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.
The Des Moines-class heavy cruiser is the final evolution of the "all-gun" American cruiser. Being largely based on the Baltimore-class heavy cruiser, the Des Moines-class retains the same layout with several optimization and improvement, most notably the introduction of an autoloading mechanism for her 8-inch (203 mm) guns, doubling its rate of fire. However, as they were completed during the dawn of the jet and missile age, they were largely reduced to a fleet carrier escort. By the year 1961, two out of three ship of the class were already decommissioned.
The USS Newport News, the third and final Des Moines-class, is the sole active ship of the class during the outbreak of the Vietnam War. After being converted into a flagship cruiser in 1962, she was deployed in a bombardment roles off the coast of Vietnam. In 1972, she suffered a gun breech explosion and deemed too expensive to repair, resulting into her decommission three years later.
General info
Survivability and armour
The 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. While she lacks any anti-fragmentation armour to protect her deck from HE shell, this is compensated by the placement of some of her crew compartments deep into the hull, thus protecting her crew from external damage in the process.
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 defence. 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. Whatever you do, keep the torpedo from hitting below any main turret.
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 boast a much higher rate of fire (10 rpm with max level crew 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 and even some capital ships at close range, though don't get cocky because they can still blast you out of the water as easily as any other cruiser when they turn their guns on you.
Being the same armaments as the Baltimore-class, the guns also have similar shell choices:
- The stock common SAP shells have very poor penetration statistics and explosive filler for their calibre. Featuring even worse penetration than some 152 mm (6-inch) or even 127 mm (5-inch) guns. The shell still have some niche use against destroyers and can certainly threaten other cruisers at close range. But they are completely useless against capital ships and anything smaller beyond 8 km range.
- The HE shell is reasonably effective, the 9.5 kg of filler capable of harassing deck mounts, setting fires and poking holes in enemy hulls, but it won't do well against ships with capable armouring and anti-fragmentation protection.
- The "super-heavy" APCBC shell features an average penetration and filler for 203 mm (8-inch) guns. It is noticeably heavier than an average 203 mm (8-inch) shell and has a slower muzzle velocity, intended to make it able to punch through relatively thin deck armour with its high ballistic trajectory, though this doesn't really work in practice. That being said, it's not a bad shell for using on major warships and the fast fire rate makes it fearsome in that regard.
The USS Newport News still carries the same amount of main battery ammunition as the Baltimore-class heavy cruisers, which have substantially lower rates of fire. 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 calibre fire
- Excellent crew distribution, At least 30% crew is allocated among citadel machineries
- Formidable firepower, The 203 mm 8 inch/55 Mark 16 guns can fire at a rate of 10 rounds per minute
- Has air search and tracking radars
- Strong long-medium range AA with the numerous 127 mm secondaries
- 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 calibre guns can overmatch the bulkhead and pierce the athwartship armour fairly easily
- The magazine of her second turret is above waterline
- Terrible stock SAP shell, forcing the ship to get close to the enemy to deal damage
- Limited light AA capability. Only two dual-mount 76 mm guns for AA; one for each side of the ship
- Relatively low ammo capacity. 1350 rounds only support 15 mins of non-stop fighting with maximum crew
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 |
