IJN Aoba
Contents
Description
The Aoba-class, IJN Aoba, 1945 is a rank IV Japanese heavy cruiser with a battle rating of 5.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Direct Hit".
While orignially part of the Furutaka class heavy cruisers, the development of new guns and turrets prompted the modification of Aoba and her sister ship Kinugasa which were then placed into their own class with Aoba being the leadship. Ingame, Aoba is in her 1945 configuration
General info
Survivability and armour
Aoba is lightly armoured. The belt armour is only 76.2mm of Rolled Homogeneous Armour (RHA) and does not extend towards the front and rear turrets to offer additional protection for the magazines, most other heavy heavy cruisers and some light cruisers have thicker armour. Fortunately, the ammunition magazines for the main guns are bellow the water line and the top is covered by 32mm of RHA. The fuel tanks in the centre are protected by the belt armour, but the thin steel means these will get set on fire which can then spread to the engines. Additional fuel tanks in the bow and stern are completely unprotected and since they are located quite close to the ammunition, the fire can spread to the ammunition. The turrets are large and easy to hit, with only 25mm of RHA. HE from destroyer calibre guns have no issue dissabling the turrets.
With only 657 crew, Aoba has the second least amount of sailors for a heavy cruiser after IJN Kako. This leaves her vulnerable to complete crew loss in a few minutes if concentrated upon by multiple ships.
Although can be easily put Aoba out of commission by other cruisers, destroyers will have a hard time dealing any significant damage outside of disabling turrets and starting fires.
Mobility
Write about the ship's mobility. Evaluate its power and manoeuvrability, rudder rerouting speed, stopping speed at full tilt, with its maximum forward and reverse speed.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 72 | 27 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 62 | 23 | |
Modifications and economy
| Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Armament
Primary armament
Aoba has 6 x 20.3cm/50 3rd year type No.2 guns split into 3 turrets with 2 guns each. 2 turrets are forward and a single is aft of the superstructure. The forward turrets are superfiring, meaning the one behind can shoot over the one in front. She can use HE, HE-TF and AP shells. The turrets have a slow rotation speed but great firing angles. The guns have a reload rate of 12 seconds with the top crew skills, putting them on par with the German Admiral hipper class and British County class heavy cruisers.
HE-TF should be avoided since the slow turret rotation speed and low rate of fire makes this shell basically useless against air targets and cannot be used against surface targets like HE-VT. The AP has the best HE filler of all the 20.3cm (8 inch) armed cruisers and is shared with the much larger and more powerfull heavy cruisers in the Japanese fleet, Mogami and Tone. The great HE filler deals significant damage to cruisers and has an increased chance of detonating the ammunition storages of enemy ships.
Secondary armament
Anti-aircraft armament
Aoba sees a great improvement over Furutaka in AA, going from just 4x dual mount 25mm auto cannons and 2x13.2mm machine guns to 15x single mount 25mm auto cannons, 10x double mount 25 and 5x triple mount 25mm cannons. The 25mm auto cannons can shoot down fighters and small attackers with ease, although some heavier aircraft such as bombers can shrug off enough of the fire to get close enough to drop bombs or torpedoes.
Additional armament
Usage in battles
The decent turret firing angles allow the Aoba to sail bow front, maximizing protection from the relatively thin armour. The AP shells have decent HE filler and deal good damage against all but the most heavily armoured ships. The Type 93 torpedoes can be launched from the spawn and can hit targets from extreme ranges. Although the probability of a succesful torpedo hit at these ranges is low due to many factors such as the low speed making them easier to dodge. Alternatively the torpedoes can be used at closer ranges as the speed means they are much more difficult to dodge.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- The main guns have decent firing angles
- AP shells have great explosive filler
- Torpedoes have excellent range, speed and explosive filler
- Improved AA defence capability over Furutaka
Cons:
- Torpedo launchers have limited firing angles
- Thin armour compared to other heavy cruisers
- Main gun turrets are fragile
History
Construction
In 1922, the Furutaka class cruisers (Known as A class in the Japanese navy) were first laid down. Designed to outcompete the American Omaha class and British Hawkins class cruisers, the Furutaka class were just as fast, had a heavier broadside and had more powerful torpedoes. In 1924, it was decided to use the newly developed 2x20cm gun turrets on the ships. However, it was too late to retrofit Furutaka and Kako therefore the remaining two ships, Aoba and Kinugasa, would be retrofitted with the new armament and placed in a seperate class, the machinery and armour remained the same. Aoba recieved a gunpowder powered aircraft catapult in 1929. In 1930, the Japanes navy won approval for the modernization of the A class cruisers to counter the numerical advantage enjoyed by the US Navy. However, the political situation limited the modernization given. Modifications started in 1938 and include new 20.3cm/50 main guns, 4x2 25mm AA guns around the funnel and mounting of new torpedo launchers with the Type 93 torpedoes. The total increase in weight meant Aoba had needed bulges added to the hull to restore stability.
Service Career
Aoba was completed in 1927 and assigned to Cruiser Division (CruDiv) 5, then CruDiv6 in 1933 and then CruDiv7.In the late 1920s to the 1930s, Aoba was frequently used to patrol the China coast. After her 1938-40 modifications were completed, she was returned to CruDiv6. In 1941 -during the attack on Pearl Harbour, Aoba and the other cruisers of CruDiv6 engaged in the invasion of Guam, and she then participated in the second invasion of Wake Island.
In the Battle of Coral Sea, 1942, Aoba and CruDiv6 rendezvous at sea with light carrier Shoho. Dive and Torpedo bombers from USS Yorktown and Lexington then sunk Shoho on May 7th at 1100 hours. The next day, Aoba covered the withdrawal of the Port Moresby invasion convoy. On May 22nd, Aoba returned to Kure Naval Arsenal for repairs and then sent to Santa Isabel Island for patrols before being assigned to the recently created Eighth Fleet on July 14th and was assigned to patrols around New Britain, New Ireland and the Solomon Islands
On August 7th 1942, an E13 spotter plane from Aoba found "one battleship, one auxiliary carrier, four cruisers, seven destroyers and 15 transports" off Teluga Point. In the Battle of Savo Island, Aoba accompanied CruDiv6, Takao class cruiser Chokai, light cruisers Tenryuu and Yubari and destroyer Yunagi and engaged the allied fleet at night, sinking cruisers USS Astoria, Quincy, Vincennes and HMAS Canberra and damaging the cruiser USS Chicago and destroyers Ralph Talbot and Patterson. Aoba was hit once during the battle while her sister ship Kinugasa was hit twice with Chokai being hit 3 times. Aoba then provided cover for the Japanese reinforcements heading for Guadalcanal.
In the Battle of Cape Esperance on October 11th 1942, CruDiv6 departed with destroyers Fubuki and Hatsuyuki to cover reinforcement troops by shelling Henderson Field. They were spotted by 2 American OS2U Kingfishers and at 2235 the fleet was spotted by radar from USS Helena. Both sides opened fire, however Admiral Goto who was in command of CruDiv6 believed they were under friendly fire and ordered his ships to turn. This exposed the broadsides of the fleet to be exposed. Furutaka was sunk and Aoba suffered severe damage, No. 2 turret was knocked out and No.3 turret was destroyed. 4 of Aoba's boilers were inopperable. Admiral Goto was mortally wounded and 80 crewmen were killed. After temporary repairs at Shorland, Aoba sailed to Truk on October 15th where Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto inspected the damage before sending her back to Japan.
After returning to Kure, Aoba was repaired. The destroyed No. 3 turret was replaced with a triple barrel 25mm AA gun and sent back to Truk on February 24th 1943. On April 3rd, Aoba was bombed by B17 Flying Fortresses while moored at Kavieng. Two of Aoba's Type 93s exploded and started a fire while she was strafed by machine gun fire from the B17s. She was beached to prevent her from sinking. Aoba was then Towed to Truk and then back to Kure where she was repaired and refitted. No. 3 turret was returned, a Type 21 air-search radar was installed and 2 twin mount 25mm AA guns were added. Irrepairable engine damage limited Aoba's top speed to just 46km/h (25 knots).
Aoba was then sent to Singapore as part of the First Southern Expeditionary Fleet on December 24th 1943. She was based outside of Singapore and escorted convoys to Burma and the Andaman Islands. On February 25th 1944, Aoba returned to CruDiv6 where she participated in the Indian Ocean raid in March and then resumed escort duties through the Dutch East Indies and New Guinea. In July, Aoba was refitted again in Singapore with the Type 22 air-search radar and gained an additional 4 triple mount 25mm AA guns and 15 single mount 25mm AA guns.
On October 11th, Aoba recieved minor damage with an accidental collision with cruiser Kinu. However, US submarine Bream attacked Aoba on October 23rd. 1 of 6 torpedoes struck Aoba on the No. 2 engine room, she then sailed to Cavite Naval Yard near Manila for emergency repairs. While undergoing repairs, on October 29th Aoba was bombed by planed from Task Force 38. Aoba was then assigned to a convoy and sent back to Japan again despite incomplete repairs. While heading for Japan, the convoy was attacke by US submarines Guittarro, Beam, Raton and Ray off Luzon on November 6th. 23 torpedoes were fired by the submarines, 2 hit cruiser Kumano but Aoba escaped with no further damage. Upon arrival at Kure, Aoba was declared irrepairable and re-rated into a reserve ship.
A US air raid on Kure on April 24th 1945 damaged Aoba further, causing her to sink and settle at the bottom of the shallow harbour. She was not repaired, instead additional 25mm AA guns were fitted and she was turned into a floating AA battery with a total of 50 25mm guns, 5 triple, 10 double and 15 single mounts. On July 14th Kure was attacked again, this time by planes from Task Force 38. Aoba was bombed once again where she settled at the bottom at 2200 hours. 4 days later the wreck of Aoba was bombed again by Task Force 38, 4 bomb hits set her on fire and B24 Liberators hit her again with 4 bombs, breaking off her stern.
Aoba was formally removed from the Navy list in November 15th 1945 and her wreckage was scrapped in 1946-47
Media
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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
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- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| Japan heavy cruisers | |
|---|---|
| Furutaka-class | IJN Furutaka · IJN Kako |
| Aoba-class | IJN Aoba |
| Myōkō-class | IJN Myoko · IJN Haguro |
| Mogami-class | IJN Mogami |
| Tone-class | IJN Tone |
