Supertest: Italian Tier III Cruiser Taranto
5 min readThe Taranto was originally called SMS Straßburg and served in the Kaiserliche Marine during World War I.
In 1919, the ship was given to Italy as a war prize and was renamed Taranto. She was refitted in 1925 and her initial armament of 12 105 mm guns was replaced by 7 150 mm guns.
The ship saw little action in World War 2. She only took part in a minelaying operation in 1940 and by 1942, she was used as a training ship.
In 1943, after the armistice, the ship was scuttled to avoid Germany from taking it. However, the German forces still managed to refloat the ship… just before having her sunk by Allied bombers on 23 October. She was then refloated and AGAIN was sunk by bombers in September 1944. The German forces decided to move her hulk to block an entrance to the Gulf of La Spezia.
In the end, the ship was raised and then broken up for scrap between 1946 and 1947.
Semi-armor piercing shells
Semi-armor piercing shells have the features of two types of shells at once:
- Semi-armor piercing shells can ricochet, but the angles of the ricochet are more comfortable than those of armor-piercing shells (60–85°);
- For semi-armor piercing shells, the 14.3-caliber rule will apply;
- If the ricochet does not happen, the mechanics of semi-armor piercing shells are similar to high explosive ones;
- Semi-armor piercing shells don’t have over penetrations;
- Can’t cause a fire;
- Damage and penetration is better than high explosive shells;
- Semi-armor piercing shells deal only 10% of their damage to destroyers.
Semi-armor piercing shells are designed to deal stable high damage when armor-piercing shells are not effective.
Fuel smoke
Fuel smokes are almost similar to a usual smoke generator, but a ship equipped with fuel smokes is able to be concealed at full speed. Therefore, Italian cruisers will be able to hide from enemy ships or aircraft, without sacrificing speed and the ability to maneuver. Fuel smokes last from 25 to 40 seconds and disperse in 10 seconds.
Hull | Engine | Gun Fire Control System | Main battery | Torpedoes |
Taranto (A) | Propulsion: 33 742 hp | SDT 3 mod.1 | 150 mm/45 SK L/45 | 500 mm G7 / 533 mm Si 270 G |
Taranto (B) | SDT 3 mod.2 |
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Also, as we are now deep into another AA rebalancing, the values that I will share here are most likely going to change and I will try to update them if they do.
A Hull
Tier | III |
Health | 17 600 HP |
Main Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 9.600 km |
150 mm/45 SK L/45 | 7 x 1 150 mm |
Torpedo Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 4.000 km |
500 mm tubo lanciasiluri | 2 x 1 500 mm |
Maximum speed | 28.2 kt |
Turning Circle Radius | 450 m |
Rudder Shift Time | 8.08 s |
Surface Detectability | 9.36 km |
Air Detectability | 4.02 km |
Detectability After Firing Main Gus in Smoke | 4.07 km |
7 x 1 150 mm/45 SK L/45 | |
Reloading Time | 13.0 s |
180 Degree Turn Time | 25.7 s |
Optimal front firing angle | 30° for 5 guns |
Optimal rear firing angle | 30° for 4 guns 40° for 5 guns |
Sigma | 2.00 sigma |
Maximum Dispersion | 106 m |
Shells | |
Type of Projectile | SAP – 150 mm CS K Gr 18 |
Alpha Damage | 3 350 HP |
Penetration capacity | 41 mm |
Projectile Speed | 835 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.407 |
Projectile Mass | 45.3 |
Projectile Krupp | 3 |
Projectile Detonator | 0.03 s |
Type of Projectile | AP – 150 mm P.Spr.Gr. L/3.7 |
Alpha Damage | 3 700 HP |
Chance to Cause Fire | -0.5 % |
Projectile Speed | 835 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.414 |
Projectile Mass | 45.3 |
Projectile Krupp | 1 925 |
Projectile Detonator | 0.025 s |
2 x 1 500 mm tubo lanciasiluri | |
Torpedo | 500 mm G7 |
Reloading Time | 21 s |
Maximum Distance | 4.0 km |
Optimal front firing angle | 20° |
Optimal rear firing angle | 20° |
Damage | 10 400 |
Speed | 58 kt |
Surface Detectability | 1.1 km |
2 x 1 88 mm/45 SK L45 | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 4.6 km |
Hit chance | 90 % |
Sector’s damage | 1 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 4 |
Flak clouds number | 1 |
Flak cloud damage | 700 |
Slot 1 |
Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 90 s |
Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 60 s |
B Hull
Tier | III |
Health | 19 600 HP |
Main Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 10.560 km |
150 mm/45 SK L/45 | 7 x 1 150 mm |
Torpedo Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 4.000 km |
533 mm tubo lanciasiluri DAAN-Whitehead | 2 x 2 533 mm |
Maximum speed | 28.2 kt |
Turning Circle Radius | 450 m |
Rudder Shift Time | 5.7 s |
Surface Detectability | 9.36 km |
Air Detectability | 4.02 km |
Detectability After Firing Main Gus in Smoke | 4.07 km |
7 x 1 150 mm/45 SK L/45 | |
Reloading Time | 13.0 s |
180 Degree Turn Time | 25.7 s |
Optimal front firing angle | 30° for 5 guns |
Optimal rear firing angle | 30° for 4 guns 40° for 5 guns |
Sigma | 2.00 sigma |
Maximum Dispersion | 106 m |
Shells | |
Type of Projectile | SAP – 150 mm CS K Gr 18 |
Alpha Damage | 3 350 HP |
Penetration capacity | 41 mm |
Projectile Speed | 835 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.407 |
Projectile Mass | 45.3 |
Projectile Krupp | 3 |
Projectile Detonator | 0.03 s |
Type of Projectile | AP – 150 mm P.Spr.Gr. L/3.7 |
Alpha Damage | 3 700 HP |
Chance to Cause Fire | -0.5 % |
Projectile Speed | 835 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.414 |
Projectile Mass | 45.3 |
Projectile Krupp | 1 925 |
Projectile Detonator | 0.025 s |
2 x 2 533 mm tubo lanciasiluri DAAN-Whitehead | |
Type of torpedo | 533 mm Si 270 G |
Reloading Time | 47 s |
Maximum Distance | 8.0 km |
Optimal front firing angle | 30° |
Optimal rear firing angle | 20° |
Damage | 9 067 |
Speed | 51 kt |
Surface Detectability | 1.0 km |
2 x 1 88 mm/45 SK L45 | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 3.0 km |
Hit chance | 90 % |
Sector’s damage | 2 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 7 |
Slot 1 |
Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 90 s |
Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 60 s |
The Armor
The Taranto is protected by 6 mm of armor with the exception of the 60 mm main belt that extends on the bow and stern.
The bow section
Inside the bow, there is an armored deck with sloped sides. the middle part is 20 mm thick and the sides are 40 mm thick.
Except for these and the 40 mm casemate just above the armored deck, the rest of the inner platings inside the bow and the stern are 6 mm thick.
The middle section
The citadel’s sides and deck are 40 mm thick. Overall, you should be protected against cruiser AP but battleships are another story.
Personal opinion
Compared to the Nino Bixio, the Taranto doesn’t have a very good ballistic with her high air drag. Then again, at low tier, it isn’t that big of an issue. The issue is still the same with the SAP shells. This ship will simply struggle against destroyers and getting caught off-guard by one of them might lead to your death.
Except that, she should be decent for tier III unless she ends up against things like St. Louis but we will see soon.