Wichita
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203 mm/55 Mk.15 in a turret3 х 3 pcs. |
Rate of Fire6 shots/min. |
Reload Time10 sec. |
Rotation Speed6 deg./sec. |
180 Degree Turn Time30 sec. |
Firing Range15.83 km. |
Maximum DispersionUnable to match configuration for query: artillery:pasc508_wichita::stock|artillerydispersion m. |
HE Shell203 mm HE/HC Mk25 |
Maximum HE Shell Damage2,800 |
Chance of Fire on Target Caused by HE Shell14 % |
Initial HE Shell Velocity823 m./s. |
HE Shell Weight118 kg. |
AP Shell203 mm AP Mk19 |
Maximum AP Shell Damage4,600 |
Initial AP Shell Velocity853 m./s. |
AP Shell Weight118 kg. |
127 mm/38 Mk.12 on a Mk.24 mod.11 mount4 х 1 pcs. |
Firing Range6.6 km. |
Rate of Fire10 shots/min. |
Reload Time6 sec. |
HE Shell127 mm HE Mk32 |
Maximum HE Shell Damage1,800 |
Initial HE Shell Velocity792 m./s. |
Chance of Fire on Target Caused by HE Shell5 % |
127 mm/38 Mk.12 on a Mk.30 mod.0 mount4 х 1 pcs. |
Firing Range6.6 km. |
Rate of Fire20 shots/min. |
Reload Time3 sec. |
HE Shell127 mm HE Mk32 |
Maximum HE Shell Damage1,800 |
Initial HE Shell Velocity792 m./s. |
Chance of Fire on Target Caused by HE Shell5 % |
127 mm/38 Mk.12 on a Mk.24 mod.11 mount4 х 1 pcs. |
. . . Average Damage per Second32 |
. . . Firing Range5.01 km. |
127 mm/38 Mk.12 on a Mk.30 mod.0 mount4 х 1 pcs. |
. . . Average Damage per Second42.8 |
. . . Firing Range5.01 km. |
40 mm/56 Bofors on a Mk.1 mount4 х 2 pcs. |
. . . Average Damage per Second45.2 |
. . . Firing Range3.51 km. |
20 mm Oerlikon on a Mk.4 mount18 х 1 pcs. |
. . . Average Damage per Second64.8 |
. . . Firing Range2.01 km. |
40 mm/56 Bofors on a Mk.2 mount4 х 4 pcs. |
. . . Average Damage per Second63.6 |
. . . Firing Range3.51 km. |
Maximum Speed33.6 knot |
Turning Circle Radius680 m. |
Rudder Shift Time6 sec. |
Surface Detectability Range11.7 km. |
Air Detectability Range7.16 km. |
Wichita — American premium Tier VIII cruiser.
The design for this ship was based on Brooklyn-class cruisers in terms of their layout but featured 203 mm guns. The distance between the barrels of the guns was increased to reduce shell dispersion. It was decided to incorporate a conical shape for the barbettes instead of a cylindrical one to prevent an increase in their diameter. During World War II, USS Wichita played an active role in both the Atlantic and Pacific Theaters. Over the course of the war, the cruiser was awarded 13 battle stars.
Modules
Compatible Upgrades
Player Opinion
Performance
Refer to the in-game Port screens for more useful data.
Tier VIII Wichita is a heavy cruiser squeezed into a light cruiser’s hull. She uses the same AP rounds as New Orleans rather than the super heavy rounds of Baltimore, giving her flatter gun arcs and slightly easier gunnery at the cost of slightly less punch. In compensation, she gains improved agility and excellent concealment.
The Ship
Wichita was historically built on a hull derived from the Brooklyn-class light cruisers, and this shows in game. Wichita has the fastest rudder shift time of the Tier VIII cruisers; at just 6 seconds, she will rapidly respond to changes of direction. Her turning circle of 680 meters, while not the best at her tier, is considerably better than average. Her top speed of 33.6 knots is relatively fast, but she is slow to accelerate, taking a full 29 seconds to reach this speed. Her speed will allow her to easily reposition, but it is not quite quick enough to easily chase down, or escape from, enemies. Her concealment can be as low as 9.5 km, allowing Wichita to position herself in relative safety.
She mounts a standard cruiser Damage Control Party with a 5 second action time and 60 seconds between uses.
Wichita has two additional consumable slots, both of which have options available. In the second slot, she can choose between Hydroacoustic Search or Defensive AA Fire
. Hydroacoustic Search is generally the optimal choice, able to detect ships at 5 km and torpedoes at 3 km. Defensive AA Fire is a more situational choice, and generally players will gain more benefit from Hydroacoustic Search. Should Defensive AA Fire be used, it will provide a 50% increase to AA DPS and 300% boost to flak damage for 40 seconds.
The third slot has the option of Spotting Aircraft
or Surveillance Radar
. Her spotter will give Wichita a 20% increase to main battery range for 100 seconds, with four minutes between uses. Her radar will detect ships within 9 km, with an action time of 30 seconds that can be stretched to almost 40 seconds with captain skills, upgrades, and combat signals. She cannot stealth radar, but 500 meters does not leave a destroyer much room to turn around and escape after Wichita is spotted.
Survivability
Wichita’s hull is covered in 27 mm plating, which can bounce AP from 381 mm guns if she is properly angled. Against many Tier VI and VII battleships, Wichita is a tough nut to crack if she does not show broadside. Even against same-tier battleships, she is able to bounce almost half of the ships she can face. Russian, US, and Japanese battleships will generally be able to overmatch her bow, as will Hawke, Zieten, and Champagne. Additionally, her plating is thick enough to shatter the HE rounds of lower tier light cruisers without the Inertial Fuse for High Explosive skill, with the notable exception of German light cruisers. Her citadel mostly sits well below the waterline, although there is a considerable section between the forward and aft structure that is raised slightly above the waterline and protected by 152 mm of armor. Wichita is vulnerable to taking citadel hits along the waterline should she show too much broadside. Remaining mobile and angled will vastly reduce the damage that she will take. Despite her good armor, she has a relatively small health pool. At 37,900, she has 4,500 hit points less than Baltimore. She can still bounce as many shells as her cousin, but the shells that penetrate will hurt proportionally more.
Armament
Like most US cruisers, Wichita does not carry torpedoes and must rely solely on gunfire to deal with her enemies. She has nine 203 mm guns in three triple turrets: two forward and one aft. Her reload of 10 seconds is good, but her turret traverse time of 30 seconds feels glacial, especially when Wichita is maneuvering. A maximum range of 15.8 km is fairly standard for a Tier VIII cruiser, but it can feel lacking when Wichita is bottom tier. Her AP rounds are the same as those of New Orleans. They have the improved ricochet angles common to American heavy cruisers, but they lack the sheer penetration and damage of Baltimore’s heavier shells. This is not to say they are bad; even the “lesser” shells have superior penetration to many other Tier VIII cruisers but they are not as strong as Baltimore’s. Her HE rounds are the same as those of Baltimore; a 14% fire chance per shell gives Wichita the ability to potentially set 7.6 fires per minute. She lags behind light cruisers in fire starting potential, but her rounds will do considerably more damage per hit than the lighter ships. Her HE rounds have enough penetration to defeat the bow and stern plating of high-tier battleships, as well as the casemate armor of British and French battleships.
Anti-Aircraft
Wichita’s AA defenses are fairly typical of a Tier VIII cruiser — decent without being outstanding. Its main strength comes from her long-range batteries, which put out 5 flak bursts per salvo. Unwary aircraft can find themselves shredded before they’re able to attack. Her mid-range weapons reach out to 3.5 km, and her short-range weapons can engage targets within 2 km. These will knock down some aircraft, but Wichita remains some distance from being a floating no-fly zone. By overlapping AA auras with other ships, she can contribute to defending allies; if she is alone, Wichita cannot persuade a determined CV player to go elsewhere.
Anti-Submarne
Wichita uses an ASW airstrike with a range of 7 km. Each attack will drop two bombs, with up to two attacks queued at a time. These are standard for the tier, doing 4,200 damage on a direct hit.
Battle Performance
Wichita offers a slight variation on US heavy cruiser play. She lacks the sheer power of Baltimore’s AP, but has unmatched agility and good stealth. She also lacks Baltimore’s ability to stealth radar, but her radar can still deter enemy destroyers or reveal cruisers trying to engage from their own smoke screens. Her lack of torpedoes means that players will need to be aware of their surroundings, as there is little to stop a battleship from charging an isolated Wichita.
Like Baltimore, Wichita is well suited to medium-range engagements. Islands or friendly smokescreens can provide cover for Wichita to reach her optimal range. In common with most heavy cruisers, effective ammunition selection is important to ensure the maximum effect of her main battery. Knowing whether HE or AP rounds are the most suitable for a situation is an important skill to learn.
On maps with lots of cover, or when Wichita is top tier, she can position more aggressively. Angling and using cover to limit the number of ships that can engage her will preserve her HP. Against battleships with 381 mm or smaller guns, Wichita can be a frustrating target to engage. If in doubt, use the ship information from the team view to check whether Wichita will be able to bounce their AP rounds.
Against stronger enemies or when there is little cover, Wichita can play defensively and kite away from the opposition. In these situations Wichita has similar firepower to Baltimore, and her improved agility means that she is better suited to this tactic, using her quick rudder shift to present an unpredictable target.Pros:
- Well armored
- Improved ricochet angles on her AP
- Excellent maneuverability
- Good top speed
- Stealthy
- Access to Surveillance Radar
Cons:
- Small health pool
- Weaker AP than Baltimore
- Slow turret traverse
- No torpedoes makes it difficult to land a knockout blow
- Slow to accelerate
Research
Optimal Configuration
Upgrades
There is a choice of upgrades for slot 2. Surveillance Radar Modification 1, available from the armory for coal gives a 20% boost to radar duration. Alternatively, Engine Room Protection will keep Wichita mobile. In slot 4, Propulsion Modification 1 will boost her acceleration and make dodging fire easier. Steering Gears Modification 1 is also an option, but is really overkill.
The recommended upgrades for Wichita are as follows:
- Slot 1: Main Armaments Modification 1
- Slot 2: Surveillance Radar Modification 1
or Engine Room Protection
- Slot 3: Aiming Systems Modification 1
- Slot 4: Propulsion Modification 1
- Slot 5: Concealment System Modification 1
Commander Skills
Any cruiser captain from the Des Moines line will be well suited to duty with Wichita. Grease the Gears takes on more importance with Wichita; under sustained maneuvering she can out-turn her turrets, making it difficult to keep her guns on target. If a captain is being used specifically for Wichita, then players may wish to use Survivability Expert in order to boost her small health pool. Alexander Ovechkin provides a useful boost to Grease the Gears and has an improved Survivability Expert skill, both of which are potentially useful for a Wichita build.
If players have him, the special commander William Halsey is a good fit. His improved Grease the Gears and Gun Feeder skills are both useful in Wichita. His special talents are difficult to activate with Wichita, gaining a Double Strike achievement reduces Wichita’s concealment even further, allowing her to easily stealth radar.
Consumables
Wichita can equip the following consumables:
- Slot 1: Damage Control Party
- Slot 2: Defensive AA Fire
or Hydroacoustic Search
- Slot 3: Spotting Aircraft
or Surveillance Radar
Camouflage
As a premium ship, Wichita comes with Default permanent camouflage and a set of permanent combat bonuses.
Signals
Recommended Signal Flags ![]() | |||||
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Combat | |||||
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Gallery
Historical Info
Historical Gallery
References
Ship Change Log
See here for links to Update notes.
- Available for testing by supertesters in the game starting from Update 0.7.10.
Testing Changes
- September 18, 2018:
- Preliminary characteristics.
- October 1, 2018:
- The firing angles of the main battery turrets were improved.
- Main battery reload time was reduced from 9.86 to 7.78 s.
- Characteristics of the Surveillance Radar consumable were changed:
- Duration was reduced from 30 to 25 s.
- Range was reduced from 9 to 8.5 km.
- October 26, 2018:
- The characteristics of the AP shells were adjusted:
- The Mark 21 shells (from Baltimore) were replaced with Mark 19 shells (from New Orleans).
- AP shell damage was reduced from 5,000 to 4,600.
- The initial velocity of the AP shells was increased from 762 to 853 m/s.
- Detectability was increased from 11.34 to 12.06 km.
- Detectability after firing main guns in smoke was increased from 6.29 to 6.79 km
- Rudder shift was reduced from 7.6 to 6.06 s.
- Radar characteristics were adjusted to match other Tier VIII American cruisers:
- Range was increased from 8.49 to 9.0 km.
- Duration was increased from 25 to 30 s.
- The characteristics of the AP shells were adjusted:
- November 7, 2018:
- The Catapult Fighter consumable was replaced with the Spotting Aircraft consumable, using the same characteristics as Cleveland's.
- First appeared on sale in February 2019.
- Update 0.8.4:
- Fixed a bug with the incorrect range of the "Surveillance Radar" consumable.
- Update 0.9.2:
- Armor thickness changed: the central section was reinforced from 25 to 27 mm.
- Update 0.10.0:
- The firing range of the secondary battery was increased to 6.6 km.
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