Public Test: U.S. Supercarrier United States

So…. let’s take care of the literal elephant in the room first. Ladies and Gentlemen, we are getting the first supercarriers of the game in the form of the USS United States as well as HMS Eagle. Sadly for the United States, the only thing that is super right now is the size of the damn thing.

Historical background

USS United States (CVA-58) was meant to be the lead ship of a whole new design of supercarriers. This design was meant to be able to operate the jet aircraft that were larger and heavier than the aircraft carried by ships of the Essex and Midway-class.

Compared to the Midway-class, the ship did not have an armored deck and also did not possess a main belt.

The United States was designed with the primary mission of strategic long-range bombardment with planes large enough to carry nuclear ordnance. She would also be able to carry long-range fighters to protect the bombers.

In total, 5 units of this new class were planned and the United States was laid down in April 1949. However, the project was quickly canceled due to budget cuts and the construction was stopped. The cancellation of the United States would be one of the major factors that would lead to the Revolt of the Admirals against the new policy of the U.S. government.

In World of Warships, the United States has some notable differences from the real design. She is missing a rear catapult on the starboard side and instead, has a superstructure.
In terms of planes, her standard squadrons are equipped with JATO and are the same as those of Midway except that she lacks torpedo bombers. She gets tactical jet aircraft that work in a similar way to the planes on hybrids. They can reach some really high speed but the engine boost doesn’t recharge when consumed and they have enormous turning radiuses.

Size comparison between Eagle, United States and Midway – Credits to Ch0m1n

Ship’s preview

Camouflage

While the ship is available for everyone on the Public Test, chances are that her balancing isn’t over yet so I’ll play it safe and slap the Work in Progress warning.

WG_SPb_WoWs_WIP-icon_black

Modules

Hull	Attack Aircrafts	Torpedo Bombers	Dive Bombers	Propulsion
United States	Grumman F9F	‎A-2 Savage	A-2 Savage	Propulsion: 280 000 hp

Ship and stock planes

General Characteristics

Tier	XI (Supership)
Health	78 200 HP
Torpedo damage reduction	19 %
Displacement	83 034 tons
Dimensions
Overall length	331.5 m
Beam	71.0 m
Overall height (keel to the highest point on the ship)	34.6 m
Freeboard	(wrong value in the game files)
Aircraft on deck
Attack Aircraft	14
Dive Bombers	18
Tactical Attack Aircraft	2
Tactical Torpedo Bombers	1
Tactical Dive Bombers	1
Secondary Armament
127 mm/54 Mk.16 on a Mk.42 mount	8 x 2 127 mm
Maximum Firing Range	7.300 km
Anti-Air Armament
127 mm/54 Mk.16 on a Mk.42 mount	8 x 2 127 mm
76.2 mm/70 Mk.23 on a Mk.37 mod. 0 mount	8 x 2 76.2 mm
20 mm Oerlikon on a Mk.20 mount	20 x 2 20 mm
Maximum speed	33.0 knots
Turning Circle Radius	1 420 m
Rudder Shift Time	19.4 s
Surface Detectability	17.82 km
Air Detectability	22.54 km
Consumables
Slot 1	Slot 2
Damage Control Party Work time: 60 s Cooldown: 90 s	Fighter Number of charges: 4 Work time: 600 s Cooldown: 40 s Patrol Radius: 3.0 km Planes in a squadron: 4

Attack Aircraft

Attack Aircrafts – ‎F8F Bearcat
Tier	XI
Hitpoints per plane	1 590
Cruise speed	176 knots
Maximum speed	216 knots
JATO speed boost	+30%
JATO duration	10 s
Engine boost time	5 s
Engine boost reload time	10 s
Size of attacking flight	3
Aircraft per squadron	9
Rocket type	HVAR 127 mm
Rocket per plane	10
Machine gun sequence	3.5 s
Maximum rocket damage	2 000
HE penetration capacity	33 mm
Explosion size	0.46
Fire chance	7 %
Detectability range	10.0 km
Aircraft restoration time	94 s
Aircraft on deck	14

Consumables
Slot 1	Slot 2
Engine Cooling Number of Charges: 2 Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 80 s	Patrol fighter Number of Charges: 3 Work time: 20 s Cooldown: 10 s Aircraft per squadron: 7 Patrol radius: 4.0 km

Dive Bombers

Dive bomber – ‎BTD Destroyer
Tier	XI
Hitpoints per plane	2 150
Cruise speed	131 knots
Maximum speed	166 knots
JATO speed boost	+30%
JATO duration	10 s
Engine boost time	20 s
Engine boost reload time	40 s
Size of attacking flight	12
Aircraft per squadron	3
Bomb type	AN-M66
Bomb per plane	2
Maximum bomb damage	11 200
HE penetration capacity	67 mm
Explosion size	2.83
Fire chance	64 %
Detectability range	10.0 km
Aircraft restoration time	76 s
Aircraft on deck	18

Consumables
Slot 1	Slot 2
Engine Cooling Number of Charges: 2 Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 80 s	Patrol fighter Number of Charges: 3 Work time: 20 s Cooldown: 10 s Aircraft per squadron: 7 Patrol radius: 4.0 km

Tactical Attack Aircraft

Tactical Attack Aircraft – ‎Grumman F9F
Tier	XI
Hitpoints per plane	1 610
Cruise speed	170 knots
Maximum speed	340 knots
Engine boost time	30 s
Size of attacking flight	2
Aircraft per squadron	2
Rocket type	11.75 inch AR Mod. 1
Rocket per plane	2
Launch delay	1.5 s
Maximum rocket damage	8 700
HE penetration capacity	76 mm
Explosion size	2.93
Fire chance	70 %
Detectability range	15.0 km
Restoration time	150 s

Consumable
Slot 1
Patrol fighter Number of Charges: 3 Work time: 20 s Cooldown: 10 s Aircraft per squadron: 7 Patrol radius: 4.0 km

Tactical Torpedo Bombers

Tactical Torpedo Bomber – A-2 Savage
Tier	XI
Hitpoints per plane	4 430
Cruise speed	132 knots
Maximum speed	264 knots
Engine boost time	20 s
Size of attacking flight	1
Aircraft per squadron	1
Torpedo type	Torpedo Mk.25
Torpedoes per plane	2
Maximum torpedo damage	13 733
Maximum torpedo range	4.0 km
Torpedo speed	35 knots
Torpedo arming time	5.0 s
Flooding chance	112%
Detectability range	15.0 km
Restoration time	240 s

Tactical Dive Bombers

Tactical Dive bomber – ‎A-2 Savage
Tier	XI
Hitpoints per plane	5 860
Cruise speed	132 knots
Maximum speed	264 knots
Engine boost time	20 s
Size of attacking flight	1
Aircraft per squadron	1
Bomb type	AN-M56A1
Bomb per plane	3
Maximum bomb damage	16 000
HE penetration capacity	85 mm
Explosion size	4.82
Fire chance	91 %
Detectability range	15.0 km
Aircraft restoration time	360 s

Secondary Armament

8 x 2 127 mm/54 Mk.16 on a Mk.42 mount
Maximum Firing Range	7.300 km
Reloading Time	4.0 s
Sigma	1.00 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 127 mm HE Mk41
Alpha Damage	1 800 HP
HE penetration	21 mm
Explosion Size	0.44
Chance to Cause Fire	9 %
Projectile Speed	808 m/s
Air Drag	0.279
Projectile Mass	31.75 kg

Anti-air Armament

8 x 2 127 mm/54 Mk.16 on a Mk.42 mount
Sector range	0.1 km – 6.0 km
Hit chance	100 %
Sector’s damage	88
Sector’s damage frequency	0.29 s
Sector’s damage per second	308
Flak clouds number	11
Flak cloud damage	1 820
8 x 2 76.2 mm/70 Mk.23 on a Mk.37 mod. 0 mount
Sector range	0.1 km – 4.0 km
Hit chance	100 %
Sector’s damage	127
Sector’s damage frequency	0.29 s
Sector’s damage per second	445
20 x 2 20 mm Oerlikon on a Mk.20 mount
Sector range	0.1 km – 2.0 km
Hit chance	95 %
Sector’s damage	58
Sector’s damage frequency	0.29 s
Sector’s damage per second	203

The Armor

Weeeeeeeelllllllll… this behemoth of a flat top is ironically the least protected carrier in high tier by an enormous margin. The flight deck is 25 mm thick and for the rest, it’s 19 mm everywhere, including the citadel. There is no main belt or anything worth called armor.

External armor protection

Citadel armor protection

Personal Opinion

Well, that will be a massive no for me. What we are dealing with right now is nothing short of a worse Midway.

First and foremost, you have the problem of the hull that limits you immensely in terms of being able to position your ship. The United States isn’t just spotted from the moon, she also has no armor to speak of and literally any battleship can cancel her existence just as fast as Louis A. Johnson did in 1949.

For the planes, compared to Midway, she loses her incredibly valuable torpedo bombers and is as such limited to only operating attack aircraft and dive bombers. This can be a big issue as it makes squadron cycling quite problematic when dealing with strong anti-air. It’s especially true when considering that the HVARs of Midway aren’t anything crazy either and you will be tempted to use the dive bombers a lot more.

When it comes to the jets, they are a true disappointment. The rockets are the fastest to recharge but the damage they deal is honestly underwhelming. They are good at setting fires but that’s about it.
For the torpedoes, while they have the highest damage per hit of all plane-borne torpedoes, the reticule takes ages to line up forcing you to start the attack from relatively far away and the spread is also quite bad, making it easy to avoid for cruisers.
The tactical dive bombers are the only ones that pack a really strong punch with high damage and great fire chances but that’s the joke. They take 6 MINUTES to recharge (although it can be brought down a bit). At best, you will be able to use them 3 times in a match but it will generally not go beyond 2.

In the end, the United States is an 83k tons joke and there will also be no match where you won’t find yourself thinking “Man, the stuff I could achieve if I was playing Midway instead…”.
However, don’t get me wrong on that part, it remains a fairly strong carrier. It’s just… a bloody joke of a supership.