Now for some BR change suggestions for naval RB.
The fact that naval is less popular and less talked about in these topics does not mean that balance issues for naval are any less serious than for aircraft or ground vehicles. There are so many ships that need an immediate review of BR. The ones mentioned below are just a small selection.
Any sensible actual naval player knows that it is a ship’s main gun firepower and survivability that defines her combat effectiveness within WT, and thus should be the main factors in deciding BR. Secondary gun firepower should also be taken into account in special cases. The mobility, AA/torpedo armament, and other factors should only be of tertiary importance as they are only useful in very specific situations in WT naval battles. Especially in RB due to the lack of in-air/at-sea reload for bombs and torpedoes, both for vessels and aircraft, making aircraft less lethal and making torpedoes much less useful. For relative comparison purposes, I will use aced crew figures when comparing the rate of fire of ships within this post.
With these standards in mind, I propose the changes below.
Kerch(cruiser): 5.3 → 5.7
The Battle Ratings of Kerch(cruiser), Montecuccoli, and Savoia are simply outrageous. They are almost exactly the same ships, with minor differences in crew count, armor, AA guns, and torpedoes. What exactly makes the Kerch especially weaker that she deserves to be a step lower in BR compared to the Montecuccoli and Savoia? All we can see is that the Kerch is being lowered in BR to make her a more attractive premium vessel. Shame on you. From my experience at least, these three cruisers are superior to all other proper 5.3 ships, and slightly weaker than most other 5.7 ships, in terms of the BR deciding factors(mentioned above). They are somewhere in between 5.3 and 5.7, but closer to 5.7 to be exact. In any case, these three cruisers need to have the same BR because they are almost identical ships. So the Kerch must go up to 5.7.
Agano: 5.3 → 5.0
Agano is an extremely weak cruiser and more of an oversized destroyer than anything. I’d say she might even need to go to 4.7, but we’ll have to see how she does at 5.0. The guns are what really ruins her. She only has six 152mm guns in 3 twin turrets. The RoF is a decent 10 rounds per minute per gun(RPMPG) with ready-use ammo, but that only lasts for 10 salvos, after which the RoF drops to a mere 6.2 RPMPG. This means the maximum broadside is 60 RPM with ready-use ammo, and the maximum sustained broadside is just 37.2 RPM with the main ammo. These guns only have an HE shell and a “SAP” shell that is basically a base fuzed HE shell and cannot penetrate any meaningful amount of armor at normal battle ranges and angles. This can only really deal with destroyers and even most 5.0 cruisers have enough main belt armor to stop this “SAP” shell with a bit of angling, including Agano herself, ironically enough. This main gun firepower is significantly weaker than any proper 5.3 light cruiser such as Köln/Karlsruhe/Leipzig(nine 150mm guns, maximum sustained broadside 72 RPM) or Leander(eight 152mm guns, maximum sustained broadside 64 RPM), all of which use proper SAP/AP shells that are much better than Agano’s shell. Agano’s main gun firepower is even somewhat weaker than most 5.0 cruisers, which have similar broadside weight but use better shells. Her armor is slightly weaker than average for 5.0/5.3 cruisers, the main weakness being the 60mm main belt, compared to 70mm or thicker on most other cruisers. Agano’s crew count of 700 is slightly higher than average for 5.0/5.3 cruisers. Her main strengths are high speed and powerful torpedoes, but that doesn’t matter much especially in normal RB and only reinforces that fact that she is basically an oversized destroyer. All things considered, Agano can stay at 5.3 for AB, but should go down to 5.0 for RB.
Furutaka & Aoba: 5.7 → 5.3
Furutaka and Aoba are significantly weaker than other 5.7 cruisers. Their main gun firepower consists of just six 203mm guns in 3 twin turrets that fire 5 rounds per minute per gun for a maximum broadside of 30 RPM. This is much weaker than other 5.7 heavy cruisers like Admiral Hipper/Prinz Eugen(eight 203mm guns, maximum broadside 40 RPM), Norfolk/London(eight 203mm guns, maximum broadside 40 RPM), New Orleans(nine 203mm guns, maximum broadside 31.5 RPM, offset by 6.0 levels of armor), or Zara/Pola(eight 203mm guns, maximum broadside 30.4 RPM, offset by 6.0 levels of armor). York is similar(six 203mm guns, maximum broadside 30 RPM) but that just means she should be 5.3 as well. Such firepower is more similar to 5.3 heavy cruisers like Northampton/Portland(nine 203mm guns, maximum broadside 31.5 RPM) or Trento(eight 203mm guns, maximum broadside 27.2 RPM, offset by excellent turret armor). Furutaka and Aoba have powerful torpedoes, but that doesn’t matter much especially in normal RB, as I’ve stated above. Their crew complement of 680 and 657 is on the lower side for 5.3/5.7 cruisers. Their armor protection is about average compared with other 5.3/5.7 cruisers. All things considered, Furutaka and Aoba should go down to 5.3 at least in RB. This would leave the Ikoma without a lineup, but the Tone can go down to 5.7, about which I will talk about in a future post.
Myoko: 5.7 → 6.0
This doesn’t really need much explanation. Another example of a premium ship that is purposefully lower in BR to make it more attractive compared to very similar research tree vessels. Myoko’s main gun firepower is exactly the same as Mogami, which is 6.0. AA firepower is much better on Myoko, but that doesn’t really matter as I explained above. Survivability-wise, she may have somewhat thinner armor than Mogami, but it’s still better than most 5.7 cruisers. Some 5.7 cruisers do have slightly better armor than Myoko, but they have weaker armament(i.e. Duca degli abruzzi/Zara/Pola, New Orleans, Southampton/Belfast) or very exposed magazines(i.e. Admiral Hipper/Prinz Eugen) in return. Myoko’s crew count is also higher than Mogami, and the magazines are less exposed as well. All in all, Myoko is at least on par with Mogami and should be 6.0. If Myoko can’t be 6.0, then Mogami/Suzuya/Mikuma should all be 5.7 as well.
Once again I implore you to pay attention to what us experienced naval players tell you about the naval BRs.