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

armor and survivability are amazing. Let me explain. Armor is extremely thick for a ship of this size, reaching 52mm for the center section and 60mm for the superstructure!

The vessel comes with 39 crew, this is twice as much as most other PT boats.

Something that can be considered overpowered, is that her compartments, especially the middle section and superstructure, are armored all around. This means they will remain intact, keeping their crew alive. There are even 30mm 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 to 40%, and not do a single damage after that. You will not be brought down by destroyer's HE salvos easily.

The 1943 variant has a lower BR sitting at 3.3 in RB, this means you're facing the reserve destroyers of most nations with inexperienced players. They will fire mostly HE at you, and you are capable of winning 1V1 fights against destroyers.

This may be the toughest boat of its BR.

Cannon APHE and aircraft will make short work of you however.

Your 2 main turrets are the same found on T-34 1941 tank. These will almost never be destroyed.

Mobility

Your forward speed is just above 25kph. 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 line of sight. Plan your route in advance, as you will not have enough time to change course later on.

Armament

Primary armament

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

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

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.

Special 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

Use this ship in areas where you will be hidden from larger vessel. Especially destroyers and cruisers using APHE rounds. HE rounds can be stopped by your armored center section, and will mostly just destroy your secondary weapons, bow, and rear. You are slow and will shine at the early stages of a battle, before there are too many aircraft around. Enemy PT boats will have a very hard time killing you.

Modules

Tier	Seakeeping	Unsinkability		Firepower
I	Dry-Docking	Tool Set		45 mm O-240 HE	Anti-Air Armament Targeting
II	Rudder Replacement	Fire Protection System	Smokescreen	45 mm BR-240	Auxiliary Armament Targeting	76 mm BR-350A
III	Propeller Replacement				Primary Armament Targeting	Improved Rangefinder
IV	Engine Maintenance	New Pumps		45 mm F-73
This is a premium vehicle: all modifications are unlocked on purchase

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:

Cons:

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