Marblehead

The Ship

Marblehead is a sister ship to the tech tree cruiser Omaha and retains the same basic hull. Compared to her sister, she gains a slightly improved reload and longer range torpedoes at the cost of worse concealment, weaker torpedoes, and reduced main battery range.

Marblehead has a tight 600 meter turning circle and a fairly quick 6.4 second rudder shift, making her maneuverable and helping her avoid incoming attacks. Her 34 knot top speed is fairly typical for a Tier V cruiser, placing her firmly in the middle of the pack. Unfortunately, her concealment is rather poor at 13.2 km. This can be reduced to 11.8 km with the Concealment Expert skill, but Marblehead is unlikely to sneak up on anything smaller than a battleship.

Marblehead mounts a standard cruiser Damage Control Party  which is active for 5 seconds with a 60 second cool down between uses. She also carries a Hydroacoustic Search  and Catapult Fighter . Her Hydroacoustic Search is active for 100 seconds with a 120 second cool down between uses and has 3 uses as standard. When it is active, Marblehead will detect enemy ships at 4 km, torpedoes at 3 km, and fully submerged submarines at 2 km. Her Fighter launches a pair of aircraft that will circle around the ship for 60 seconds, providing emotional support to the player. Occasionally, they will intercept an attack and shoot down two attacking aircraft.

Survivability

Even for a Tier V cruiser, Marblehead has a reputation for easily exploding. Her citadel is a large and tempting target as it rises a considerable distance above the waterline. Shells aimed between her funnels are likely to hit the citadel, which is protected by a rather thin 76 mm of armor. A broadside Marblehead is likely to attract a lot of incoming fire.

Most of her plating is 13 mm thick, which means anything larger than light cruiser guns can overmatch her armor. Marblehead can receive citadel hits from almost any angle. Her plating will also be penetrated by all HE shells. Her health pool is good for a Tier V cruiser, but her weak armor and large citadel considerably reduce the benefits of this. Under sustained fire, Marblehead is likely to melt away — or explode — leading to a rapid return to port. With no way to recover lost health or easily disengage from combat, any mistakes can be costly.

Armament

Marblehead mounts the same main battery as Omaha, but with a much shorter range of 13.9 km. This is one of the shortest gun ranges at her tier, and the ships with shorter ranges have access to smokescreens to provide a degree of safety. Marblehead has an improved reload to compensate, giving her more DPM than Omaha, but reaching a position to safely use this can be challenging.

Marblehead can be a good fire starter, able to set up to 13 fires per minute in ideal circumstances. 25 mm of HE penetration means that her shells will penetrate the decks or superstructures of most ships, even when downtiered. Her AP is somewhat disappointing; above 10 km Marblehead can struggle to penetrate broadside cruisers.

Marblehead’s torpedoes are a change from those of Omaha; most notably, she only has a single triple launcher on each side. Her torpedoes have an improved range of 8.2 km, still too short to be used safely, but players will only need to be within almost certain death range to use them. The extended range comes at the cost of speed and striking power. They travel at a pedestrian 49 knots, the crew could almost throw these weapons as quickly. Her torpedoes will do little more than tickle an opponent with their poor damage and terrible flood chance. Any concerted effort to use these weapons will result in a feeling of disappointment. Even a rapid 38 second reload cannot salvage these weapons, and a Marblehead within 8 km of an enemy is frequently a sunk Marblehead.

Anti-Aircraft

Most of Marblehead’s anti-air deterrent comes from her fighters. Her AA guns are better than those of Agincourt, but not by much. Her AA DPS is the lowest of any Tier V cruiser and worse than many destroyers. A slight positive is that all her guns reach out to 3.5 km, but even the extra range won’t help shoot down planes. The best AA defense might be hanging around near an Agincourt or Viribus Unitis and hoping the larger ship is a more interesting target with its even worse AA.

Anti-Submarine

Marblehead carries an ASW airstrike with a 5 km range, potentially allowing her to engage submarines with a degree of safety. The airstrike has a 20 second reload between attacks, limiting the amount of damage that players can cause to a submarine. Her Hydroacoustic Search can aid in submarine hunting, but the short range means that players will need to know where to start hunting.

Battle Performance

Marblehead faces the same survival issues as Omaha, coupled with an even shorter main battery range. Although her DPM is better than her sister, reaching a position to utilize the better reload can be a challenge. While most Tier V cruisers will struggle when downtiered, this is particularly true with Marblehead, where her lack of range and concealment will combine to leave her feeling limited.