Austin

13.9

Cruiser | U.S.A. | Tier X

Tech Tree Position

Battle Levels

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X

Special

Austin — American special premium Tier X cruiser.

CL-154-class cruisers were designed in the U.S. as a further development of the Atlanta-class cruisers. They featured larger hull dimensions and replaced main battery guns with the new 127 mm/54-caliber guns. The new guns had a higher rate of fire and longer range while also firing a heavier projectile. The plan was to build six cruisers—the ships were even assigned hull numbers. However, the construction was ultimately canceled due to cuts in the naval budget.

Austin became available in the Armory for Steel on 17 March 2021.

Modules

	Rate of Fire (shots/min)	180° Turn Time (sec)	Maximum Dispersion (m)	Maximum HE Shell Damage (HP)	Chance of Fire on Target Caused by HE Shell (%)	Maximum AP Shell Damage (HP)		Research price (exp)	Purchase price ()
127 mm/54 Mk.18 in a turret	8	4.5	136	1,800	9			0	0

	Hit Points (HP)	Armor (mm)	Armor (mm)	Main Turrets (pcs.)	Secondary Gun Turrets (pcs.)	AA Mounts (pcs.)	Torpedo Tubes (pcs.)	Hangar Capacity (pcs.)		Research price (exp)	Purchase price ()
Austin	30,700	6	225	6		6/6	2			0	0

	Rate of Fire (shots/min)	Torpedo Tubes Reload Time (sec)	180° Turn Time (sec)	Maximum Damage (HP)	Torpedo Speed (knot)	Torpedo Range (km)		Research price (exp)	Purchase price ()
Mk16 mod. 1	0.6	106	7.2	19,033	66	10.5		0	0

	IDS_SHIP_PARAM_SUO_INCREASE_DIST (%)	Maximum Firing Range (km)		Research price (exp)	Purchase price ()
Mk10 mod. 1		0		0	0

	Maximum Speed (knot)		Research price (exp)	Purchase price ()
Propulsion: 110,000 hp	35		0	0

Compatible Upgrades

Slot 1
Slot 2
Slot 3
Slot 4
Slot 5
Slot 6

Player Opinion

Performance

Warning: The data presented in the AA Defense sidebar section may be incorrect.
Refer to the in-game Port screens for more useful data.

The only real way to explain Austin is to compare her to her nearest counterpart in game USS Atlanta. Both are USN light cruisers armed with five inch rifles and torpedoes. Both are good anti-aircraft platforms for their respective tiers. Both are thinly armored ships easily punished if caught flatfooted. That said, captains should be aware that the minor differences between these two ships can cause serious differences between their respective play styles.

The main battery for Austin consists of twelve 127mm guns arranged in six turrets with two rifles each. Unlike with Atlanta she finds herself missing her wing turrets which decreases her broadside by a pair of rifles. While this doesn’t drastically change the damage output of the ship it can be noticeable at times in terms of a ship surviving or not. This also plays a role in the amount of fires set as there are fewer shells to cause a potential fire. Armed with high-explosive (HE) and semi-armor piercing (SAP) shells she is a menace against destroyers she encounters as either shell type will inflict heavy damage. Against cruisers captains again should be mindful that she has no armor piercing like her tier VII contemporary. This means she gets more forgiving ricochet angles and thus can engage ships presenting more angle than with contemporary armor piercing. Combining this with decent damage values for her semi-armor piercing shells it allows her to carry her weight where Atlanta could not. Captains would be advised to stick with high-explosive if the battleship has more plating then 32mm. However when dealing with battleships. Austin does also get another advantage over Atlanta in the form of a Main Battery Reload Booster . This allows captains to bring her 8 second base reload down to a sub 2 seconds and all but literally rain fire upon her enemies.

Austin sports a pair of quintuple torpedo mounts located amid ship. Players familiar with Fletcher torpedoes will be quite comfortable with the 10.5 km range and 66 knot running speed. This gives captains a luxury not offered to many other USN cruisers. Utilizing her decent speed captains can utilize these torpedoes to flush out enemy destroyers hiding within smoke or laying an ambush of their own. Furthermore, with the right modifications and crew skills Austin can in theory fire her torpedoes without being detected but this at best gives captains only a kilometer to work with. Aside from their primary offensive use, captains may also make use of these torpedoes to help gauge an enemy’s speed and direction to better aim her main battery or choose a position to attack from.

Like most late tier American cruisers she brings a fantastic amount of anti-aircraft fire to the table. With six 76mm anti aircraft guns in three turrets per broadside, Austin is already boasting decent anti-aircraft power; she doubles down with dual purpose main battery guns. What this entails is that from 4km’s out she is averaging 422 damage per second, making her arguably the strongest USN anti-air cruiser in the game as of this writing. Sadly, while she does also benefit from the Defensive AA Fire  consumable, she does not have unlimited charges as does Atlanta.

Austin players will find that she has the smallest health pool of the Tier X cruisers with only 30,700 points. To put this in perspective, she only has 3,200 hit points more than Atlanta found three tiers lower. With the thickest armor outside of her citadel 32mm thick she is quite fragile compared to same tier cruisers. While this is thankfully thicker than the 13mm plate found on Atlanta, shells that would normally over pen Atlanta will arm against Austin and deal far more damage. Thankfully, she comes equipped with a Repair Party  consumable allowing captains to heal back some of the health lost in battle and help extend the life time of the ship.

Captains who enjoy playing in Atlanta will probably enjoy Austin as she is. There are some similarities in their overall play style but captains should be aware that there are several key distinctions. The first major distinction from Atlanta comes from a lack of Surveillance Radar 

. Thus while she is effective at removing destroyers from the battle like her contemporary, she shouldn’t be leading charges into caps and contesting against enemy destroyers. Captains could arguably spec into improving her mobility and utilizing her Hydroacoustic Search 

. Use the traditional strategy of islands for cover and high shells arcs to clear them. Building upon the idea of improving maneuverability some captains may prefer to spec her for open water firing to which can have some success but this requires a combination of skill, luck, and captain builds which make it hard to recommend of USN light cruisers is the best course of action much like with Atlanta. Combine this with solid torpedoes, access to Defensive AA Fire 

, Main Battery Reload Booster 

, and Hydroacoustic Search 

consumables. Austin excels at locking down key points on the map and whittling down enemy ships unlucky enough to enter her sights.

Pros:

Hull side plating is 32mm thick, ideal to ricochet AP shells with the proper angling
Quick main battery traverse speed
Despite the gun caliber, Austin's main guns have fairly flat shell arcs and decent ballistics
Very good HE fire chance
SAP shells have improved penetration angles and 36mm raw penetration.
One quintuple torpedo launcher per side, equipped with Fletcher's upgraded torpedoes (good range, speed and damage)
Powerful AA defenses, aided by the Defensive AA Fire  consumable
Improved Repair Party  consumables with one extra charge and higher than average health recovery
The Main Battery Reload Booster  consumable has unlimited charges, and provides a massive DPM boost when active.
Excellent ship handling - high top speed, good turn radius and good rudder shift
Very good concealment with all the relevant upgrades

Cons:

Smallest health pool of all Tier X cruisers.
Exposed citadel.
Her armor is too thick to let shells overpenetrate but too thin to provide meaningful protection. Arguably the most fragile cruiser at tier.
Short main battery range.
Unmodified, Austin's rate of fire is fairly disappointing.
The Main Battery Reload Booster  has a short activation time and a long cooldown.

Research

As a premium ship, Austin has no modules to research.

Optimal Configuration

Upgrades

The recommended upgrades for Austin are:

Slot 1: Main Armaments Modification 1
Slot 2: Engine Room Protection
Slot 3: Aiming Systems Modification 1
Slot 4: Propulsion Modification 1 *
Slot 5: Concealment System Modification 1 
Slot 6: Main Battery Modification 3

Steering Gears Modification 1 in Slot 4 may be preferred.

Commander Skills

Recommended Commander Skills
Cost (points)	Attack				Defense
1	Grease the Gears +15% main battery traverse speed.	Swift Fish +5% torpedo speed.	Consumables Specialist −7.5% cooldown time of all Consumables except: Damage Control Party  Repair Party . ★★★	Gun Feeder -40% time to switch shell type. ★★	Incoming Fire Alert Receive a warning of a salvo fired at your ship from more than 4.5km. ★★	Last Stand The ship remains able to move and maneuver - slowly - while the engine or steering gears are incapacitated.
2	Demolition Expert +1% chance of main and secondary HE shells causing a fire. +15% to the fragmentation damage area of HE ordnance fired at submarines. ★★	Fill the Tubes -10% torpedo tubes reload time.	Consumables Enhancements +10% action time of Hydroacoustic Search, Surveillance Radar, Smoke Generator, & Engine Boost.	Eye in the Sky Spotting Aircraft: • +2 charges • -50% cooldown time.	Priority Target The detection indicator will show the number of enemies targeting you with main battery. ★★★	Focus Fire Training In an active priority AA sector: • +1.5% (to 5%) immediate damage. • +25% continuous damage. • +1 flak burst per salvo. −10% aircraft preparation time. −15% reload time of Airstrike armament.. ★★
3	Heavy HE and SAP Shells +10% HE and SAP shell damage. +15% ship detectability guns 149mm and up. ★★★	Pack a Punch +15% torpedo damage. +20% secondary battery range..	Adrenaline Rush -0.2% reload time of all armaments per 1% HP lost +0.2% AA continuous damage per 1% HP lost. ★★★	Heavy AP Shells +5% damage for AP shells 190mm and larger.	Superintendent +1 charge to all consumables. ★★★	Survivability Expert +450 HP per ship tier. ★★★
4	Top Grade Gunner -10% reload time of secondary batteries If enemy ship is spotted within detectability range, -8% reload time of main battery. ★	Outnumbered If there are fewer allies than visible enemies within the ship's base main caliber firing range: +8% ship speed -10% main battery dispersion.	Radio Location Shows the direction to the nearest enemy ship. The enemy is alerted that a bearing has been taken.. ★★	Inertial Fuse for HE Shells +25% armor penetration of HE shells Base fire chance reduced by half.	Concealment Expert -10% detectability range of the ship. ★★★	AAA & ASW Expert +25% continuous AA and flak damage. +15% damage inflicted by depth charges. While AAA is active: −50% ship consumables reload time.. ★★
Key: ★★★ - Extremely Useful ★★ - Frequently Useful ★ - Occasionally Useful No stars - Not Useful

Consumables

Austin equips the following consumables:

Slot 1: Damage Control Party 
Slot 2: Defensive AA Fire  - 4 charges
Slot 3: Main Battery Reload Booster  - unlimited
Slot 4: Repair Party  - 4 charges
Slot 5: Hydroacoustic Search  - 3 charges

Camouflage

As a premium ship, Austin comes with Default permanent camouflage and a set of permanent combat bonuses.

Signals

Recommended Signal Flags
Combat
Juliet Charlie -100% to the risk of magazine detonation. ★★★	Juliet Yankee Bissotwo -20% to flooding duration. ★★	India Yankee -20% to fire duration. ★★	Hotel Yankee -20% to damage received when ramming the enemy. +50% to damage dealt when ramming the enemy. ★	Victor Lima +1% chance for HE bombs and shells with a caliber above 160mm causing a fire. +0.5% chance for bombs and smaller shells causing a fire. +4% chance of torpedoes causing flooding. ★★★	India X-Ray +1% chance for HE bombs and shells with a caliber above 160mm causing a fire. +0.5% chance for bombs and smaller shells causing a fire. +5% to the risk of your ship's magazine detonating. ★★★
Juliet Whiskey Unaone +15% chance of causing flooding. +5% to the risk of your ship's magazine detonating. ★★	Mike Yankee Soxisix +5% to secondary battery maximum firing range. -5% to maximum dispersion of secondary battery shells. -5% to secondary battery loading time. ★	November Echo Setteseven +5% continuous AA damage at all ranges. +5% damage from flak bursts. ★★	Sierra Mike +5% to the ship's maximum speed. ★★★	November Foxtrot -5% reload time on all consumables. ★★★	India Delta +20% to the amount of HP recovered when Repair Party  is used. ★★★
X-Ray Papa Unaone +10% action time of a Smoke Generator .	Sierra Bravo +10% action time of Hydroacoustic Search  -10% reload time of Defensive AA Fire . ★★★

Note: Use of the Juliet Charlie signal makes detonation impossible.

Gallery

References

USS Austin Wikipedia Armada: Austin. 26 Mar 2021.

Ships of U.S.A.

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Games

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Austin

Modules

Compatible Upgrades