially an improved version of the 14 inch/45 Mk.12 cannons found on the USS Nevada and USS Arizona with longer barrels, resulting in an improved accuracy.
However, like other "standard" battleships, the Mississippi still has cramped turret design, resulting in the same excruciating reload time of 40 seconds at best, meaning that any missed salvoes will seriously cut into the damage output. This can be partially mitigated by firing the turrets separately; this can be especially effective against light targets such as destroyers and light cruisers, and allow some ability to engage multiple targets.
Like the other "standard" battleships, the Mississippi has only two shell options. First is the Mk. 19 HE, a lightweight version of the Mk. 9 HE found on the Arizona and Nevada, with significantly lighter shell weight but with the same 46.67 kg TNT equivalent, giving it marginally better shell velocity at 861 m/s compared to 823 m/s of the Mk. 9. The shell can cause flooding and fire on any ship taking a hit, the damage may be severe enough from a concentrated salvo for many destroyers and sometimes even cruisers to roll over and capsize. It should be noted, however, that USN ammunition has historically contained less filler than other nations' navies. While containing more filler than the Japanese and German 12-inch shells, it does not compare favourably even against the 12-inch shells on Russian/Soviet capital ships, let alone against the monstrous 88.11 kg explosive mass found on the 13.5-inch of HMS Marlborough. Given how absurdly slow the Mississippi's rate of fire is, the shell are not recommended, especially against capital ships.
The other shell option of the Mississippi is the Mk. 16 APCBC round. The shell has relatively low filler at ~10 kg of TNT equivalent, but is offset by its absurd penetration value at 714 mm at point blank, and 493 mm at 10 km range. The shell can easily pierce any battleship's citadel current in the game from the flat angles, and allowed any captain with good aim to "one-shot" any ship they may face. Because of this, it is highly recommended to unlock the APCBC shell as soon as possible to unlock the Mississippi's true potential.
While there seems to be no other reason to load the HE shell when the APCBC shell is unlocked, due to how slow the Mississippi's rate of fire its, the gun suffered from a harsh reload penalty while you're repairing the damage. As such, it is recommended to load only a few of HE shell so that you can switch the shell back-and-forth to reset the reload time and remove the reload penalty timer, significantly improves the gun's rate of fire in the process.
| 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 | ||
| Mk.19 HC | HE | 71 | 71 | 71 | 71 | 71 | 71 |
| Mk.16 APCBC | APCBC | 714 | 669 | 601 | 543 | 493 | 418 |
| 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% | ||||||||||
| Mk.19 HC | HE | 861 | 578.33 | 0 | 0.1 | 46.31 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| Mk.16 APCBC | APCBC | 823 | 680.38 | 0.035 | 26 | 10.17 | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
Secondary armament
The Mississippi has 16 x 5 inch/25 Mk.13 AA cannons as its secondary armament. Mounted in a single turret, with eight guns on the port and starboard side of the superstructure each. Due to the gun being an older version of the 5 inch/38 dual-purposes gun with shorter barrel, it generally perform worse as a result. The gun has a significantly worse shell velocity compared to the main gun at around 657 m/s, resulting into an offset shell trajectory that became apparent when using it simultaneously with the main guns. Given the long reload time of the main guns, it is recommended to manually control these guns yourself with the "secondary armament" selection to eliminate the discrepancy and allowed the shell to hit the target.
Being designed first as an AA gun, the 5 inch/25 cannons has only two shell choice; a default HE-TF shell and an unlockable HE-VT shell, both with the same amount of filler. Since there is no option for the plain HE shell while stock, the 5 inch with HE-TF are effectively useless against surface targets, as the shell would detonate around the ship's vicinity instead of on contact, dealing little to no damage as a result. This, combined with mediocre stock HE shell for the main guns, resulting into the Mississippi having abysmal damage output while stock. As such it is highly recommended to replace the HE-TF shell with an HE-VT shell as soon as possible, as this will allow you to finally deal damage against surface targets, and making it a true "dual-purposes" armament.
| 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 | ||
| Mk.36 AAC | HE-TF | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 |
| Mk.28 AAC-VT | HE-VT | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | |||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| Mk.36 AAC | HE-TF | 657 | 24.42 | 0 | 0.1 | 3.16 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| Proximity-fused shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Arming distance (m) |
Trigger radius (m) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | |||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| Mk.28 AAC-VT | HE-VT | 657 | 23.45 | 0 | 0.1 | 457 | 23 | 3.25 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |
Anti-aircraft armament
Being in the late war configuration, the Mississippi features a heavy anti-air suite of 48 x 40 mm Bofors autocannons in twelve quadruple turrets and 34 x 20 mm Oerlikon autocannons in seventeen dual turrets covering every angle of the ship. These AA guns are more than enough to deter any would-be attackers and bombers from approaching the ship, be it an aircraft or PT boats, especially when combined with the 5 inch guns.
However, as with any other ships with plenty of AA guns, these AA mounts are highly vulnerable from explosive damage, and would be gradually knocked out as the time went on. As such, it is not recommended to repair them under firefight, lest you feed the fresh crew to man the guns for the enemy to kill them off again.
Scout plane
Usage in battles
Due to the heavily armoured nature and large gun calibre of this battleship, it is recommended that you stay on the front lines, angling your ship by 45 degrees so that the effective armour thickness of your armour is thicker. Provide supporting fire to destroyers and cruisers and always take out other battleships first.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Incredible survivability due to thick armour belt covered the entire citadel and huge crew count
- All of the crew compartments are located deep below the deck, thus making them practically immune to HE blasts
- Twelve 14-inch guns with high-power APCBC shells
- Heavy anti-air armaments at all ranges
- Has an access to air search radar
- One scout seaplane
Cons:
- Terrible stock grind due to weak default shell for both the main and secondary guns
- Incredibly slow top speed and poor maneuverability, extremely vulnerable to large bombs and torpedoes
- The main guns have very slow rate of fire
- Secondary guns has much lower velocity than the main guns, which results in a significant shell drop-off discrepancy when used together
- Poorly-protected bridge, expect it to be knocked out often
- Open-mount AA suite are highly vulnerable to explosive blasts
History
Built as the second of three New Mexico-Class battleships and named for the state of Mississippi, the USS Mississippi's life began when the keel was laid down at Newport News Shipbuilding in early April of 1915. During construction, the United States became entangled in the already ongoing First World War and even though she was launched before the war ended, it unfortunately never saw service. Gliding into the water carrying sponsor Camelle McBeath, the daughter of the Chairman of the Mississippi State Highway Commission, on January 25th, 1917, the ship continued to be fitted out as the war in Europe raged on. After months of fitting out and preparations, the ship was finally commissioned in December of 1917 commanded by Captain Joseph L. Jaybe, himself a native of Brandon, MS and soon began the normal shakedown cruise. In early 1918, the ship began exercises along the coast of Virginia before being moved south into Cuban waters for further exercises and training. Once finished with their assignment, the ship then sailed north to Hampton Roads in April of that year where it stayed along the East Coast until the final months of the First World War. Now that the conflict in Europe was finished, the ship began winter exercises in the Caribbean until receiving orders to sail west to join the Pacific Fleet based in San Pedro, CA.
With the departure from the East Coast in July 1919 and eventual joining of the fleet, the ship spent the next four years sailing along the West Coast and in March 1923 took part in a live fire exercise where it sank the recently withdrawn pre-dreadnought USS Iowa (BB-4). However, the good times could not last and in June of 1924 the Mississippi experienced an explosion located in the number 2 turret, the result of which killed 48 men of the ship's crew. After receiving repairs, the Mississippi joined several other ships taking part in war games off the coast of Hawaii. After a goodwill cruise to New Zealand and Australia, the ship was ordered east in 1931 to the Norfolk Navy Yard to receive extensive modernization, seeing changes to the superstructure and secondary armament which eventually was complete in mid 1933. The USS Mississippi continued active service and began training exercises until in October of 1934 when she was again ordered to join the Pacific Fleet in San Pedro, where it remained until the middle of 1941. The ship was sent to Norfolk on June 16th to start preparations for Neutrality Patrol service operating in the North Atlantic. During this time, the Mississippi escorted American convoys bound for Iceland where the ship stayed until on December 7th, 1941, the Japanese attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor and sent United States into war not only with Japan but as well as in Europe. With this development, the Mississippi left Iceland and steamed towards the West Coast once again, arriving in San Francisco on the 22nd of January 1942 to be tasked with not only training but protection of convoys as well.
USS Mississippi began escorting convoys to Fiji in December of 1942 before eventually returning to Pearl Harbor in March of the next year. While there, the ship took part in training exercises for the upcoming operations in the Aleutian Islands to the north. Reaching their next official orders, the ship took part in the shelling of Kiska in July, which played a part in the eventual evacuation of Japanese forces in the area. After the success of the campaign, the ship briefly returned to San Francisco where an overhaul was performed prior to joining Allied forces en-route to the Gilbert Islands. While supporting troops at the Battle of Makin, tragedy struck in a familiar fashion as on November 20th, an explosion occurred inside of a turret, resulting in 43 deaths. After undergoing more repairs, the ship returned once again to duty in January of 1944, providing fire support during the invasion of Kwajalein. The next month, Mississippi took part in the bombardment of Taroa and Wotje before finally striking Kavieng on the island of New Ireland on March 15th. After being ordered to Puget Sound for an expansion of the 5" battery the ship steamed towards Palaus, aiding in the Battle of Peleliu in September. Arriving in Manus for replenishment the ship then moved towards the Philippines where it took part in bombarding Leyte in October. Some five nights later, the Mississippi took part in the Battle of Surigao Strait.
At the Battle of Surigao Strait, Mississippi would join battleships and Pearl Harbor veterans West Virginia, Maryland, Tennesse, California, and Pennsylvania. During this particular battle, Mississippi would only fire off one full salvo of twelve 14" shells. However, with this shot the Mississippi would earn the distinction of becoming the last battleship to fire upon another in history, as well as marking the end of the battle. Although the battle was over, this would not be the final usage of her cannons in the Pacific, as later the ship continued providing support throughout the Philippines, moving into support the landings at Lingayen Gulf on the islands of Luzon. Moving into the gulf to fire upon Japanese shore positions on January 6th, 1945, the ship supported the allied invasion where during this fire support the ship would receive a Kamikaze strike near the waterline. This, however, did not cause much damage as Mississippi continued to support the invasion until February 10th when it then was ordered to sail to Pearl Harbor for repairs. Once repairs had been completed, Mississippi steamed towards Okinawa, arriving off the coast on May 6th where it began an assault on Japanese shore positions. While supporting the invasion, Mississippi would take yet another hit from a Kamikaze on June 5th, but just like the previous attack it did not cause enough damage to force the ship to back out of the fight, remaining off the coast of Okinawa until the 15th. With the end of the war finally arriving in August of 1945, Mississippi was ordered to sail north towards Japan, subsequently arriving in Tokyo Bay and remaining there during the signing of the formal Japanese surrender aboard USS Missouri on September 2nd.
Even though the end of the war arrived, this did not see the end of Mississippi's career, as on September 6th the ship steamed towards Norfolk for a new chapter of its life. Arriving on November 27th, the ship began the conversion to become an auxiliary ship and was given the number AG-128. Now operating out of Norfolk, Mississippi would take part in gunnery testing as well as weapons testing for the RIM-2 Terrier surface-to-air missile system. However, the ship was beginning to show its age and on September 17th, 1956, Mississippi was officially decommissioned in Norfolk after a nearly four-decade long career. After such a long and fruitful career which saw the ship sailing all over the world's oceans, it was proposed that the ship be converted into a museum for future generations to enjoy in peacetime, however things unfortunately were not meant to be and on November 28th the ship was sold to Bethlehem Steel to be scrapped, finally drawing a close to the Mighty Mississippi's long service and the vessel that fired history's final battleship-to-battleship salvo.
Media
- Skins
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
- [Devblog] Winter Extreme: USS Mississippi
- Hickman, Kennedy. "Battleship USS Mississippi (BB-41) in World War II
- Farley, Robert - This World War I Battleship Survived Long Enough to Launch Missiles
- Naval History and Heritage Command - USS Mississippi (BB-41, later AG-128), 1917-1956
| Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. | |
|---|---|
| Gun Destroyers (DD) | |
| Clemson-class | USS Welborn C. Wood · HMS Churchill* |
| Heavy Cruisers (CA) | |
| Des Moines-class | USS Newport News |
| Battleships (BB) | |
| New York-class | USS Texas |
| New Mexico-class | USS Mississippi |
| *USS Herndon in UK service | |
| USA battleships | |
|---|---|
| Delaware-class | USS North Dakota |
| Wyoming-class | USS Wyoming · USS Arkansas |
| New York-class | USS Texas |
| Nevada-class | USS Nevada |
| Pennsylvania-class | USS Arizona |
| New Mexico-class | USS Mississippi |
| Tennessee-class | USS Tennessee |
