Kerch (cruiser)
| This page is about the Soviet light cruiser Kerch. For the Russian destroyer, see Kerch (destroyer). |
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Contents
Description
The Duca d’Aosta-class, Kerch, 1953 is a premium rank IV Soviet light cruiser with a battle rating of 5.3 (AB) and 5.7 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Winged Lions".
General info
Survivability and armour
The ship enjoys one of the better armour schemes among the light cruisers.
Its shells and magazines are divided into two separate rooms, both located relatively deep below the waterline, with more inert shells being closer to the surface and more likely to explode magazines located below the reach of most diving shells. Unlike some other light cruisers, such as those of the Japanese navy, the ship does not store ready-to-use ammunition above the waterline, making it even less susceptible to ammunition explosions.
The ship's armour includes three layers of protection: external bulges, internal citadel armour, and fuel tanks that further reduce casualties from centre-mass hits. This armour scheme allows the ship to survive multiple torpedo hits in the centre of mass, although the underwater magazines are still vulnerable to explosions from nearby torpedo impacts.
The ship's 152 mm O.T.O. Mod.1929 turrets have uparmoured faces with 90 mm RHA armour, which is superior to that of most foreign light cruisers at its battle rating or lower, and is surpassed only by the late-war US light cruisers with Mk.16 triple turrets in a higher battle rating.
This armour scheme makes Kerch a relatively resilient ship compared to its peers, despite having a relatively small crew count. The ship has excellent protection against destroyers at close range, but struggles against high-calibre SAP and AP shells commonly found on heavy cruisers in its battle rating range.
Mobility
Kerch, much like its Italian cousins, features excellent maximum speed and a very good acceleration. Manoeuvrability is also excellent, allowing it to avoid even a full torpedo wall after they are spotted. Very few light cruisers feature better mobility than Kerch or her sister RN Eugenio di Savoia - most notably RN Raimondo Montecuccoli.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 81 | 34 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 69 | 29 | |
Modifications and economy
2 × 450 / 600 / 50 % 2 × 178 / 178 / 178 % | Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armament
Primary armament
Firing an 8-shell 152mm broadside puts Kerch at an obvious disadvantage against most of its peers, and without a high rate of fire, its sustained damage output per minute is not impressive either. Looking at the extreme: Kirov can output nearly triple the HE-equivalent using the respective ships' default shells.
The default HE shells are great against destroyers and other weakly or unarmoured targets, but having a relatively low explosive filler, they fail to consistently ignite enemy warships on fire. APHEBC Palla shells, on the other hand, are great at causing enemy magazines to explode, as the ballistic cap makes these shells perform exceptionally well against angled armour, thus penetrating deep into the hull even at extreme ranges. HE-TF are your typical anti-air shells; they can be relatively useful thanks to the turrets' vertical guidance of up to +45° and a high shell velocity of 935 m/s.
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 1,000 m | 2,500 m | 5,000 m | 7,500 m | 10,000 m | 15,000 m | ||
| HE Dirompente | HE | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 |
| APHEBC Palla | APHEBC | 277 | 229 | 168 | 125 | 95 | 70 |
| HE-TF Contro-aerea | HE-TF | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (s) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | |||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| HE Dirompente | HE | 935 | 44.57 | 0 | 0.1 | 2,390 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| APHEBC Palla | APHEBC | 900 | 47.5 | 0.03 | 7 | 800 | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
| HE-TF Contro-aerea | HE-TF | 935 | 44.57 | 0 | 0.1 | 2,390 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
Secondary armament
Some ships are fitted with weapons of various calibres. Secondary armaments are defined as weapons chosen with the control Select secondary weapon. Evaluate the secondary armaments and give advice on how to use them. Describe the ammunition available for the secondary armament. Provide recommendations on how to use them and which ammunition to choose. Remember that any anti-air armament, even heavy calibre weapons, belong in the next section. If there is no secondary armament, remove this section.
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 100 m | 1,000 m | 2,000 m | 3,000 m | 4,000 m | 5,000 m | ||
| 100 mm HE | HE | 53 | 46 | 40 | 34 | 30 | 26 |
| 100 mm anti-air HE | HE-TF | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (s) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | |||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| 100 mm HE | HE | 800 | 15.8 | 0.035 | 5 | 1.24 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| 100 mm anti-air HE | HE-TF | 880 | 13.85 | 0 | 0.1 | 2.06 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
Anti-aircraft armament
An important part of the ship's armament responsible for air defence. Anti-aircraft armament is defined by the weapon chosen with the control Select anti-aircraft weapons. Talk about the ship's anti-air cannons and machine guns, the number of guns and their positions, their effective range, and about their overall effectiveness – including against surface targets. If there are no anti-aircraft armaments, remove this section.
Additional armament
Describe the available additional armaments of the ship: depth charges, mines, torpedoes. Talk about their positions, available ammunition and launch features such as dead zones of torpedoes. If there is no additional armament, remove this section.
Usage in battles
Describe the technique of using this ship, the characteristics of her use in a team and tips on strategy. Abstain from writing an entire guide – don't try to provide a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought. Talk about the most dangerous opponents for this vehicle and provide recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of playing with this vehicle in various modes (AB, RB, SB).
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Thick belt and turret armour
- High top speed
- Effective anti-aircraft armament
- Heavily armoured conning tower/bridge
- Fast torpedoes (without torpedo mode installed) or slow, but 10 km-range torpedoes with the torpedo mode installed
Cons:
- Very small explosive filler in the main gun AP shell
- Below average explosive filler in the main gun HE shell
- Only two propeller shafts
- Either too short-ranged or too slow torpedoes for a light cruiser
History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ship in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the ship and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Ship-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the ship's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).
Media
- Skins
See also
External links
- [Wikipedia] Italian cruiser Emanuele Filiberto Duca d'Aosta
- [Naval Encyclopedia] Duca d'Aosta class Cruisers (1934)
| Odero-Terni-Orlando Company | |
|---|---|
| Destroyers | |
| Turbine-class | RN Turbine · RN Aquilone |
| Dardo-class | RN Dardo |
| Soldati-class | RN Corazziere · RN Aviere · RN Geniere |
| Comandanti Medaglie d'Oro-class | RN Comandante Margottini |
| Light Cruisers | |
| Condottieri-class | Kerch* · RN Duca degli Abruzzi |
| Capitani Romani-class | RN Attilio Regolo · Guichen** |
| Heavy Cruisers | |
| Trento-class | RN Trento |
| Zara-class | RN Zara · RN Pola |
| Battleships | |
| Conte di Cavour-class | RN Leonardo da Vinci*** |
| Export | Tashkent**** |
| See Also | OTO Melara |
| *RN Duca d'Aosta before war reparation to the USSR | |
| **RN Scipione Africano before war reparation to France | |
| ***Previously ‘’Cantieri navali Odero’’ in Genoa-Sestri Ponente | |
| ****Built for the USSR | |
| USSR light cruisers | |
|---|---|
| Imperial Russia | |
| Svetlana-class | Krasny Krym* · Krasny Kavkaz* |
| * Laid down by Imperial Russian Navy; Finished and renamed by the USSR | |
| Project | Soviet Union |
| Pr.26 | Kirov · Voroshilov · Maxim Gorky |
| Pr.68 | Chapayev · Zheleznyakov |
| Pr.68-bis | Sverdlov · Mikhail Kutuzov |
| Pr.68-bis-ZiF | Shcherbakov |
| Lend-Lease | USA |
| Omaha-class | Murmansk |
| Trophies | Italy |
| Condottieri-class | Kerch |
| USSR premium ships | |
|---|---|
| Motor torpedo boats | G-5 (ShVAK) · Pr.123K (A-10bis) |
| Motor gun boats | TKA-412 · Pr.183 BM-21 · Ya-5M |
| Motor torpedo gun boats | MPK Pr.12412P |
| Armoured gun boats | MBK-161 early · MBK pr.186 (MK 85) · Pr.1124 MLRS · Pr.1204 |
| Sub-chasers | MPK Pr.122bis |
| Frigates | Rosomacha |
| Destroyers | Kerch · Ryany · Leningrad · Stroyny · Smelyi · Neustrashimy · Blagorodnyy |
| Light cruisers | Murmansk · Kerch · Zheleznyakov |
| Battleships | Marat |
