Joshua Humphreys

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Joshua Humphreys is the Super Ship of the American destroyer line and continues the jack-of-all-trades tradition of her predecessor, Gearing. She features similar characteristics in gun and torpedo power, with an addition of an Alternative Firing Mode.

Armament:

Joshua Humphreys carries six 127mm/54 Mk.18 guns in three twin turrets. They have a stock 3 second reload, 12.08km range, and quick 180 degree-turret traverse time of 4.5 seconds. Her shells are identical to Gearing’s — 1,800 damage, 21mm penetration, and 5% fire chance for her HE, and 2,100 damage for her AP. Like the other American tech tree destroyers, her shells have very long flight times, but are better ballistics compared to Gearing. While her guns have a fast rate of fire, they should primarily be used for self defense or farming from inside smoke screens and behind cover.

Joshua Humphreys features the Alternative Firing Mode, which gives her a Burst Fire option. It fires 3 salvos in quick succession, increases maximum HE shell damage by +50%, and increases the chance of causing a fire by +5%, at the cost of a long 35 second main battery reload. The Alternative Firing Mode should only be used to finish off targets or light fires on targets exiting her range as that long reload time leaves her very vulnerable.

Joshua Humphreys carries ten Mk17 torpedoes in two quintuple launchers. Her torpedoes are identical to Gearing’s, with 17,900 alpha damage, 16.5km range, a stock reload of 116 seconds, and 66 knot base speed. With a full torpedo build, her torpedoes travel at 73 knots and reload in just 89 seconds, making them effective for area denial and a deadly threat to any target.

Consumables:

As with the other American tech tree destroyers, Joshua Humphreys can equip either Engine Boost  or Defensive AA Fire . Her Defensive AA Fire consumable is the same improved one carried by other tech tree American destroyers, which provides a +100% continuous damage boost rather than the regular +50%. She also carries an additional charge. While her AA defenses are improved over Gearing, it is not advised to build for Anti-Aircraft capabilities.

Her Engine Boost is standard, providing an 8% increase to her maximum speed, with a 120 second action and cooldown time.

She also comes with an “American” Smoke Generator , which has a long 30 second action time and 130 second dispersion time. The Smoke Generator has a long cooldown of 160 seconds so it is vital to utilize her smokescreens to their fullest. Due to that long duration, the smokes can also be used to cover allied cruisers.

Hull:

Joshua Humphreys has a good base health pool of 23,700 and a base speed of 37.2 knots. Her maneuverability is poor, with a mediocre 5 second rudder shift and a large 750 meter turning radius. Her concealment is very good, with a minimum concealment of 5.9km.

Like Gearing, she has 21mm midsection armor plating, which can shatter small caliber HE shells. However, this plating also increases the probability of small caliber AP shells arming and dealing full penetration damage.

While Joshua Humphreys is the supership successor to Gearing, her hull is visually similar to Forrest Sherman’s. With her poor maneuverability and large size, she is an easy target to hit and is susceptible to torpedoes if not careful.

Battle Performance:

Joshua Humphreys serves the role of a multi-purpose versatile destroyer, with good concealment, good torpedoes, and decent gun characteristics. Her torpedoes are excellent at denying key areas and attacking large targets. Her guns reload quickly and the Alternative Firing Mode is useful to finish off low health targets or light fires on targets exiting her firing range. But that long reload time of 35 seconds leaves her very vulnerable to enemy destroyers until it finishes.

Players can choose to run gun focused or torpedo focused builds, as they can on Gearing. However, while her armaments are identical to Gearing’s (with the addition of Alternative Firing Mode), it is important to note that Joshua Humphreys has worse maneuverability and can struggle to dodge torpedoes and maneuver during knife fights. She should remain hidden through usage of her good concealment in order to gain positional advantages against enemy destroyers.