Kerch (destroyer)

Kerch

Kerch

USSR

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
3.3	3.3	3.3

Class:

PREMIUM

Destroyer

Purchase:250

Show in game

Description

The Fidonisy-class, Kerch, 1917 is a premium rank I Soviet destroyer with a battle rating of 3.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "New Power".

General info

Survivability and armour

Armourfront / side / back

Main fire tower38 / 0 / 0 mm

Hull16 mm (steel)

Superstructure4 mm (steel)

Number of section7

Displacement1 700 t

Crew168 people

As with other destroyers, Kerch is barely armoured. Several drawbacks from its primitive design including unprotected main and secondary guns as well as uncovered engines hamper its protection. Thus, it relies on its relatively small size and crew count to survive.

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB72 / 26 km/h

RB59 / 22 km/h

Mobility Characteristics
Game Mode	Upgrade Status	Maximum Speed (km/h)		Turn Time (s)	Turn Radius (m)
		Forward	Reverse
AB	Stock	___	___
	Upgraded	72	26
RB/SB	Stock	___	___
	Upgraded	59	22

Mobility of Kerch is not that good compared to its comtemporaries, but at least it's quite manoeuvrable.

Modifications and economy

Repair cost

AB309

RB358

Total cost of modifications5 160

520

Crew training150

Experts1 000

Aces20

Research Aces145 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

2 × 40 / 60 / 50 %

2 × 75 / 75 / 75 %

Modifications

Seakeeping	Unsinkability	Firepower
Dry-Docking Research: 450 Cost: 45 50 Rudder Replacement Propeller Replacement Engine Maintenance Research: 960 Cost: 95 110	Damage Control Division Fire Division Smokescreen Research: 330 Cost: 35 40 Shrapnel Protection Research: 450 Cost: 45 50 Ventilation Research: 450 Cost: 45 50 New Pumps Ammo Wetting Research: 960 Cost: 95 110	Anti-Air Armament Targeting Research: 450 Cost: 45 50 40mm_qf_mkxv_he_ammo_pack Research: 450 Cost: 45 50 Auxiliary Armament Targeting 40mm_qf_mkxv_ap_ammo_pack Research: 330 Cost: 35 40 102mm_ussr_navy_shrapnel_ammo_pack Research: 330 Cost: 35 40 Primary Armament Targeting Improved Rangefinder

Armament

Primary armament

4 х Turret102 mm/60 Pattern 1911 naval gun

Ammunition160 rounds

Vertical guidance-10° / 30°

Kerch has 4 x 102 mm cannons as the main weapon. These guns have decent firepower and fire rate but are far from the best brawling weapons. The greatest advantage of these guns is the high accuracy which they have. As such, Kerch should be played as a sniper destroyer more so than a close-range brawler. The accuracy of these guns at long range far surpasses the other equivalent destroyers of other nations and can be used to shell enemies from far range with impunity from more inaccurate enemy fire.

Kerch also has the option of loading a unique shrapnel shell. While it is quite effective against any destroyer it might face due to increased fragmentation damage, it cannot set the enemy on fire (thus near useless against any destroyers that utilise anti-fragmentation armour), as well as cannot hull break any lightly-armoured PT boats (its greatest threats) it hits due to the shell over-penetrating and dealing little to no damage at all.

Another point worth mentioning is the fact that the arrangement of the guns is not exactly the best, with a single gun at the front and the 3 others all at the back. This means that you can only use a single gun against a target directly in front of you.

Secondary armament

2 х Turret40 mm 2pdr QF Mk.IIc automatic cannon

Ammunition2240 rounds

Belt capacity56 rounds

Fire rate200 shots/min

The main difference between Kerch and the Frunze is that it's using two 40 mm Pom-Pom autocannons instead of a terrible 76 mm and 45 mm as secondary armaments. Despite only featured two single mounts at the aft and stern, these guns are quite reliable for AA defense due to wide coverage, and it's able to fend off PT boats at close distance.

Anti-aircraft armament

2 х Turret7.62 mm Maxim machine gun

Ammunition1500 rounds

Belt capacity1000 rounds

Fire rate600 shots/min

"Anti-air" armaments of Kerch consisted of two severely outdated 7.62 mm machine guns that are pretty much useless except for spooking inbound aircraft to dodge relatively harmless shots and get into the range of your Pom-Pom guns.

Additional armament

Setup 114 x 450 mm wet-heater torpedo pattern 1910

Although Kerch has three more torpedo tubes than the Frunze, it utilizes incredibly weak torpedoes with only 100 kg of warhead (less than half of Frunze's). Thus requiring more than one hit to destroy enemy ships. Other than that, its range is also awfully short at only 3 kilometers, thus it cannot attack enemy over longer distances.

Usage in battles

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Pros and cons

Pros:

• Main cannons are very accurate
• Relatively high crew count for reserve ship
• Quite fast and easy to control
• Small superstructure allows it to take lesser crew loss when being hit by small-calibre guns
• Two Pom-Pom autocannons is useful for fending off aircrafts and PT boats

Cons:

• Non-existent armour protection
• Gun crew is unprotected, even small-calibre machine guns can take them out
• No access to usual HEF shells, instead using a shrapnel shell that cannot set the enemy ship on fire and is useless against PT boats
• Horrible torpedoes with tiny warhead and short range
• AA armament is essentially useless

History

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Media

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See also

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• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

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• other literature.

Black Sea Shipyard (Черноморский судостроительный завод)
Destroyers
Derzkiy-class	Frunze
Fidonisy-class	Kerch
Project 1	Moskva
Light Cruisers
Project 26	Voroshilov
Project 68A	Mikhail Kutuzov

USSR destroyers
	Imperial Russia
Derzky-class	Frunze
Fidonisy-class	Kerch
	Soviet Union
Pr. 1	Leningrad · Moskva
Pr. 45	Opytny
Pr. 7	Besposhchadny · Ryany
Pr. 7U	Soobrazitelny · Stroyny
Pr. 20	Tashkent
Pr. 30	Ognevoy
Pr. 30-bis	Smelyi · Bezuprechny
Pr. 41	Neustrashimy
Pr. 56	Spokoinyy · Blagorodnyy · Bravy
Trophies	Romania
Regele Ferdinand-class	Letuchiy

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