The Yubari, the Aircraft Prevention Package.

Hi all again and thanks for all your continued interest in my blog.

Just a quick heads up I am thinking of increasing my blog posts to 2 per week but obviously this will increase the amount of commitment for me to post here. I may try a couple of trial runs getting 2 posts up here and see how it goes. I would like to focus a bit more on my 3D as I seem to be posting more about games that I am playing (mainly World of Warships lately, but I will try and incorporate World of Tanks and War Thunder plus a few more when I go through my game rotation). This was originally what I set my blog up for (self reflection and interesting things 3D related). Stay posted if that's what you look here for as I will be being a bit more pro active with my modelling at home. Ironical I am doing another Premium ship review this week on the Imperial Japanese Yubari Class Cruiser but I will try and give you a update on my Tiger Tank progress. Don't be alarmed if its games that you look at my blog as I will be continuing with that too (but hey it may even give gamers a idea of how much work goes into the creation of games if you watch my 3D stuff here too =D)

So the Yubari, what can I tell you about this ship. The Yubari begain its life as a experiemental light cruiser in 1917. Its development was to counter the problem the Imperial Japanese Navy was having following the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty restricting the total fleet displacement to 300,000 tons. The Design philosophy for the Yubari was to improve on existing designs giving a light cruiser the battle potential of a 5000 ton cruiser.  In the design stages and the use of unproven designs lead to some design flaws that were later ironed out later when the Yubari was called back for repairs or refits.

Upon the Ships completion the Ship had a 4190 ton displacement, 13% over its original design specification. The ship featured a curved stem that integrated multiple smoke stacks into one. This resulted in reducing the amount of material needed saving on deck space needed other architecture and weaponry.To also save on weight of the ship the belt armour was incorporated into the hull of the ship drastically reducing the displacement whilst maintaining the overall protection of the ship.

Yet another Mighty Jingles Review of the Yubari Cruiser

The Yubari was the only ship of its kind made and was considered a successful concept, future cruiser adopted some of the ambitious design choices of the Yubari. The ship went through a few improvements to make up for the original design mistakes such as enlarging the smoke stacks  by 1.8 meters to improve the draw of exhaust fumes and providing additional ballast to aid with extra stability. 

After its final refit in 1944 its armament had been significantly upgraded with the focus of adding as many AA guns to its upper structure. This was mainly due to its previous conflicts proved their was a need for them. In March 1942 where the Yubari was attacked by 2 SBD-3 dive bombers and 4 F4F-3 Wildcats killing a few of her crew. The following morning the Yubari was again attacked by SBD-3's where this attack caused fires near to the torpedo launchers. In a serious design flaw, the length of the fire hoses were too short, leading to the crew having to manually jettison the torpedo launcher to avoid them exploding. Depite the damage taken in the attack, the Yubari evaded over 65 bombs and up to 12 torpedoes. The Yubari's plight was not quite done there as 4 B17's attacked her whilst returning to harbour. This attack left three gaping holes in her stern from near bomb misses. Strong anti air needed? I think so!

The Yubari in World of Warships this is a premium cruiser on sale for £14.41 singularly or as a pack for £36.04 as a part of a 3 ship pack. These purchases grant you access to the closed beta test so if you don't have access to WoW closed beta and are interested in the game. I would highly recommend purchasing any of the premium ship in this 3 ship pack as they are all fun and exciting to play (such is the life/play time of a destroyer captain).

In game the Yubari has a main battery of 2 turrets with double 140mm guns and one 120mm Secondary gun. The 120mm secondary is a dual purpose gun that acts as both anti air and anti ship defence. Where the Yubari really shines is in its anti air. It has the best anti air in the whole of the tier 4 and arguably tier 5 ships which makes it a real power house of a support ship for battleships (such as the myogi which has zip) and carriers. This ship would be one of the only ships that you hope that there is a massive number of carriers on the enemy team. I find myself actively powering towards incoming planes and getting at least 3 air kills with this ship before payloads are dropped, mopping up the remainder as they run away with their petty lives. The majority of the ships AA armament is self defense but intelligent play can have you seated close to priority targets for carriers to get effective fire in or in the line of travel of incoming planes.

The Yubari is a good light cruiser but like all ships it has its draw backs. The guns are effective against destroyers and cruisers but really struggle when facing thick armored targets such as battleships. Having 2 turrets with your main armament of 4 guns means having 1 turret knocked out reduces your fire power by 50%. The Kuma and the Pheonix by comparison have more turrets and armament on their decks so generally in a gunnery duel you will have the disadvantage there.  Being a light cruiser the Yubari wont withstand sustained fire for long having the lowest health pool of 18.5k hp but some of that health loss can be negated using the agility of this ship by dodging fire.

The Yubari is a decent ship to captain with its good maneuverable which help make up for the Ships terrible torpedo firing arch. Turning to fire the torp's however generally leaves you having to expose a big section of your ship to fire so I tend to use these more of a secondary engagement option. When captaining the ship regardless of how good the jap's torps are in comparison to other nations its just better in this ship to use as a surprise attack. Using the guns is far more effective in combat with a decent range of 12.8 km (over its equivalent tier Kumas 11.6 km and Phoenix's 12.5km) .

The turning circle of the Yubari is 690m considerably less than its equivalent tier cruisers.You will probably find the Yubari behaves pretty much like a heavy destroyer which enables you to get aggressive with your movements and dodging fire. When facing off against carriers when closing the distance, this maneuverability really helps evade incoming torpedoes too.

In summary for this ship you will need to really pay attention to your teams actions during a fight as you will mainly play a support role. Use your maneuverability to your advantage as dodging incoming fire and torpedoes will keep you alive. This ship doesnt like being the subject of sustained fire so be careful with your engagements and use you strong AA fire to aid in the defence of your fleet. You will have a surface detect ability range similar to a heavy destroyer so surprise attacks with torpedoes around head land and hit and gun attacks with your guns will be your friend.

Thats all for today. Till next time.

HMS Warspite, that gruff old lady you can't quite get rid of.

This week I'll be looking at the new premium ship the HMS Warspite of the Royal Navy. This ship has a long history of combat seeing more combat honors of any other ship ever in the Royal Navy, participating in as many as 15 separate combat scenarios (7 of which were major engagements in the World Wars). The HMS Warspite was commissioned in 1912 as a part of the Queen Elizabeth class Super Dreadnoughts in response to the rumored development of German battleships sporting 14 inch guns.

At the time of her designing Germany and the United Kingdom were having a naval race which increase tensions between the two nations in the lead up to World War 1. On the date of her official intoduction into Royal Navy the HSM Warspite was arguably one of the most powerful ship to exist to date. 

HSM Warspite resilience was legendary being able to take punishment in large quantities. This was proved in the Battle of Jutland (1916) and in Crete (1941) where Warspite took huge amounts of damage and was able to return in a repairable state. Her reputation of the Warspite earned her the nickname 'Grand Old Lady' from her crew and with her 15 inch guns and feared reputation on the seas. HMS Warspite holds the one of the longest known hits in a gunnery duel from a moving ship to a moving target, smacking the Italian ship Giulio Cesar at a range of 24km in the battle of Calabria in 1940.

After 2 refits in her service in the Royal Navy she was a considerable force on the open seas with 14 inch belt armor and bristling with guns and improved engines modernising her for current state of sea faring battles. In World of Warships introduction of the 'Grand Old Lady' I hoped that Wargaming had done a good job in introducing their first British Royal Navy Ship into the game.

The entrance of the HMS Warspite has caused quite a bit of talk on the forums in World of Warships when first people looked at the stats, this prominently comes down to the gun armament rotation speed and range of the 15 inch guns. 

Another Mighty Jingles Video on the Grand Old Lady

All is not lost however as for a battleship the Warspite has a 14km visual spotting distance which is very good for a Battleship, that's pretty much cruiser styles spotting distances. The turning circle is incredible enabling you to be aggressive with your evasive maneuvers. This agile movements and the combination of the thick hide makes the Warspite fun to captain whilst being able to output the damage with you big ass guns. I find that I can consistently do decent damage with this ship having good shot dispersion in comparison to the Imperial Japanese fleets Battleships and large caliber of gun for its teir.

I mentioned that the turret range and rotation speed were pretty terrible and to be fair for battleship... it is pretty terrible. 50-60 seconds to rotate the turrets 180 degrees is down heatedly bad to say the least and combined with its shell range of just over 16km I can see why when people are looking at the stats of the Fuso and the Warspite are just shoving their noses up and raging.  

I feel that people are really overlooking the advantages of this British  Legend of a battleship. This ship was designed to take a beating and dish a proverbial crap ton back and you will have to come to terms with taking damage whilst being clever in your engagements. Getting into gun range to deal damage in the initial stages of the game is important but there is no use powering into the fleet of enemy ships and getting focused down. This Battleship is really meant for the experienced player who can read the flow of the battle and use the accuracy of the big guns to deal consistent high damage to your foes. Once within range of other battleship they are committed to engage you due to Warspite matching most of the equivalent Battleships speeds.

Citadel Hits don't really happen that often with the Warspite. The citadel seems to be sunk bellow the waterline and the kind of engagements you are likely to have will be at a range where the shell trajectory will be too shallow to penetrate to lower vital areas that will cause massive damage. The massive torpedo bulges ensure a massive reduction of damage when torpedoes find their mark. The secondary armament of this ship is deadly to light ships unwary of the massive bulk of this ship powering up to them and can surprise many with their damage output.

In summary for this ship I feel there is a certain amount of experience needed to really benefit from this ship. Looking past its short comings and looking at its advantages really helps you to focus on how to play this ship more effectively. Using this ship you will really notice the turning speed and how you can use it evasively and also to make up for the really bad turret traverse. You can respond to threats effectively with this maneuverability and if not know that your thick 330 mm armor  can weather the storm. It's taken me some time to get used to and love the Warspite even if I was initially disappointed. I do fear this ship will suffer the same fate as the Lowe tank in World of Tanks where people playing for a few hours buy this ship and really suck at it because its geared towards the experienced/intelligent player.