Some were destroyed in battle,
others weren’t completed.
Some are laid up, and can only dream about battles…
But now they’re getting a new lease of life!
We recreate ships accurately,
according to their historical blueprints,
and send them into battle!
World of Warships: Dry Dock
Greetings, fellow Captains!
This time, we'd like to introduce you to new Tier VIII U.S. cruiser Anchorage.
By the middle of the 1940s,
the U.S. Navy issued an order for the construction
of Baltimore-class heavy cruisers,
which became the standard ship of that type in the U.S. Navy
during World War II.
At the same time, the General Council of the Naval Forces
ordered the Shipbuilding Department
to develop a completely new heavy cruiser.
The armor had to be improved
to withstand new 203 mm superheavy 152 kg armor-piercing shells.
Plans also included an increase in the number of guns to twelve
and in speed to 35 knots.
The project, codenamed CA-A, was completed in September 1940.
The project's ships had enhanced armor and a speed of 34 knots,
slightly surpassing the Baltimore-class ships in displacement
but carrying the same nine main battery guns.
The CA-C project was presented in March 1941,
and it satisfied all the requirements of the General Council.
The ships under that project were close to the Alaska-class large cruisers,
which had been already ordered, in terms of dimensions.
A balance was found in the preliminary project codenamed CA-B whose ships,
while having a displacement of 17,000 tons and a speed of 33 knots,
carried four turrets housing twelve 203 mm guns.
In July 1940, President Roosevelt signed the Two-Ocean Navy Act
that enacted an express increase in total Navy warship tonnage
by 70% in one go.
The General Council ordered the new heavy cruiser project
within the huge shipbuilding program
as they considered the Baltimore-class ships to be outdated
and unable to meet the requirements of the upcoming war.
In reality, they were just an upgraded version of cruiser Wichita,
which had been designed taking into consideration treaty limitations
as early as the middle of the 1930s.
However, the U.S. military and political authorities,
being at the doorstep of imminent entry into World War II,
didn't take the risk of approving further development
of the new project for such a large and complex ship.
The arguments of the General Council were denied
in favor of the prompt construction of a large number of cruisers
in tandem with already developed projects.
That's why the time-proven Baltimore-class ships
and their slightly upgraded Oregon City variant were ordered.
The heavy cruisers of the new project
were included into the U.S. shipbuilding program only in 1943.
These were the Des Moines-class ships
whose design was based on turrets housing new 203 mm auto-loading guns.
Project CA-B was implemented in World of Warships
under the name Anchorage.
She is a versatile heavy cruiser for fighting at close and medium ranges.
The ship possesses a strong main battery
comprising twelve 203 mm guns
housed in four turrets that have a considerate salvo weight,
while her armor-piercing shells include improved ricochet angles.
The Hydroacoustic Search consumable helps detect enemy torpedoes in time,
and the availability of torpedoes allows the ship to stage decent counterattacks.
The range of her torpedoes is 10.5 km.
The Smoke Generator, which is rare for U.S. heavy cruisers,
will help avoid concentrated enemy fire
or create some room to breathe during battle.
Once you get familiar with the main features
of Tier VIII U.S. heavy cruiser Anchorage,
take the ship under your command
and head into battle!
Good luck in battle, Captains, and fair seas!