World of Warships Supertest: Japanese Premium Tier IX Battleship Iwami
4 min read
Historical background
Iwami is based on two of the preliminary A-140 designs that lead to the Yamato-class battleships. She gets the general armament layout and hull design of the A-140-J3 with four main battery turrets in AB-XY configuration for the main battery and then three triple 155 mm secondary turrets around the Y turret. However, she gets the main armament of the B2 variant with four twin turrets.
Now on that table, the main battery caliber is 40 cm (400 mm) but it’s how Japan was calling the 460 mm guns. Iwami on the other end is armed with 410 mm guns. The ship also getting a Kii-like refit with two quadruple torpedo launchers at the rear as well as many twin 100 mm secondaries.
Iwami will be available for coal when the ship will be finalized. While we don’t know how much she will cost, it should be 228 000 like the other Tier IX battleships available for coal.
Ship’s preview
Ship’s commemorative flag
Ship’s 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 | Torpedoes |
Iwami |
Propulsion: 145 000 HP |
Type9 mod. 1 |  410 mm/50 10th Year Type Mod.A in a twin turret |
Type90 mod. 1 |
General Characteristics
| Tier | X |
| Health | 80 700 HP |
| Torpedo Damage Reduction | 20 % |
| Displacement | 58 962 tons |
| Dimensions | |
| Overall length | 255.2 m |
| Beam | 37.4 m |
| Overall height (keel to the highest point on the ship) | 35.71 m |
| Freeboard | 6.24 m |
| Main Armament | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 20.300 km |
| 410 mm/50 10th Year Type Mod.A in a twin turret | 4 x 2 410 mm |
| Secondary Armament | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 6.950 km |
| 155 mm/60 3rd Year Type in a triple turret 100 mm/65 Type 98 on a Model A mount | 3 x 3 155 mm 8 x 2 100 mm |
| Torpedo Armament | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 12.000 km |
| 610 mm Quad | 2 x 4 610 mm |
| Maximum speed | 28.2 knots |
| Turning Circle Radius | 880 m |
| Rudder Shift Time | 17.1 s |
| Surface Detectability | 16.38 km |
| Air Detectability | 12.19 km |
| Detectability After Firing Main Guns in Smoke | 15.94 km |
Main Armament
| 4 x 2 410 mm/50 10th Year Type Mod.A in a twin turret | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 20.300 km |
| Reloading Time | 25.0 s |
| 180 Degree Turn Time | 35.0 s |
| Optimal firing angles at the front | 25° |
| Optimal firing angles at the rear | 28° |
| Sigma | 1.9 sigma |
| Maximum Dispersion | 230 m |
| Shells | |
| Type of Projectile | HE – 410 mm HE Type 01 |
| Alpha Damage | 6 500 |
| Penetration capacity | 68 mm |
| Explosion size | 2.34 |
| Fire chance | 30 % |
| Projectile Speed | 834 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.34 |
| Projectile Mass | 1 016.0 kg |
| Type of Projectile | AP – 410 mm AP/APC Type 01 |
| Alpha Damage | 12 750 |
| Projectile Speed | 834 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.34 |
| Projectile Mass | 1 020.0 kg |
| Projectile Krupp | 2 650 |
| Projectile Detonator | 0.033 s |
| Detonator threshold | 68 mm |
| Ricochet Angles | 45° – 60° |
Secondary Armament
| 3 x 3 155 mm/60 3rd Year Type in a triple turret | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 6.950 km |
| Reloading Time | 12.0 s |
| Sigma | 1.0 sigma |
| Shells | |
| Type of Projectile | HE – 155 mm HE Type0 |
| Alpha Damage | 2 600 |
| HE penetration | 26 mm |
| Explosion Size | 0.55 |
| Chance to Cause Fire | 10 % |
| Projectile Speed | 925 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.335 |
| Projectile Mass | 55.87 kg |
| 8 x 2 100 mm/65 Type 98 on a Model A mount | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 6.950 km |
| Reloading Time | 3.0 s |
| Sigma | 1.0 sigma |
| Shells | |
| Type of Projectile | HE – 100 mm HE Type98 |
| Alpha Damage | 1 700 |
| HE penetration | 30 mm |
| Explosion Size | 0.28 |
| Chance to Cause Fire | 6 % |
| Projectile Speed | 1 000 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.331 |
| Projectile Mass | 13.0 kg |
Torpedo Armament
| 2 x 4 610 mm Quad Type93 mod. 3 | |
| Reloading Time | 120 s |
| Maximum Distance | 12.000 km |
| Firing angles at the Front | 46° |
| Firing angles at the Rear | 41° |
| Damage | 23 767 |
| Flooding Chance | 406% |
| Speed | 67 knots |
| Surface Detectability | 1.7 km |
Anti-air Armament
| 8 x 2 100 mm/65 Type 98 on a Model A mount | |
| Sector range | 0.1 km – 5.8 km |
| Hit chance | 75 % |
| Sector’s damage | 58 |
| Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
| Sector’s damage per second | 203 |
| Flak clouds number | 8 |
| Flak cloud damage | 1 470 |
| 18 x 1 25 mm/60 Type 96 on a single mount 24 x 2 25 mm/60 Type 96 on a twin mount 12 x 3 25 mm/60 Type 96 on a triple mount | |
| Sector range | 0.1 km – 2.5 km |
| Hit chance | 85 % |
| Sector’s damage | 81 |
| Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
| Sector’s damage per second | 284 |
Consumables
Slot 1 | Slot 2 |
Damage Control Party  Work time: 15 sCooldown: 80 s | Repair Party  Number of charges: 4Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration speed: +0.5%/s Casemate damage regeneration: 50% Citadel damage regeneration: 10% |
The Armor
External armor protection:
Front and rear armor protection of the middle section:
Main armor deck:
Citadel armor protection:
Turrets armor protection:
Hidden armor protection inside the stern:
Personal Opinion
Right now, I am really not impressed. Iwami is in a very uncomfortable situation because she has to compete with three other ships of the same nation, tier and archetype. While Hizen is decent at best, there is also Izumo which is very strong and Musashi that is straight up overpowered.
The problem is that compared Izumo and Musashi, she lacks firepower with amazing penetration or even overmatch and on top of that, lacks the tanking capacity.
As for a comparison with Hizen, it gets awkward, they have pretty much the same DPM but while Hizen has the volume of fire, Iwami has the reload speed. It is basically one of these annoying cases where you have two ships filling the same role but with different approach while getting the same results. There are other soft stats that change but in the end, the difference isn’t big for them. Considering that Hizen left me deeply unimpressed back in the days, hopes are low for Iwami.
Technically, she has torpedoes and 100 mm secondaries for brawling engagements but it’s nothing to celebrate as she also loses the capacity to use a Spotting Aircraft.
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Sorry, but I disagree on your conclusion that it uses the B2 designs main battery.
In the design graph you posted, it lists the Type 94 40cm cannon for the B2 design, which was the cover-up name for the Yamato’s 46cm cannons (according to navweaps and other websites).
Which would make the 40cm cannons from the J3 design be the standard IJN’s 41cm artillery.
http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNJAP_18-45_t94.php
Sorry, but I disagree with your conclusion about the Iwami using the B2 design’s main artillery.
In the chart you posted it lists the Type 94 40cm cannons, which are the Yamato’s 46cm cannons according to various sources. Since the J3’s design doesn’t specify Type 94 cannons, it most probably refers to 41cm cannons instead.
Unfortunately, there is no entry on that chart for 4×2 41cm cannons, so I ***ume they downgraded the J3’s design’s 4×3 turrets to 4×2.
Since WG specifies the cannons as being 50 calibres in length, it are more or less the same cannons as on the Izumo, but with lower muzzle velocity (fewer powder bags used?). Which might also account for the slightly lower alpha and penetration values.
In the chart you posted it lists the Type 94 40cm cannons, which are the Yamato’s 46cm cannons according to various sources.
And that is exactly what I said just below the table. That Iwami is using 410 mm guns instead.
Yes, I was referring to the part where you said under the “historical background” header:
“However, she gets the main armament of the B2 variant with four twin turrets.”
Sorry for any confusion.
All I can say is Hizen was worse than this ship, poor sigma, reload time, and traverse. Instead of making improvements on a ship no longer available, here comes Iwami. Four less guns, torpedo tubes, with better sigma, reload time, and turret traverse the bottomline this is a recycled Hizen. WG is hoping that Iwami will do what Hizen was supposed to do and failed – to replace the Musashi (a ship no longer available (except at Christmas)) at Tier IX.