USS Raleigh
Contents
Description
The Omaha-class, USS Raleigh (CL-7), 1942 was the fourth ship of the Omaha-class light cruisers. Raleigh was laid down on 16th August 1920 and commissioned on 6th February 1924. She was armed with a total of ten 6 inch/53 Mark 12 cannons with four in casemates on the bow and one twin-mounted turret and two in casemates aft together with one twin-mounted turret. Secondary armament consisted of two 3 inch anti-aircraft guns and two triple 533 mm torpedo tubes. Over the years and various refits, more 3 inch guns were added together with various other light autocannons such as Oerlikon or Bofors. In the interwar period, Raleigh served in the Atlantic. On 7th December 1941, during the attack on Pearl Harbour, Raleigh was torpedoed by B5N Kate torpedo bombers aiming for USS Utah. She was repaired and in 1942 departed towards the Aleutian Islands where she conducted escort duties and shore bombardments until the end of the war. She was decommissioned on 2nd November 1945 and sold for scrap on 27th February 1946.
The Raleigh was introduced in Update 1.85 "Supersonic". Unlike her sister Trenton, she is represented in her 1942 configuration, featuring upgraded anti-aircraft suite and increased amount of 3-inch guns. She is the second light cruiser available to US Navy captains. Her main armament is quite weak as it lacks proper AP shell and the SAP shell has low TNT yield coupled with long reload of 10 seconds. She also does not possess armoured belt along the entire length of ship, the belt only protects vital machinery such as transmissions and boilers. Her magazines located on waterline are unprotected making them vulnerable to fatal explosions.
General info
Survivability and armour
With barely even anti-fragmentation armour, this ship can be easily penetrated by most bluewater ships. It is arguably one of the worst ship at its rank in terms of stopping damage, as its moderate crew, poor turn radius, and massive unarmoured side, make it a sitting duck to anything that sails its way, barring some destroyers and smaller vessels.
Mobility
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 73 | 29 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 63 | 25 | |
Modifications and economy
| Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armament
Primary armament
The one saving grace of this ship is its 6-inch artillery. Powerful enough to obliterate most destroyers in a few well-placed hits, it unfortunately has a poor reload rate, and an even worse traverse rate. This vessel is essentially a support ship for more powerful ships in its BR range.
| 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 | ||
| Mk.34 HC | HE | 49 | 49 | 49 | 49 | 49 | 49 |
| Mk.27 SC | SP Common | 210 | 179 | 138 | 107 | 85 | 60 |
| 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% | ||||||||||
| Mk.34 HC | HE | 914 | 47.6 | 0 | 0.1 | 5,880 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| Mk.27 SC | SP Common | 914 | 47.62 | 0.01 | 7 | 977.06 | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
Secondary armament
The 76 mm cannons do have HE-VT shells, meaning that they can ward off planes and ships, but only at close range.
| 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 | ||
| HC Mk.27 | HE | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| AP Mk.29 | APCBC | 111 | 90 | 71 | 56 | 44 | 36 |
| AA Mk.31 | HE-VT | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| 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% | ||||||||||
| HC Mk.27 | HE | 823 | 5.9 | 0 | 0.1 | 500 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| AP Mk.29 | APCBC | 823 | 5.9 | 0.01 | 4 | 133.28 | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
| Proximity-fused shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Arming distance (m) |
Trigger radius (m) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | |||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| AA Mk.31 | HE-VT | 823 | 5.85 | 0 | 0.1 | 548 | 15 | 352.8 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |
Anti-aircraft armament
The Raleigh is equipped with two dual 40 mm Bofors mounts and twelve single-mount Oerlikon cannons. This provides some decent AA cover at close range, though it certainly isn't winning any awards for defensive firepower. It is better to simply stay close to AA ships and destroyers for some extra protection.
Additional armament
The ship does have a pair of torpedo launchers, but their poor placement and poor torpedoes, makes them a poor choice to use.
Scout plane
Located amidships are two catapults with one SOC-1 scout plane each, which provide unique offensive and defensive abilities, expanding tactical options. Ship-launched scout planes fly just like regular tree units, but lack munition choices and cockpit views. Alongside the typical abilities of strafing, dropping 2 x 100 lb bombs, and capping zones, the SOC-1 and other scout planes have the added ability to lay down smoke cover (up to 3 times). Captains will be wise to remember to utilise the aircraft and consider when best to use it, for example to cap a point early or late in the match, to create a smoke screen to stymie enemy bombardment and repair, to attack enemy units directly, or perhaps something completely new! With two scout planes, one can risk a cap attempt at the beginning of the match, saving the second for any opportunity that presents itself.
Usage in battles
The USS Raleigh is mostly used for lower-level support for late and early-tier destroyers once the enemy team has early light cruisers. But the ship is much of a 50/50, as it may face late and early-tier destroyers along with same-tier light cruisers, but it will sometimes be uptiered to fight battles against cruisers such as the Cleveland, Prinz Eugen, and Mogami, having very little chance besides torpedoes to fight back.
The ship's main armament is powerful against lightly-armoured enemies and light cruisers, but the ship's guns turn slowly, and the ship only has five turrets (three broadside, two turrets) to fight on one side, and has a slow reload rate at stock. Once the ship is completely spaded out, it will perform better, but not much of a dangerous target to late-tier cruisers.
The secondary armament is somewhat of an upgrade besides 37 mm and 40 mm AA guns, as the eight 76 mm 3-inch Mark 10 guns are good for anti-aircraft defence and come with HE-VT shells, capable of dealing with heavier aircraft. But the downside is that the range is slightly better than a regular autocannon, as its range is short and won't shoot well against heavily armoured aircraft. The guns sometimes will not detect aircraft, and because the calibre of the gun is not great for early-war cruisers, the 76 mm guns will not be winning anti-aircraft awards. You can carry mostly HE-VT for aircraft, but should also carry regular HE for incoming torpedo boats.
Anti-aircraft weaponry is an upgrade to the earlier USS Trenton(CL-11), as the ship removed one Chicago Piano in exchange for eight 20 mm Oerlikon guns, which does slightly add anti-aircraft effectiveness, but does little against incoming aircraft. The Raleigh's anti-aircraft weaponry is better than the Trenton's weaponry by a long run, but falls short due to low ammunition.
The final weapon of the Raleigh is the six Mk.15 torpedoes split into two three-tube launchers on both sides near the rear broadside guns. The Mk.15 torpedo is mediocre in the game on U.S. ships, because of their range and speed, which is doubled with improved torpedo modifications. Once enemy cruisers better protected than you try to engage you, it is recommended to try to launch two torpedoes as a test salvo to predict their movements. Once a torpedo hits a vital section of the ship such as the engine or rudder, use three more torpedoes to sink the enemy ship, and if the enemy is still standing, use the main guns to finish the enemy.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Powerful 6-inch guns can wreak havoc on any opponent
- Decent armour, due to being a cruiser
- Good AA defences at close range
- Two scout seaplanes
Cons:
- Rather slow compared to destroyers
- Armour will not protect you from torpedoes
- Not the best AA at medium to long range
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
- Related development
External links
| Bethlehem Steel Corporation | |
|---|---|
| Gun Destroyers (DD) | |
| Porter-class | USS Phelps · USS Moffett |
| Fletcher-class | USS Cowell |
| Destroyer Leaders (DL) | |
| Mitscher-class | USS Wilkinson |
| Cruiser, Light (CL) | |
| Omaha-class | USS Raleigh · USS Detroit |
| Heavy Cruisers (CA) | |
| Northampton-class | USS Northampton |
| Portland-class | USS Portland |
| Baltimore-class | USS Baltimore · USS Pittsburgh |
| Des Moines-class | USS Des Moines |
| USA light cruisers | |
|---|---|
| Omaha-class | USS Detroit · USS Raleigh · USS Trenton |
| Atlanta-class | USS Atlanta |
| Brooklyn-class | USS Brooklyn · USS Helena |
| Cleveland-class | USS Cleveland |
| Fargo-class | USS Fargo |
| Worcester-class | USS Roanoke |
