World of Warships Supertest: French Tier VIII Cruiser Cherbourg

Historical background

Cherbourg is, just like Toulon, based on the French 17 500 tons battlecruiser design from the late 1920s. However, Cherbourg is taking a somewhat more modern approach to the design, especially in terms of armament. She uses the same 305 mm quadruple turrets that can be found on Carnot and her secondary battery consists of seven twin turrets with 130 mm guns, the same as on the Dunkerque-class.

As the first ship of the new sub-branch, Cherbourg serves as a showcase of their characteristics. They will have a long main battery reload time with one of the worst main battery dispersion you can have on cruisers but it will be compensated (somewhat) with a Main Battery Reload Booster consumable. All the main battery is located forward on these ships but don’t start thinking of them as ships made to push as their armor protection is fairly thin.
They will also have the classic French Engine Boost and, for what it’s worth, their heavy secondary battery will have the same dispersion as those of Massachusetts or Schlieffen.

Ship’s preview

Ship’s camouflage

No visual for the camouflage this time because the 3D viewer is broken for some reason.

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
Cherbourg (A)	Propulsion: 130 000 HP	‎‎PCA n° 8 Mle 1	305 mm/50 Mle 1930 in a turret
‎Cherbourg (B)		‎‎PCA n° 8 Mle 2

STOCK SHIP

General Characteristics

Main Armament

2 x 4 305 mm/50 Mle 1930 in a turret
Maximum Firing Range	16.090 km
Reloading Time	25.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	30.0 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	0°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	33°
Sigma	1.80 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	183 m
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 305 mm HE OEA Mle 1931
Alpha Damage	4 050
Penetration capacity	51 mm
Explosion size	1.44
Fire chance	17 %
Projectile Speed	905 m/s
Air Drag	0.21
Projectile Mass	308.0 kg
Type of Projectile	AP – 305 mm AP OPf Mle 1931
Alpha Damage	8 200
Projectile Speed	870 m/s
Air Drag	0.265
Projectile Mass	395.0 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 225
Projectile Detonator	0.033 s
Detonator threshold	51 mm
Ricochet Angles	45° – 60°

Secondary Armament

7 x 2 130 mm/45 Mle 1932 on an Mle 1932 mount
Maximum Firing Range	7.600 km
Reloading Time	5.0 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 130 mm HE OEA Mle 1934
Alpha Damage	1 900
HE penetration	22 mm
Explosion Size	0.45
Chance to Cause Fire	9 %
Projectile Speed	840 m/s
Air Drag	0.315
Projectile Mass	29.5 kg

Anti-air Armament

Consumables

Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3	Slot 4	Slot 5
Damage Control Party Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 60 s	Defensive AA Fire Number of charges: 3 Work time: 40 s Cooldown: 80 s Damage from continuous DPS: +50% Damage from flak explosions: +300%	Fighter Number of charges: 3 Work time: 60 s Cooldown: 90 s Number of fighters: 3 Patrol radius: 3.0 km	Repair Party Number of charges: 3 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration speed: +0.5%/s Casemate damage regeneration: 50% Citadel damage regeneration: 10%	Main Battery Reload Booster Number of charges: 4 Work time: 15 s Cooldown: 80 s Effect: -50% Main battery reload time
	Hydroacoustic Search Number of charges: 3 Work time: 100 s Cooldown: 120 s Torpedo spotting range: 3.5 km Ship spotting range: 5.0 km	Engine Boost Number of charges: 3 Work time: 180 s Cooldown: 90 s Speed bonus: +20%

FULLY UPGRADED SHIP

General Characteristics

Main Armament

2 x 4 305 mm/50 Mle 1930 in a turret
Maximum Firing Range	17.699 km
Reloading Time	25.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	30.0 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	0°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	33°
Sigma	1.80 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	197 m
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 305 mm HE OEA Mle 1931
Alpha Damage	4 050
Penetration capacity	51 mm
Explosion size	1.44
Fire chance	17 %
Projectile Speed	905 m/s
Air Drag	0.21
Projectile Mass	308.0 kg
Type of Projectile	AP – 305 mm AP OPf Mle 1931
Alpha Damage	8 200
Projectile Speed	870 m/s
Air Drag	0.265
Projectile Mass	395.0 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 225
Projectile Detonator	0.033 s
Detonator threshold	51 mm
Ricochet Angles	45° – 60°

Secondary Armament

7 x 2 130 mm/45 Mle 1932 on an Mle 1932 mount
Maximum Firing Range	7.600 km
Reloading Time	5.0 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 130 mm HE OEA Mle 1934
Alpha Damage	1 900
HE penetration	22 mm
Explosion Size	0.45
Chance to Cause Fire	9 %
Projectile Speed	840 m/s
Air Drag	0.315
Projectile Mass	29.5 kg

Anti-air Armament

Consumables

Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3	Slot 4	Slot 5
Damage Control Party Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 60 s	Defensive AA Fire Number of charges: 3 Work time: 40 s Cooldown: 80 s Damage from continuous DPS: +50% Damage from flak explosions: +300%	Fighter Number of charges: 3 Work time: 60 s Cooldown: 90 s Number of fighters: 3 Patrol radius: 3.0 km	Repair Party Number of charges: 3 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration speed: +0.5%/s Casemate damage regeneration: 50% Citadel damage regeneration: 10%	Main Battery Reload Booster Number of charges: 4 Work time: 15 s Cooldown: 80 s Effect: -50% Main battery reload time
	Hydroacoustic Search Number of charges: 3 Work time: 100 s Cooldown: 120 s Torpedo spotting range: 3.5 km Ship spotting range: 5.0 km	Engine Boost Number of charges: 3 Work time: 180 s Cooldown: 90 s Speed bonus: +20%

The Armor

External armor protection:

Front and rear armor protection of the middle section:

Turtleback:

Citadel armor protection:

Turrets armor protection:

Hidden main armor deck:

Hidden armor protection inside the stern:

Personal Opinion

The ship looks decent for now. The tanking capacity looks solid for a tier VIII, especially with the Repair Party and thanks to the main battery placement, she will not need to show broadside to have all guns on target.

When it comes to the firepower, the base reload time seems to be way too high, even with the Main Battery Reload Booster in mind. These 305 mm shells, may it be the HE or the AP, are nothing impressive in terms of performance and unless you get a lot of paid actors giving you flat broadside, the damage output will be quite disappointing.

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