Game:

World of Warships (2015)

Duration: 19:04

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Kitakaze — Japanese Tier IX destroyer.

A V7 project destroyer. This ship was a further development of the Akizuki-class destroyers. Compared to her prototype, she had higher speed and carried more powerful torpedo armament.


Performance
In many ways, Kitakaze is extremely comparable to her predecessor, Akizuki, and is simply a straight upgrade in most regards. She improves on Akizuki's speed, maneuverability, torpedo launchers, concealment, and has access to the tier nine module slot. Players who enjoyed Akizuki should feel right at home in the tier nine version.

Kitakaze has four 100mm gun mounts, each with two barrels for a total of eight 100mm armaments. These guns provide most of Kitakaze's offensive firepower, especially when paired with her blistering three-second base reload. This reloads can be further lowered by selecting the Basic Firing Training skill in conjunction with the tier nine Main Battery Modification 3 (-12% to main battery loading time. / -13% to the main battery traverse speed.) module. Normally, a 100mm gun would not be capable of penetrating anything more than 17mm of armor—limiting the effectiveness of any such guns without the Inertia Fuse for HE Shells skill. However, all Japanese 100mm guns have an increased penetration for their base HE shells, allowing them to penetrate up to 25mm of armor even without the captain skill—And with IFHE, these shells can penetrate 32mm armor plating.

In addition to her impressive main battery firepower, Kitakaze has a sextuple torpedo launcher. Along with her Torpedo Reload Booster (When used, torpedo reload time is significantly reduced.), this allows her to put twelve torpedoes in the water during a short period of time. However, keep in mind that this launcher also has a very long reload speed, taking more than two and a half minutes to be ready. Kitakaze's torpedoes are a useful tool to have in combination with her main battery firepower and proves to be a direct upgrade from the torpedoes found on Akizuki. In addition, Kitakaze gains an extra three knots of speed in comparison with Akizuki, a second off her rudder shift time, greater concealment, and slightly better short-range AA.

Fans of Akizuki should greatly enjoy Kitakaze, as she essentially shores up some of Akizuki's key weaknesses like speed while also improving as a whole. She is a strong ship for anyone who appreciates the playstyle of a gun focused destroyer.

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