Oct 16, 2024
War Thunder - Blitzkrieg Wulf
Today we’ll be showing you Murmansk, an American light cruiser in service with the Soviet Navy! Its multiple 152 mm guns are particularly effective against lightly armored targets, while its excellent anti-aircraft weapons and radar make this ship good against aircraft too.
Murmansk: A Premium Light Cruiser for the USSR at rank III
At a glance:- Ten 152 mm guns!
- Powerful air defense.
- Radar.
- Decent survivability.
- High top speed.
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The Milwaukee (CL-5) cruiser began her history in 1923, when she entered service with the U.S. Navy after being built at the Tacoma Shipyard. Milwaukee served in the Pacific Ocean from 1928 to 1940, and was then transferred to the Atlantic. At the beginning of World War II, she patrolled the South Atlantic, protecting convoys from enemy submarines, returned home in February 1944 for a short overhaul and was sent to serve in the North Atlantic. In March of 1944, she escorted convoy JW 58 to the USSR and, in exchange for Italian cruiser Duca d’Aosta, was transferred to the Soviet Union, receiving a new name — Murmansk.
Service in the Northern Fleet of the Soviet Navy consisted mainly of training sorties. The only combat mission was escorting convoy RA 61 in the fall of 1944. In 1949, Murmansk was returned to the United States and sent for scrap.
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Meet Murmansk!
The Murmansk, formerly the American Omaha class cruiser Milwaukee (CL-5), is the main naval reward coming to the upcoming Battle Pass season, Guided Fury! Coming in at rank III in the USSR’s Bluewater fleet tree, the Murmansk boasts numerous 152 mm guns, a radar, a reconnaissance aircraft and a luxurious amount of anti-aircraft autocannons. Let’s take a look!
In general, Murmansk will be familiar to those of you who have played the American cruiser USS Raleigh. This is a fast, well-armed and relatively survivable ship. The main caliber of the Murmansk is 10 x 152 mm guns. This large caliber does mean though that you’ll have a slightly longer reload time compared to similar ships, but the one-time damage with many hits at once fully justifies this! The next advantage of the Murmansk is its anti-aircraft capabilities. Firstly, thanks to numerous anti-aircraft weapons of 40 and 20 mm calibers, and secondly due to the presence of an air target detection radar. While the main caliber is reloading, the 76 mm guns (three mounts per side) can fire, which can also work against air targets with shells and radio fuzes. The Murmansk’s weapons arsenal includes torpedoes in two three-tube tubes, as well as two reconnaissance aircraft with equipment for laying smoke screens and dropping small bombs.
It’s worth noting that the Murmansk can fire a maximum of seven main battery guns at a time due to the specific location of its turrets. Only high-explosive or semi-armor piercing shells can be fired, with their damage being sufficient enough for clashes with destroyers and light cruisers, but in high-rank battles, they may not have enough penetration for effective firefights against heavy cruisers. But in battles with lightly armored opponents, Murmansk is smooth — the consistently high damage of the high-explosive shells from the main caliber guns wreaks havoc on decks and unprotected gun mounts with each successful salvo. The armor piercing shells that have good penetration easily cope with the armor of light cruisers at almost all firing ranges.
The Murmansk’s engine room is protected by 76 mm of armor, the propeller-rudder area also has protection from high-explosive damage, but the fuel tanks and gun magazines located at the waterline will be especially vulnerable to torpedoes. It’s very convenient that the speed of the Murmansk will be almost the best among light cruisers at its rank. In fact, in terms of mobility, it differs little from a destroyer!
The Murmansk light cruiser will be an easy start to researching the USSR Bluewater fleet and a good addition to existing lineups. Very soon, we’ll be telling you about the second main reward of the Guided Fury Battle Pass season and publish the full list of rewards for completing stages. See you around!
Please note that this vehicle’s characteristics may be changed before it is added to the game.
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