They are and stay horribad. It gets better with the Kongo, but it is still down to bare RNGesus if you have a good game or not. Oh, and since the recent changes at the end of closed beta, you get absolutely wrecked by any Machinegun-Shell-Spamming Cruiser. Unless you score a lucky hit but remember, you only shoot twice a minute. He will dish out 5 times the amount of crippling shots to you. And even torps.
So, plain and simple, after they made DDs just a barely floating engine, Battleships a bag of self healing HP without any possibility to be of any other use than provide something to shoot at for the enemy team, all that is left are carriers and Cruisers. Well done Wargaming, well done. Smells like World of Warplanes.