USS San Diego (CL-53)

## USS San Diego CL-53 (Premium)

"We were straddled by bombs, dodged torpedoes and (were) attacked by suicide planes that missed. We never lost a man in combat, never surrendered to the enemy, and earned eighteen battle stars while steaming 300,000 miles without a major overhaul." - *Bill Butcher, gunners mate second class*

USS *San Diego* is an American cruiser featured in the game.

## Background History

The USS *San Diego* (CL-53) was an Atlanta-class light cruiser of the US Navy, commissioned just briefly after the US entered World War II. The USS *San Diego* was a very successful ship, participating in many battles and earning 18 battle stars, making her the second most decorated ship in the US navy in World War II (The USS *Enterprise* (CV-6), holds first place), and never lost a man to enemy action. She was also the first major allied warship to enter Tokyo Bay after Japan's surrender.

At the end of the war, the US Navy decommissioned her in 1946, and sold her for scrapping in December of 1960, similar fate as the USS *Enterprise* (CV-6), despite being the most decorated warships in the US Navy at the time.

## Tactics

Similar to its cousin the *Brooklyn*, *San Diego* should be built as an machine gun of sorts for the team. The only real difference between it and *Brooklyn* is that it trades AA for a pair of Torpedo tubes. As such, the *San Diego* can be played like an oversized destroyer albeit with weaker torpedoes and FAR MORE guns. However, she is only capable of firing a 14 shell broadside but with a higher firing rate.

### Playing as San Diego

*San Diego* is best played at long ranges but can get within 2 kilometers to deal some real damage. In a moderately upgraded state, she is a fast support vessel with moderate health and moderate damage, making her a evened-out ship in most regards. Her numerous guns and her fast firing rate combined with HE shells turns the *San Diego* into a pyromaniac with a high chance of setting enemy ships on fire. Along with that fact, she is easily capable of sinking enemy destroyers due to such a wall of lead. Her AA creates a barrier between the enemy carriers and her allied battleships and her torpedoes create a looming threat against any weak ships within the distance. Her role in any fight can quickly turn the tides of battle.

A common tactic for San Diego is setting ships on fire consistently. Once you set someone on fire, launch at least 3 more salvos until you switch to AP shells for more damage. Once you set the fire get put out switch back to HE shells to set them on fire again. This effect burns down the enemy's health without relent and creates a bigger target for other hungry allies. Her torpedoes, although weak, can still flood an enemy ship. This combined with fire damage can quickly drain an enemy's health within a minute.

A fully upgraded *San Diego* with pirate flags is a serious threat. Her speed, turn rate, fire rate, and health are increased to play an even more significant role in the fight turning this support cruiser into a full on brawler. Expert *San Diego* players are wise about which targets they pick on if they are alone, but together in a fleet can create hell for a single battleship. For example, you can have a *Missouri* and a *San Diego* go against an *H41*. Although the Missouri is getting bashed, the San Diego may set the *H41* on fire and catch it off guard if not in a pickle. Most expert players may point directly toward or away from an assaulting battleship, minimizing her hit profile while firing 3 to 5 of her turrets with HE shells. They lure any hungry battleships to their death by setting them on fire or torpedoing them and firing AP shells afterwards. When solo they often run away and set ships on fire from range and engage destroyers at medium ranges to quickly end any fast threats. This goes for enemy cruisers as well.

### Playing Alongside San Diego

The *San Diego* is moderately fast and effective ship, but some players may play her incorrectly. If the player is rather poor at using the ship don't bother protecting it as it ends up as a waste of time and your vessel at the bottom of the sea in an instant. However, if the player seems rather experienced, such as actual gameplay or "fancy names," you will want to protect this ship with your very life. Battleships can act as literal meat shields or backup artillery if your ship is too slow to keep up with her. Fellow *San Deigos* or *Atagos* are fast enough to keep up and deal a decent amount of damage alongside the expert *San Diego* player. Players have witnessed two *San Deigos* set a single battleship on fire, torpedo it multiple times, and drill into it with AP shells. Most encounters have lasted less than a minute. Destroyers make up for the low damage torpedoes the San Diego carries and can be the replacement for damage in this field. The amount of torpedoes that can be launched terrifies any large warship to get anywhere in front of these ships. Aircraft carriers can act as distractions or gain damage or kills from enemies distracted by your allied expert *San Diego* player.

As with any ship with torpedoes never get in the way of the *San Diego* unless it has already launched torpedoes.

### Playing Against San Diego

A poor *San Diego* is not much of a threat and they will usually end up sunk within a minute. However, the most skilled *San Diego* players are absolutely terrifying to play against. They know every pro and con of their own ship. They know exactly how to maneuver and lure any warship to their sunken graves. You'll need an entire fleet to take out such players. But if you're alone facing this ship then you'll need to know with which ship to fight it with.

Destroyers are the least fit to deal with cruisers as both top tier cruisers tear apart destroyers within a blink of an eye. The only thing they're good for is torpedoing and causing flooding damage. The *Yukikaze* is most likely dead within a 30 seconds and a Mahan is moderately effective at surviving against the San Diego until support arrives. The *Shimakaze* is the only true destroyer capable of actually sinking such a vessel. The *Shimakaze* has great turn, speed, and far more torpedoes to not only cause more damage but has more flooding potential. Her guns are faster firing and a full broadside, which is actually unwise, is capable of dealing 12k damage per salvo.

The *Atago* and *San Diego* are the only other cruisers in top tier to face a good *San Diego* player. *San Diego* fights are often long ranged and last a long time, burning time for other allied warships to show up and destroy the opposing *San Diego*. *Atagos* will need to close the distance and torpedo the *San Diego*. The best way to do so is to lure the enemy *San Diego* into a promising path or forcing it to steer into an island and getting stuck. The best range is less than 1 kilometer but it is dangerous for either of you. Both nearly have the same amount of damage but *Atago* has far more torpedoes per broadside and are far more powerful than *San Diego*'s. *Brooklyn* is also a viable counter choice with her similar output of lead and high speed being able to match the *San Diego* in most respects.

The most appropriate battleships to face a *San Diego* player are fast battleships with a great amount of shells fired from bow. This includes all *Iowa*-class battleships, both *Yamato*-class battleships, and the *Super-Alsace*. The *Iowa*-classes are capable of 6 shells bow wise and are the fastest REAL battleships. *Yamato*-class battleships have a 9 shell firing capability bow wise but slower than the *Iowa*-class battleships. The *Super-Alsace* has a 8 shell firing capability bow wise and is the fastest battleship in the game and is more than capable of destroying the *San Diego*. These battleships must force bow fights against the *San Diego* because an expert *San Diego* player will try to lure you into a broadside to either torpedo you or set you on fire.

Aicraft carriers are not fit to deal with this cruiser as it has a great AA broadside historically. Carriers will need to try to strike the ship from outside AA range. If the player is too good, then you'll need to rely on close range fights. Pack up and save your torpedo bombers and don't launch them unless the *San Diego* is within a 3-6 second strike range. Launch wave after wave of torpedo bombers while running away and your secondaries firing. This is the only way for a carrier to truly destroy an expert *San Diego* players.

In any ship or situation never use the fire extinguisher unless you're safely out of range or safely behind an island, because if you use it too early you'll burn to death.

## Advantages and Disadvantages

**Advantages**

* Has lots of guns, 14 per broadside.
* Rapid reload of 6 secs, allows her to set fires very easily.
* Has hard hitting guns for a light cruiser.
* Compact size allows her to dodge incoming fire.
* The ship comes pre equipped with a camouflage.
* DD like turn time, 22 secs when upgraded !!!

**Disadvantages**

* AA can be improved.
* lacks secondaries

## Editor/Contributor's Opinion

1) **XercesDenial** :- " Here we have the USS Arsonist... burn down the world !.. but please don't red-line.. don't be like them.. "

## Trivia

* The San Diego has been given two nicknames by the community one called "Sandy" given by many experienced players and the other called "Floating FAMAS" (Refers to number of Broadside guns that the San Diego has and comparing it with the Assault Rifle FAMAS)

* The term "red lining" means when a player starts using the red line at the edges of the map to dodge incoming attacks. This strategy is very good yet VERY hated by the community since it's simply cheating in a minor way. San Diego and a couple other cruisers and destroyers benefit from this the most.
* The ship's reputation to set others on fire quickly has earned it the reputation of being a pyromaniac among the ships. It has even earned the nickname "The California Fire Starter."
	+ A funny reference to California's tendency to have wildfires literally all the time, and San Diego is a Californian city.
* Considering that this ship fires every 6 seconds, you would have fired at least 10 TIMES in a minute. It's the reason why this ship is the cruiser with the fastest reload in the game. In real life, when with an anti aircraft suite it's guns can fire as fast as every 4 seconds.
* The class itself had the heaviest anti-air broadsides of any warship during World War II.
	+ It was so heavy in fact, that some experts even agree that even modern day CIWS systems will struggle to keep up with the wall of lead a fully alert Atlanta class can put up.
* The only non-superfiring ship in the game (superfiring means all guns can be turned to a target, especially when broadsiding).