USS Newport News

USS Newport News

USS Newport News

Description

The Des Moines-class, USS Newport News (CA-148), 1972 is a gift rank American heavy cruiser with a battle rating of (AB), (RB), and (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 armoured just like its predecessor. The most noticeable difference is that the 6" (152 mm) main belt has been extended to cover the main battery turrets. There are also several 5" (127 mm) bulkheads dividing the citadel into sections, which will help isolating damage in engine and ammunition compartments.

Her main battery turrets are armoured similarly to those on Baltimore-class cruisers. Compared to the older turrets, these have slightly thicker armour 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. 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 manoeuvre 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)		Turn Time (s)	Turn Radius (m)
		Forward	Reverse
AB	Stock	___	___
	Upgraded
RB/SB	Stock	___	___
	Upgraded

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 boast 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

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 armoured 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

USS Newport News 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 mount 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

Pros:

• Well-armoured and resistant against small-to-medium caliber fire
• Excellent crew distribution, At least 30% crew is allocated among citadel machineries
• Formidable firepower, The 8 inch/55 Mark 16 guns can fire at a rate of 10 rounds per minute
• Has air search and tracking radars
• Has two fire control rooms and 10 fire directors for both main battery group and auxiliary battery group

Cons:

• Extremely fragile against battleships and battlecruisers. 305 mm and above caliber guns can overmatch the bulkhead and pierce the athwartship armor fairly easily
• The magazine of her second turret is above waterline
• Limited AA capability. Only two dual-mount 3" guns for AA; one for each side of the ship
• Relatively low ammo capacity. 1350 rounds only support 15 mins of non-stop fighting

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

• [Devblog] Winter Event: USS Newport News (CA-148)

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