USS Portland
Contents
Description
The Portland-class, USS Portland (CA-33), 1942 is a rank IV American heavy cruiser with a battle rating of 5.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.97 "Viking Fury".
General info
Survivability and armour
USS Portland's survivability is rather mediocre a truly pathetic excuse for a an American heavy cruiser. It will almost always be outgunned and outmaneuvered by literally anything short of a small gunboat. Portland has a main "armour" belt of just 57.15 mm of RHA, which can be easily penetrated by SAP and AP shells above 127 mm calibre literally anything bigger than a 20mm cannon. The magazines are pretend to be protected by 146 mm of armour and sit below the waterline, meaning that they are relatively survivable, at least when compared a beachhead whale. Portland's ready-use shell rooms are directly below the turrets and thinly-protected, meaning that they can be detonated by enemy shells a strong gust of wind, resulting in severe damage. Portland has a crew of 1,033 crew members, which is about average for a cruiser, but unlike an average cruiser, everyone single one of these brave men goes into battle knowing they are going to die. The ship's four engines are placed symmetrically in groups of two, meaning that a well-placed shot can knock out at least two engines, if not sink the entire ship because it's a Portland/Porter, and that's just what tends to happen.
Mobility
Portland has decidedly average mobility for a cruiser small eel, with a top speed of 60 km/h in Realistic battles and 70 km/h in Arcade - this is on par with most cruisers of other navies. The ship's turning circle and acceleration are nothing special, either.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 70 | 21 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 60 | 18 | |
Modifications and economy
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Armament
Before reading any further, the short version is that your guns are not going to compare will with any heavy cruiser of any other navy; they will also be disabled by the secondary armaments of most light cruisers without a second thought before you can unleash your second salvo. Your AA is not worth mentioning. If you want to know, in detail, why this is the case, continue reading.
Primary armament
The Portland carries a main armament of nine 8"/55 Mk.15 guns in three triple turrets, two fore and one aft. These guns are the standard armament for American heavy cruisers, and pack an impressive punch. The guns have good ballistics, and can access four shell types: Mk.14 Common, Mk.19 APCBC, Mk.25 HC and Mk.17 SP Common. Of these shells, the Mk.17 Special Common shell is most effective against cruisers, as it has a great explosive mass and enough penetration for most cruiser main armour belts. The Mk.19 APCBC shell can be used against heavily-armoured targets, but has a relatively small explosive mass of 1.65 kg. Finally, the HC shell, with almost 10 kilograms of explosive filler, is highly effective against destroyers and unarmoured vessels.
However, the guns have two main drawbacks. Firstly, they have the slowest reload speed of any 8-inch gun, with a fire rate of just three rounds per minute (20-second gun reload). This means that they fire much slower than their contemporaries, which typically have a fire rate of five rounds per minute (12-second reload). As well, the guns have the slowest horizontal turret rotation speed of any heavy cruiser, at just 3.1 degrees/second (comparatively, the Admiral Hipper's guns rotate at 6.8 degrees/second).
Secondary armament
The Portland carries a secondary armament of eight 5"/25 Mk.13 anti-aircraft guns, mounted on single open-mounts. These cannons are very effective medium-to-long range anti-aircraft guns, but are not effective against any armoured targets. They have access to just two shell types - Mk.36 AAC (HE-TF) and Mk.28 AAC (HE-VT). The former is a time-fuse shell (meaning that the fuze is set before the weapon is fired), while the latter is a proximity fuze shell that explodes automatically upon reaching the target. Both shells are ineffective against armoured targets, having ~35 mm of penetration. However, they are both capable of dealing with air and unarmoured targets quite effectively. The HE-VT shell is typically the better pick, as it offers greatly-improved efficiency against air targets.
The guns themselves are relatively good at short-range defence, being capable of firing at 20 rounds per minute (3-second reload). As well, they have very good vertical and horizontal firing angles. However, take note that the guns fire at a low muzzle velocity of 657 m/s which should be accounted for when manually aiming.
Anti-aircraft armament
Portland carries four quadruple 1.1 inch "Chicago Pianos". The 1.1 inch/75 Mk.1 gun, otherwise known as the "Chicago Piano" (because it was the size of a baby grand-piano), was the standard anti-aircraft armament for most American ships prior to the introduction of the 40 mm Bofors cannon. These guns are mediocre at best; though they have a good fire rate (similar to the AN-M2 Browning), they aren't too effective at dealing damage, and also jam rather quickly. As well, take note that the gun doesn't have ammunition options.
Portland also carries twelve single 20 mm Oerlikon cannons. The 20 mm Oerlikon Cannon was the standard light anti-aircraft gun for several nations, including the United States, and replaced the prior AN-M2 Browning machine gun. This weapon is an effective short-range AA gun, and has great firing angles. The gun lacks belt options, but the loaded ammunition is still quite effective against light targets. As well, the guns fire from a drum magazine that will need to be reloaded. Because of the magazine design, the gun will not jam with continuous fire.
Usage in battles
USS PortlandOkay, no, hold on, pal. 👆 Don't even put this ship in the same sentence as our Queen Helena. She is a goddess; a warrior without equal! The Portland is not even worthy of being in the same fleet as her!Firstly, Portland's main battery is
Second, Portland is not that survivable. Although it does have a relatively large crew size for a heavy cruiser, Portland lacks heavy armour, especially on its citadel, which houses the massive engine block, there is absolutely nothing standing between these men and certain death. The ship also has little protection on its first stage shell rooms, which can be detonated by stray untrained AI secondary gunners. Because of these constraints, you should try to use ground cover as much as possible to preserve survivability. In maps such as South Kvarken, with plenty of island covers, stay behind islands wherever possible. In open maps such as the conquest maps, your only hope will be to stay behind the front lines, and hope that enemies don't target you.
Finally, note that Portland does not have great even mediocre anti-aircraft defence. While the ship does get access to several 28 mm "Chicago Piano" and 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft gun mounts, these weapons lack range and power, limiting their effectiveness to ranges of less than 2.5 kilometres. Indeed, the ship does carry eight 127 mm Mk 25 guns, capable of firing AA-VT (proximity fuze) ammunition, but these weapons are not capable of firing fast enough to be able to destroy faster incoming aircraft. Because of this, you should try to stay with allied ships, particularly ships with great anti-aircraft protection. This will help ensure that your ship will stay safe from enemy aircraft.
Pros and cons
Pros:
-
Improved armour protection from HE shrapnel compared to the BrooklynChanged in recent updates; Brooklyn is better all around. - Main guns hit relatively hard [compared to its secondaries], being of a large calibre [relative to its secondaries].
- Thicker armour over main magazines than the Brooklyn, but lacks anti-frag so destroyers can knock it out with SAP.
- Crew of 848 is above average
- Relatively good anti-aircraft protection for a pre-war American heavy cruiser
Cons:
- Long reload compared to everything except battleships, with minimum reload at 17.1 s
- Poor shell selection with primarily inter-war shells
- No torpedo armament
- Anti-aircraft armament lacks hitting power and range making it relatively ineffective
History
The Portland-class cruisers were the third heavy cruiser design that the Americans produced in the interwar years, following the Northampton class. There were only two ships in this class, the USS Portland (CA-33) and the USS Indianapolis (CA-35). Interestingly the Portland class was originally planned to be a light cruiser design, being re-designated as heavy cruisers only after the hulls had been laid down in 1931.
Ships of the class were propelled by 4 screws, powered at 107,000 horsepower. This gave the ship a fairly standard top speed of 32 knots and a cruising range of 10,000 nautical miles.
Firepower was provided from 3 triple 8" guns in Mk. 14 turrets. This design was carried over from the previous Northampton class. These 280 ton turrets allowed a maximum of 41 degrees of elevation and 5 degrees of depression. The turrets were used in conjunction with the Mk.34 fire director system by, at the latest, 1945.
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
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- encyclopedia page on the ship;
- other literature.
| 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 heavy cruisers | |
|---|---|
| Pensacola-class | USS Pensacola |
| Northampton-class | USS Northampton |
| Portland-class | USS Portland |
| New Orleans-class | USS New Orleans |
| Baltimore-class | USS Baltimore · USS Pittsburgh |
| Des Moines-class | USS Des Moines · USS Newport News |
