Workhorse.

Quick Summary: An almost-stock Fubuki-class Destroyer but with three, slow firing turrets instead of two. Her torpedo armament has an 8.0km range.

Patch & Date Written: 0.5.15, December 1st, 2016

Closest in Game Contemporary: Fubuki,Tier 6 Japanese Destroyer

Degree of Similarity: Clone / Sister-Ship / Related Class / Similar Role / Unique

The Shinonome is the sixth ship of the Fubuki-class. Veterans of the IJN line will recognize her three-turret layout as being that of the A & B Hull Variants when the ship was a tier 8 destroyer. Her torpedoes are much more powerful due to their longer range over the stock Fubuki. Otherwise, she’s very similar to her tier 6 stock-counterpart with only small differences here and there.

PROs

Armed with six 127mm rifles — yay, old-school Fubuki is back! (Or is it!?)

Guns have a flat arc with a high velocity shell that makes aiming up to maximum range a simple feat.

Armed with three triple torpedo launchers which allows for all sorts of tactical options when it comes to torpedo runs.

Good individual torpedoes with 14,600 alpha strike, an 8.0km range and 63 knot top speed.

CONs

Short reach on her main battery of 9.0km and very poor gun handling with a 6’/s rotation.

Slow rate of fire (6.67rpm) with the new shell damage, resulting in only modest to poor DPM.

Large turning circle for a destroyer at 640m and only a modest top speed of 35.0 knots.

Almost no AA power.

The Shinonome is a reward ship, joining the ranks of vessels like the Flint, Kamikaze R and Emden. With patch 0.5.15, any player can earn her by completing a series of missions through the campaign system. Overall, the campaign difficulty is quite low, with only two real hurdles to overcome. First, the missions require a tier 8 to 10 vessel. Second, completing the campaign takes a lot of time. Players can, if they so choose, simply repeat the same missions over and over at each stage. This lets them cherry pick the easiest missions, though this is where a lot of the time requirement comes in. Alternatively, they can attempt more challenging missions to speed up the process, but these may take multiple attempts to achieve. So acquiring the Shinonome becomes a question of inevitability rather than outright difficulty.

The timing of the Shinonome’s arrival is quite fortuitous as it overlaps the revamp of the IJN Destroyer tech tree. For players without any form of premium vessel, the Shinonome would arm them with a premium trainer ideally suited to helping them redistribute their Captains to the new vessels they would be adding to their ports. But would she be any good as a training ship? Could she perform? Did Wargaming give away a beautiful gem of a ship like the Kamikaze R or is the Shinonome more forgettable?

Leading the way. IJN Destroyers make good scouts with their low surface detection range compared to the other ships they face. Sadly, they’re rather undergunned for dealing with any enemy destroyers they encounter. The Shinonome is no different, despite having six guns to the usual four of IJN tin cans at her tier. The real struggle that most DDs encounter is in the opening minutes of match where so many of their number are culled early.

Options

There are no surprises to be found here.

Consumables :

Damage Control Party

Smoke Generator

Engine Boost

Module Upgrades: Four slots, standard destroyer options.

Premium Camouflage: Tier 6+ Standard. This provides 50% bonus experience gains, 3% reduction in surface detection and 4% reduction in enemy accuracy.

Firepower

Primary Battery: Six 127m rifles in 3×2 turrets. One on the prow, two on the stern in a superfiring configuration.

Torpedoes: Nine tubes in 3×3 launchers mounted dorsally.

Let me be a little different with this review and start with her torpedoes. As a Fubuki-class destroyer, the Shinonome comes with a very heavy torpedo armament that’s guaranteed to make Battleship players poop themselves with rage and terror. She comes with three triple launchers, all mounted dorsally with good fields of fire. These tubes reload in a minute and twelve seconds each, making it very easy to keep a constant cycle of fish in the water. Sounds all pretty nice so far, doesn’t it? Well, read on.

The Shinonome uses the stock torpedoes found on the Hatsuharu and Fubuki. These do 14,600 damage each with a 63 knot speed and 1.6km detection range. These aren’t as hard hitting as the upgraded tier 6 torpedoes found on the IJN ships which cap out at 16,267 damage, but they are faster. But what makes these fish memorable is their range. Unlike the stock torpedoes on the Fubuki and Hatsuharu which are limited to 6.0km, the Shinonome’s fish reach out to a very serviceable 8.0km without any reduction in speed or damage for the upgrade. So short of missing out on a bit of alpha strike, you can perceive the Shinonome as having a nice compromise between the faster stock fish and the longer ranged upgraded torpedoes they eventually unlock. They even match well against the Anshan’s, being faster, hitting marginally harder and reloading more quickly. I’ve found them to be a quite comfortable fit.

The real danger of these torpedoes is just how many she can fire at a time. The Fubuki-class can dump two launchers worth and hold her third in reserve. Firing only these six still gives her parity with every other destroyer at her tier short of the Farragut. The flexibility of being able to hold back her third launcher is incredibly powerful. It opens up all sorts of opportunities to catch unwary ships with a blindside of fish when they think themselves safe for having avoided two full spreads already. Without going into length, a complacent enemy might commit to a turn to avoid the first salvos only to be struck by the third. Or they may assume that all of the fish have been launched only to be caught out by a surprise point blank ambush with the last launcher.

The only real downside is that the Fubuki can make her torpedoes better than the Shinonome through the use of the Captain Skill Torpedo Acceleration. This would change the 10km, 59 knot Fubuki torpedoes into 8km, 64 knots torpedoes with their more powerful warhead. While the Shinonome would still enjoy a faster rearm process for her fish, it’s hard to argue that these stealthier, faster and harder hitting Fubuki torpedoes aren’t an improvement.

Still, I am very pleased with the Shinonome’s torpedo armament. It’s quite powerful and unique.

The Shinonome may seem like a fun throwback when it comes to her guns, at least for veterans of the IJN line. Players of the original Fubuki will recognize the weapon layout as that of the class before 0.5.15 if you used the A or B-Hull rather than the anti-aircraft C-Hull variant. I was more elated to see this than perhaps I should have been. Not only was her gun layout preserved but so too was her rate of fire. To say that her gun performance is rather lackluster is a bit of an understatement.

* includes the use of the Advanced Fire Training Captain Skill where necessary. * includes the use of the Advanced Fire Training Captain Skill where necessary.

Gun performance values for tier 6 Destroyers.

This lower rate of fire is combined with the nerfed shell performance from 0.5.15 which reduced HE damage per shell from 2,100 to 1,800. Her base fire chance is also reflective of the new shells at 7% per hit as opposed to 9%. While this does put her ahead of the Hatsuharu and Fubuki in terms of raw DPM and Fires per Minute (FPM), she lags considerably behind the Ognevoi, Anshan and the Farragut. In addition, she doesn’t have that much of a lead on the IJN Destroyers. I was personally hoping to see the Shinonome with a Hatsuharu or at least a Fubuki’s rate of fire. But being stuck at 6.67rpm instead of 7.5rpm or 8rpm is a big disappointment. This is compounded by the stereotypical poor gun handling of the mid tier IJN Destroyers. The guns take 30s to rotate 180′ so you can forget brawling. The final nail in the coffin for me in regards to her guns is the 9.0km range.

Their only saving grace comes from the good ballistics of her shells. Like all IJN 127mm Destroyers, her guns are very high velocity with very flat trajectories. This makes accuracy not much of a problem and it’s more than sufficient to slap a prospecting hunter in the face. They can also be used sufficiently to finish off wounded prey if you’re still in the vicinity after dumping your awesome fish.

The Shinonome encounters a Hatsuharu inside a squall. Her primary battery allows her to battle from a position of superiority against other same-tier IJN Destroyers.

Rivals: Hatsuharu The Hatsuharu doesn’t come off looking to good in comparison to the Shinonome. Her torpedo armament is worse. She might have better rate of fire, but with only a 20% increase in reload speed compared to the 33% increase in available guns on the Shinonome, the Hatusharu falls well behind in that regard. Well, at least she has better range than the Shinonome. Sort of. That 300m is hardly decisive. About the only place where the Hatsuharu is hands down superior to the Shinonome is in regards to her agility and concealment. The Hatusharu is faster and she handles better. She’s also got a 300m stealth advantage over the premium ship. Both of these traits are nice but when it comes to outright performance, I’ve got to give the laurels to the Shinonome in this comparison.

Maneuverability

Top Speed: 35.0 knots

Turning Radius: 640m

Rudder Shift: 3.2 s

The Shinonome nearly clones the Fubuki when it comes to her agility. This puts her on the slow side for a tier 6 destroyers, with a largish (but not unprecedented) turning circle and a rudder shift that lags behind the lead of her class by 0.7s. So while not terrible, the Shinonome doesn’t have good handling either. She can and will out turn her sluggish turret traverse and you will find yourself tempted to touch the rudder to correct your aim or to speed up bringing your guns to bear. I find this to be largely a mistake as it can lead to all sorts of navigational problems, including often fatal beachings.

Durability

Hit Points: 12,900

Bow & Deck Armour: Minimum of 12mm

The Shinonome has less armour than the Fubuki, believe it or not. A few millimeters of missing armour plate aren’t going to make a whole lot of difference, though. Any gun in the game can penetrate your bows with HE shells, so it’s not like you’ll enjoy any form of immunity to any kind of attack short of bouncing 152mm AP shells tossed into your face at point blank range. Her hit point pool is decent, though a far cry from the 15,500hp found on the Ognevoi or the 14,400 of the Anshan. Still this is on par with the Fubuki and it’s higher than that found on any other USN or IJN destroyer at tier 6. This isn’t really enough to make trading DPM with her main armament feasible, but it can provide a buffer to make picking on a damaged ship more worth risking.

Rivals: Ognevoi & Anshan These ships are faster than you, tougher than you, with better DPM. These ships from the Soviet Block have the muscle to bully you off of objectives and drive you away from making attack runs on their big friends. They’re anything but stealthy, however. And while their guns look more impressive, they’re not that much better at slinging high explosive shells than you are. Properly equipped (with boosted hit points) and with the advantage of getting the first volley, you might be able to out trade these ships with your Shinonome. But beware if they switch over to armour piercing shells. They’ll pull away on damage.



Still, the only real contender for the Shinonome is the Premium Anshan, which preservers the gunship qualities of the Ognevoi but adds a potential 8km torpedo armament. This pales compared to the three triple launchers of the Shinonome, though. You can also console yourself that the Anshan has similarly poor gun handling, so neither one of you is going to want to adjust your heading while trading blows. Like a sick game of chicken, the first one to make a mistake or to veer away loses

Aware that she would be horribly outgunned and outclassed by the Akizuki, the Shinonome makes use of an island to keep out of line of sight of the fearsome IJN gunship. Pick your battles!

Concealment and Camouflage

Surface Detection Range: 7.0km

Air Detection Range: 3.8km

Minimum Surface Detection Range: 6.11km

Concealment Penalty while Firing: +3.81km (vs 9.0km gun range)

With her large hit point pool, it’s perhaps not surprising that the Shinonome is a big boat. Her 7.0km surface detection range, while not so troublesome when the Fubuki was tier 8, is a little more problematic at tier 6. Thankfully she goes up against the likes of the Ognevoi (7.7km), Farragut (7.6km) and Anshan (7.2km). She really begins to hurt when up-tiered (as all sub tier 8 destroyers do) which face enemy tin cans that have access to Concealment Modification 1 which provides them with an immediate detection advantage. Still, her 7.0km is serviceable. Right out of the box with her premium camouflage, she has a 6.8km surface detection range, giving you a very comfortable 1.2km concealment window from which to deploy your torpedoes against larger ships.

Fully upgraded, you can get the Shinonome’s surface detection range down to 6.1km. This does open up a tiny opportunity to stealth fire from open water if her Captain takes Advanced Fire Training . Don’t think that this will redeem her gunnery, however, as it’s only a 900m window.

Anti-Aircraft Defense

AA Battery Calibers: 12.7mm

AA Umbrella Ranges: 1.2km

AA DPS per Aura: 4

Hahaha! No. Turn this travesty off and leave it off. You’ve got more hopes of Wargaming implementing mid-air collisions than getting the Shinonome to shoot something down.

Rivals: Farragut The Farragut contrasts the Shinonome greatly. Faster, more agile, with nimble guns that unleash a blistering rate of fire — out of all of the tier 6 Destroyers the Shinonome might encounter, the Farragut is her worst nightmare. Armed with up to five 127mm rifles which cycle once every four seconds, she can stack the hurt in a hurry and disable weapons and systems under her incessant volley. With a pair of quadruple torpedo launchers with a 6.4km range, you have to be wary of where and when you turn when a Farragut engages.

You’re not going to out trade a Farragut. In a straight line, you’re not going to outrun her either. Your best bet is to point your stern into their faces and run, firing back with your four rifles. If she wants to keep up, the Farragut will have to go bow on and only be able to reply with two. But no Farragut should be fool enough to fall for that trick for long. Disengage when you see a full health Farragut prowling near you. You’ve got a very small stealth advantage over her. Use it and look for greener pastures.

After encountering a Lo Yang inside of 6km, the Shinonome blows smoke and heads out to open sea after dumping fish. After encountering a Lo Yang inside of 6km, the Shinonome blows smoke and heads out to open sea after dumping fish.

Overall Impressions

Skill Floor : Simple / Casual / Challenging / Difficult

Skill Ceiling : Low / Moderate / High / Extreme

As an IJN Destroyer, the Shinonome is a pretty forgiving boat. While she struggles with her guns, it’s just hard to argue the point that being able to spit out nine torpedoes from three launchers doesn’t facilitate hitting targets and doing damage. I would say that the baseline difficulty for the Shinonome is higher than that of the Fubuki. Her extra guns are nice but not enough to provide a solid deterrent to would be aggressors. 10km torpedoes are easier to use than 8km torpedoes, if only from a survivability perspective.

Efficacy remains up for debate. It’s this same torpedo armament which in the hands of an expert player become a real nightmare. Three triple launchers provides a whole measure of control that’s all too dangerous in the right hands. Combined with stealth and agility, a Shinonome, like a Fubuki, that’s left unchecked into the later stages of a match can quickly spell the end for an unwary team that has lost their vision.

Mouse’s Summary:

The Shinonome looks less impressive than she is. It’s easy to get caught up on how she’s not-quite a Fubuki.

Her gun armament will disappoint many who are expecting great things from it. She’s no gunship.

Overall, she’s a good workhorse premium, with no flash or pizazz.

I was initially disappointed in the Shinonome. While I was working on trying to figure out a way to summarize her for people that asked me what she was like, I found it easiest to compare her to what people knew. She’s a stock Fubuki, with three turrets instead of two. She reloads more slowly. She has 8km torpedoes instead of 6km. That really doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement. In fact, it sounds downright lackluster. But that’s undermining just how good the Fubuki is at tier 6 and how the Shinonome, as a Fubuki herself, does just fine as a result.

I am delighted that they included this ship as a reward vessel accessible to anyone with a tier 8+ ship and time to grind out the Campaign Missions. This will give players who don’t normally have access to premium content, and who might be newer and have missed out on previous promotions, a chance to grab a trainer and credit earning ship to assist them in playing World of Warships. The Shinonome will work well for anyone that’s looking to help retrain their Captains, especially with the changes to the IJN Destroyer line. The only unfortunate part is that the time needed to complete the campaign may make their own acquisition of the Shinonome so delayed as to be moot for this purpose. Oh well, she’ll be ready the next time she’s needed.

The Shinonome is a workhorse. Like the Kamikaze-class before her when the Minekaze still reigned king, she does not look that impressive compared to her non-premium counterpart. Don’t let that fool you. You don’t drive the Shinonome to be fancy or to be noticed. She’s there to get the job done, and she’s got all of the right tools to assist you in doing so from start to finish.

Rivals: Fubuki The Fubuki outclasses the Shinonome in everything but main battery firepower. But let’s be thorough and go over the specific differences compared to the upgraded ship. In parenthesis, the Fubuki will be first, Shinonome second. The Fubuki is better armoured (16mm bow vs 12mm)

The Shinonome has a larger main battery (4 guns vs 6)

The Fubuki reloads faster (8s vs 9s)

The Fubuki is longer ranged (10.0km vs 9.0km)

The Fubuki has better torpedoes (16,267 damage, 59 knots, 10km range, 1.5km detection vs 14,600 damage, 63 knots, 8km range, 1.6km detection)

The Fubuki has better AA DPS (19 vs 4)

The Fubuki has better Rudder Shift Time (2.5s vs 3.2s) The Fubuki is an excellent destroyer at tier 6 — arguably one of the most powerful destroyers at her tier and certainly in contention for being one of the most powerful destroyers tier for tier in the game (provided we pointedly ignore the Gremyashchy). That the Shinonome compares so closely to this strong destroyer really speaks well for this premium ship.

The Fubuki and Shinonome. The Fubuki has the busier camouflage scheme between the two of them. Visually, they are quite similar though still distinct. The Shinonome is easily identified not only the number of turrets but by their style, which are slender and boxy. The Fubuki and Shinonome. The Fubuki has the busier camouflage scheme between the two of them. Visually, they are quite similar though still distinct. The Shinonome is easily identified not only the number of turrets but by their style, which are slender and boxy.

Would I Recommend?

The Shinonome is a free ship (for now). The only way to acquire her is to put in time to the Campaign and unlock her through the step by step process of completing Missions. Time is precious, and it’s ultimately up to the individual how to spend their precious hobby hours. With this in mind, here are my recommendations:

For Random Battle Grinding :

Yes, she’s worth it. As I said earlier, she a stable, reliable work horse. The Shinonome is perfect for helping grind out your IJN Destroyer Captains and she’s no slouch for your cruiser Captains either. She synergizes well with most of the Captain Skills you could want for either the gunship or torpedo boat line for the destroyers. Do keep in mind that as a tier 6, she will be facing against higher tiered opponents more often than not. It will be rare that you’re not facing off against tier 7 opponents at the very least. Make use of her concealment, sneak those caps where you can and put fish into their big stuff to gradually accumulate the experience and credits you need. Stay away from anything with radar.

For Competitive Gaming:

It’s harder to recommend her here. The Fubuki is better. Still, she can be pressed into performing if needs be. Like I said, it’s hard to argue with the merits of three triple launchers. Personally, she wouldn’t be the destroyer I would reach for.

For Collectors:

The end of the historic Shinonome is a mystery. Even the whereabouts of her remains haven’t yet been confirmed. Like the Arizona, she didn’t have a wartime career and is more famous for the events surrounding her sinking than in any action in which she participated.

For Fun Factor:

For Captains who love their IJN Destroyers, the Shinonome is a good fit. She doesn’t have any gimmicks to make her stand out. But if you like Fubuki-style game play and wish you could make a few more credits and experience while enjoying that style, then the Shinonome is a great investment. She will not convince someone who does not like Destroyer game play, particularly Japanese destroyer game play, to change their colours however.

Outfitting your Shinonome

Recommended Modules

There shouldn’t be any surprises in this section.

For your first slot, I strongly recommend Magazine Modification 1 for all destroyers. This turns detonations from an uncommon (but jarring) occurrence to a statistical outlier. You will take gun hits in your destroyers and they can and will result in the complete annihilation of your vessel with some frequency (as much as 1 game in 20). This will reduce this down to almost 1 game in 67 at most. If you feel like living dangerously, or if you intend to always equip Juliet Charlie signals, then Main Battery Modification 1 isn’t a bad choice. Just don’t complain when someone asplodes your boat.

For your second slot, it’s a no brainer. Aiming Systems Modification 1 is best.

The third slot options are still pretty terrible. Take whichever one you like. I usually go with Propulsion Modification 1 in the vain hopes that my engine might bust less often. It doesn’t seem to be working.

Finally, for your fourth option, Propulsion Modification 2 is handy, particularly if you find yourself accelerating and decelerating to take advantage of smoke. For aggressive players that like to ninja caps, this is definitely the best option.Steering Gears Modification 2 isn’t bad, but this only nets you a 0.64s gain on your rudder shift which is hardly noticeable.

Recommended Consumables

The Shinonome isn’t too pricey when it comes to maintaining her consumables. Due to her decent stealth window, you can eschew the use of a premium Damage Control Party if you wish. The 60s reset timer on the standard version is normally sufficient for a vessel that doesn’t intend to use her guns that often. The same can’t be said for your Smoke Generator . Don’t skimp out on that and spend the 22,500 credits to increase the number of charges you get and to reduce the reset timer from four minutes down to two minutes and forty seconds. I wouldn’t bother with a premium Engine Boost consumable. Its use is highly situational. You can just hold onto it until you really need it.

Recommended Captain Skills

With the way the IJN Destroyer tree has branched, it’s not uncommon to see some skill choices that seem less optimal for select destroyer types. The Akizuki has very specific demands, for example. To this end, they may not mesh up perfectly with the Shinonome. Here’s the skills I recommend for her optimal performance.

For your first skill, Basic Fire Training is best. This will bump up her anemic reload rate from 9s to 8.1s.

Next, grab Last Stand to keep your engine and steering gears operational after taking damage. Torpedo Armament Expertise is very powerful on the Shinonome, reducing her reload from 72s per launcher down to 65.7s and should probably be acquired on a subsequent pass through the list. Lastly, Expert Marksman is alright, but it won’t suddenly make the guns amazing. I would skip it personally.

At tier three, Superintendent is probably the best choice. This will give you an extra (and welcome) charge of your Smoke Generator and Engine Boost consumables.

At tier four, you have three reasonable choices. Advanced Fire Training seems like the optimal choice, increasing your gun range from a pathetic 9.0km to 10.8km which is much more versatile. Alternatively you can rech for Demolition Expert to nudge the fire chance of this ship from 7% to 10% per shell which is respectable. However, I feel that Survivability Expert is probably best for the Shinonome, bumping her hit points up to 15,300.