VII Belfast '43
VII Belfast '43

One of the most powerful and largest light cruisers of the 1930s. The ship's main battery comprised twelve 152 mm guns complemented with dual-purpose artillery, torpedo armament, and aircraft-handling equipment.

Max Salvo
RPM
HE Alpha Strike
HE DPM
AP Alpha Strike
AP DPM
Fire/Salvo Chance
Torpedo Reaction Time

Survivability

Hit Points
Armor
Torpedo Reduction

Aircraft

Torpedo Bombers
Aircraft
Hitpoints
Cruise Speed
Max Speed
Attack Unit
Squadron Size
Detectability Range
Aircraft On Deck
Restoration Time
Torpedo Damage
Torpedo Speed
Torpedo Range
Dive Bombers
Aircraft
Hitpoints
Cruise Speed
Max Speed
Attack Unit
Squadron Size
Detectability Range
Aircraft On Deck
Restoration Time
Bomb Damage
Bomb Fire Chance

Armament

Main Battery
Guns
Firing Range
Reload Time
180º Turn Time
HE Max Damage
HE Fire Chance
AP Max Damage
Torpedoes
Layout
Reload Time
Max Damage
Detectability Range
Range
Speed
Secondary Battery 1
Guns
Firing Range
Reload Time
Max Damage
HE Fire Chance
Secondary Battery 2
Guns
Firing Range
Reload Time
Max Damage
HE Fire Chance

Anti-Aircraft Armament

Set 1
Guns
DPS
Firing Range
Set 2
Guns
DPS
Firing Range
Set 3
Guns
DPS
Firing Range
Set 4
Guns
DPS
Firing Range

Maneuverability

Max Speed
Turning Circle
Rudder Shift

Concealment

Sea
Air
Smoke Firing
Enjoying these reviews?
Support Captn_Thatch on Patreon and get access to exclusive content!
Support on Patreon
Belfast '43

HMS Belfast (1943')

The average player will be heavily stacked against success in this ship
Captn_Thatch

It’s v 4.3 during the Back to Belfast Campaign, and with it the campaign headliner Tier 7 HMS Belfast (1943). In short, Belfast is an “upgraded” version of her lower tier earlier version. This ship won’t see the glowing review of her younger-self and rather sees herself more of a bogged down side-grade than a true ‘upgrade’. Belfast 43 (henceforth, 43) is a AVERAGE ship, with a HIGH skill floor and a MODERATE skill ceiling. 43 is tough, and not the kind of tough that makes her good at taking hits.

Nothing could honestly make me happier than to be able to bring reviews and writing to you all full-time. If this interests you and you enjoy reading my work, please support me if you can, as every little bit helps. My goal is to keep my reviews free and public for all to read; and by supporting my Patreon you can help keep me at my desk.

History

Named for the capital city of Northern Ireland, HMS Belfast was 1 of 10 Town Class Cruisers. She was laid down in December 1936 by Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Belfast would be launched on St Patrick's Day, 1938, and was commissioned into service of His Majesty's Royal Navy August of 1939.

The Town Class was developed in 1933 as a response to the Mogami Class Heavy Cruisers of the Japanese Navy, featuring a ship capable of maintaining 32 knots, surviving a direct hit from an 8" (203mm) shell, and carry 12x6" (152mm) main battery.

November 1939, HMS Belfast struck a German magnetic mine. The blast did little damage to the outer hull, however, broke and warped the keel, resulting in severe damage to decking and machinery. Over 50 sailors and officers were injured in the blast, with 1 succumbing to his injuries after hospitalization.

Damage estimates found initially the ship should be scrapped, however, significant work went into straightening and strengthening the hull. 2 years later, the ship received various and numerous upgrades to her Radar Suites, Gun Fire Control Suites, thickened armor belt, and additional Anti-Air weapons. Due to the increased topside weight, the ship was then given torpedo bulges, which both stabilized the ship and widened her beam by about 6', her draft by 1' and increased her displacement by about 1000 tons. HMS Belfast was recommissioned in 1942.

Upon return to service into World War 2, HMS Belfast saw participation and defense of Arctic Convoys to the USSR. Belfast also famously participated in the Battle of North Cape, where she used her Radar to detect German Battleship Scharnhorst, allowing her interception from Royal Navy Battleship, Duke of York.

Belfast also participated in the Normandy Invasion, D-Day, June 1944, overseeing operations for Gold and Juno Beaches.

Belfast would go on to participate in several major conflicts and wars, including the Korean War. Belfast would be modernized and recommissioned and continue to serve in Her Majesty's Royal Navy until 1963. By 1971, she would be moored along the Thames, in the heart of London. There she rests, peacefully open for the public as a Museum Ship as part of the Imperial War Museum.

I'm told that she is an absolute must-see, and I plan on holding to that. My brief theme here only scratches the surface on her exploits.

Strengths

  • Radar Cruiser
  • Smoke Generator
  • Good Concealment
  • 30mm HE Penetration
  • Narrow Turn Radius

Weaknesses

  • 16mm Plating
  • No Individually slotted Heal
  • Weak AA
  • Debilitating Effective Health
  • Clunky

The Basics

First and foremost, ill do my best here to make this not a total hitjob of a review. But, and ill be totally honest, the salt will likely burst to overflow its fragile little 16mm plated container, and then left buried under the weight of all that salt. The last few were quite glowing, but now its time to unleash the inner darkness a bit.

Generally speaking, Smoke, Sonar and Radar is generally a winning combination, however, in this instance, 43 takes the hit. This more has to do with the weakness of the platform than the consumable load out. 43 is the kind of ship that can’t sit in her own smoke, can’t use her radar to gun down destroyers effectively, has horrid armor to EHP ratio, and handles like brick due to her weight.

Now, I think we all know me well enough to say I’m not exactly a doom and gloomer.. however, this ship makes a lot of compromises that severely shorten her efficacy.

Radar is great, but no armor and awful DPM.

Smoke is great, but short duration and horrid deceleration.

Torpedoes are nice, but you will get killed trying to use them due to their range and angles; and your lack of armor.

Being a CL is great, but you will be handily out DPM’d by most gun heavy destroyers, who have the penetration capacity to make your world hurt needlessly. Yep, that’s just how bad this ship is

Offense

GOOD

As previously mentioned, 43 falls quite hard in terms of compromises from her expected self on paper, into practice. On paper, the dynastic combination of smoke, radar and 30mm of HE pen is a no-brainer, except, 43 walks away with a pale 45s of smoke screen cover, the shortest by far of any cruiser with access to smokes. Couple this head searing conundrum, with the simple fact of quite mediocre HE DPM courtesy of a near belligerent 10s stock reload.

 

Range

Reload ^

Weimar*

15.2

5.0

Ochakov

15.5

5.8

Mainz

15.8

6.0

Cleveland

15.3

6.5

Edinburgh

15.3

7.5

AL Montpelier

13.9

7.5

Kutuzov

16.0

8.0

Chapayev

16.0

8.0

Belfast 43

15.3

9.5

Martel

15.8

10

Wichita

15.5

10

Suzuya

15.3

10

Bagration

16.0

11

AL Baltimore

15.5

11

Hipper

15.8

11.5

Baltimore

15.5

12

Albemarle

15.5

12.5

P. Eugen

15.8

13

Mogami

15.3

15

Riga

16.1

15.5

Amalfi

15.4

16

Atago

14.7

16

Sigfried

16.2

26

Azuma

15.8

26

 

This chart shows two points here, Belfast has below average reach, and below average reload. Observe the HE Chart below, which will spell out a similar point. In this circumstance, 43's relatively high HE DPM is due to her relatively high alpha strike, not high shell count or speedy reload.

 

HE Alpha

HE DPM ^

Cleveland

2300

289,800

Weimar*

1700

244,800

Suzuya

2700

243,000

AL Montpelier

2300

220,800

Chapayev

2300

207,000

Mainz

1700

204,000

Kutuzov

2200

198,000

Belfast 43

2450

185,684

Ochakov

2200

180,400

AL Baltimore

2800

155,876

Baltimore

2800

152,700

Martel

2800

151,200

Wichita

2800

151,200

Albemarle

3300

142,560

Atago

3300

138,600

Mogami

3300

132,000

Bagration

2500

122,727

Amalfi

3100

118,723

Hipper

2700

112,696

Riga

3050

106,258

Azuma

4500

105,750

P. Eugen

2500

92,308

Sigfried

4400

60,923

Edinburgh

-

-

 

While 185k HE DPM isn't theoretically bad, it's worth noting it is however the worst among CL's, specifically.

And what's worse, is that her 30mm base HE penetration isn't quite the strong suit it is made out to be, observe.

 

Fire Chance

HE Pen ^

Sigfried

34

95

Azuma

27

51

Hipper

13

50

P. Eugen

13

50

Mainz

8

37

Weimar *

8

37

Riga

14

36

Atago

17

33

Mogami

17

33

Albemarle

17

33

Martel

15

33

Amalfi

15

33

Baltimore

14

33

AL Baltimore

14

33

Wichita

14

33

Bagration

13

30

Ochakov

12

30

Belfast 43

9

30

AL Montpelier

13

25

Cleveland

13

25

Kutuzov

12

25

Chapayev

12

25

Suzuya

11

25

Edinburgh

-

-

 

The only worse fire chance is owned by the German Cruisers, however, they in turn have the ability to penetrate 32mm of armor which is plating commonly found on battleships of the tier.

Long Story Short: Belfast 43' has poor fire chance AND poor HE penetration. While yes, she does have 5mm more penetration than the average 152mm shell, she does not cross any major thresholds the others don't as well cross (aside from 27mm, which is typically found on heavy cruisers). Furthermore, the other nations have access to Equilibrium of Power, which increases the HE penetration threshold beyond 32mm, while Belfast does not.

On its face, this means both Belfast is stuck at 30mm HE pen, cannot cross into the next major threshold and is still stuck with among the worst fire chance of any cruiser. Cleveland/Kutuzov can choose to either burn, or penetrate their targets, Belfast cannot.

 

AP Alpha

AP DPM ^

Weimar*

3750

540,000

Mainz

3900

468,000

Cleveland

3300

415,800

Edinburgh

3100

337,900

Kutuzov

3300

336,600

AL Montpelier

3300

316,800

Chapayev

3400

306,000

Suzuya

3300

297,000

Hipper

6000

285,148

AL Baltimore

5000

278,000

Ochakov

3300

270,600

Baltimore

5300

270,000

Martel

4900

264,600

Belfast 43

3100

234,947

Bagration

4550

222,950

Wichita

4000

216,000

Eugen

5900

212,400

Riga

5750

200,322

Atago

4700

197,400

Albemarle

4500

194,400

Azuma

8150

191,525

Mogami

4700

188,000

Amalfi

4800

183,360

Sigfried

11,600

160,615

 

The AP solution doesn't fare much better either, as Belfast has average AP alpha and rather mediocre AP DPM.

All in all, despite access to 30mm of base HE penetration, Belfast looks rather bleak here. Torpedoes she can't really use, Smoke that lasts 40s yet, takes Belfast has near dreadful stopping time. HE performance just below the mark, AP performance that is lackluster.

But hey, at least she's not over-powered with her smoke and radar combination, right?

Ballistics

AVERAGE

Behold the glory of the ballistics chart. There's very little that I can add here that isn't already spelled out in a chart. Belfast 43' walks away with very average ballistics and very average AP performance. This marks a semi-steep departure from her associated tech tree line, which habitually sports among the best AP performance in game.

Furthermore, captains will be remiss to find Belfast 43 has a much faster muzzle velocity off her shells starting at 841m/s. While ordinarily this would generally be a good attribute, it actually somewhat hurts Belfast performance, as rather than greatly increasing her armor penetration values, just serves to score more over pens, again, due to that really long fuse time. It's worth noting, 0.025 isn't longer than the standard fuse duration for cruisers but is among the longer arming times for 152mm AP shells, specifically.

 

Sigma

Ricochet (pot/auto)

Shell Diameter

AP Fuse Time

Cleveland

2.0

45/60

152

0.01

Wichita

2.0

60/67.5

203

0.033

Baltimore

1.9

60/67.5

203

0.033

AL Baltimore

1.8

60/67.5

203

0.033

AL Montpelier

2.0

45/60

152

0.01

Suzuya

1.85

45/60

155

0.025

Atago

2.0

45/60

203

0.033

Mogami

2.0

45/60

203

0.033

Azuma

1.85

50/60

310

0.033

Edinburgh

2.0

60/75

152

0.005

Belfast 43

2.0

45/60

152

0.025

Albemarle

2.0

45/60

203

0.033

Hipper

2.0

45/60

203

0.033

P. Eugen

2.0

45/60

203

0.033

Sigfried

2.0

45/60

380

0.033

Mainz

2.0

45/60

150

0.025

Weimar *

2.0

45/60

150

0.025

Martel

2.0

45/60

203

0.033

Kutuzov

2.0

45/60

152

0.025

Ochakov

2.0

45/60

152

0.025

Chapayev

2.0

45/60

152

0.025

Riga

1.8

55/65

220

0.022

Bagration

2.0

55/65

180

0.022

Amalfi

2.0

45/60

203

0.033

 

AVERAGE, and not a strong average; but rather more below average. Royal Navy Tech Tree CLs have only one munitions choice, AP, and it is incredible in performance values. Not only does Belfast 43' represent a deviation from the line, but she also walks in with stronger HE performance than AP performance, and her HE performance is less than desirable.

Torpedoes

AVERAGE

And, just one more time, another acceptable value in theory, but in practice, using these will get you killed.

Wide slow rudder shifts paired with unforgiving torpedo arcs make this a last stitch effort, often resulting in your own demise.

 

Alpha

Range

Speed

Broadside

Reaction

Reload

Cleveland

-

-

-

-

-

-

Baltimore

-

-

-

-

-

-

Wichita

-

-

-

-

-

-

AL Balti

-

-

-

-

-

-

Montpelier

-

-

-

-

-

-

Suzuya

17,233

11.0

56

137,864

11.68

109

Atago

17,233

10.0

62

137,864

9.93

101

Mogami

17,233

11.0

60

137,864

10.9

109

Azuma

-

-

-

-

-

-

Edinburgh

15,533

10.0

62

46,599

8.06

72

Belfast 43

15,867

8.0

61

47,601

8.2

72

Albemarle

15,533

10.0

62

62,132

8.06

96

Hipper

13,700

6.0

64

82,200

7.81

68

P. Eugen

13,700

8.0

60

82,200

7.69

68

Mainz

13,700

6.0

64

109,600

7.81

90

Sigfried

13,700

6.0

65

54,800

7.69

90

Weimar *

13,700

6.0

64

82,200

7.81

68

Martel

15,833

10

60

47,499

8.33

90

Kutuzov

14400

8.0

60

72,000

7.69

131

Ochakov

15,100

8.0

65

75,500

6.51

131

Chapayev

17,933

4.0

65

53,799

7.69

74

Riga

-

-

-

-

-

-

Bagration

14,400

8.0

55

72,000

7.69

131

Amalfi

12,667

12.0

51

50,668

7.54

95

Defense

AVERAGE

Average is the best this metric could discern the confounded contortion this ship represents on a dualistic scaling. Smoke and Radar are obvious winners, however, a vague 3ish salvo per radar and then atrocious stop/start times expose vital armor weaknesses veiled by a thin and impatient smoke generator.

Simply put, there's only a little to love on paper, but a lot more to lose in practice.

 

Base HP

Effective HP

Sigfried

55,500

73,980

Azuma

52,500

86,184

Eugen

45,000

60,120

Hipper

43,800

58,472

Amalfi

42,800

60,692

Mainz

42,500

56,780

AL Baltimore

42,400

56,644

Baltimore

42,400

56,644

Bagration

42,000

56,112

Riga

42,000

56,112

Kutuzov

40,700

54,364

Atago

40,100

54,440

Albemarle

39,400

70,880

Mogami

39,100

52,204

Belfast 43

38,400

51,280

Martel

38,000

48,584

Suzuya

38,000

50,768

Wichita

37,900

50,612

Chapayev

37,000

51,504

Cleveland

36,900

47,204

AL Montpelier

36,900

47,204

Edinburgh

36,400

65,480

Ochakov

34,730

46,378

Weimar *

32,000

32,000

 

51k wouldn't be horrible to work with, if this heal had its own slot. Thus, this number is extremely misleading when in reality, Belfast 43 walks in with a pale 38,4k Effective health making her the worst in her tier.

It's not all bad though, at least Belfast 43 has a 16% torpedo reduction, which helps take some of the salt out of the torpedoes she will inevitably take.

 

Torpedo Reduction

Sigfried

22

Mainz

22

Azuma

22

Albemarle

19

Riga

19

Amalfi

19

Bagration

16

Atago

16

Mogami

16

Martel

16

Belfast 43

16

Suzuya

11

Hipper

10

P. Eugen

10

Weimar *

10

Cleveland

4

Wichita

4

Baltimore

4

AL Baltimore

4

AL Montpelier

4

Edinburgh

-

Kutuzov

-

Ochakov

-

Chapayev

-

 

Overall, this score was saved only due to the dynastic combination of smoke and radar in separate slots, otherwise, this ship fails this category miserably. Sub-par AA, atrocious armor with easily overmatch-able plating, short burst smoke, lack of an independently slotted heal forcing abysmal health values. This ship makes serious and critical compromises for the very few benefits she has.

Armor

WEAK

It's no secret by now this ship has a pale 16mm plating scheme, despite handling worse and being bogged down by extra weight while lacking 30mm plating found on her more agile sister. There's no chart that I can build that will accurately detail how profoundly weak this ship is in this area. Some ships can get away with this, 43 does not.

Anti-Air Suite

AVERAGE

I'll be fair here, this barely breaks the line into where you could consider this value average. However, its not a very strong average, more below average. You may get one or two planes but not a whole squad.

 

AA DPS

AL Baltimore

365

Baltimore

365

Cleveland

363

AL Montpelier

363

Mainz

357

Sigfried

354

Azuma

342

Hipper

288

Bagration

280

Eugen

279

Kutuzov

264

Edinburgh

263

Riga

262

Amalfi

240

Belfast 43

219

Wichita

217

Albemarle

211

Chapayev

207

Martel

204

Ochakov

196

Mogami

127

Weimar *

115

Atago

90

Suzuya

67

 

Belfast 43 is on the wrong side of 250 dps to be considered good here.

Concealment

GOOD

Here's a redeeming trait, 43 hides pretty well all things considered. Though, it's worth pointing out the trend that she is hilariously outgunned by everything around her in this immediate vicinity. While her concealment value is itself quite good, the overall platform is still quite substantially weak, even for something as concealable as she is.

 

Surface Concealment (Km)

Air Concealment (Km)

Amalfi

11.4

6.8

Atago

11.7

7.4

Belfast 43

11.9

7.2

Edinburgh

12.0

7.2

Wichita

12.0

7.5

AL Montpelier

12.0

7.5

Albemarle

12.1

7.2

Mogami

12.3

7.4

Suzuya

12.3

7.4

Weimar *

12.4

7.8

Cleveland

12.5

7.5

AL Baltimore

12.6

7.6

Baltimore

12.6

7.6

Azuma

12.7

7.6

Mainz

13.1

8.2

Bagration

13.3

8.4

Martel

13.4

8.1

Hipper

13.5

8.1

Eugen

13.6

8.2

Sigfried

13.8

8.2

Ochakov

13.8

8.3

Kutuzov

13.8

8.7

Riga

14.2

8.5

Chapayev

14.3

8.6

 

Maxing out somewhere in the low 9's, (lower with Tyrwhitt) which is quite good, but not quite good enough for a GREAT rating.

Maneuverability

AVERAGE

Now this is another hard truth to swallow. 43 handles exactly like Edinburgh, with the vaunted exception of being nearly 10% heavier (while lacking the armor upgrade she got which increased the weight). The result is that 43 mimics Edinburgh in a lot of categories, while being marginally weaker.

43 has the same acceleration as Edinburgh but takes longer to stop and loses more speed along harder turns. This isn’t precisely rocket surgery, but basic physics.

 

Rudder Shift

Acceleration Time 0-20

Time to Full Speed

Suzuya

4.5

6.25/14.50

15.75/24.00

Baltimore

4.9

--

--

AL Baltimore

4.9

7.00/13.75

14.75/--

Mogami

5.1

--

--

Kutuzov

5.4

7.00/--

17.50/--

Wichita

6

--

--

AL Montpelier

6.4

7.25/15.25

18.00/--

Ochakov

6.9

--

--

Edinburgh

6.9

7.00

21.75

Chapayev

7.0

--

--

Cleveland

7.2

--

--

Eugen

7.8

--

--

Atago

8.1

--

--

Albemarle

8.6

--

--

Weimar *

8.8

--

--

Martel

8.9

--

--

Hipper

9.7

--

--

Belfast 43

9.9

7.00

21.75

Mainz

10.5

7.50/14.00

21.75/30.00

Amalfi

11.0

--

--

Riga

11.5

--

--

Bagration

11.5

--

--

Azuma

12.3

--

--

Sigfried

14.0

--

--

 

Her acceleration isn't truly that awful, and when put on the same starting level as anyone is quite average. Belfast handles like she's weighed down, despite lacking the armor to weigh her down. Maybe Belfast is simply so self-conscious she is weighed down by her own ineptitude.

Captains, I know exactly what you're thinking here, "There's just no way..." and the truth is plain. Belfast takes a lot longer to come to a full stop and thus takes a lot more time to get going again. From the starting line, she's on par with everyone else, however, never quite does this happen where a ship is entirely stationary while actively engaging another ship.

 

Turn Radius

Top Speed

Weimar *

650

31.0

Cleveland

660

33.0

Montpelier

660

33.0

Edinburgh

680

32.5

Belfast 43

680

32.5

Amalfi

680

37.0

Wichita

680

33.5

Martel

690

32.5

Mainz

720

32.0

Albemarle

720

33.0

Baltimore

730

32.5

AL Baltimore

730

32.5

Hipper

740

32.0

Mogami

750

34.5

Suzuya

750

34.5

Ochakov

750

35.0

Kutuzov

760

33.0

Eugen

770

32.0

Atago

790

35.5

Sigfried

880

33.5

Bagration

890

34.5

Chapayev

890

33.5

Riga

920

33.5

Azuma

920

34.0

 

Now, the added complication of explaining that 43 takes longer to start turning into the same size circle as Edinburgh. This is another straight shot towards this ship feels very clunky, vibes. Theoretically, AVERAGE: practically; far worse.

Consumables

GOOD

This is the one area that 43 shines really well. Coupled with Smoke, Sonar and Radar, 43 has a plethora of options to choose from. Belfast is a ship that lives so heavily around her consumables that the ship would otherwise be very questionable on her own. The only significant mark back here is that she must choose between having a heal or having a smoke.

While this seems minor, it is absolutely a critical failure and results in abysmal Effective Health Values. Without smoke however, Belfast makes does not survive long enough to make use of her heal. With smoke, Belfast is greatly hampered in terms of HP.

 

Radar Duration

Radar Range

Charges

Salvos per Radar

Cleveland

30

9.0

2

4.6

Edinburgh

30

9.0

2

4.0

AL Montpelier

30

9.0

2

4.0

Ochakov

20

11.7

2

3.4

Belfast 43

30

9.0

2

3.2

Wichita

30

9.0

2

3.0

Baltimore

30

9.0

2

2.5

AL Baltimore

30

9.0

2

2.7

Chapayev

20

11.7

2

2.5

Albemarle

30

9.0

2

2.4

Riga

20

11.7

2

1.3

Suzuya

-

-

-

-

Atago

-

-

-

-

Mogami

-

-

-

-

Azuma

-

-

-

-

Hipper

-

-

-

-

P. Eugen

-

-

-

-

Sigfried

-

-

-

-

Mainz

-

-

-

-

Weimar *

-

-

-

-

Martel

-

-

-

-

Kutuzov

-

-

-

-

Bagration

-

-

-

-

Amalfi

-

-

-

-

 

Belfast has access to a solid radar and is capable of firing off a stock value of 3 salvoes. This means she is somewhat able to capitalize on her own radar. 5 salvoes (sometimes less) are generally the magic number to cook off most spotted destroyers, depending on what you are in. 3 is ok, 4 is better, 5 means you are an incredible threat to destroyers.

 

Torpedo Detection

Ship Detection

Duration

Cleveland

3.1

4.4

96

Baltimore

3.1

4.4

96

AL Baltimore

3.1

4.4

96

AL Montpelier

3.1

4.4

96

Wichita

3.1

4.4

96

Suzuya

3.1

4.4

96

Atago

3.1

4.4

96

Mogami

3.1

4.4

96

Azuma

3.1

4.4

96

Edinburgh

3.1

4.4

96

Belfast 43

3.5

5.0

100

Albemarle

3.1

4.4

96

Hipper

3.8

5.6

118

P. Eugen

3.8

5.6

118

Sigfried

3.8

5.6

118

Mainz

3.8

5.6

118

Weimar *

3.8

5.4

116

Martel

3.1

4.4

96

Kutuzov

3.1

4.4

96

Ochakov

3.1

4.4

96

Chapayev

3.1

4.4

96

Riga

3.1

4.4

96

Bagration

3.1

4.4

96

Amalfi

-

-

-

 

43 has access to a slightly longer-range sonar than most where she graces that magical 5km boundary.

 

Heal/s

Heal per Charge

Effective Heal

Stock Charges

Albemarle

875

17,500

35,000

2

Azuma

401

11,228

33,684

3

Edinburgh

727

14,540

29,080

2

Sigfried

330

9240

18,480

2

Eugen

270

7560

15,120

2

Hipper

262

7336

14,672

2

Chapayev

259

7252

14,504

2

Mainz

255

7140

14,280

2

Baltimore

254

7112

14,224

2

AL Baltimore

254

7112

14,224

2

Riga

252

7056

14,112

2

Bagration

252

7056

14,112

2

Kutuzov

244

6832

13,664

2

Atago

240

6720

13,440

2

Mogami

234

6552

13,104

2

Belfast 43

230

6440

12,880

2

Suzuya

228

6384

12,768

2

Wichita

227

6356

12,712

2

Amalfi

213

5964

11,928

2

Ochakov

208

5824

11,648

2

Cleveland

184

5152

10,304

2

AL Montpelier

184

5152

10,304

2

Martel

180

5040

10,080

2

Weimar *

--

--

0

0

 

The critical flaw here in this section is the forced choice between a heal or a smoke generator.

 

Duration (s)

Dissipation (s)

Reload (s)

Charges

Albemarle

-

-

-

-

Amalfi

20

35

180

2

Atago

-

-

-

-

Azuma

-

-

-

-

Bagration

-

-

-

-

Baltimore

-

-

-

-

AL Baltimore

-

-

-

-

Belfast 43

15

40

70

5

Chapayev

-

-

-

-

Cleveland

-

-

-

-

Edinburgh

15

106

240

2

P. Eugen

-

-

-

-

Hipper

-

-

-

-

Kutuzov

20

89

240

2

Mainz

-

-

-

-

Martel

-

-

-

-

Mogami

-

-

-

-

AL Montpelier

-

-

-

-

Ochakov

-

-

-

-

Riga

-

-

-

-

Suzuya

-

-

-

-

Sigfried

-

-

-

-

Weimar *

-

-

-

-

Wichita

-

-

-

-

 

Once again, we find a mark that is great theoretically on paper, but quite awful in practice.

Commanders

Azur Lane Belfast

  • While she works in theory being her namesake cruiser, AL Belfast takes the back seat here to the quirky turkey that is Belfast 43.

Inspirations: Gunichi Mikawa Clandestine (-6% Cruiser Detectability), Jerzy Swirski Hide 'n' Seek (-4% Detectability).

  • Out of Nowhere: -20% detection firing main battery in smoke
  • Ingenious: +1.6o/s Turret Traverse, -7% Incoming Splash Damage
  • Smokescreen: +15% Smoke Radius, -10% detection firing main battery in smoke, -1 Smoke Charge
  • Sponge: -5% Incoming Damage, +15% Armaments HP, -15% Armaments Repair Time
  • Fixated: -5% Dispersion, +5% Sigma
  • Refill Station: -10% Reload Time

Bruce Fraser

  • He's my go to for this soon-to-be port queen. 43 needs a lot of love to work properly, and this is no exception. I tried and tried to make AL Belfast work, but she just doesn't offer the same gel as Fraser. (I think this says more about 43 than it does AL Belfast). He is deliciously plain in the sense that he offers a touch of everything you're looking for here. A big part of making Belfast 43 work is learning very passive support play, and this requires some, but not a ton of range. More range than you can get out of AL Belfast. Plus, the access to Fully Packed is another nice addition.

Inspirations: Gunichi Mikawa Clandestine (-6% Cruiser Detectability), Jerzy Swirski Hide 'n' Seek (-4% Detectability).

  • Make Haste: +3% Speed
  • Beyond Range: +10% Gun Range
  • Homerun: +10% Torpedo Range
  • Light Fortress: -8% Incoming Damage
  • Fixated: -5% Dispersion, +5% Sigma
  • Fully Packed: +1 Consumables Charge, -5% Consumable Reload

Modifications

  1. Aiming Systems Mod. 1: The obvious and meta choice here is -7% to main battery dispersion, plus all the other goodies.
  2. Damage Control Mod. 2: Since 43 cannot equip propulsion mod due to her built in "improved" acceleration, Steering Gears is the next logical choice besides leaving this ship in port and playing something better.
  3. Concealment Mod. 1: 43 is frail, slow, weak. Hiding is one thing she needs in order to survive, as such, take this mod to help somewhat by getting into position and staying concealed.
  4. Main Battery Mod. 3: -12% to your main battery reload time because 43's reload is just that awful. seriously. 10s on 152s. YUCK.

Upgrades

  • Belfast 1943 is a premium ship without any researchable upgrades.

Research

  • 43 is a new ship, and as such does not appear in any bureau projects at this time.

Improvements

  • Keep her reload, keep her handling. Keep those dogshit damage per minute numbers. For the love of all things holy and sacred, give this ship access to the same 30mm plating found on Edinburgh, AND give her access to an independently slotted heal. Then, just maybe then, Belfast 43 will be more interesting than a mothballed port queen.
  • I had largely written off this section following a string of strong ships, and with that Belfast 43' marks her own contributions, the necessity of this category.

Summary

WEAK

If Weimar shouldn't be a tier 6 then Belfast 43 shouldn't be a tier 7. Let's face it, you can slap lipstick on a pig, but it will make absolutely no difference to the butcher.

It did not take very long to surmise that this ship is profoundly weak in a number of areas, and in prominent areas that Cruiser Lights typically need to tend to shine and thrive. A 10s stock reload on a T7 cruiser is fine if that cruiser is slinging 203s but will not work with 152s. 6” (152) guns generally just don't have the physics behind them to work in many other scenarios aside from dumping a lot of shells into your target. This alone holds Belfast back substantially; she outright lacks the shell count that is normally found in this specific niche in this class.

There is a very fine line strategically of having to balance that cliche jack of all trades technique that paints a lot of the USN cruisers in a more masterful light than just on paper. The classic caveat to this downfall comes from having to many focus areas to point proper analysis on a single focus area. For this, we once again dive into the classic foray of the generalist v specialist debate. One of the most critical failures of any generalist is to divert too much energy into having too many tools. Divesting energy into too many fronts leaves too little to go around and allow everything to work as they intend to and in this regard, 43 is hurting quite badly.

Sure, HE is nice, but it does not come into play at any point along the natural tech tree line, leaving captains a bit bewildered to the use and practicality of this shell on a line that has arguably greater AP functionality than HE found on most other competitors. Furthermore, 43 lacks the portable dry dock heal found on the entire line, Minotaur, Tiger 59 and so on.

Now, that’s not to say this ship is horribly inept, but rather that the average player will be heavily stacked against success in this ship. Chart topping performances will be generally relegated to the upper echelons of the player base. For those of you who were looking for a Premium version of Edinburgh, 43 misses the mark handily.

Captn_Thatch
Enjoying these reviews?
Support Captn_Thatch on Patreon and get access to exclusive content!
Support on Patreon