The Borodino is based on a project of “Small battleships” from the early 1950s.

Unlike the classic projects from the Soviet navy, these small battleships weren’t named “Project X” like Project 23 or Project 24 due to the fact that they were internal proposals from a private bureau.

The designs found support among the USSR Ministry of Shipbuilding but the Ministry of the Navy strongly criticized them. Multiple designs were proposed with the main gun caliber of 406 mm in various configurations but the general idea was with one or two twin or triple turrets, all forward. The secondary armament would be triple or quadruple turrets with a caliber of 180 or 220 mm.

The displacement was ranging from 29 000 tons to 49 100 tons.

The Borodino is based on a design with 2 triple 406 mm gun turrets and a secondary battery of 2 twin dual-purpose 180 mm gun turrets. By such, the ship gets the record of the biggest gun caliber being able to engage planes in the game.

I know that some people will be pissed, saying that meanwhile, they can’t use the San Shiki shells on their Japanese battleships. Let’s be honest… these shells were more glorified fireworks only good at damaging the gun barrels than anything else.

Modules Hull Engine Gun Fire Control System Main battery Borodino Propulsion: 210 000 hp GFCS VIII mod. 1 406 mm/50 MK-1

Characteristics General Main Battery Secondaries Air Defense Consumables Tier VIII Health 64 200 HP Displacement 45 206 tons Main Armament Maximum Firing Range 19.570 km 406 mm/50 MK-1 2 x 3 406 mm Secondary Armament Maximum Firing Range 5.000 km 180 mm/65 SM-48 2 x 2 180 mm Maximum speed 31.6 kt Turning Circle Radius 1 060 m Rudder Shift Time 15.4 s Surface Detectability 17.46 km Air Detectability 11.79 km Detectability After Firing Main Guns in Smoke 16.97 km 2 x 3 406 mm/50 MK-1 Reloading Time 30.0 s 180 Degree Turn Time 30.0 s Optimal firing angles at the front 0° Optimal firing angles at the rear 30° Sigma 1.90 sigma Maximum Dispersion 256 m Shells Type of Projectile HE – 406 mm HE Model 1937

Alpha Damage 5 800 HP Damage 5 020 HP Penetration capacity 67 mm Explosion size 2.53 Fire chance 40 % Projectile Speed 830 m/s Air Drag 0.304 Projectile Mass 1 108 Type of Projectile AP – 406 mm AP Model 1937

Alpha Damage 13 250 HP Chance to Cause Fire -0.5 % Projectile Speed 830 m/s Air Drag 0.247 Projectile Mass 1 108 Projectile Krupp 2 300 Projectile Detonator 0.033 s Detonator threshold 68 mm 2 x 2 180 mm/65 SM-48 Reloading Time 6.0 s Sigma 1.00 sigma Shells Type of Projectile HE – HE-32

Alpha Damage 2 500 HP Damage 1 010 HP HE penetration 29 mm Explosion Size 0.73 Chance to Cause Fire 13 % Projectile Speed 1 000 m/s Air Drag 0.243 Projectile Mass 97.5 2 x 2 180 mm/65 SM-48 Sector range 0.1 km – 5.8 km Hit chance 75 % Sector’s damage 12 Sector’s damage frequency 0.29 s Sector’s damage per second 42 Flak clouds number 2 Flak cloud damage 1 820 12 x 2 57 mm ZIF-31B

Sector range 0.1 km – 4.0 km Hit chance 75 % Sector’s damage 102 Sector’s damage frequency 0.29 s Sector’s damage per second 357 12 x 4 25 mm 4M-120 Sector range 0.1 km – 3.1 km Hit chance 70 % Sector’s damage 58 Sector’s damage frequency 0.29 s Sector’s damage per second 203 Slot 1 Slot 2 Damage Control Party I Number of charges: 3 Work time: 10 s Cooldown: 60 s Repair Party I Number of charges: 2 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 120 s HP regeneration speed: 0.5% HP/s Damage Control Party II Number of charges: 4 Work time: 10 s Cooldown: 40 s Repair Party II Number of charges: 3 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration speed: 0.5% HP/s

The armor

The Borodino has… quite a small armor protection for a battleship to say the least. Bow-on, her armor is great but the main belt is so thin that giving broadside with her is asking to die.

The bow section

The bow is 32 mm thick except for the extended belt that is 100 mm thick just in front of the A turret but then tapers to 50 mm and goes all the way to the end of the bow.

Inside the bow, there is a 50 mm thick armored deck that sits just on top of the extended belt. On top of that, there is a 50 mm bulkhead in front of the citadel’s athwartship. It is basically impossible to citadel this ship through the bow even with a Yamato that would be able to overmatch the 32 mm section.

As you can see, the casemate above the armored deck is also 50 mm thick.

Behind this already amazing armor protection, there is the 400 mm citadel’s athwartship for the upper part and 250 mm thick for the lower part. The whole thing is sloped inward at 19° on top of that.

I’m now starting to understand where is the 45 206 tons displacement coming from.

The middle section

The middle is well protected… if you forget the really thin protection of the citadel. The deck and upper belt are 50 mm thick which gives great resistance against HE. The main belt, which is the citadel is only 220 mm thick.

Yes.

A 220 mm main belt.

On a battleship.

With an exposed citadel.

At tier VIII.

The citadel does have the T shape of Soviet battleship so starting from the waterline, it goes inside the ship with a spaced armor configuration. On that part, the citadel side armor is 60 mm thick.

Basically, you don’t want to give broadside to anything with such armor, especially since the ship doesn’t look small unlike what the design classification would suggest. The enormous turning radius doesn’t help either. Staying bow-on with this ship will be vital.

The horizontal protection isn’t great either. The main armor deck is 120 mm thick under the turrets and 100 mm thick above the engines. Thankfully, the anti-air on this ship is strong, otherwise, I would have a big smile on my face if I would see that with my AP bomb CVs.

The stern section

The stern is 32 mm thick except around the steering gears with 200 mm of armor and the 50 mm extended belt.

Inside the stern, there is a 50 mm armored deck on top of the extended belt. However, it won’t fully prevent citadels through the stern because the Borodino has the Yamato syndrome.

As you can see, the upper casemate protecting the middle section is also 50 mm thick.

Her citadel’s athwartship has a V shape so it is possible to get “cheek citadels” on her stern… I won’t do any joke about that.

Talking about her citadel’s athwartship, it is 180 mm thick. You can clearly see the T shape of the citadel with the darker tone of yellow. There is a small part much lower that is 50 mm thick but it’s well below the waterline.

The superstructure

This ship has a very boxy superstructure and it is also fairly large. It is protected by 19 mm of armor except on the conning tower with protection ranging from 225 to 475 mm of armor and also the barbettes of the secondaries with 190 mm of armor.

The turrets

The ships were meant to use the unused turrets of the Sovetsky Soyuz-class battleships so overall, these are tough turrets.

The face is 495 mm thick with a nice 30° slope, the sides are 230 mm thick, the back is 410 mm thick and the roof is 270 mm thick.

For the barbette, it is 430 mm for the upper part and 200 mm for the lower part.

Overall, these are well-protected turrets and the will help for the bow-tanking playstyle that will be required for this ship.

Personal opinion

Well… Wargaming said that her design and characteristics will definitely change and I hope that they will do before we get her for testing. She will definitely need an improved dispersion with only 6 guns and the concealment might need some love too considering the fact that the ship has such vulnerable citadel protection.

Outside of that… why not. It might be an interesting concept even though I know some people won’t appreciate what will certainly be a long-range sniper.

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