Kerch (destroyer)
| This page is about the premium Russian destroyer Kerch. For the Soviet light cruiser, see Kerch (cruiser). |
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Contents
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".
A Fidonisy-class destroyer from the imperial era, Kerch is very similar to the reserve Frunze, mainly differing in its secondary weapons, where it has a somewhat more usable secondary battery but far worse torpedoes.
General info
Survivability and armour
As with other destroyers, Kerch is barely armoured. It mainly relies on its relatively small size and crew count to survive.
Mobility
The mobility of the destroyer Kerch is not that good compared to its contemporaries, but it's quite manoeuvrable.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 72 | 26 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 59 | 22 | |
Modifications and economy
2 × 40 / 60 / 50 % 2 × 75 / 75 / 75 % | Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Armament
Primary armament
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
The biggest difference between Kerch and the Frunze is that it's using two 40 mm Pom-Pom autocannons instead of a manually loaded 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 defence due to wide coverage, and it's able to fend off PT boats at close distance.
Anti-aircraft armament
Anti-air armaments of Kerch consisted of two severely outdated 7.62 mm Maxim machine guns that are pretty much useless except for spooking inbound aircraft to dodge relatively harmless shots.
Additional armament
Although Kerch has three more torpedo tubes than the Frunze, it utilizes incredibly weak torpedoes with only 100 kg of explosive (less than half of Frunze's). This means it often requires more than one hit to destroy enemy ships. Other than that, its range is also awfully short at only 3 kilometres, so it cannot attack enemy ships other than at near point blank range. Interestingly it also has two spare torpedoes, a rarity in Russian vessels.
Usage in battles
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Pros and cons
Pros:
- Main cannons are very accurate
- Good crew count for reserve ship, can soak up a little more damage than some other reserves
- Easy to control and manoeuvrable
- Small superstructure makes it harder to hit
- Pom-Pom autocannons are useful for fending off aircraft and boats
Cons:
- Cannons are mostly unprotected, even small-calibre machine guns can easily take them out
- No access to contact-fuze HE shells, instead has a shrapnel shell that cannot set ships on fire
- Horrible torpedoes with tiny warhead and short range
- AA Machine Guns are mostly useless
- One of the slowest reserve destroyers
History
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Kerch was a Fidonisy-class destroyer laid down in 1915 for the Imperial Russian Navy. The class was the third series of the Novik-type ships. Kerch was only completed in 1917 and commissioned in the Black Sea Fleet, but took little part in the First World War, as only months later the Russian Civil War broke out. Kerch joined the Bolsheviks, and supported them in their attempt to control Crimea by bombarding White Russian forces. As the invading Germans advanced into Ukraine, Kerch retreated to Novorossiysk and was later scuttled to prevent it from being turned to the Germans after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. In 1929, the Soviet Navy attempted to raise the ship, but it broke apart and only the midship was salvaged, with its engines used in a power station at Tuapse.
Media
- Skins
See also
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- reference to the series of the ship;
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External links
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- topic on the official game forum;
- 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 |
