USS Kidd (DDG-993)

The USS Kidd, as seen in-game.

* Base

"USS Kidd was the lead ship in her class of destroyers. The project was originally designed for export, but was later adopted for the U.S. Navy. Has powerful air defense capabilities for its its class." - In-game description

## Overview

Being one of the fastest destroyers at Tier 2 and packing a combination of missiles and torpedoes alone with an extra gun to go with the fun, Kidd is a solid ship that can hold it's own very well in the competitive echelons of more powerful Tier 2 ships. It also has pretty powerful AA defenses for its tier, being only outclassed by carriers in this regard.

## Background History

The Kidd class destroyers were originally modified versions of the Spruance Class DD meant for the Imperial Iranian Navy but the 1979 Iranian revolution caused the deal to be scrapped. The class was completed instead for service in the US navy and most prominently served as the primary anti air arm of Battleship battlegroups alongside the Ticonderoga class until the advent of the Arleigh Burke class of destroyers. Being true multipurpose vessels capable of operating in a wide range of global climate regions, the Kidd class was in many ways a prototype for the Arleigh Burke and Ticonderoga classes that followed. After the end of the cold war, all four members of the class were decommissioned and then refurbished for service with Taiwan, where they currently still actively serve in as de facto flagships, being the most powerful warships Taiwan has in its fleet. Notably, all members of the class have been modernized to carry more effective Anti-ship armament such as the HF-3 missiles, which in many ways is similar to the P-270 moskits carried on Chinese warships, the predominant threat in that region.

## Tactics

### Playing as Kidd

As a Kidd, the primary asset at your disposal are those MK-26 launchers and 2 additional slots of CIWS. With this much anti air firepower, not many other ships at your tier can really match in how quickly you can delete aircraft and missiles. Your primary duty will be escorting other warships through heavy fire and shielding them from airstrikes, allowing them to operate at full capacity and focus on their jobs. Having only one missile and torpedo slot, you dont really have much options of dishing out damage, but such is par for the course in Tier 2. What you do have however is an extra gun.

It is highly recommended to swap out your MK45's for more effective armaments, such as the A-190 for continuous spamming, Oto Melara rapids or Korkut-D for even more anti air defenses and auto aim cannons, or Bofors Nag-57's for extremely accurate bursts.

### Playing alongside Kidd

Stick with the Kidd. Its ludicrous Anti-Air defense stats for it's tier will easily help delete any missiles or aircraft coming your way. One area you can help it in is to keep submarines and torpedoes at bay, given that the Kidd has somewhat overspecialized into being a flyswatter.

### Playing against Kidd

Kidd is a formidable ship you don't want to mess around with, since it has decent armaments, high HP, and ASW capabilities, sinking this isn't easy. Using CJ-20 and spamming missiles against it will break through it's AA defenses. Hitting it with torpedoes may help since its quite slow.

## Suggested Armaments Setup

### Missiles:

* P-270 moskit (Faster than tomahawk and more durable)
* P-800 (Even faster with more damage at the cost of reload)
* CJ-20 (Stands better chance of breaking through CIWS)

### Cannons:

* Bofors Nag-57 (Accurate bursts)
* Melara Rapids (Anti-Aircraft, decent against ships)
* Korkut-D (Especially good against aircraft, but low range and poor anti ship performance)

### Torpedoes:

* BA-111 Shkval (High damage and fast)
* HUWS (Slightly more accurate than Shkval with more damage potential)
* TA 53-65 (High damage, long range, poor reload)

### Anti-Air:

Slot 1:

* Mk-26 (Fast reload, high damage missiles. Can delete incoming missiles and aircraft)

Slot 2:

* AK-630-2 (Most damage, but relatively poor ammo pool and reload)
* Goalkeeper (If player can afford it)
* Type 730 (Budget Goalkeeper)

## Advantages and Disadvantages

**Advantages:**

* Very tanky (high amount of HP)
* A lot of armaments
* Strong AA capabilities

**Disadvantages:**

* Slow
* Not that fast in turning (unless upgraded)
* A bit expensive

## Trivia

* The ship was known to fly the infamous jolly rogers at times in reference to its namesake.
* There was an amusing story where the crew of the the Kidd lost their only basketball overboard and spent 12 hours sailing all over the surrounding area searching for it... in a multi-million dollar then state of the art warship.
* After serving over twenty years in the U.S. Navy, the ship was transferred to the island of Taiwan. It was renamed to *Tso Ying* by the Taiwanese Navy.