It's not uncommon for major naval powers to provide their ships to allies
or undertake shipbuilding projects at their request.
In the past, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Columbia, and Argentina
have supplied their navies with ships in this way.
Watch this video to discover the unique features of these nations' cruisers
that fly the Pan-American colors in World of Warships!
Let's talk about the origins of the ships from this new branch first.
The exteriors of the Pan-American ships
can give us some hints about where they come from.
Observant players will quickly notice that they bear a resemblance
to American, British, and Italian cruisers that are already available in the game.
Among the new ships,
there is one that was actually constructed by Spanish shipbuilders.
I'm talking about Tier III cruiser Vicente Guerrero.
The newly introduced Pan-Americans are all light cruisers,
which means that their gun caliber doesn't exceed 152 mm.
These guns fire only armor-piercing shells.
Inquisitive players will certainly be eager
to compare them with the British-made shells
that cruisers branching off from Minotaur fire during battle.
Let's do it right away!
The ships of both nations fire AP shells with improved ricochet angles.
This means that they are capable of penetrating armor
in cases where the shells of other nations would typically ricochet.
The difference lies in the fuze, or more precisely—in the fuze time.
British shells detonate almost immediately upon penetrating armor.
Thus, it shouldn't be surprising
that the cruisers from Albion rarely receive "Over-penetration" ribbons
even when they fire at lightly armored destroyers.
Pan-American shells have a standard fuze time,
so over-penetration is much more likely.
The newcomers cannot boast of having a large number of guns.
Depending on the tier, Pan-American ships can have from four to ten guns.
This is compensated for by their relatively fast firing rate.
The Tier X ship, San Martín, is capable of firing shells every 6 seconds,
and she can fire even faster if we take into account
the effect of Commander skills and upgrades!
There's also another means of dealing damage, and that's torpedoes.
Their range depends on the tier as well and varies from 6 to 10.5 kilometers.
Note that cruisers from Tier IV to Tier VII
are armed with triple-tube torpedo launchers.
Ignacio Allende and Santander can launch as many as four torpedoes from each side.
San Martín, which I've already mentioned,
can fire ten torpedoes to match her tier.
Good concealment is another strong suit of the newcomers.
Even without upgrades and Commander skills,
they have better concealment than most ships of the same type.
Now it's time to talk about the highlight of the Pan-American cruisers—
Combat Instructions.
Yes, you've heard it right!
Pan-American cruisers of Tier VI and higher
are the first ships other than superships to possess this game feature.
Their Combat Instructions are titled Consumable Operational Readiness.
When activated, they reduce the consumable cooldown time.
The Tier VI and VII cruisers receive a 75% reduction,
the Tier VIII and IX cruisers enjoy an 80% reduction,
and the Tier X ship will have her consumables ready 85% faster
after activating her Combat Instructions.
This brings us to the question: "How do you activate them?"
During battle, each hit you score
fills your Combat Instructions progress bar little by little.
If you stop firing for whatever reason, you'll lose your progress quickly.
That's why I recommend being as accurate as possible with your shots
when working your way toward completing the activation condition.
An indicative sound will notify you
when your Combat Instructions are ready for use.
You'll only need to press the "F" key after that to activate the bonus.
Any consumables that are on cooldown at that moment
will then have their remaining cooldown time reduced.
So, the Combat Instructions of the new Pan-American ships
have an effect on consumables.
But what consumables are available to them?
The Repair Party consumable is available on cruisers starting from Tier II.
At Tier VI and higher,
it's replaced by the Specialized Repair Teams consumable.
Upon researching the Tier IV ship, Córdoba,
you'll gain access to the Short-Range Hydroacoustic Search consumable.
Additionally, with Tier V La Argentina, you'll unlock the Fighter consumable.
The latter will cease to be available starting from the Tier VII cruiser.
Rest assured, this doesn't imply that your AA defenses will be weakened.
At Tier VII and higher, you can replace Short-Range Hydroacoustic Search
with Defensive AA Fire.
When you take the helms of high-tier ships
Ignacio Allende, Santander, and San Martín,
you'll gain access to Damage Control Party and Specialized Repair Teams,
as well as Short-Range Hydroacoustic Search
that can be replaced with Defensive AA Fire and Surveillance Radar
that can be replaced with Spotting Aircraft.
In this part of the video, we usually recommend upgrades
that improve the characteristics of new ships.
This video is no exception!
Before you sail into battle,
let's summarize the strengths of the new Pan-Americans.
These are their Combat Instructions, solid set of consumables,
quite effective main guns, torpedoes, and decent concealment.
These features make the Pan-Americans great support ships.
During the opening minutes of a battle,
it's advisable to stay close to your allies.
This will let you help your team with your consumables,
and enemy players will be less likely to concentrate their artillery fire on you.
Thanks to decent concealment, you can assume advantageous positions
and spring an unpleasant surprise on the opposing team.
As far as your shells go, they will deal the most damage
when hitting the fore- and aft-ends, superstructures,
and armor of light cruisers.
The damage you deal might sometimes seem modest,
but this shouldn't upset you because every hit
will increase your Combat Instructions progress.
You might ask: "When should I use these Combat Instructions?"
There is no clear answer to this question, I'm afraid;
but I have a few words of advice for you.
Try not to use Combat Instructions unless there's an immediate threat.
Until that moment, it's more reasonable
to wait for a consumable to cool down on its own.
Mind you, the consumables for Pan-American ships
take longer to cool down than those of other ships of the same type.
Regardless of that fact though, you would be wise
to save your Combat Instructions for more critical situations,
for example, close-range encounters.
It's always better to engage the enemy
with your consumables ready and your Combat Instructions progress bar filled.
While you're closing the distance to an enemy for a torpedo attack, for instance,
you might lose a lot of hit points
as you get pounded by their main or secondary battery guns.
This is the right moment to activate Combat Instructions
so you can use your consumables again after short cooldown.
The resulting advantage may help you not only survive but win the duel!
While Captains of other light cruisers
have to suffer through the agony of waiting
for their Damage Control Party or Repair Party consumables to cool down,
the Captain of a Pan-American cruiser
is already seeking new opportunities to fill their progress bar,
having eliminated flooding and restored their hit points.
The Pan-American cruisers are even more valuable in the late stages of battle.
Their ability to provide cover for allies,
search for stealthy destroyers, and leverage their own concealment
to capture Key Areas can work effectively to hasten victory.
If you've already played light cruisers,
it won't be hard for you to master the Pan-American ships.
And if you're new to this ship type,
I hope this video will help you explore the ins and outs
of battles at the helms of Pan-American cruisers more effectively!
Good luck out there, Captains!