Supertest: Soviet Tier VIII Premium Battleship Borodino (a refresher)

Ladies and Gentlemen, on the 20th October 2019 was announced, alongside Cheshire a premium Soviet battleship, the Borodino. Since then, the battleship NEVER entered live testing and was simply shelved until further notice.

In the coming days, you might actually spot her in battle though. You got it, we are finally going to be able to test her! 544 days waiting but now I will finally be able to try this ship. Considering that it’s been ages since she was announced and that she got reworked on the way, I thought that it might be wise to cover her once again.

Historical background

The Borodino is based on a project of “Small battleships” from the early 1950s.

Unlike the classic projects from the Soviet navy, these small battleships weren’t named “Project X” like Project 23 or Project 24 due to the fact that they were internal proposals from a private bureau.

The designs found support among the USSR Ministry of Shipbuilding but the Ministry of the Navy strongly criticized them. Multiple designs were proposed with a main battery equipped with 406 mm guns in various configurations but the general idea was with one or two twin or triple turrets, all forward. The secondary armament would be triple or quadruple turrets with 180 mm or 220 mm guns.

The displacement was ranging from 29 000 tons to 49 100 tons.

The Borodino itself is based on a design with 2 triple 406 mm gun turrets and a secondary battery composed of a quadruple turret with 180 mm guns. However, we are sadly getting a modified design with two twin turrets instead. As such, the ship gets the record of the biggest gun caliber being able to engage planes in the game.

She follows the same game design as Champagne, Slava, Florida, etc. with very accurate guns but thin armor protection. She is also equipped with a Surveillance Radar.

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
Borodino	Propulsion: 210 000 hp	GFCS VIII mod. 1	406 mm/50 B-37 on an MK-1 mount

General Characteristics

Main Battery

2 x 3 406 mm/50 B-37 on an MK-1 mount
Maximum Firing Range	19.570 km
Reloading Time	27.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	36.0 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	0°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	30°
Sigma	2.00 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	213 m
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 406 mm HE Model 1937
Alpha Damage	5 800 HP
Damage	5 020 HP
Penetration capacity	68 mm
Explosion size	2.53
Fire chance	40 %
Projectile Speed	830 m/s
Air Drag	0.304
Projectile Mass	1 108 kg
Type of Projectile	AP – 406 mm AP Model 1937
Alpha Damage	13 250 HP
Projectile Speed	830 m/s
Air Drag	0.247
Projectile Mass	1 108 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 300
Projectile Detonator	0.033 s
Detonator threshold	68 mm
Ricochet Angles	45° – 60°

Secondary battery

2 x 2 180 mm/65 SM-45 on an SM-48 mount
Maximum Firing Range	6.600 km
Reloading Time	6 s
Sigma	1.00 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – HE-32
Alpha Damage	2 500 HP
Damage	1 010 HP
HE penetration	30 mm
Explosion Size	0.73
Chance to Cause Fire	13 %
Projectile Speed	1 000 m/s
Air Drag	0.243
Projectile Mass	97.5 kg

Anti-air Armament

Consumables

Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3
Damage Control Party Work time: 15 s Cooldown: 80 s	Repair Party Number of charges: 3 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration: 0.5%/s	Surveillance Radar Number of charges: 3 Work time: 25 s Cooldown: 120 s Ship spotting range: 12.0 km

The Armor

The Borodino presents the classic Soviet 50 mm middle section but compared to other battleships, her citadel side protection is paper-thin. She also has the 25 mm bow and stern typical of battlecruisers of World of Warships.

External armor protection:

Front and rear armor protection of the middle section:

Internal belt behind the torpedo bulge:

Citadel armor protection:

Turrets armor protection:

Hidden armor protection inside the bow and stern:

Personal opinion

Right now, she looks like a nice package. She has strong guns (same as on the Sovetsky Soyuz) but with battlecruiser dispersion, good armor against HE but angling will be vital against AP and the radar is that bit of extra spice which is always appreciable.

I think that I will enjoy playing Borodino and don’t see anything that would make me want to point my finger at that ship and go “What the heck is that? It looks busted/garbage!”.

Easter egg

On a box, next to some of the starboard AA mounts, you can find a pack of Belomorkanal cigarettes.

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Have a good one and see you soon!

Yuzorah

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