Supertest: Soviet Tier VI Premium Battleship Novorossiysk

Historical background

Novorossiysk was the name given to the Italian battleship Giulio Cesare when she was transferred to the USSR after the Second World War as a war reparation.

The Soviets used her as a training ship and in 1953, all Italian light AA guns were replaced by eighteen 37 mm 70-K AA guns in six twin mounts and six singles. A new fire control system was also installed. This was intended as temporary rearmament, as the Soviets drew up plans to replace her secondary 120mm mounts with the 130mm/58 SM-2 that was in development, and the 100mm and 37mm guns with 8 quadruple 45mm.

Everything was well and fine until the night of 28/29 October 1955 when an explosion occurred at the front of the ship while she was anchored in the harbor of Sevastopol. The flooding couldn’t be controlled and the ship quickly capsized, taking the lives of 608 men, including crews from other ships that were sent to assist on the Novorossiysk.

There are multiple theories around the sinking of the ship. The official statement was that the ship hit a leftover mine. One of the most widely spread theories is that a team of elite Italian frogmen lead a sabotage mission, but there was never any real proof for it.

In World of Warships, Novorossiysk is a battlecruiser-like battleship which implies an improved main battery dispersion but also thinner armor protection.

Ship’s preview

Ship’s commemorative flag

Camouflage

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
Novorossiysk	Propulsion: 97 500 HP	GFCS VI mod. 1	320 mm/44 OTO Model 1934 in a turret

General Characteristics

Main Armament

2 x 2 320 mm/44 OTO Model 1934 in a turret 2 x 3 320 mm/44 OTO Model 1934 in a turret
Maximum Firing Range	17.470 km
Reloading Time	28.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	36.0 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	35°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	35°
Sigma	1.40 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	195 m
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 320 mm HE Model 1934
Alpha Damage	4 800
Penetration capacity	55 mm
Explosion size	1.91
Fire chance	35 %
Projectile Speed	830 m/s
Air Drag	0.379
Projectile Mass	485 kg
Type of Projectile	AP – 320 mm AP Model 1934
Alpha Damage	9 700
Projectile Speed	830 m/s
Air Drag	0.314
Projectile Mass	525 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 600
Projectile Detonator	0.033 s
Detonator threshold	53 mm
Ricochet Angles	45° – 60°

Secondary Armament

6 x 2 120 mm/50 ОТО Model 1933 in a turret
Maximum Firing Range	4.960 km
Reloading Time	6.0 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 120 mm HE
Alpha Damage	1 700
HE penetration	20 mm
Explosion Size	0.38
Chance to Cause Fire	7 %
Projectile Speed	950 m/s
Air Drag	0.381
Projectile Mass	23.15 kg
4 x 2 100 mm/50 on a Minisini mount
Maximum Firing Range	4.960 km
Reloading Time	5.0 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – HE-56
Alpha Damage	1 400
HE penetration	17 mm
Explosion Size	0.29
Chance to Cause Fire	6 %
Projectile Speed	800 m/s
Air Drag	0.289
Projectile Mass	15.8 kg

Anti-air Armament

Consumables

Slot 1	Slot 2
Fast Damage Control Team Number of charges: 4 Work time: 10 s Cooldown: 40 s	Repair Party Number of charges: 3 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration: 0.5%/s Casemate damage regeneration: 50% Citadel damage regeneration: 10%

The Armor

In terms of armor, it’s basically a copy-paste of Giulio Cesare except for the bow and stern that are 16 mm thick instead of 19 mm.

External armor protection:

Front and rear armor protection of the middle section:

Turtleback:

Citadel armor protection:

Turrets armor protection:

Hidden armor protection inside the bow and stern:

Personal Opinion

Well… to nobody’s surprise, I’m really looking forward to playing this ship. Giulio Cesare remains on the list of the ships that were so busted that Wargaming had to remove them from the shop and now we get a slightly stronger version but at tier VI.

We will see how it goes but I am quite confident regarding how Novorossiysk will perform.

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Yuzorah

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