Supertest: Italian Tier IX Premium Battleship Giuseppe Verdi

The Historical background

Just like Marco Polo, Giuseppe Verdo is inspired by the design UP.41. from Ansaldo.

For the description of the design, credits to Phoenix_jz, one of our great naval history enthusiasts on Discord. I sadly lack knowledge on Italian designs but he, on the other hand, really knows a lot about them.

UP.41 was modified from an Italian design by Ansaldo to sell to the Soviets, thus creating a new design specifically for the USSR. However, that base design existed beforehand and continued to be worked on by the Regia Marina past the point that UP.41 was sent to the USSR. Rather specifically, this stemmed from the planning for the 1935/36 naval program, which sought to construct a considerably more powerful fleet by 1942, including an oceanic component from a new base in Somalia, which gave the potential for the Regia Marina to convince Mussolini on plans for 41 000 tons battleships to succeed the Littorio-class, which had already had studies undertaken since 1935. The design almost immediately grew to 42 000 tons, but had similar dimensions and machinery to UP.41 (they weren’t changed by Ansaldo apparently), with an armament of 3×3 406mm, 4×3 152/55, and 12×2 100/47. Ultimately, the ‘oceanic/breakout fleet’ program was scrapped by Mussolini, due to the drop in tensions with Britain after a relatively short war conquering Ethiopia. However, the RM kept working on the design, hoping to work it into future programs.

The design as it was in early 1936 was modified by Ansaldo and sold to the USSR, which became what we know as UP.41. However, the home-grown design continued to be worked on and modified through 1936 and beyond, growing to 45 000 tons. In December 1937 the ability to lay down two new battleships for the 1938/39 naval program was, after some debate, taken in favor of repeat Littorio’s, as the CSMM (Cavagnari) decided he wanted an already tested design that could be built quickly, due to the tense situation in the Mediterranean. Thus, the 406mm battleships lost their first chance.

They were again included in the 1939/40 naval program, to lay down after the launch of the repeat Littorio’s, but said program collapsed due to the escalating situation in Europe and then finally the outbreak of war sealed their fate, though the design was still being modified as late as mid-1941.

Ship’s preview

Ship’s commemorative flag

Camouflage

It’s not that bad in-game but yes, the ship is light pink.

For the classic reminder, this is a ship in testing, anything can change so don’t look at her like she would already be released.

Modules

Hull	Engine	Gun Fire Control System	Main battery
Giuseppe Verdi	Propulsion: 191 000 HP	‎SDT 9	406 mm/50 OTO 1940

Hull

Engine

Gun Fire Control System

Main battery

Giuseppe Verdi

Propulsion: 191 000 HP

‎SDT 9

406 mm/50 OTO 1940

General Characteristics

Tier	IX
Health	69 100 HP
Torpedo Damage Reduction	27%
Displacement	49 317 tons
Dimensions
Overall length	252.9 m
Beam	36.06 m
Overall height (keel to the highest point on the ship)	33.0 m
Freeboard	7.3 m
Main Armament
Maximum Firing Range	19.120 km
406 mm/50 OTO 1940	3 x 3 406 mm
Secondary Armament
Maximum Firing Range	6.950 km
152 mm/55 OTO 1936 90 mm/50 OTO 1939	4 x 3 152 mm 12 x 2 90 mm
Maximum speed	32.0 knots
Turning Circle Radius	860 m
Rudder Shift Time	16.0 s
Surface Detectability	16.8 km
Air Detectability	12.98 km
Detectability After Firing Main Guns in Smoke	16.26 km

Main Armament

3 x 3 406 mm/50 OTO 1940
Maximum Firing Range	19.120 km
Reloading Time	30.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	36.0 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	30°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	30°
Sigma	1.80 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	253 m
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 406 mm proiettili HE 1940
Alpha Damage	5 700
Penetration capacity	68 mm
Explosion size	2.46
Fire chance	36 %
Projectile Speed	836 m/s
Air Drag	0.248
Projectile Mass	1 071 kg
Type of Projectile	AP – 406 mm proiettili AP 1940
Alpha Damage	13 050
Projectile Speed	836 m/s
Air Drag	0.248
Projectile Mass	1 071 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 400
Projectile Detonator	0.033 s
Detonator threshold	68 mm
Ricochet Angles	45° – 60°

Secondary Armament

4 x 3 152 mm/55 OTO 1936
Maximum Firing Range	6.950 km
Reloading Time	12 s
Sigma	1.00 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	SAP – 152 mm proiettili CS 1926
Alpha Damage	3 850 HP
Penetration capacity	42 mm
Projectile Speed	950 m/s
Air Drag	0.325
Projectile Mass	44.3 kg
Ricochet Angles	70° – 80°
12 x 2 90 mm/50 OTO 1939
Maximum Firing Range	6.950 km
Reloading Time	4 s
Sigma	1.00 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	SAP – 90 mm proiettili CS
Alpha Damage	2 000 HP
Penetration capacity	26 mm
Projectile Speed	860 m/s
Air Drag	0.414
Projectile Mass	10.1 kg
Ricochet Angles	70° – 80°

Anti-air Armament

12 x 2 90 mm/50 OTO 1939
Sector range	0.1 km – 4.6 km
Hit chance	75 %
Sector’s damage	56
Sector’s damage frequency	0.29 s
Sector’s damage per second	196
Flak clouds number	8
Flak cloud damage	1 330
10 x 2 37 mm/54 Breda 1937
Sector range	0.1 km – 3.5 km
Hit chance	75 %
Sector’s damage	57
Sector’s damage frequency	0.29 s
Sector’s damage per second	200
16 x 6 20 mm/70 Breda 1941
Sector range	0.1 km – 2.0 km
Hit chance	70 %
Sector’s damage	59
Sector’s damage frequency	0.29 s
Sector’s damage per second	207

Consumables

Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3	Slot 4
Damage Control Party Work time: 15 s Cooldown: 80 s	Repair Party Number of charges: 4 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration speed: +0.5%/s	Exhaust Smoke Generator Number of charges: 3 Work time: 80 s Cooldown: 180 s Smoke duration time: 10 s Smoke radius: 1.1 km	Spotting Aircraft Number of charges: 4 Work time: 100 s Cooldown: 240 s Maximum firing range: +20%
			Fighter Number of charges: 3 Work time: 60 s Cooldown: 90 s HP Patrol radius: 3.0 km Number of planes in the squadron: 3

The Armor

Just like the rest of the model, the armor is a 1:1 copy of what you can already find on Marco Polo.

General armor protection:

Internal citadel protection:

Casemate internal plating:

Turrets armor protections:

Hidden armor platings:

Personal Opinion

Soooo… Marco Polo was already bad but now, they give us a worse variant.

With the Giuseppe, you lose the SAP that was somewhat saving MP from mediocrity in exchange for the anemic Italian HE and an ultra-buffed Exhaust Smoke Generator with 80s duration and… for whatever reason, a 1.1 km smoke radius (largest so far was on British cruisers with 600 m). I don’t really get why one would need such huge exhaust smoke but whatever.

You also get SAP shells on your secondaries but there are… a few problems. The secondaries have the standard dispersion (so they won’t hit crap) and also a standard range.

In the end, I just don’t see what’s the point of this ship unless they buff the secondaries to make it a battleship version of Napoli.

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