Supertest: Italian Tier X Battleship Cristoforo Colombo

At the top of the Italian battleships line stands the Cristoforo Colombo, carrying FOUR QUADRUPLE turrets with 381 mm guns. Do you think that it’s not spicy enough? Well, the 2 rear turrets can turn at 360° right now.

Now, for the little history time, there is actually not much to talk about. The Cristoforo Colombo is based on the General Ferrati’s 1915 battleship “G” series designs, a 37 200 tons battleship design armed with 16 381 mm/45 guns in four quadruple turrets, 2 superfiring at the front and 2 superfiring at the rear.

Wargaming basically did the same as with Conqueror back in the days and heavily modified/modernized that design to fit at tier X.

You can learn more about that design here.

When it comes to her size, she is tied with Montana in terms of length and width.

The main features of the Italian battleships are:

• Like the Italian cruisers, instead of HE shells, the new ships are armed with SAP shells. They inflict high damage on weakly and moderately protected targets and ship parts but do not cause fires.
• The “Exhaust smoke generator” is among the consumables of the Italian battleships starting from tier VIII, which will allow you to hide from the enemy without sacrificing speed.
• A large number of guns with a relatively short firing range and poor accuracy. They will basically be close/mid-range SAP sailing shotguns.
• Decent concealment and average maneuverability, quickly turning turrets and rather good armor.

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
Cristoforo Colombo	Propulsion: 160 000 hp	SDT 10 mod. 1	381 mm/50 OTO 1934

Characteristics

GeneralMain BatterySecondariesAir DefenseConsumables

Tier	X
Health	89 900 HP
Torpedo Damage Reduction	31 %
Displacement	66 666 tons
Main Armament
Maximum Firing Range	18 910 km
381 mm/50 OTO 1934	4 x 4 381 mm
Secondary Armament
Maximum Firing Range	5.000 km
152 mm/55 OTO 1936 90 mm/50 OTO 1939	6 x 3 152 mm 12 x 2 90 mm
Maximum speed	29.6 knots
Turning Circle Radius	960 m
Rudder Shift Time	18.0 s
Surface Detectability	17.88 km
Air Detectability	15.16 km
Detectability After Firing Main Guns in Smoke	16.7 km

4 x 4 381 mm/50 OTO 1934
Maximum Firing Range	18.910 km
Reloading Time	38.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	30.0 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	31° (rear turrets can turn at 360°)
Optimal firing angles at the rear	36°
Sigma	1.50 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	251 m
Shells
Type of Projectile	SAP – 381 mm proiettili CS
Alpha Damage	14 050 HP
Penetration capacity	96 mm
Projectile Speed	880 m/s
Air Drag	0.275
Projectile Mass	824.3 kg
Ricochet Angles	70° – 80°
Type of Projectile	AP – 381 mm proiettili AP
Alpha Damage	12 000 HP
Projectile Speed	850 m/s
Air Drag	0.295
Projectile Mass	884.8 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 434
Projectile Detonator	0.033 s
Detonator threshold	64 mm
Ricochet Angles	45° – 60°

6 x 3 152 mm/55 OTO 1936
Maximum Firing Range	5.000 km
Reloading Time	8 s
Sigma	1.00 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 152 mm proiettili HE
Alpha Damage	2 100 HP
Damage	1 120 HP
HE penetration	25 mm
Explosion Size	0.51
Chance to Cause Fire	7 %
Projectile Speed	950 m/s
Air Drag	0.325
Projectile Mass	44.3 kg
12 x 2 90 mm/50 OTO 1939
Maximum Firing Range	5.000 km
Reloading Time	4 s
Sigma	1.00 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 90 mm proiettili HE
Alpha Damage	1 300 HP
Damage	240 HP
HE penetration	15 mm
Explosion Size	0.25
Chance to Cause Fire	5 %
Projectile Speed	860 m/s
Air Drag	0.414
Projectile Mass	10.1 kg

12 x 2 90 mm/50 OTO 1939
Sector range	0.1 km – 4.6 km
Hit chance	75 %
Sector’s damage	53
Sector’s damage frequency	0.29 s
Sector’s damage per second	183
Flak clouds number	8
Flak cloud damage	1 400
8 x 4 37 mm/54 Breda 1939 8 x 2 37 mm/54 Breda 1932
Sector range	0.1 km – 3.5 km
Hit chance	75 %
Sector’s damage	116
Sector’s damage frequency	0.29 s
Sector’s damage per second	406
20 x 6 20 mm/70 Breda 1941
Sector range	0.1 km – 2.0 km
Hit chance	70 %
Sector’s damage	70
Sector’s damage frequency	0.29 s
Sector’s damage per second	245

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: 45 s Cooldown: 180 s Smoke radius: 510 m Smoke duration: 10 s	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

The Colombo presents some really satisfying protection against AP and HE  as well as a low profile.

The bow section

For the protection of the bow, the external plating is for the most part 32 mm thick. There is, however, a 60 mm extended that is roughly one third above the waterline.

Inside the bow, there is a large 120 mm thick armored deck sitting above the extended belt. This combination protects the ship against any potential citadel through the bow.

For the protection of the middle section, the upper casemate is 70 mm thick then there is a large 200 mm bulkhead including the upper part of the citadel athwartship. Finally, the lower 38 mm thick bulkhead, including the lower part of the citadel athwartship.

The middle section

The weather deck is 50 mm thick, giving her a resistance against most cruisers’ HE. The upper belt is 70 mm thick except where the 152 mm secondaries are located. There, the armor jumps to 150 mm.

When it comes to the main belt, it’s 400 mm thick and sloped at 11°.

Behind the main belt, there a 40 mm turtleback sloped at 70°. I heard a lot of people saying that it’s the best turtleback of the game but it really isn’t. The Friedrich der Große’s turtleback for example is sloped at 66° but with a thickness of 120 mm to 150 mm.

Now, the Colombo has a big advantage in the sense that her citadel (and that turtleback) are underwater with the citadel’s sides being 70 mm thick.

When it comes to the horizontal protection, the Colombo is quite promising. Between the 50 mm weather deck and the 40 mm citadel deck, she has a 150 mm thick main armor deck below the turrets and 120 mm thick above the engines. Considering the thickness, the space between each layer and also the depth of the citadel, this ship should actually be quite resistant to AP bombs.

There are also the 4 large quad turrets that will be effective AP bombs magnet.

The stern section

The bow is protected by a uniform 32 mm plating.

Inside the bow, there is a 250 mm thick extended belt that ends with a bulkhead protecting the steering gears.

 There is also a 120 mm thick armored deck that gets thicker above the steering gears with 150 mm of armor.

Finally, for the protection of the middle section, the upper casemate is 70 mm thick and then there is the citadel athwartship and the bulkheads around it with 200 mm of armor for the upper part and 38 mm for the lower part.

The superstructure

The superstructure is protected by the classic 19 mm plating except for the conning tower with a mix of 100 mm and 400 mm.

The turrets

The turrets are overall well protected. The face is 406 mm thick, the sides are 254 mm thick, the back is 380 mm thick and finally, the roof is 200 mm thick. As for the barbettes, the exposed part is 400 mm thick except for the top that is only 100 mm thick and for the internal part, it is 330 mm thick.

Personal Opinion

Right now, when looking at her stats and armor, I’m expecting that ship to be on the “too strong” side. Sure, she has the 1.5 sigma and 38 seconds reload but with 16 guns, I would be very surprised if it turns out to be an issue. On top of that, she has SAP shells with high damage per penetration or alternatively the strong 381 mm AP to blast broadsides when citadels will be available or if her SAP can’t go through the side plating.

Now the ship isn’t without any downside with the most obvious being the low HP pool but again here… She has the strong armor and also the Italian smoke.

We will see how it goes but right now, that ship looks really scary.

Easter-egg

Inside the Cristoforo Colombo’s bridge, there is a model of the Santa María, the ship that Christopher Columbus used during his first journey across the Atlantic in 1492.

About Author

Yuzorah

See author's posts