PASA507 Saipan 1946

Overview

0

Cost

Hit Points

Mobility

kt Max Speed

s Rudder Shift Time

m Turn Radius

Armor

- mm Hull Armor

- mm Citadel Armor

- mm Deck Armor

- mm Extremities Armor

Primary Armament

Guns

Secondary Armament

Guns

Torpedoes

Aircrafts

Recon Squadrons

Visibility

km Aerial Detection Range

km Surface Detection Range

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Player Opinion

Performance

The Saipan is a bit of an anomaly in the USN carrier line, defying the all-or-nothing loadout concept of USN carriers to have both anti-air and anti-surface capabilities. In addition, she has uncharacteristically small squadron sizes of 3 for her fighters and torpedo bombers (but 8 planes for her dive bombers) - but that is to balance the fact that, at tier 7, she carries the stock aircraft of the tier 10 USN carrier, the Midway! As such, her strike squadrons can practically outrun almost any fighter squadrons they encounter, and her fighters can quickly pounce on any aircraft they see. Moreover, the high speeds of her strike aircraft minimise the time spent on the approach and pull back, lowering their chances of getting shot down by enemy ships' AA (their high durability helps too). While her hangar capacity of 48 might seem rather lacklustre, it's not a major issue except for the dive bombers due to their large squadron size.

It is generally recommended to use the torpedo bomber loadout as opposed to the dive bomber loadout. While having 1000-pound bombs one tier earlier in a large squadron of 8 is amazing (when all hit), dive bombing is still very much RNG-based - torpedo bombing is still the way to go for more reliable results. Furthermore, the Saipan is the only USN carrier to have the converging torpedo pattern for its manual drop - combined with fast aircraft, it's fairly easy to hit all 6 torpedoes on battleships and even snipe destroyers. Losing one squadron of planes is no big deal with the torpedo bomber loadout; their small squadron sizes means that you can repeatedly re-form destroyed squadrons without worrying too much about running out of planes like the Independence. Having one more squadron of fighters in the air with the dive bomber loadout does not make up for the loss in strike capability, and your fighters will still be overwhelmed by the larger squadrons of enemy fighters they encounter.

Pros

Good speed allows her to quickly reposition or keep a distance from the enemy
Powerful AA
Blisteringly fast and powerful aircraft
Short aircraft servicing times (more likely due to the small number of planes in a squadron than anything else)
Both loadouts have anti-air and anti-surface capabilities
Fearsome dive bomber potential, with 8 aircraft in a squadron armed with 1000-pound bombs
Only US carrier to have more than 1 torpedo squadron
Has the IJN converging pattern for the torpedo squadrons' manual drop due to only having 3 planes instead of 6 in a squadron

Cons

Like the Independence, she gets detected more easily from the air than from the surface
No secondary armament
Lousy rudder shift time
Unable to utilise both torpedo and dive bombers together in either loadouts
Fighters have low ammo count, hindering their ability to stay on the battlefield
Small squadron size means that fighters are easily overwhelmed
Torpedo squadrons only have 3 planes each, hindering their burst damage potential (like IJN carriers)
Despite having 8 planes in a squadron, the larger USN dispersion for the dive bombers still prevents them from doing reliable damage