Welcome to Wargaming.net Wiki!
Variants

Cruisers

Jump to: navigation, search
Wows-cruiser-icon.png
Larger than destroyers yet smaller than battleships, cruisers have fulfilled as many roles as they had designations; common ones include "light", "heavy", "protected", "armored", "torpedo", and later, "missile" cruisers. Cruisers are often called upon to hunt down enemy destroyers, perform quick response duties, escort and protect merchant shipping or larger vessels like battleships and aircraft carriers from various threats, provide an additional layer of defense... whatever needs to be done at any given moment.


Rather than a category of vessel, the designation "cruiser" originally meant the purpose or mission for the ship; to "cruise" long distances in escort, scouting, and raiding duties, or simply to provide an intermediate military presence where the deployment of larger, more expensive battleships were deemed strategically and financially unwise. The advent of steam power and steel accelerated the growth of the cruiser's development, discarding unwieldy, unreliable sails and wooden hulls for powerful engines and stronger hulls and components. Up to the opening stages of World War II, the various naval treaties — or their evasion thereof — created classes of cruisers such as "heavy cruiser", "battlecruiser", or "pocket battleship", reflecting their disproportionate firepower and performance in contrast to what the treaties were supposed to limit. In the present day, advances in technology meant that the destroyer could perform the duties that once required a cruiser's services more cheaply, efficiently and effectively, leading to its declining use in most navies today.

While the various nations had different mindsets when it came to the duties expected of cruisers, and outfitted them accordingly, cruisers can be considered the jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none class of warship. Almost all of them are able to adequately respond to changes in the battlefield and project considerable influence in the sector, outgunning anything they cannot outrun, and outrunning anything they cannot outgun; they are most commonly expected to act as destroyer and AA screens. A good cruiser captain watches the flow of battle and adapts to the circumstances as they unfold.

Each nation's cruiser line is unique in characteristics. United States cruisers tend to have the best anti-aircraft defense as well as the best protection, with some exceptions. Japanese cruisers have powerful torpedo armament and the best high-explosive shells to set fires, but lack sufficient anti-aircraft defense and armor compared to other cruisers. Kriegsmarine cruisers have good range, high rate of fire, and good armor-piercing shells that inflict large amounts of damage and have good penetration for their size, but are weak in their high-explosive shell potential and often their armor is lacking. French cruisers are sleek and fast, with excellent firing ranges but virtually no armor protection and fairly weak anti-aircraft defenses. Russian cruisers have the longest range and usually are good in both high-explosive and armor-piercing shells due to their high muzzle velocity, but have poor side armor, insufficient anti-aircraft defense, largest detection range, and worst ship handling attributes compared to other nations.  British cruisers consist of light cruisers with quick-firing, mid-caliber guns only being able to fire AP rounds, and heavy cruisers whith large calibre guns that have great HE rounds but poor AP round. Both lines have generous compliments of torpedoes that can be launched one by one, and access to consumables that the other nations don't, but are hindered by exceptionally poor armor protection and mediocre anti-aircraft batteries. Italian cruisers have access to SAP shells that do high damage to lightly armored opponents and unique consumables, but have mediocre armor and detection range, slow torpedoes, and no HE shells for their main battery limiting their ability to set fires. Dutch cruisers have excellent anti-aircraft defenses and starting from tier VI have the ability to call in carpet-bomb airstrikes. The line starts off as light cruisers but starting from tier VIII ships have large calibre guns and the heaviest armor, but the have the longest fire duration and none of the ships are armed with torpedoes. Pan-Asian cruisers are stealth extremely light cruisers armed with a large number of powerful and stealthly deep-water torpedoes, and heavy anti-aircraft defense contending witk U.S. cruisers for the best, but they have the weakest main battery with only destroy calibre guns that struggle to do damage to larger vessels at higher tiers. Pan-American cruisers are the newest cruisers in the game with players able to research them in update 0.12.4. These ships have armament similar to the United States and British light cruisers, good anti-aircraft defenses and combat instructions previously only found on superships but their main guns only fire AP rounds, and have weak armor.

Cruisers come with a wide array of tools to help them adapt to many situations and can have up to four (4) slots for consumables, the most of any ship class. As with all other ships, the first slot will be filled with Damage Control PartyWhen activated, instantly repairs fires, floods, and incapacitations, and prevents more for the duration.; after that, options abound depending on which nation is being played. Hydroacoustic SearchWhile active, detects all enemy ships and torpedoes within the specified radius, without regard of obstacles such as smoke and terrain. increases the range at which your ship can detect enemy ships and torpedoes, even through smoke screens; Defensive AA FireWhile active, the damage per second of large caliber anti-aircraft guns is increased. increases the intensity (but not necessarily effectiveness) of a cruiser's anti-aircraft batteries, greatly reducing the performance of enemy aircraft unfortunate enough to be caught on the receiving end; Catapult FighterWhile active, a group of fighter planes circles the ship providing protection by attacking incoming enemy aircraft. launches fighter aircraft from the cruiser's catapults that escorts the cruiser and engages enemy aircraft that wander too close; Spotting AircraftWhile active, a spotter plane circles the ship enhancing main battery firing range. allows a cruiser to extend the range of its main battery guns for a period of time; Surveillance RadarWhile active, detects all enemy ships within the specified radius, disregarding obstacles such as smoke and terrain. detects enemy ships outside of their visibility range for a short duration; Engine BoostWhile active, increases a ship's speed by a fixed percentage. increases the top speed of a ship for the duration of the consumable; Smoke GeneratorWhile active, generates a smoke screen that blocks line-of-sight for both enemies and teammates. provides cover where needed on the battlefield and obscures enemy vision; and at Tiers IX and X (Tier II for Pan-American, tier III for British, and Tier VIII Dutch and Pan-Asian cruisers), they receive access to the same Repair PartyWhile active, restores a percentage of the ship's health points each second. ability that battleships have, enabling them to regenerate some of the damage taken during battle.

Japan

Ship_PJSC015_Tatsuta_1919.png
III Tenryū
Ship_PJSC503_Katori.png
III Katori Doubloons
Ship_PJSC004_Yubari_1944.png
IV Yūbari Doubloons
Ship_PJSC013_Kuma_1938.png
IV Kuma
Ship_PJSC505_Yahagi.png
V Yahagi Doubloons
Ship_PJSC007_Aoba_1943.png
VI Aoba
Ship_PJSC206_Gokase.png
VI Gokase
Ship_PJSC008_Myoko_1945.png
VII Myōkō
Ship_PJSC207_Omono.png
VII Omono
Ship_PJSC507_Tokachi.png
VII Tokachi Doubloons
Ship_PJSC517_Maya.png
VII Maya Doubloons
Ship_PJSC709_Haguro.png
VII ARP Haguro Doubloons
Ship_PJSC737_Nachi.png
VII ARP Nachi Doubloons
Ship_PJSC009_Mogami_1935.png
VIII Mogami
Ship_PJSC018_Tone.png
VIII Tone Doubloons
Ship_PJSC038_Atago_1944.png
VIII Atago Doubloons
Ship_PJSC208_Shimanto.png
VIII Shimanto
Ship_PJSC598_Black_Atago.png
VIII Atago B Doubloons
Ship_PJSC708_ARP_Takao.png
VIII ARP Takao Doubloons
Ship_PJSC718_ARP_Maya.png
VIII ARP Maya Doubloons
Ship_PJSC012_Ibuki_1944.png
IX Ibuki
Ship_PJSC510_Azumaya.png
IX Azuma Doubloons
Ship_PJSC519_AZUR_Azuma.png
IX AL Azuma Doubloons
Ship_PJSC034_Zao_1944.png
X Zaō
Ship_PJSC210_Yodo.png
X Yodo
Ship_PJSC520_Yoshino.png
X Yoshino Doubloons

U.K.

Ship_PBSC103_Caledon.png
III Caledon
Ship_PBSC104_Danae.png
IV Danae
Ship_PBSC505_Exeter.png
V Exeter Doubloons
Ship_PBSC516_London.png
VI London Doubloons
Ship_PBSC526_Dido.png
VI Dido Doubloons
Ship_PBSC107_Fiji.png
VII Fiji
Ship_PBSC207_Surrey.png
VII Surrey
Ship_PBSC507_Belfast_1959.png
VII Belfast Doubloons
Ship_PBSC108_Edinburgh.png
VIII Edinburgh
Ship_PBSC208_Albemarle.png
VIII Albemarle
Ship_PBSC508_Cheshire.png
VIII Cheshire Doubloons
Ship_PBSC518_Tiger_1959.png
VIII Tiger '59 Doubloons
Ship_PBSC528_Belfast_1943.png
VIII Belfast '43 Doubloons
Ship_PBSC538_Hampshire.png
VIII Hampshire Doubloons
Ship_PBSC548_Nottingham.png
VIII Nottingham Doubloons
Ship_PBSC558_AZUR_Cheshire.png
VIII AL Cheshire Doubloons
Ship_PBSC209_Drake.png
IX Drake
Ship_PBSC111_Edgar.png
 Edgar

U.S.A.

Ship_PASC001_Erie_1936.png
I Erie
Ship_PASC003_Albany_1898.png
II Albany Doubloons
Ship_PASC503_Charleston.png
III Charleston Doubloons
Ship_PASC206_Dallas.png
VI Dallas
Ship_PASC006_Atlanta_1942.png
VII Atlanta Doubloons
Ship_PASC207_Helena.png
VII Helena
Ship_PASC587_Black_Atlanta.png
VII Atlanta B Doubloons
Ship_PASC597_Nueve_de_Julio_1951.png
VII Boise Doubloons
Ship_PASC707_Flint.png
VII Flint Doubloons
Ship_PASC108_Baltimore_1944.png
VIII Baltimore
Ship_PASC208_Cleveland.png
VIII Cleveland
Ship_PASC508_Wichita.png
VIII Wichita Doubloons
Ship_PASC518_Anchorage.png
VIII Anchorage Doubloons
Ship_PASC528_Congress.png
VIII Congress Doubloons
Ship_PASC538_Rochester.png
VIII Rochester Doubloons
Ship_PASC548_San_Diego.png
VIII San Diego Doubloons
Ship_PASC509_Vallejo.png
IX Vallejo Doubloons
Ship_PASC510_Alaska.png
IX Alaska Doubloons
Ship_PASC519_Tulsa.png
IX Tulsa Doubloons
Ship_PASC599_Black_Alaska.png
IX Alaska B Doubloons
Ship_PASC710_Salem.png
X Salem Doubloons
Ship_PASC810_Austin.png
X Austin Doubloons

Pan-Asia

Ship_PZSC503_Ning_Hai.png
III Ning Hai Doubloons
Ship_PZSC106_Rahmat.png
VI Rahmat
Ship_PZSC506_Huang_he.png
VI Huanghe Doubloons
Ship_PZSC108_Harbin.png
VIII Harbin
Ship_PZSC508_Irian.png
VIII Irian Doubloons
Ship_PZSC518_Martel_Wukong.png
VIII Wukong Doubloons
Ship_PZSC109_Sejong.png
IX Sejong
Ship_PZSC509_Dalian.png
IX Dalian Doubloons
Ship_PZSC529_Mengchong.png
IX Mengchong Doubloons
Ship_PZSC719_Tianjin.png
IX Tianjin Doubloons

Europe

Ship_PWSC101_Gryf.png
I Gryf
Ship_PWSC506_Elli.png
VI Elli Doubloons

Commonwealth

Ship_PUSC013_Caradoc.png
III Caradoc
Ship_PUSC016_Hobart.png
VI Hobart
Ship_PUSC506_Perth_1942.png
VI Perth Doubloons
Ship_PUSC516_Mysore.png
VI Mysore Doubloons
Ship_PUSC017_Uganda.png
VII Uganda
Ship_PUSC018_Auckland.png
VIII Auckland
Ship_PUSC509_Hector.png
IX Hector Doubloons
Category: