Hi all and welcome back to my (fortnightly now) early week ship review,
This week I'm going to be having a look at the American tier 4 light cruiser, the Phoenix. This is not a bad fast for its tier cruiser and once fitted out with the later modifications it becomes a real power house. Designs started for the Phoenix in the late 1910's to early 1920's. The design development that went into the Phoenix then got transferred into the Omaha class cruiser that we see at Tier 5 in World of Warships. This ship only existed in blueprint form as a new light cruiser was being developed to aid operations with flush deck destroyers.
In January 1915 the US Atlantic Fleet realised after recent Manoeuvres came to the conclusion that it lacked fast cruisers to provide much needed information on enemy positions, whilst being strong enough to deny the enemy of pretty much the same thing. This was in a response to the British Centaur C-class cruisers that had been launched in 1916. Even though the designs were eventually to become the Omaha, the design specification for the cruiser was to feature a 35 knot speed and mount 152 mm guns. To achieve this the Phoenix sacrificed on armour protection to maintain its high speed and armament. As the Phoenix only ever existed on paper for that's really it for its history. I could go into the Omaha and its service history is going a bit off topic and I think I will save that for when I review that ship.
The Phoenix in world of warships I have to say is a little bit of a weird choice for War Gaming, to have both the Phoenix and the Omaha in the same tree one after another is a little disappointing as I would have expected some more variation. When compared visually they look very similar (due to them being more or less the same ship) which happens no where else in any of the tech trees for the Americans or Japanese. I'm not going to put this one down for laziness as Wargaming has produced a great game but it seems a little strange when there is definitely more ships that would have padded out the tech tree than a paper design. Still, this ship has been good to play so far even if the choice of ship is a little strange. In the long run really that's all that matters I suppose.
The first thing you will realise with the Phoenix is that is doesn't resemble anything that may have fought in the first world war. The tech tree predecessors, Chester and St. Louis resembled very much the look of an iron clad ship where the Phoenix starts to look a a bit more modern (well modern ish for early post WW1 Designs leading up to WW2). The guns are not quite in turrets yet but with the second/third hull upgrade you start to see side gun sponson's that were a precursor to the central mounted main armament turrets that were prominent in WW2 designs.
The First Hull of the Phoenix, Add Free Experience Here To Skip This Hull =D.
The Phoenixes Third and Final Form With Guns & More Guns.
For the Phoenix the hull upgrades are quite substantial in what they add to your ship. The first hull you get with the Phoenix makes you almost feel like you are playing World of Tanks. I have never felt so handy capped progressing a tier in any other ship than when I got the Phoenix. Normally its never so bad with the first hull on most ships but the Phoenixes is especially bad. This is prominently because the ship that came before it was the St. Louis and after it is the Omaha/Cleveland (if you have read any of my reviews before this one, you will be aware I think the St. Louis & Cleveland are amazing). Seeing 14 guns bristling from the St. Louis and then down grading to a less armoured 6 gunned ship is positively horrifying. For the Phoenix playing this ship when you first get it will not really give you that new ship buzz but the redeeming factor is that with each hull upgrade it adds more and more guns. For the American line that focuses on great guns, more guns just = more awesomeness.
The Sleek Swept Back Lines Of The Phoenix Portrays The Ships Fast Speed.
In the Phoenixes final form houses 10 x 152 mm guns as it main armament with a firing range of 13.7 km. This is a significant improvement over the St. Louis that had a 10.4 km range. The speed of the Phoenix sits at 35.5 knots which is quick for a cruiser at this tier. Another improvement over the St. Louis is that the Phoenix is one of the only American cruisers to have short range torpedoes. Like most of the American torpedoes they are rubbish when compared to the Japanese counterparts having a short range and relatively slow travel speed but in some instances its better to have them and not need them than not have them and need them.
The gun fire rate is incredibly fast so lends well to players just starting out in World of Warships. Learning to shoot when first picking up the game is a bit of a skill. Not many players can get a new target in their sights, give the appropriate lead and get hits from the first salvo. That takes time and practice to perfect. If you miss in the Phoenix the guns reload so fast that adjustments can be made to your lead for the next set of rounds to be fired in the next few second. This makes the Phoenix very dangerous for destroyers as they will have to zig zag like crazy to avoid your fire. With your speed in the Phoenix in most cases you will just run them down.
A Mighty Jingle Ship Review!
The Phoenix has a few weaknesses, one being that it has very little in the way of air defence. Chances are you won't be shooting any planes in this ship so be aware of incoming planes to dodge their torpedoes or use support ships with strong AA to cover your ship. This isn't helped either by the fairly large detectability range of 13km by sea and 6.7 km by air so be cautious in your approach with this ship. Having speed can work against you, leave you unsupported out in front only to get hoarded by planes.
The second most prominent weakness is that armour is rubbish! This is a light cruiser which sacrificed armour for speed and guns, so expect everyone to shoot HE at you (which seems to be all people fire these days anyway as no one understands AP enough to use it in the correct situation). Anyone that fires AP will be doing you a favour as most shots will over penetrate, pass through the ship whilst causing minimal damage. The high amounts of HE fired at you gerenally means you will be on fire a lot. Make sure you have a decent fire prevention on your commander or in your ship upgrades. Due to the low amounts of armour this also means that the ship doesn't have a great HP pool to rely on. Intelligent use of your repair control cool down is needed to manage the inevitable fires whilst in combat.
This ship is very manoeuvrable for its tier set having a 2 second rudder speed advantage over its Kuma equivalent and a 1.6 second advantage over the tier 5 Furutaka. This ship will handle very similar to a heavy destroyer being fast turning and high speed but with the benefit of having cruiser sized guns.
To conclude on how to play this ship, use that fast speed to push up early with other cruisers and destroyers. Getting eyes on the enemy early on will help bigger guns get in the fight early on and also give you the chance to do what this ship was designed initially for, killing destroyers and other light cruisers. Take the chance to shoot at destroyers early on as you will have a larger health pool to trade and with your fast firing guns with good range you can really give them something to worry about. When fighting other cruisers and battleships take a mentality of wolf pack lone ships/ groups of ships. This cruiser was designed to support destroyers (this is why I talk a bit about the ships design ethic at the start so you understand what it was designed for) so work as a team and keep in mind the longer you expose yourself more fire you will receive. Taking on Battleships and taking citadel hits can one shots you as you only have 24 k hp so pop in and out of cover and use your high firing arch to get plunging fire. Having light armour and being easier to hit than a destroyer means you will have to me more mindful of ships firing at you to react in time to dodge their fire. Having low amounts of armour this ship works best at about the 12 -10 km range. Getting into close range brawls is not this ships thing but if you have been surprised by a sudden appearance of a ship sailing around a headland remember your short range torpedoes. They have a 5.5 km range (so don't go firing them willy nilly at long range targets, its just a mistake I keep seeing where players think they have some kind of super range) so gives you a fighting chance against battleships and heavier cruisers at close range but don't go relying on them (but don't forget them either as they are your trump card). The American thing is big rapid firing guns and this ship can dish out the damage so keep the guns singing and dish out a hot shower of death on the enemy. The Phoenix really benefits from its advanced hull upgrades, getting more guns and AA with each step. My recommendation is to get them early on with free experience if you have it. This will avoid a hard grind for the higher hull refit levels which I can't recommend. The Pheonix isn't a bad ship but being surrounded by the Omaha and St. Louis in the tech tree which are both better ships for their tier, its not going to be a permanent fixture in my Harbour but its still a fun ship to play.
Up Supporting The Destoyer On This Flank
Thats all for this ship review, catch you later on in the week for my Tiger tank update =)
No comments:
Post a Comment