World of Warships Supertest: U.S. Tier IX Premium Battleship Illinois (2024)

Historical background

At the end of the Second World War, the U.S. Navy found themselves in a bit of a pickle. Out of the six planned Iowa-clas battleships, two were still under construction. In 1948, plans were made to convert the USS Kentucky, the most advanced of the two, into an Anti-Aircraft Battleship. For that purpose, the ship’s main armament would be replaced with the same 203 mm guns as the Des Moines-class, keeping the same auto-loading mechanism but in quadruple dual-purpose turrets. This main battery was also meant to be used as anti-air. Don’t ask me why it’s not the case in the game… As far as we know, three designs were proposed with this armament. F with only 2 turrets, G with 3, and H with 4.

When it comes to the secondary battery, it was composed of a whole lot of twin 127 mm/54 batteries with the number varying from one design to the other. Scheme F had twenty of them, Scheme G had sixteen, and Scheme H had fourteen. Due to the extra weight brought by that armament and to clear firing angles as much as possible, the superstructure, especially on Scheme G and H was reduced in size as much as possible. The anti-air would be completed with modern twin 76.2 mm AA mounts with either three of them for Scheme F or six of them for Scheme G and H.

Sadly, none of these designs ever came to be. Other designs would later be proposed to convert Kentucky into a guided missile battleship in the mid-1950s but at the end of the day, both her and Illinois were sold for scrap at the end of the 1950s.

When it comes to Illinois in World of Warships… Let’s just say that Wargaming got incredibly lazy. In the game, it literally is just an Iowa with the main battery turrets swapped for the 203 mm quadruple turrets and the 40 mm Bofors being replaced by 76.2 mm twin mounts. So… yeah, quite a massive disappointment here.

If you want to learn more about the Kentucky conversion proposals, here is a video from Drachinifel covering them:

Ship’s preview

Ship’s commemorative flag

Ship’s camouflage

For the classic reminder, this is a ship in testing, anything can change so don’t look at her like she would already be released.

Modules

Hull	Engine	Gun Fire Control System	Main battery
Illinois	Propulsion: 212 000hp	‎Mk9 mod. 1	203 mm/55 RF Mk.16in a turret

General Characteristics

Main Armament

3 x 4 203 mm/55 RF Mk.16in a turret
Maximum Firing Range	18.480 km
Reloading Time	10.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	30.0 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	30°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	30°
Sigma	1.8 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	245 m
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 203 mm HE/HC Mk25
Alpha Damage	2 800
Penetration capacity	34 mm
Explosion size	12.9 m
Fire chance	14 %
Projectile Speed	823 m/s
Air Drag	0.333
Projectile Mass	118.0 kg
Type of Projectile	AP – 203 mm AP Mk19
Alpha Damage	5 000
Projectile Speed	762 m/s
Air Drag	0.356
Projectile Mass	152.0 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 919
Projectile Detonator	0.033 s
Detonator threshold	34 mm
Ricochet Angles	60° – 67.5°

Secondary Armament

10 x 2 127 mm/38 Mk.12 on a Mk.32 mount
Maximum Firing Range	6.950 km
Reloading Time	4.0 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 127 mm HE Mk32
Alpha Damage	1 800
HE penetration	21 mm
Explosion Size	5.7 m
Chance to Cause Fire	5 %
Projectile Speed	792 m/s
Air Drag	0.347
Projectile Mass	24.5 kg

Anti-air Armament

Consumables

The Armor

External armor protection:

Front and rear armor protection of the middle section:

Main deck:

Citadel armor protection:

Turrets armor protection:

Hidden armor protection inside the stern:

Personal Opinion

As of right now, this ship looks pretty damn promising. While she “only” has a 10s reload time on her main battery compared to Des Moines, it’s still quite an impressive firepower with that twelve-guns broadside and good firing range. Also, the fact that she has the standard U.S. battleship dispersion is well compensated by the Artillery Plotting Room Modification 2, unique to U.S. battleships.

Besides the firepower, she has the hull of an Iowa with a lower citadel and, of course, the improved Repair Party. As a cherry on top, for close-range engagements, she even gets an improved dispersion on her secondary battery.

Thank you for reading this article!

Don’t hesitate to subscribe to our notifications to make sure that you don’t miss any future articles.

Also if you are new to the game or want to get back to it, feel free to use my Recruiting Station code for free goodies such as Premium ships, premium time, and more: https://warships.net/yuzorah

Have a good one and see you soon!

About Author