Supertest: Premium British Tier VIII Cruiser Cheshire
5 min readThe Cheshire is based on the same 15 500 tons cruiser design as the Albemarle but with a main battery consisting of 3 twin turrets with 234 mm guns and a much more developed anti-air armament.
This better anti-air lead to the removal of the ship’s catapult in exchange for 2 dual-purpose twin 113 mm gun turrets.
She also gained a… quite interesting camouflage with a nice radioactive green color.
Hull | Engine | Gun Fire Control System | Main battery | Torpedoes |
Cheshire | Propulsion: 110 000 hp | Mk VIII mod. 1 | 234 mm/50 Mk XII | 533 mm Mk IXM |
Tier | VIII |
Health | 42 500 HP |
Displacement | 17 450 tons |
Main Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 15.700 km |
234 mm/50 Mk XII | 3 x 2 234 mm |
Secondary Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 3.000 km |
113 mm/45 RP 41 Mk VI | 8 x 2 113 mm |
Torpedo Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 10.000 km |
533 mm QR Mk II | 2 x 4 533 mm |
Maximum speed | 34 kts |
Turning Circle Radius | 720 m |
Rudder Shift Time | 10.5 s |
Surface Detectability | 12.42 km |
Air Detectability | 7.73 km |
Detectability After Firing Main Gus in Smoke | 7.74 km |
3 x 2 234 mm/50 Mk XII | |
Reloading Time | 15 s |
180 Degree Turn Time | 18.0 s |
Optimal firing angles at the front | 34° |
Optimal firing angles at the rear | 33° |
Sigma | 2.05 sigma |
Maximum Dispersion | 141 m |
Shells | |
Type of Projectile | HE – 234 mm HE 6 CRH |
Alpha Damage | 3 350 HP |
Damage | 1 820 HP |
Penetration capacity | 38 mm |
Explosion size | 1.12 |
Fire chance | 21 % |
Projectile Speed | 881 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.279 |
Projectile Mass | 172.4 |
Type of Projectile | AP – 234 mm AP 6 CRH |
Alpha Damage | 5 550 HP |
Chance to Cause Fire | -0.5 % |
Projectile Speed | 881 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.279 |
Projectile Mass | 172.4 |
Projectile Krupp | 2 400 |
Projectile Detonator | 0.033 s |
Detonator threshold | 39 mm |
8 x 2 113 mm/45 RP 41 Mk VI | |
Reloading Time | 3.0 s |
Sigma | 1.00 sigma |
Shells | |
Type of Projectile | HE – 113 mm HE Mk XVI |
Alpha Damage | 1 600 HP |
Damage | 410 HP |
HE penetration | 18 mm |
Explosion Size | 0.36 |
Chance to Cause Fire | 7 % |
Projectile Speed | 746 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.33 |
Projectile Mass | 25 |
2 x 4 533 mm QR Mk II 533 mm Mk IXM | |
Reloading Time | 96 s |
Maximum Distance | 10.0 km |
Optimal firing angles at the front | 25° |
Optimal firing angles at the rear | 32° |
Damage | 16 767 |
Speed | 62 kt |
Surface Detectability | 1.3 km |
8 x 2 113 mm/45 RP 41 Mk VI | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 5.8 km |
Hit chance | 90 % |
Sector’s damage | 48 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 168 |
Flak clouds number | 7 |
Flak cloud damage | 1 470 |
10 x 2 40 mm STAAG | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 3.5 km |
Hit chance | 90 % |
Sector’s damage | 65 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 228 |
20 x 2 20 mm Oerlikon Mk V | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 2.0 km |
Hit chance | 85 % |
Sector’s damage | 71 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 249 |
Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 |
Damage Control Party I Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 90 s | Repair Party I Number of charges: 1 Work time: 20 s Cooldown: 120 s HP regeneration speed: 2% HP/s | Hydroacoustic Search I Number of charges: 2 Work time: 180 s Cooldown: 180 s Torpedo detection range: 3.0 km Ship detection range: 3.0 km |
Damage Control Party II Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 60 s | Repair Party II Number of charges: 2 Work time: 20 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration speed: 2% HP/s | Hydroacoustic Search II Number of charges: 3 Work time: 180 s Cooldown: 120 s Torpedo detection range: 3.0 km Ship detection range: 3.0 km |
The armor
To nobody’s surprise, the Cheshire has the exact same armor protection as the Albemarle with the exception of the turrets.
The bow
The bow is protected by 25 mm armor just like the vast majority of Tier VIII cruisers
For the middle section’s forward protection, the upper casemate is 19mm thick and the citadel athwartship is 152 mm for the upper part and 76 mm for the lower part. For a tier VIII cruiser, it is definitely pretty good.
The middle section
The middle section of the Cheshire is quite well protected but at the same time, her citadel is terribly exposed.
The deck is 30 mm thick so it will bounce AP shells of a diameter of 420 mm or smaller. The side armor is 25 mm and the main belt that is simply massive is 152 mm thick. It is worth noting that this main belt is the citadel and with such a huge portion above the waterline, you might want to be careful when picking your opponents.
For the horizontal protection, above the engines, the citadel armor deck is 70 mm thick and under the turrets, it’s 102 mm thick. It won’t do much against AP bombs but at least, it does protect from AP shells that would somehow get the necessary angle to not automatically bounce.
It is worth noting that the 70 mm deck is exposed where the torpedo tubes are located. This means that ships with a sufficient HE penetration will be able to get HE citadels on the ship if RNG says yes.
The stern section
The stern has the classic 25 mm plating except around the steering gears. On the sides, there is a 102 mm thick belt and on the flat extremity, there is a 76 mm plating.
There is also an internal protection with a 50 mm armored deck followed by a 38 mm plate. At least, this should prove that the steering gears on this ship should be well protected.
For the rear protection of the middle section. It’s the exact same as at the front. There is a 19 mm casemate followed by the citadel’s athwartships with the upper part being 152 mm thick and the lower part 76 mm thick. Against cruisers, it will be effective protection especially with the flat stern that can allow AP shells to penetrate easily.
The superstructure
The superstructure is slightly bigger than on the Albemarle with an addition section between the 2 funnels. It 16 mm thick and for the secondary turrets, they are covered with 18 mm of armor.
The turrets
The turrets are quite well armored but have the same problem as all the high tier British turrets, the flat face.
The face is 178 mm thick, the sides and the forward part of the top are 102 mm thick, the back is 152 mm thick and the rear part of the top is 76 mm thick.
Personal Opinion
As of right now, I’m really not impressed by the ship. The firepower is just wayyyy too low compared to other tier VIII cruisers. Unless the ship has destroyer level of dispersion, it will need quite a big reload buff to be anything close from interesting.
You can also add the fact that she doesn’t have a spotter plane.
3 km secondary range seems weird