Supertest: Italian Tier X Freemium Destroyer Paolo Emilio

Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s time to start looking at the Italian ships entering the supertest with the 0.8.7. version.

First, let’s summarize all the special features that the ships are coming with:

I will start by covering the Paolo Emilio and will then take care of the cruisers.

This ship was designed by Community Contributors during the St. Petersburg summit and the most interesting design was selected to get into testing. As for the ship itself, the Paolo Emilio was the name of one the non-built ships of the Capitani Romani-class of light cruisers. The thing is that her design is quite different from the Capitani Romani as you can see here:

The superstructure doesn’t fit, the bow as well and the Capitani Romani-class has 2 centerline torpedo launchers while the Paolo Emilio has 3 torpedo launcher with one on the centerline at the back and 2 wing-mounted torpedoes at the front.

For now, I will just assume that the ship is some kind of what-if Capitani Romani.

The Capitani Romani was class of light cruiser or “Esploratori Oceanici” that were built between 1939 and 1942 as a response to the French Contre-Torpilleurs such as the Le Fantasque or Mogador-class. The ships were designed as very fast with a top speed of 41 knots as designed even though they reached 43 knots on trial. This was possible by giving them very weak armor protection and a powerplant of 125 000 HP which is equivalent to the one of a Des Moines-class heavy cruiser. A total of 12 ships were ordered but only 4 were completed including one after the war.

The only ship which saw action during World War II was the Scipione Africano by sinking a British torpedo boat as well as damaging a second one during the Operation Scylla. She was later torpedoed by the British submarine HMS Unruffled and would stay in docks for repairs until the capitulation of Italy.

Just as a fair warning, her stats are still a very early work in progress so they are bound to change.

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.

Characteristics

GeneralMain BatteryTorpedo TubesAir DefenseConsumables

Tier	X
Health	24 700 HP
Main Armament
Maximum Firing Range	13.830 km
135 mm/45 OTO 1938	4 x 2 135 mm
Torpedo Armament
Maximum Firing Range	12.000 km
533 mm tubo lanciasiluri	3 x 4 533 mm
Maximum speed	43.5 kt
Turning Circle Radius	810 m
Rudder Shift Time	5.32  s
Surface Detectability	9.08 km
Air Detectability	3.68 km
Detectability After Firing Main Gus in Smoke	3.65 km

4 x 2 135 mm/45 OTO 1938
Reloading Time	7.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	18.0 s
Optimal front firing angle	27°
Optimal rear firing angle	33°
Sigma	2.00 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	—
Shells
Type of Projectile	SAP – 135 mm proiettili CS 1938
Alpha Damage	3 250 HP
Penetration capacity	37 mm
Projectile Speed	825 m/s
Air Drag	0.416
Projectile Mass	32.7
Projectile Krupp	3
Projectile Detonator	0.03 s
Type of Projectile	AP – 135 mm proiettili AP 1938
Alpha Damage	2 500 HP
Chance to Cause Fire	-0.5 %
Projectile Speed	825 m/s
Air Drag	0.416
Projectile Mass	32.7
Projectile Krupp	2 200
Projectile Detonator	0.01 s

3 x 4 533 mm tubo lanciasiluri 533 mm Si 270
Reloading Time	71 s
Maximum Distance	12.0 km
Optimal front firing angle	25° for one torpedo tube 50° for both torpedo tubes
Optimal rear firing angle	29°
Damage	13 366
Speed	51 kt
Surface Detectability	1.0 km

4 x 2 135 mm/45 OTO 1938
Sector range	0.1 km – 4.6 km
Hit chance	100 %
Sector’s damage	41
Sector’s damage frequency	0.29 s
Sector’s damage per second	144
Flak clouds number	1
Flak cloud damage	1540
4 x 6 20 20 mm/70 Breda 1941 2 x 2 13.2 mm/76 Breda 1931
Sector range	0.1 km – 2.0 km
Hit chance	95 %
Sector’s damage	59
Sector’s damage frequency	0.29 s
Sector’s damage per second	207

Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3
Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 60 s	Number of charges: 2 Work time: 40 s Cooldown: 240 s Radius: 510 m Smoke duration: 10 s	Number of charges: 2 Work time: 120 s Cooldown: 180 s Boost: +8% maximum speed
Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 40 s	Number of charges: 3 Work time: 40 s Cooldown: 180 s Radius: 510 m Smoke duration: 10 s	Number of charges: 3 Work time: 120 s Cooldown: 120 s Boost: +8% maximum speed

The armor

As the ship was normally a cruiser, Wargaming decided to give to that “destroyer” the armor she normally had.

The bow section

The bow is 19 mm thick except for the deck that is 20 mm thick.

Inside the bow, there are internal platings with the armored deck being 30 mm thick.

As for the rest, it’s 25 mm thick. The sides have that little slope at the bottom for some reason.

There are finally 2 casemates surrounding that area with the upper one being 20 mm thick and the lower one 16 mm thick.

The middle section

The deck of the middle section is 20 mm thick while the sides are 19 mm thick. The only exception is the main belt that is 60 mm thick. Yes. A 60 mm belt on a “destroyer”. If this surprises you, wait for the rest because this ship also has a turtleback!

It is 20 mm thick and sloped at 56°. One thing for sure, I really hope that this ship is protected against large-caliber AP shells penetration because otherwise, she will just suffer.

Finally, her “citadel” side plating is 10 mm thick.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have here the most heavily armored “destroyer” of the game.

The stern section

Just like for the bow, the deck on the stern is 20 mm thick while the sides are 19 mm thick.

It also has that internal plating with the armored deck being 30 mm thick.

The rest of that inner plating is 25 mm thick as well as the casemate just behind.

Finally, the lower and upper casemates are respectively 16 mm thick and 20 mm thick.

Turrets

The turrets, including the barbette, are protected by 30 mm of armor except for the face that is 60 mm thick.

Personal opinion

A massive meh. The ship’s gun performances are far than ideal with the low initial shell velocity and very high air drag, Also, if that ship ever has the fight destroyers, she will just get screwed as the SAP only deal 10% damage to them. This, coupled with the 7 seconds reload just doesn’t work.

The torpedoes with their very slow speed aren’t great either.

I also seriously hope that this ship is protected against large-caliber AP shell because otherwise, she will just be awful to play.

Finally, she has the Full-Throttle smoke which will be more of a defensive tool than anything else. This smoke is basically only worth using for panic moments than for offensive actions.

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Yuzorah

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