Helena

Tier VI \| Type: Cruiser
Preceded by	Succeeded by
Dallas	Cleveland Seattle
Cost	9 000 000
XP Required	143 000

Helena — American Tech Tree Tier VI Cruiser.

A light cruiser similar to Brooklyn-class ships, but with a different architecture and full-fledged dual-purpose artillery. One of the few ships of her type in the world that carried fifteen 152 mm guns as her main battery.

Entered Service: 1939
Ships in a series: 2

Ship Traits

Surgical Shells: A short shell fuse time results in lower chance of over-penetration.	Guns Aplenty: A high number of guns allows for a lot of damage from a single salvo.	Sluggish Shot: Difficult to aim at long distances, but the trajectory allows for effective fire from cover.

Modules

	Hit Points	Min Armor (mm)	Max Armor (mm)	Torpedo Damage Reduction (%)	Main Battery Turrets	Rudder Shift (s)	Purchase Price
Stock	28 700	6	165	4	5x3	12.8	0
Hull B	33 300	6	165	4	5x3	9.1	1 800 000

	Turret Arrangement	Reload Time (s)	180° Turn Time (s)	Max HE Damage	HE Fire Chance (%)	Max AP Damage	Purchase Price
152mm Mk16	5x3	10	22.5	2200	12	3200	0
152mm Mk16 mod. 1	5x3	9	20	2200	12	3200	225 000

	Firing Range Increase (%)	Main Battery Firing Range	Purchase Price
Stock	0 %	13 km	0
Targeting System: Mk5 mod. 2	10 %	14.2 km	225 000

	Maximum Speed
Stock	32.5 kn

History

USS Helena (CL-50) was an American light cruiser, the ninth of the Brooklyn class (represented in-game by the premium ship Boise), and the second vessel of the St. Louis subclass. First modern American light cruisers after the Omaha class, they were developed following the London Naval Treaty which limited the number of heavy cruisers and separated the cruiser in two types : the heavy, armed with 8 inches/203mm, and the light, armed with 6.1 inches/155mm. The goal was to create a class of ships with a range that would allow them to operate in the Pacific, with heavy cruiser-grade speed and range. The class was heavily armed, with no less than fifteen 6 inches/152mm guns with a high rate of fire. The last two ships, the St. Louis subclass, had a slightly better AA suit and a different propulsion system, with higher pressure boiler and a different machinery arrangement. They were the basis for all following US cruiser design : the USS Wichita (CA-45), a one of a kind cruiser, shared the same hull, which was the basis for the Baltimore class cruiser ; and the Cleveland class was a vast rework of the Brooklyn, with fewer guns but more AA capability.

The class served in both the Pacific and the Atlantic theaters and lost only one ship, USS Helena, during the conflict. After the war, they were put into reserve and sold to South American countries. ARA General Belgrano, formerly USS Phoenix (CL-46), was sunk during the Falkland war in 1981, being until 2022 the larger warship sunk in battle after WWII.

She received 7 battle stars during world war two for her service in the pacific, and was the first ship to receive the Navy Unit Commendation.

Commissioned in late 1939, Helena entered service the same month as the war broke out in Europe. She did her shakedown cruise in South America water before returning in early 1940 home. She took part in multiple exercises on the east coast, before being transferred to the Pacific in September. During the next year, Helena took part in multiple fleet exercises and shooting practice.

Helena was moored at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese raid started. Unluckily for her, she was at the usual emplacement of the battleship Pennsylvania (BB-38), making her a priority target by the Japanese bombers. Within the first 3 minutes of the attack, Helena took a torpedo hit amidship on starboard while the crew was racing to battle stations. Once the ship was fully in battle order, her AA defence proved sufficient enough to prevent her to suffer new damages. Thanks to the incredible capability of the damage control crew, the flooding created by the torpedo allowed the ship to stay afloat, and once the raid over, Helena sailed to California for repair, before being assigned to USS Wasp (CV-7) Task Force during the early actions of the Battle of Guadalcanal, in mid-1942. Helena witnessed the sinking of USS Wasp by three torpedo hits, but helped save around 400 of her mens. Later, she took part in the Battle of Cape Esperance where she was the first to spot the enemy vessels thanks to her radar, sinking during the battle the Japanese heavy cruiser Furutaka and the destroyer Fubuki. Later, Helena once again was the one spotting first the enemy forces thanks to her radar, and took only minor hits in her structure during the engagement with the Japanese forces. In early 1943, Helena contributed to shore bombardment of New Georgia, at the west of the Solomon Islands. Her floatplane sank the Japanese submarine I-18 before joining Sydney for a overhaul. Returning to the Solomon, Helena was deployed in the Kula Gulf where she took part in her last action.

During the night of the 5th july, Helena, alongside a group of three cruisers and four destroyers engaged a group of 10 Japanese destroyers. The flash of her gun attracted the enemy's attention, and she took a torpedo hit 7 minutes after she opened fire. Three minutes later, she took two more. Helena, condemned, sank. Later, in the morning, two destroyers, USS Nicholas (DD-449) and USS Radford (DD-446) came to rescue the crews. However, in fear of an air attack, both destroyers stopped the operation and left early, leaving 275 crewmen behind. They managed to reach an island after a day-long travel, and were rescued the next morning by USS Owin (DD-433) and USS Woodworth (DD-460). Another group was left in the bow of the ship, which they used as a liferaft. A Navy B-24 Liberator dropped some life jackets and lifeboats to help the survivors, and the men managed to reach Vella Lavella islands, where they hid in the jungle to avoid Japanese patrols. Finally, Nicholas and Radford, reinforced with USS Jenkins (DD-447) and USS O'Bannon (DD-450) finally reached the survivor, and brought them back home.

In World of Warships Legends, USS Helena is represented with a fictional AA armament in her Hull A. Only four quadruple 1.1" (28mm)/75 caliber guns were fitted to her and her sister and they were augmented by eight 0.5" (12.7mm) M2 Browning machine guns. However, the in-game model has eight quad 1.1" guns and all eight Brownings are missing. Furthermore, Neither St. Louis nor Helena carried 20mm Oerlikons in twin mounts. Both ships actually carried twelve 20mm Oerlikons in single mounts.

Source :

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/h/helena-cl-50-ii.html

Legends Ship Map

Games

Navigation

Tools

Helena

Games

Navigation

Tools

Helena

Modules

Modifications

Consumables

Player Opinion

Pros:

Cons:

Performance

Changes

History

Gallery