World of Warships Supertest: U.S Tier IX Battleship Delaware

Historical background

Just like Nebraska, Delaware is a Wargaming design. It is an Iowa-class battleship that was converted into a hybrid battleship. As such, a full hangar and flight deck were installed on the ship’s middle section. At the same time, the rear turret was moved further on the ship’s stern to clear space for the flight deck and downgraded to a twin turret, most likely for weight saving (AKA for balancing) reasons.

Funnily enough, the flight deck on Delaware is much shorter than on Nebraska but I guess it’s fine considering that she has the catapult to launch aircraft.

When it comes to her hybrid part, she is using bombers dropping in carpet bombing style. Just like U.S. dive bombers from carriers, these bombers are not getting an aiming debuff when manoeuvering while in attack mode, and on top of that, the reticule is incredibly small. From the numbers in the game files, the reticule length is about half that of the high-tier U.S. dive bombers for the sake of reference. Also, these bombers don’t have JATO (Jet assisted take-off) but have an Engine Cooling consumable.

Ship’s preview

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	Dive Bombers
Delaware (A)	Propulsion: 212 000 hp	‎Mk9 mod. 1	406 mm/50 Mk.7 in a turret	SB2C Helldiver
Delaware (B)		‎Mk9 mod. 1		AD-1 Skyraider

General Characteristics

Stock Ship

Main Armament

2 x 3 406 mm/50 Mk.7 in a turret 1 x 2 406 mm/50 Mk.7 in a turret
Maximum Firing Range	19.620 km
Reloading Time	30.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	45.0 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	45°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	40°
Sigma	1.9 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	256 m
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 406 mm HE/HC Mk13
Alpha Damage	5 700
Penetration capacity	68 mm
Explosion size	36.9 m
Fire chance	36 %
Projectile Speed	820 m/s
Air Drag	0.346
Projectile Mass	862.0 kg
Type of Projectile	AP – 406 mm AP Mk8
Alpha Damage	13 500
Projectile Speed	762 m/s
Air Drag	0.352
Projectile Mass	1 225.0 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 520
Projectile Detonator	0.033 s
Detonator threshold	68 mm
Ricochet Angles	45° – 60°

Bombers

Carpet bombers – ‎‎SB2C Helldiver
Tier	IX
Hitpoints per plane	2 229
Cruise speed	125 knots
Maximum speed	160 knots
Engine boost time	20 s
Damage taken in attack mode	50%
Size of attacking flight	5
Aircraft per squadron	5
Bomb type	AN-M64
Bomb per plane	2
Maximum bomb damage	7 300
HE penetration capacity	42 mm
Explosion size	23.7 m
Fire chance	46 %
Detectability range	10.0 km
Restoration time	120 s

Consumable
Engine Cooling Number of Charges: 2 Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 80 s

Secondary Armament

10 x 2 127 mm/38 Mk.12 on a Mk.32 mount
Maximum Firing Range	6.950 km
Reloading Time	6.0 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 127 mm HE Mk32
Alpha Damage	1 800
HE penetration	21 mm
Explosion Size	5.7 m
Chance to Cause Fire	5 %
Projectile Speed	792 m/s
Air Drag	0.347
Projectile Mass	24.5 kg

Anti-air Armament

Consumables

Consumables
Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3
Damage Control Party Work time: 20 s Cooldown: 80 s	Repair Party Number of charges: 4 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration speed: +0.5%/s Casemate damage regeneration: 50% Citadel damage regeneration: 10%	Fighter Number of charges: 3 Work time: 90 s Cooldown: 70 s Number of planes in a squadron: 4 Patrol radius: 3.0 km

Fully Upgraded Ship

Main Armament

2 x 3 406 mm/50 Mk.7 in a turret 1 x 2 406 mm/50 Mk.7 in a turret
Maximum Firing Range	21.582 km
Reloading Time	30.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	45.0 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	45°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	40°
Sigma	1.9 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	276 m
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 406 mm HE/HC Mk13
Alpha Damage	5 700
Penetration capacity	68 mm
Explosion size	36.9 m
Fire chance	36 %
Projectile Speed	820 m/s
Air Drag	0.346
Projectile Mass	862.0 kg
Type of Projectile	AP – 406 mm AP Mk8
Alpha Damage	13 500
Projectile Speed	762 m/s
Air Drag	0.352
Projectile Mass	1 225.0 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 520
Projectile Detonator	0.033 s
Detonator threshold	68 mm
Ricochet Angles	45° – 60°

Bombers

Carpet bombers – ‎‎‎AD-1 Skyraider
Tier	IX
Hitpoints per plane	2 630
Cruise speed	135 knots
Maximum speed	172 knots
Engine boost time	20 s
Damage taken in attack mode	50%
Size of attacking flight	5
Aircraft per squadron	5
Bomb type	AN-M64
Bomb per plane	2
Maximum bomb damage	7 300
HE penetration capacity	42 mm
Explosion size	23.7 m
Fire chance	46 %
Detectability range	10.0 km
Restoration time	120 s

Consumable
Engine Cooling Number of Charges: 2 Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 80 s

Secondary Armament

10 x 2 127 mm/38 Mk.12 on a Mk.32 mount
Maximum Firing Range	6.950 km
Reloading Time	6.0 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 127 mm HE Mk32
Alpha Damage	1 800
HE penetration	21 mm
Explosion Size	5.7 m
Chance to Cause Fire	5 %
Projectile Speed	792 m/s
Air Drag	0.347
Projectile Mass	24.5 kg

Anti-air Armament

Consumables

Consumables
Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3
Damage Control Party Work time: 20 s Cooldown: 80 s	Repair Party Number of charges: 4 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration speed: +0.5%/s Casemate damage regeneration: 50% Citadel damage regeneration: 10%	Fighter Number of charges: 3 Work time: 90 s Cooldown: 70 s Number of planes in a squadron: 4 Patrol radius: 3.0 km

The Armor

External armor protection:

Front and rear armor protection of the middle section:

Main deck:

Citadel armor protection:

Turrets armor protection:

Hidden armor protection inside the stern:

Personal Opinion

Delaware is a bit of an interesting case. In action, she loses very little firepower compared to Iowa and in return gains a squadron of particularly strong bombers. However, while she only loses one gun from her main battery, she also gets FAR worse firing angles. If you want to use all guns on the ship while facing forward, AP shells have basically no chance of bouncing due to how much broadside you have to present. It isn’t any better when kiting as 40° firing angles are still well within the AP penetration angles of any ship you will come across. At least, the citadel is much lower than on Iowa so punishing this ship will be more difficult.

In other words, you really don’t want to be the one leading the charge with this ship. With the firing angles and the flight deck, she would just get farmed down in no time.

With that in mind, I still see quite a lot of potential for this ship. Especially with the bombers being able to nuke destroyers.

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