USS Frank Knox

USS Frank Knox

USS Frank Knox

USA

III Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
4.7	4.7	4.7

Class:

PREMIUM

Destroyer

Purchase:1 600

Show in game

Description

The Gearing-class, Frank Knox (DD-742), 1944 is a premium rank III American destroyer with a battle rating of 4.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Fire and Ice".

General info

Survivability and armour

Armourfront / side / back

Main fire tower3 / 3 / 3 mm

Hull16 mm (steel)

Superstructure4 mm (steel)

Number of section7

Displacement3 460 t

Crew336 people

USS Frank Knox has the same armour layout as the USS Gearing, the lead ship of the Gearing class. This means she has a main belt of 0.75 inches, which is surprisingly well armoured for a destroyer of this rank. This is more than the 0.5 inches of the Porter class and the same as the earlier Fletcher class. This belt cannot stop more than 20 mm autocannons, but it significantly lessens spall damage from HE shells from other destroyers and light cruisers. The dual turret mounts have 0.125 inches of armour on the front, sides, rear, and top, and there is a 0.5-inch deck armour plate covering the machinery spaces.

The magazine is placed under the aft turret, and is protected by fuel tanks on both sides of the hull. These fuel tanks will protect the magazine from high explosive shells, but any SAP or AP will slice straight through and ammorack the ship. Captains of USS Frank Knox should avoid taking hits to the stern of the ship whenever possible, and evasive action is recommended as any direct hit under the aft turret will most likely result in total loss of the ship.

As for crew count, USS Frank Knox is quite well off. With a crew count of 336, Frank Knox is able to lose more crew members and keep fighting in comparison to her older Porter-class and Fletcher-class predecessors, allowing her to stay in the fight for longer. This can allow captains of USS Frank Knox to serve as a flotilla leader and absorb shots in some situations, although as stated before it is not recommended to do so while the stern is within the line of fire.

The primary battery has enough armour to stop some spall damage from misses with high explosive shells, but any direct hit from any destroyer calibre gun or higher will inevitably knock the mount out of action. The secondary battery has no armour whatsoever, and splash from hits or near misses will commonly damage or destroy the battery. It is recommended to avoid repairing these whenever possible, as they will inevitably be destroyed again and drain more crew from the ship.

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB78 / 31 km/h

RB64 / 25 km/h

USS Frank Knox, as a member of the Gearing-class, has very similar performance to USS Gearing and the USS Sumner her class was derived from. This gives her quick acceleration, only taking approximately 25 seconds to reach her flank speed of 34 kn from a standstill. The rudder responds within 1 second, and speed will fall to 24.0 kn in a sustained turn, so captains of USS Frank Knox are advised to avoid long sweeping turns as much as possible, as these slow the ship massively and can make it a much easier target. The Frank Knox takes approximately 35 seconds to come to a halt after the order has been given, and overall the ship performs well and is responsive, particularly at lower speeds.

Mobility Characteristics
Game Mode	Upgrade Status	Maximum Speed (km/h)		Turn Time (s)	Turn Radius (m)
		Forward	Reverse
AB	Stock	___	___
	Upgraded	78	31
RB/SB	Stock	___	___
	Upgraded	64	25

Modifications and economy

Repair cost

AB4 166

RB2 883

Crew training10 000

Experts180 000

Aces590

Research Aces710 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

2 × 300 / 580 / 50 %

2 × 148 / 148 / 148 %

Modifications

Seakeeping	Unsinkability	Firepower
Dry-Docking Rudder Replacement Propeller Replacement Engine Maintenance	Damage Control Division Fire Division Smokescreen Shrapnel Protection Ventilation New Pumps Ammo Wetting	127mm_usa_mk32_common_sap_ammo_pack 40 mm HE clips Anti-Air Armament Targeting 127mm_usa_mk46_special_common_sap_ammo_pack 40 mm AP clips Auxiliary Armament Targeting 127mm_usa_mk31_aavt_radio_fuse_ammo_pack Improved Rangefinder Primary Armament Targeting Bomb mortar Torpedo Mode

Armament

Primary armament

3 х Turret2 x 5 inch/38 Mk.12 cannon, mount Mk.38

Ammunition720 rounds

Vertical guidance-15° / 85°

The primary armament of the USS Frank Knox is 6 x 5-inch/38 Mk.12 in three twin mounts, two superfiring forward and one aft, directly above the magazine. The 5-inch/38 has a very high rate of fire, with 22 rounds/min (2.8-second reload) with a maxed reload and a still respectable 15 round/min (4-second reload) once the ready rack is depleted. This gives the USS Frank Knox excellent volume of fire compared to other nation's contemporary destroyers, while still having shells with good damage and penetration.

The USS Frank Knox gets access to four shell types - AAC Mk.34, Common Mk.32, SP Common Mk.46, and AAVT Mk.31. As the Frank Knox is a premium, captains will have all four shell types unlocked immediately. Therefore it is recommend to run two shell types, about 1/3 ammo load AAVT Mk.31 and 2/3 Common Mk.32. The AAVT shell has the same quantity of explosive filler as the AAC shell, and performs identically against surface targets whilst having a proximity fuse for use against air targets. The Common shell is recommended over the SP Common shell due to the greater quantity of filler in the shells compared to the SP Common shells, and the lower penetration isn't a concern against the destroyers of the rank. If captains find themselves fighting cruisers, the SP Common shell with its higher penetration is recommended.

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
AAC Mk.34	HE	36	36	36	36	36	36
Common Mk.32	Common	124	103	77	58	46	37
SP Common Mk.46	SP Common	150	125	93	71	56	45
AAVT Mk.31	HE-VT	36	36	36	36	36	36

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%
AAC Mk.34	HE	792	25	0	0.1	3,220	79°	80°	81°
Common Mk.32	Common	792	24.49	0.01	6	1,150	47°	60°	65°
SP Common Mk.46	SP Common	792	25	0.01	6	906.5	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%
AAVT Mk.31	HE-VT	792	25	0	0.1	457	23	3,220	79°	80°	81°

Secondary armament

2 х Turret2 x 40 mm Bofors L/60 Mark 1 gun

Ammunition4000 rounds

Belt capacity4 rounds

Fire rate156 shots/min

2 х Turret4 x 40 mm Bofors L/60 Mark 2 gun

Ammunition8000 rounds

Belt capacity4 rounds

Fire rate156 shots/min

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
40 mm HEFI-T	HEFI-T	3	3	3	3	3	3
40 mm AP-T	AP-T	81	78	68	58	49	41

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
40 mm HEFI-T	HEFI-T	874	0.9	0	0.1	67.13	79°	80°	81°
40 mm AP-T	AP-T	874	0.89	N/A	N/A	N/A	47°	60°	65°

Anti-aircraft armament

11 х Turret20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mk.II autocannon

Ammunition1800 rounds

Belt capacity60 rounds

Fire rate450 shots/min

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

Setup 110 x 533 mm steam turbined Mk.15 torpedo

Setup 224 x Mk.6 mortar depth charge

Setup 310 x 533 mm steam turbined Mk.15 torpedo

6 x Mk.6 mortar depth charge

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

Summarise and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in the bulleted list. Try not to use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - use substitutions with softer forms such as "inadequate" and "effective".

Pros:

Cons:

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

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the ship;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• [Devblog] Premium destroyer USS Frank Knox and economic changes to the USS Moffett