USS Porter

USS Porter

USS Gearing

USS Somers

USS Porter

USS Gearing

USS Somers

USA

III Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
5.0	5.0	5.0

Class:

Destroyer

Research:18 000

Purchase:47 000

Show in game

Description

The Porter-class, USS Porter (DD-356), 1941 is a rank III American destroyer with a battle rating of 5.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.95 "Northern Wind".

General info

Survivability and armour

The Porter is equipped with anti-frag armor, but this only helps against HE, and is useless against shells from most cruisers. That being said, given its large crew size (for a destroyer) and anti-frag protection, Porter can serve as a destroyer leader, and (briefly) tank shells whilst the rest of its team follows up behind. The Porters turrets are somewhat protected from HMG and auto cannon fire, but are also large and prone to being disabled by dedicated artillery pieces above 76mm, though you do have eight of them. The ship also has a row torpedo tubes which serve as an easy to see ammo rack to detonate, if torpedoes are brought along.

Mobility

The ability to steam above 60 kph, makes the Porter a very fast vessel, at the cost of some turning time.

Armament

Primary armament

Eight 5-inch cannons, makes the Porter one of the most dangerous destroyers in the game. That being said, due to the turrets being of a pre-war design, they have a relatively slow reaction time, as they turn rather slowly. Hence the Porter's require a player to think of precisely when and where an enemy will come from. The rate of fire can easily be cut to under twenty rounds per minute, but the guns have a poor arc and velocity, and thus excel in close to medium range engagements.

Secondary armament

The Porter has only two 1 inch AA guns. They are slow to traverse, and slow to fire, and you are better off using your main cannons with timed fuse shells for any really AA damage. Still they do serve as a deterrent and early warning system

Anti-aircraft armament

With only two 12.5 machine guns, some PT boats have better dedicated AA weaponry. Regardless they can still deter some planes, but cannot cover the front of the ship at all

Torpedo armament

With 15 torpedoes, with a decent range and speed, the Porter can be a torpedo boat, but aside from serving as an ammo rack, in game, the high speed and rough terrain makes carrying torpedoes a very situational weapon, and one that largely shines in Naval EC

Usage in battles

Destroyer Hunter

With double the guns of almost every destroyer around its BR, the Porter is a great anti destroyer hunter, a role it should stick to in an up-tier givens its low caliber main battery. Due to its large size and poor lack luster armor (which only helps against HE fire), the Porter should refrain from a cruiser gun duel, and instead cap points or cover more protected or faster allies in the shallow and narrow areas around caps.

Modules

Tier	Seakeeping	Unsinkability		Firepower
I	Dry-Docking	Tool Set		5 inch Common Mk.32	Anti-Air Armament Targeting
II	Rudder Replacement	Fire Protection System	Smokescreen	5 inch SP Common Mk.46	Auxiliary Armament Targeting
III	Propeller Replacement	Shrapnel Protection	Ventilation	5 inch AAVT Mk.31	Primary Armament Targeting	Improved Rangefinder
IV	Engine Maintenance	New Pumps	Ammo Wetting	Torpedo Mode

Pros and cons

Pros:

• 8 x 5-inch dual purpose guns give it excellent firepower
• Decent rate of fire

Cons:

• AA power is lacklustre due to only 2 x 12.7 mm AN-M2 Browning machine guns and 2 x 1.1"/75 calibre guns.
• The turrets lack any true armour making them vulnerable, much like its successor, USS Somers
• Has a small crew size of 194

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

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• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the ship;
• other literature.