West Virginia '41 Available in Premium Shop

[Lexmechanic]

Well, there she is. The most expensive "Mountain Mama" package includes a truly stunning camouflage and Dusty Rodes (LOL) as a 10-point commander.

 

As tempted as I am by the ship's history and camo, I'm skipping her (and I don't skip many ships). I just don't see the point of getting a painfully slow bonfire when a proper version of WV will be released sometime in the future.

[HaachamaShipping]

Having almost arrived at the end of the Colorado grind, I am actually not too much against a premium Colorado one tier lower. I just would like an LWM review of the ship.

[RAMJB]

Copy/paste from the General discussion forum.

 

I got it. And is everything I expected.
 

It's a colorado hull with less Hp, but same armor as both Colorado and New Mexico. Colorado is a pretty well armored T7 BB, with a rough as nails belt and difficult to citadel unless full broadside on.343mm with a sloped 51mm turtleback inside. At T6 that kind of armor is the best of the tier, hands down and without discussion (a case can be mounted about Bayern because of the thicker,  better sloped turtleback, but it's a tie at best).

The guns are monsters. Straight and simple. Yes, they may have a slightly lower sigma than Colorado but if something Musashi has taught the players of this game is that monster guns for the tier >>>>>> sigma. And those 16'' guns are just ridiculous for T6, it's the same shell as Colorado, so it doesn't share Mutsu's "bad pen" syndrome at all while keeping all the traits of guns that big and all the virtues of tremendous penetration.

It's only 8 guns but 30 second reload. New Mex (and Arizona) fire each 35 seconds and that's a noticeable difference, as is the ability of the WV to overmatch any armor it faces except that of T8 BBs. Dispersion is not great but is not god-awful. I wouldn't call the guns consistent but they won't make you pull your hair in desperation either, something that other ships are remarkable for (namely, Bayern), and they more than compensate for it by their capability to trash anything they touch.

 

Range is perfectly fine. 16km base but you're going to use artillery plotting room, so that's effectively more than 18km. And with spotter plane you can confortably shoot at 20km+. Absolutely no issue there.

 

Rudder shift isn't brilliant but I guess that being used by now to the big boys at T10 I don't really feel it being sluggish in that way. And once in a turn the ship can do pretty tight turns. It's not FAST in a turn but it can turn in a dime, so it's a very good torpedobeater, something shared by the other american Standards.

Downsides are speed (duh), low hp count (50k ain't much) and mediocre AAA. The latter is manageable specially if you know to stay close to support.  Speed I don't mind because I knew what I was getting, and because I always loved New Mex and Arizona no matter them being slow. Low hp count is an issue however, it's 3k-ish less than a fully upgraded new Mexico and a whooping 7k less than Arizona. This thing kicks enemies around like a mule on steroids but ,while not being a glassy jaw (like Mutsu) because it's armored to the teeth for the tier, it doesn't like taking big hits.

I'm seriously left wondering what the heck do people expect of an american T6 BB. This is without discussion the most powerful of the three available (New Mex and Arizona have NOTHING to do in front of a WV) because those guns simpy take no prisoners... and if it's not the strongest BB of the tier it's very close to be so, and the only reasonable doubt about it is the lowish hp pool, so I'm very hesitant to rank it over Warspite because Warspite is still able to overmatch most stuff it meets while having that amazing heal. But it's close. VERY close.

The ship is just excellent for my taste, but hey, that's just my opinion about it.

[RAMJB]

14 hours ago, ScoutMkoll said:

 

As tempted as I am by the ship's history and camo, I'm skipping her (and I don't skip many ships). I just don't see the point of getting a painfully slow bonfire when a proper version of WV will be released sometime in the future.

 

WV as it is is a "proper version". It's the original ship as moored in Pearl Harbor dated 7-12-1941. That you want a more powerful version doesn't mean the ship is "improper". It's perfectly proper and historical.

You of course are welcome to think is not worth it but remember that whenever the '44/'45 version is released, it'll be in the shape of a T7 battleship, and that the ship won't be getting any faster nor less "bon-fire-y". Meanwhile this thing is an absolute powerhouse at T6...

[Robber_Baron]

If it was a proper version, at least the option to use the plain blue paint scheme like what she looked like before (same colour as Arizona) would be possible (just like what they did to Massachusetts, and Dreadnought. Remove a *somewhat* historical camo at the last moment). 

 

Her speed, well, being a tier 6 we knew that would be nothing spectacular.