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Supertest: German Tier VIII Premium Cruiser Mainz

6 min read

For the upcoming 0.8.9., only 2 ships are joining the supertest. The first of the 2 is the Tier VIII German cruiser Mainz.

The Mainz is based on the initial design planned for the Admiral Hipper-class cruisers Seydlitz and Lützow. These 2 ships were meant to present a different main armament from the 3 first ships of the class. The ships were supposed to be armed with 4 triple turrets with 150 mm guns which would have designated them as light cruisers. However, in the end, the idea was abandoned.

Seydlitz and Lützow were then planned to be completed the same way as the other ships but as war broke out, priorities shifted and in 1942 the 95% completed Seydlitz was then chosen to be completed as an auxiliary aircraft carrier. The newly named Weser was never completed due to a lack of resources and was towed to Königsberg where she was later scuttled in 1945.

Lützow was sold to the Soviet Union and renamed Petropavlovsk in 1940 uncompleted with only 2 turrets installed and a major part of the superstructure missing. By the time Operation Barbarossa started, the ship was still far from complete. She provided artillery support during the defense of Leningrad before being heavily damaged in September 1941 and then sunk in April 1942. In September of the same year, the ship was raised. After repairs, she was renamed (again) Tallinn and was used for the counter-offensive that relieved Leningrad in 1944.
After the war, the ship used as a floating barrack was scrapped between 1953 and 1960.

When it comes to Mainz, the ship will represent what the initially designed Seydlitz and Lützow would have looked like.

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Modules
Hull
Engine
Gun Fire Control System
Main battery
Torpedoes

Mainz

Propulsion: 132 000 hp

FKS Typ 8 Mod. 1

150 mm L/60 SK C/25

G7a T1

Characteristics
GeneralMain BatterySecondariesTorpedo TubesAir DefenseConsumables
TierVIII
Health42 500 HP
Main Armament
Maximum Firing Range17.520 km
150 mm L/60 SK C/254 x 3 150 mm
Secondary Armament
Maximum Firing Range5.000 km
105 mm L/65 Dop. L. C/316 x 2 105 mm
Torpedo Armament
Maximum Firing Range6.000 km
533 mm Vierling4 x 4 533 mm
Maximum speed32 kt
Turning Circle Radius720 m
Rudder Shift Time10.5  s
Surface Detectability15.3 km
Air Detectability7.5 km
Detectability After Firing Main Gus in Smoke8.41 km

4 x 3 150 mm L/60 SK C/25
 Reloading Time7.5 s
180 Degree Turn Time30.0 s
Optimal front firing angle
38°
Optimal rear firing angle39°
Sigma2.00 sigma
Maximum Dispersion154 m
Shells
Type of Projectile HE – 150 mm Spr.Gr. L/4.4 Kz.
Alpha Damage1 700 HP
Damage670 HP
Penetration capacity 37 mm
Explosion size0.54
Fire chance8 %
Projectile Speed960 m/s
Air Drag0.331
Projectile Mass45.5
Type of ProjectileAP – 150 mm P.Spr.Gr. L/3.7
Alpha Damage3 900 HP
Chance to Cause Fire-0.5 %
Projectile Speed960 m/s
Air Drag0.331
Projectile Mass45.5
Projectile Krupp1862
Projectile Detonator0.025 s
Detonator threshold25 mm

6 x 2 105 mm L/65 Dop. L. C/31
Reloading Time3.35 s
Sigma1.00 sigma
Shells
Type of ProjectileHE – 105 mm Spr.Gr. Kz.
Alpha Damage1 200 HP
Damage330 HP
HE penetration25 mm
Explosion Size0.31
Chance to Cause Fire5 %
Projectile Speed900 m/s
Air Drag0.33
Projectile Mass15.1
4 x 4 533 mm Vierling
G7a T1
Reloading Time90 s
Maximum Distance6.0 km
Optimal fronfiring angle30°
Optimal rear firing angle30°
Damage13 700
Speed64 kt
Surface Detectability1.3 km

6 x 2 105 mm L/65 Dop. L. C/31
Sector range0.1 km – 5.2 km
Hit chance90 %
Sector’s damage34
Sector’s damage frequency0.29 s
Sector’s damage per second119
Flak clouds number6
Flak cloud damage1400
18 x 2 37 mm Flak LM/42
Sector range0.1 km – 3.5 km
Hit chance90 %
Sector’s damage91
Sector’s damage frequency0.29 s
Sector’s damage per second319
12 x 4 20 mm Flakvierling 38
Sector range0.1 km – 2.0 km
Hit chance85 %
Sector’s damage42
Sector’s damage frequency0.29 s
Sector’s damage per second147
Slot 1
Slot 2
Slot 3
Damage Control Party I
Work time: 5 s
Cooldown: 90 s
Hydroacoustic Search I
Number of charges: 3
Work time: 120 s
Cooldown: 180 s
Torpedo detection range: 4.0 km
Ship detection range: 6.0 km
Fighter I

Number of charges: 2
Work time: 60 s
Cooldown: 135 s
Patrol radius: 3.0 km
Damage Control Party II
Work time: 5 s
Cooldown: 60 s
Hydroacoustic Search II
Number of charges: 3
Work time: 120 s
Cooldown: 120 s
Torpedo detection range: 4.0 km
Ship detection range: 6.0 km
Fighter II
Number of charges: 3
Work time: 60 s
Cooldown: 90 s
Patrol radius: 3.0 km
Defensive AA Fire I
Number of charges: 3
Work time: 40 s
Cooldown: 120 s
Defensive AA Fire II
Number of charges: 3
Work time: 40 s
Cooldown: 80 s

 

The armor

Capture.JPG

You would expect the Mainz to have an armor similar to the Admiral Hipper or Prinz Eugen. Well yes but actually no. She is less armored and on top of that, due to her smaller displacement sits higher on the water. No need to tell you that it is not a good thing at all.

The bow section

bow1.JPG

Even though the Mainz is categorized as a light cruiser because of her guns, she at least keeps the bow and stern armor of a heavy cruiser. Her bow is 27 mm thick except for the extended belt of 40 mm that goes all the way to the tip of the bow.

bow2.JPG

Inside the bow, there is a 20 mm armored deck. It doesn’t help much since cruisers will pretty much never citadel you through the bow. Battleship can just overmatch this plate.

bow3.JPG

The upper casemate protecting the middle section as well as the lower part of the citadel athwartship are 25 mm. Battleship AP shells will just go through that like it was butter.

bow4

For the upper part of the citadel and the casemate around it, they are 80 mm thick. So far, it is relatively similar to the Hipper and the Prinz Eugen except for the underwater part of the citadel on the Mainz that is 25 mm thick against 80 mm on the other 2 ships.

bow5

Here is a view from the inside the citadel to be able to properly see its shape.

The middle section

The deck and the sides are 27 m thick. So far, nothing strange. The strange part is that her torpedo bulge is 13 mm thick compared to 27 mm on the 2 others. The main belt is 80 mm thick and the ship presents, like any respectable German ship, a turtleback.

mid3.JPG

She is actually gaining something compared to the Hipper and the Eugen because the turtleback is 40 mm thick while on the others, it’s 30 mm thick.

mid4.JPG

When it comes to the citadel deck, it is 30 mm thick so battleships with 431 mm guns and above will be able to overmatch that.

Overall, the ship is the same as Hipper and Eugen but she sits much higher on the water meaning that citadels will definitely be easier to score. Considering the terrible firing angles, this is actually pretty bad.

The stern section

stern1.JPG

The stern is 27 mm thick except for an extended belt of 70 mm. Considering how high it is above the water, it will be pretty effective at bouncing battleship AP shells or even AP shells in general.

Inside the stern, there is the classic German armored deck with the middle part being 30 mm thick and the sloped sides 40 mm thick. This will protect the citadel effectively except for the battleships able to overmatch 30 mm.

For the protection of the middle section, it’s the same as the one at the front. 25 mm of armor for the upper casemate and lower part of the citadel’s athwartship and for the upper part of the athwartship, 80 mm of armor.

In the end, for kiting, the armor of the Mainz is not bad.

The superstructure

supers.JPG

The superstructure is fairly big and is protected by 16 mm of armor except for the conning tower with 150 mm of armor on the sides and 30 on the roof.

The turrets

turrets.JPG

This is where we have a big problem. The turrets of the Mainz are the same as on the Konigsberg. This means that their armor protection is simply terrible. Except for the face and barbette with 30 mm, the entire turret is covered by 20 mm of armor. This laughably bad. Destroyer HE can incapacitate these turrets.

Personal opinion

This ship is supposed to hold her ground against the other light cruisers at tier VIII.

The Chapayev, Kutuzov and Irian have the speed and the ballistic. The Bayard has the DPM, especially with her reload booster and has great agility. Cleveland has the radar and also the DPM.

The Mainz has terrible firing angles, terrible ballistic while having the same reload as Chapayev, Kutuzov and Irian, is sluggish and her armor is also nothing amazing.

She has only one good characteristic and it’s the 37 mm penetration. So far, I’m concerned about the effectiveness of this ship in combat and I don’t understand why she doesn’t get Nurnberg turrets that have a faster reload on the guns, better turret traverse and have actual armor.

LAST MINUTE CHANGE:

It turns out that Wargaming decided to nerf the Mainz and gave it 25 mm bow and stern. This ship is now even more worrying than before and it looks like I will have “””fun””” testing it.

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