- Yes
- No
I was rather disappointed by the recent choice to give the USA the USS Texas, as I had been hoping to see one of the classes following Pennsylvania for some time. I know I am not alone in having hoped for something newer. While not insignificant historically, Texas offers very little not currently available to the US fleet. It has the same basic guns as the other super-dreadnoughts, and in many respects is worse, being a preceding class. While I know the devs often don’t follow suggestion advice, I was shocked to see the New Mexico-class was not listed as recommended. I seek to remedy that immediately.
USS New Mexico is the first battleship to have been armed with the upgraded 14in/50 caliber guns. As compared to the older 14in/45 guns currently in-game, these guns were longer-barreled and offered a higher muzzle velocity. Likewise, their armor penetration capabilities increased. The turret itself was also completely redesigned, being less crammed and potentially offering a higher rate of fire than its predecessors.
Architecturally, the New Mexico-class is also interesting, and something we have not yet seen in the US fleet in-game. Early US battleships had “lattice masts” like Those seen on North Dakota and Wyoming. Later, they sported “tripod masts” like those seen on Arizona and Texas. Even later came the angular towers seen on ships like Alaska. New Mexico is none of the above, having received a brief architecture style between said “tripod masts” and “angular towers”. In fact, the New Mexico superstructures share a striking resemblance to the Japanese “pagoda masts” as seen on battleships like Kongo and Ise. As a side note, the class also differs from its predecessors in being the first US dreadnoughts with “clipper” bows to improve sailing on rough seas.
Camouflage pattern for consideration:
Why 1943 specifically? Well, I am not actually picky about the year, so long as it is no earlier than 1941. The reason I recommend 1943 however, is because all of the US battleships are currently either pre-war or late-war. having a mid-war US battleship would be nice. In this configuration, New Mexico also retains an interesting, albeit not excessive armament. She retains a number of her casemate guns on the main deck level, and numerous secondary 5in guns along the superstructure. Her autocannons consist primarily of 20mm mounts, as well as a few 40mm autocannons. She also has the awkward aft turret-mounted catapult removed, as well as the rather useless “range clock” earlier mounted on her superstructure. She retains the aircraft catapult behind turret 4 as seen in one of the images below, however.
Please do consider adding this iconic ship or one of her class as soon as possible! It is a much needed upgrade over US 14in guns currently in-game, while also being an interesting and significant step in US battleship design history!
Figures (Note that secondary armament, crew, and displacement are highly variable based on date):
Displacement: 33420 tons standard, 36160 tons full load
Length: 190.2 meters
Beam (width): 32.4 meters
Draft (varied with weight): 9.1 - 10.4 meters
Crew: about 1500
Machinery: 4 White-Foster boilers, 4 Westinghouse geared turbines, 4 screws
Maximum Speed: 40kph
Main armament: 12 14in/50 cannons in 4 turrets.
Secondary armament: 6 single casemate 5in/51 cannons
Anti-air armament: 8 single 5in/25 cannons, 24 single 20mm autocannons, 6 quad 40mm autocannon mounts, 2 dual 40mm autocannon mounts.
Armor (similar to Arizona):
Belt armor: 343 - 203mm
Bulkheads: 330 - 203mm
Barbettes: 330mm
Turrets: 457mm front, 254 - 229mm side plates, 127mm rear
Conning tower: 400mm
Armored deck (variable): 107mm
Splinter deck (variable): 79 - 99mm
Additional images:
In case sources are required to be a valid post:
https://www.navsource.org/archives/01/40a.htm
http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_14-50_mk11.php
http://www.pwencycl.kgbudge.com/N/e/New_Mexico_class.htm
Special thanks to:
Alpine_Lynx for helping me to figure out how to create a valid suggestion post
de Radio Demon@live For his/her suggestion post on the old forum whose info and sources were helpful. That post I shall link here: New Mexico class battleships, USS New Mexico (BB-40), USS Mississippi (BB-41), & USS Idaho (BB-42) - The standards that were not at Pearl Harbor - USA - War Thunder - Official Forum
