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World of Warships: Tier VII Soviet Battleship Poltava Review

5 min read

The Poltava which was initially introduced as a tier VIII ship is now being released as a tier VII. Is she worth it? Is she a completely forgettable tier VII battleship? Here is my opinion on the subject.

Tier VII Soviet Premium Battleship Poltava: An under-gunned punching-bag

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Her permanent camouflage gives the standard Tier VII permanent camouflage bonuses:

View post on imgur.com

The Good and the Bad

The Good

  • Good firing range
  • Good firing angles
  • Best concealment of all tier VII battleships
  • Strong armor protection
  • Russian battleships Damage Control Party
  • Actually good anti-air for a tier VII battleship
  • Good speed

The Bad

  • Main battery consisting of only 3 triple turrets with 356 mm guns
  • meh dispersion
  • Terrible turning radius and rudder shift time
  • Only 4 Repair Parties with Superintendent and Repair Party II

My opinion

The Poltava is a very anecdotic ship. Let’s put it this way. She doesn’t have the firepower that you would expect of a tier VII battleship but she does compensate it for amazing concealment and also strong armor protection. If you want a tier VII battleship, pretty much any of the available premiums would be more interesting than her in my opinion.

Health pool

The health pool is on the lower end of the spectrum with only 59 100 HP, only above the Lyon, Gneisenau, Scharnhorst and the California when she will be released. She does have the armor to compensate for it so it’s not really the end of the world.

Main battery

shot-19.11.22_16.46.17-0145.jpg

Main Battery
3 x 3 356 mm/54 Model 1938 TP-1
Maximum Firing Range18.300 km
 Reloading Time28.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time45.0 s
Optimal firing angle at the front 
30°
Optimal firing angle at the rear 27°
Sigma1.7 sigma
Maximum Dispersion 243 m
Shells
Type of Projectile HE – 356 mm HE Model 1938
Alpha Damage5 300 HP
Damage4 500 HP
Penetration capacity 58 mm
Explosion size2.18
Fire chance41 %
Projectile Speed895 m/s
Air Drag0.345
Projectile Mass750
Type of ProjectileAP – 356 mm AP Model 1938
Alpha Damage11 250 HP
Projectile Speed895 m/s
Air Drag0.345
Projectile Mass750
Projectile Krupp2 400
Projectile Detonator0.033 s

The firepower of the Poltava is quite disappointing. The ship only carries 9 guns with a caliber of 356 mm. By such, she cannot overmatch 25 mm platings. Of course, it isn’t the first time that we have that at tier VII. However, the other ships in that situation can compensate for it. The Scharnhorst has the fast reload, the Lyon has the 16 guns broadside and the King George V-class have the crazy HE and fast reload for the King George V itself.

The Poltava just has nothing to compensate for that weakness, not even her dispersion.

Secondary battery

shot-19.11.22_16.46.29-0600.jpg

Secondaries
8 x 2 130 mm/55 B-2-U
Maximum Firing Range5.00 km
Reloading Time5.0 s
Sigma1.00 sigma
Shells
Type of ProjectileHE – HE-46
Alpha Damage1 900 HP
Damage570 HP
HE penetration21 mm
Explosion Size0.45
Chance to Cause Fire8 %
Projectile Speed900 m/s
Air Drag0.255
Projectile Mass33.4

While they have the standard 5.0 km range, these secondaries are actually quite good since the ship basically has a Khabarovsk strapped on each side.

The anti-air armament

shot-19.11.22_16.46.43-0735

Air Defense
8 x 2 130 mm/55 B-2-U
Sector range0.1 km – 6.0 km
Hit chance75 %
Sector’s damage36
Sector’s damage frequency0.29 s
Sector’s damage per second126
Flak clouds number5
Flak cloud damage1 400
8 x 4 37 mm 46-K
Sector range0.1 km – 3.5 km
Hit chance75 %
Sector’s damage51
Sector’s damage frequency0.29 s
Sector’s damage per second179
6 x 1 12.7 mm DShK
Sector range0.1 km – 1.5 km
Hit chance70 %
Sector’s damage13
Sector’s damage frequency0.29 s
Sector’s damage per second46

The anti-air of the Poltava is actually relatively good. She has a strong long-range and the mid-range is not bad either.

Maneuverability and Concealment

Maneuverability and Concealment
Maximum speed29.0 kt
Turning Circle Radius1 000 m
Rudder Shift Time14.8 s
Surface Detectability13.94 km
Air Detectability 12.02 km
Detectability After Firing Main Gus in Smoke12.07 km

When it comes to speed, the ship is not bad at all with a 29 knots top speed. However, the ship turns like a brick with a 1000 m turning radius.

The Poltava, however, shines at staying concealed. With concealment expert and a camouflage, you can do down to 12.1 km spotting range by sea and 10.81 km spotting range by air. This will allow the ship to move to an advantageous position and surprise enemy ships.

The armor

View post on imgur.com

While the Poltava doesn’t have the best firepower, her armor protection is definitely worth a few praising. The bow and the stern are 25 mm thick like any tier VII battleship. She has a 200 mm upper belt and the main belt is 370 mm thick.

For the horizontal protection, there is the 40 mm weather deck and then the citadel main armor deck that is 150 mm thick above the engines and 180 mm thick under the turrets. This is actually very good protection for this tier and IJN CVs will struggle to score citadels if they are not at the right angle.

The superstructure is the classic 16 mm plating.

View post on imgur.com

View post on imgur.com

Inside her bow and stern, she has an armored deck of 70 mm which fully covers the frontal and rear athwartship of the citadel. This theoretically blocks anyone from getting citadels on the ship through the bow or stern.

View post on imgur.com

View post on imgur.com

The citadel’s athwartships are 240 mm thick for the upper part and 38 mm for the lower part. As you can see, the citadel has the classic Soviet T shape with the lower part being protected by a spaced armor configuration and the upper part being exposed above the waterline.

The consumables

Consumables
Slot 1
Slot 2
Slot 3
Damage Control Party I
Number of charges: 3
Work time: 10 s
Cooldown: 60 s
Repair Party I
Number of charges: 2
Work time: 28 s
Cooldown: 120 s
HP regeneration speed: 0.5% HP/s
Fighter I
Number of charges: 2
Work time: 60 s
Cooldown: 135 s
Patrol radius: 3.0 km
Number of fighters: 3
Damage Control Party II
Number of charges: 4
Work time: 10 s
Cooldown: 40 s
Repair Party II
Number of charges: 3
Work time: 28 s
Cooldown: 80 s
HP regeneration speed: 0.5% HP/s
Fighter II
Number of charges: 3
Work time: 60 s
Cooldown: 90 s
Patrol radius: 3.0 km
Number of fighters: 3

Conclusion

Is the Poltava a good ship? Not really, she is just too under-gunned for that.
Is the Poltava a bad ship then? Nope. She isn’t straight-up bad because her concealment is very good and her armor as well.

The Poltava can be simply rated meh/10. She is a decent ship that can serve well as a captain trainer for the Soviet battleships if people don’t want to spend more money on the Lenin that is just amazing at tier VIII.

Recommended build

During the testing of the Poltava, I used the following captain build and upgrades:

Captain build:

View post on imgur.com

  • Priority Target
  • Preventive Maintenance
  • Expert Marksman
  • Adrenaline Rush
  • Jack of All Trades
  • Superintendent
  • Concealment Expert
  • Fire Prevention

Upgrades:

  •  Main Armament Modification 1
  • Wows_icon_modernization_PCM020_DamageControl_Mod_I.png Damage Control System Modification 1
  •  Aiming System Modification 1
  • Wows_icon_modernization_PCM025_SteeringGear_Mod_II.png Steering Gears Modification 2 or Wows_icon_modernization_PCM023_DamageControl_Mod_II.png Damage Control System Modification 2

That’s it for this review. Once it’s approved, there will be a giveaway for the Poltava so stay tuned for it!

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