I have a little bit of bad news to start off. Next week I will be away in Berlin for my first holiday in like forever (4 years to be precise... getting a stable career in the 3D Industry is a bit of a killer) so please forgive my absence but I will be doing an extra post this week which will go out on a delay for the coming week. It means a little more work for me this week to do so but at least you will be getting something here over the time that I will be away. I am planning on visiting the Berlin Museum of Technology so I'll be posting a few images from that up here when I am back for all those people that like efficient mechanical things.
For this weeks Ship review I will be taking a look at the Kuma class cruiser from world of warships. This capable cruiser is Currently a tier 4 cruiser (as all is subject to change in the Closed Beta). This cruiser has a well balanced stats and load out so read on and I'll give you the overall comparisons to its equal tiers. If your not interested in this ship I'll tell you about its weaknesses so you can seek to exploit them if you happen to cross guns with them.
The Kuma Cruiser
With the development of the new Omaha Class light cruiser following the end of World War 1 the Japanese Navy realised that they would be in danger of being out gunned by their pacific neighbour. With the Development of the Minekaze that had a formidable speed of 39 knots, the current Tenryu class cruiser, that had a maximum speed of 33 knots, were unable to keep pace. The long range Torpedo, the Type 93 Long Lance, was developed in the 1930s so plans were drawn up to create a special ‘Night Battle Force’ of torpedo cruisers. With the new development of the Type 93 these torpedoes had a longer range than most Battleship main armaments, the idea of the new cruiser development was to attack at night with a over whelming barrage of torpedoes. A later force would then follow up the morning after the night battle to dispatch a critically damaged enemy.
WW2 Kuma Class Cruiser Photo
The Kuma class cruiser was built between 1917 - 1921 and commissioned into the Japanese Navy between 1920 - 1946. Only 5 Kuma Class Cruisers were built, the Kuma, the Tana, the Kitakami, the Oi and the Kiso. Four of the Kumas were sunk throughout the course of the second world war. The Kitikami was converted into a torpedo cruiser before the second world war. For those that play World of Warships you will recognise this ship as a premium tier 8 cruiser. This may seem high when considering the Kuma is only a tier 4 cruiser but when you find out that the conversion put 40 torpedo tubes ( 20 each side) you can see its potential to just fill small island channels with a horrendous numbers of submerged torpedo death.
The Kitikami... ALL the Torpedoes
The Kuma sported seven 14cm guns in central line individually mounted turrets but due to their positioning a whole broadside would only be able to bring 6 of these to bear. The Kuma wasn't quite done their as it also carried 8 long range 533mm torpedoes as back up to its main gun arsenal. The Kuma lacked in anti air armament like its Tenryu predecessor. The two 8cm 3rd year type naval guns and two 6.5mm machine guns were not going to be repelling any determined air attack. Even though the Kuma class was Heavily disadvantaged in AA fire power it was Torpedoes that finished off 3 of the 4 sunk in total throughout World War 2.
Kuma Class Cruiser Stats
The Kuma in World of warships is a balanced ship where it currently seats in the tech tree when looking at its stats long side the Phoenix and Omaha cruisers it seems to be well balanced. When compared directly with tier higher tiered Omaha (which the Kuma was designed to compete with) it has slightly longer gun range, a longer torpedo range and better concealment ranges as it characteristic of the strengths of most Japanese ships. The Omaha trumps the Kuma with its gun caliber (getting 152mm to the Kumas 140mm), gun amount (having one extra gun) and a better manoeuvrability. This makes it a pretty good little ship for cruiser captains even when facing slightly higher tiers. The Kuma will always have to fear a engagement with the Cleveland class cruiser. 2 tiers above, the Cleveland will always present a significant threat due to its rapid firing guns (even high teir ships don't like this ship) but I think it's a little overpowered at the moment with what its capable of doing and will probably get hit with the nerf bat at some point (you may or may not agree but this video shows what its capable of).
The Mighty Jingles Presents The Cleveland
Having more health than both the Phoenix or Omaha means you can take a little more punishment that your american comparisons but the slower rudder shift time makes you less responsive to threats and dodging fire/Torpedo attacks.
In conclusion the Kuma is a well balanced ship with all the good parts of the Japanese characteristics. Its the first ship in the Japanese cruiser line that you will start to get a good feel for the direction they will be headed in future tiers. The T3 Tenryu felt more like a big destroyer than a cruiser so the Kuma is a more welcome divide from the early tiered gunboat style mixed play to more a specific class personalities. The extra range with fairly quick torpedoes again give a fighting change against Battleships without having to wade deep into their secondary ranges like the american Omaha and Phoenix, whilst having a decent amount of fast firing guns to make a difference when it matters. Be cautious of your slower reaction/rudder shift time when facing of against other like tiered cruisers and start to learn and work the Japanese style of play to your advantage. These traits are only accentuated more in the T5 Furutaka Cruiser (bigger guns, bigger torps, bigger fun =D) so the Kuma is a solid ship to find out if the Jap style of play is for you.
The Furutaka T5 Jap Cruiser
Thanks for reading and I hope to see you back here soon.
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