US Premium Battleship "Illinois" Review - World of Warships Blitz

[@explorationandhistorywithethan]

Ah, yes. USS Illinois BB 65. This is where the self-claimed Historian in me shines best. There were plans for 6 Iowa Class Battleships that would end up being constructed in a series of Two, USS Iowa (BB 61) and USS New Jersey (BB 62) were the first ones and then construction almost began immediately on USS Missouri (BB 63) and USS Wisconsin (BB 64) soon after. Plans for the last two were put on hold as designs for a new battleship design that would become the Montana Class Battleships were under way, and following a simmilar pattern as the Iowa Class Battleships, the first two (BB 65 and BB 66) would start construction first. But likely after the US joined WW2 these Montana Class Battleships were still being designed, so it was decided that BB 65 and BB 66 would be reordered as Iowa Class Battleships as building Warships from a smaller, more familiar design would be much quicker and the design for two more improved Iowas were already drawn up, quickening the process faster. Construction began on BB 65 and BB 66 as Iowa Class Battleships, and they were given their respective names, Illinois and Kentucky. However, with construction being suspended on both ships multiple times, they were barely taking shape. Kentucky had her hull finished and was "pre-launched" from her drydock to let in her sister ship USS Missouri in for repairs. Eventually, the war ended and if any construction being done was now halted while it was being decided what to do with them since the era of the Battleship had ended. But they were used as parts hulks. Their engines were taken to installed on newer ships, the plating was taken, and Kentucky had her bow removed and reused on USS Wisconsin after she rammed the destroyer USS Eaton. Too much of both ships had to be replaced or finished for any practical use, and they were officially canceled and were broken up in the 50s. -Realistically, USS Illinois would have been constructed as an AA Battleship with many dual-purpose guns, and a single Funnel for better AA Arcs. The Main Gun layout called for Nine 16 Inch Guns in 3 triple turrets and an alternative for Twelve 8 Inch guns in 3 Quad Turrets (which is what Wargaming went with, but reused an Iowa build). -USS Kentucky would have become a Guided Missile Battleship with Six 16 Inch guns placed in a forward mounted 2 tripple turrets and aft mounted Guided Missle Launchers in 2 Twin Turrets. - During World War 2, 5 Montana class Battleships were designed and ready for construction, but none ever started. They were canceled after the war as the Battleship age had ended.

[@justin3415]

I really want this ship,but the armor thing bothers me. Now in game Iowa is ok armor wise,but this seems weaker then Iowa armor wise. Also the design was a real design,a KZbinr naval historians showed the plans and it was a proposal the US navy planned for the later ships but also some of are current ones.But like ur story. Thanks for the great review terry.

[@_unicorn]

Good morning Terry. I've been looking forward to the Illinois video since this morning, and that's great. I know it's an 8-inch, 12-door, Iowa-class warship, and it's going to be fun

[@gleamingcolt]

I mean, at least this ship looks kind of fun, I have always enjoyed the Iowa class, and the alternative versions, so if this comes in a bundle, im going for it

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

Absolutely, just don't expect her to hit like an Iowa. I've had more success with playing like you would on an Alaska, but she can probably knock down some turrets at close range, if you can get situations with something that visible.

[@gleamingcolt]

@@FunandGameswithTerry I would never expect these guns to hit like a iowa

[@Maximilian7992]

4:41 Actually they’re Des Moines’ autoloading 8” Mk 16 guns but stats wise they’re similar to Baltimore’s guns

[@hattrick8684]

Illinois gets the 40mm bofors as the small calibre and the 3” rapid firing guns as medium calibre where Iowa gets the Orelikin as the small and Bofors as the medium.

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

At least in-game, Iowa has the 5''/38 Mk12s as secondaries, which should have been rather effective in the DP role. But yes, the Illinois would have been designated AA / carrier escort, and post-war would certainly have had the more effective 40 mils.

[@GraemeIOM]

I ran into a press account testing this about a week ago in my GK. My team refused to push or do anything about the enemy destroyers, and in the long range sniping they teamed up with a Worcester and burned me down in no time… Lots of people say that the Des Moines is great with Halsey, so what would this be like with him?

[@LiteBosmark]

The damage output boost at low health might help, but it does not really help Illinois as much since the faster you can make your reload with either rapid reload or secondary overload, the stronger AR+ gets. For example, with Austin, if you have AR+ active, that alone will almost double your fire rate when you have RR4 active

[@stevejackson3396]

I’ve had five battles in the Illinois so far, and I honestly would describe it as a support battleship if there is such a thing. But like a support cruiser, it almost fulfills the same role.

[@justanobody121]

Unfortunately I didn’t think a crate was the way I wanna blow money on this ship so I didn’t get it. I do have buffalo with a max cpt so I still get 12 203s. Unless Illinois comes out in a bundle or shipyard, this will be one of those ships I will never own. And that’s sad for me because I really wanted this ship and was waiting for it to come to blitz after I saw Yuro’s video on the pc version of this ship. Damn…

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

I feel you, although I wouldn't be too sad. Personally, I'd take Baltimore over this one, since the armour isn't great, and with a RR build, they should have about the same DPM, but you can position in a more agile manner, and you grind XP towards Des Moines. Then again, that could be my cruiser main bias talking 😜

[@TellBountyHunter]

I think that this ship With SAP going to be way better. Nice Video👍

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

Well, they'd have to sell her to the Italians for that to happen in-game 😜

[@Smith2049x]

Also, KinKaid would be an interesting choice

[@LiteBosmark]

there is no reason to use kinkaid on illinois, she doesn't have radar or dfaa

[@zeroburrito]

actually has better armor than the iowa. same 110 deck armor and 350 belt instead of 320.

[@liudonghuang7611]

My diagnosis on this ship is that WG had done something right by not giving her extra firepower, aka, Rapid Reloads. But they seemed to have overcompensated their Atlantico mistake by giving her cruiser level armor. This ship should be pretty fun to play, but meme in a major sense. She is definitely not OP as I used to assume, lacking armor and gets into t10 games.

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

I could just have been exceptionally unlucky with the armour, and she had been in fact copied from Iowa after all. Unfortunately, we don't get to see those stats, and CIC doesn't have data on her. It's not really a bad ship, but as you said, definitely not OP, and doesn't offer much in T10 meta.

[@WitWhirlwindTV]

If you didn't shoot in the end and ran away you might've won the last battle

[@Raijin2010]

I just recently got this ship after some games its actually good and bad at the same time,why? Well armor is bad obviously added with the fact it has cruiser guns and the size of Iowa but then again it has benefits since its an Iowa class bb it has a good speed can brawl if used properly(why brawling is here is because under the right place with luck and a relatively high hp pool it can brawl an almost full health Bismarck as long as you dont broadside it). It also has good AA as far as I've noticed its good as good mix of a battlecruiser and cruiser and a support battleship. Damn this is my longest comment right now anyways good video as always Terry have a good week

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

It's a battlecruiser (although I'm leaning towards calling it a supercruiser), and shares the main problem that class of ship has - it's situational. If they work, they work well, but if you can't play them to their strengths, they work poorly in return. As long as players are happy to take the good with the bad, it's an ok addition to that class. Probably my personal bias is that I'm testing ships in a random battle environment, so good all-rounders that can carry the team when necessary are always going to perform better.

[@Raijin2010]

@@FunandGameswithTerry I agree mate and it will always have a special place as it's my first tier 9 ever and my first win at t9 Ps:I'm in asian servers so sometimes I can get matched with players that camp

[@briangregg8581]

This ship looks cool.

[@Smith2049x]

Terry, this is more like a Buffalo than a Seattle.

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

Sorry, did I mention Seattle somewhere? Probably meant Baltimore. Yes, she has an extra set of guns, but she gets slower base reload and no RR, so in total, it's probably about the same.

[@StingyTrigger]

They need to buff the armor and fire resistance before this is remotely interesting. Add a rapid reload too, otherwise if I just wanted 12 Baltimore guns on a squishy ship, I'll just get the Buffalo.

[@liudonghuang7611]

Bro, trust me, the last thing we want to see is to have RR on this ship. WG had learned something from Atlantico after all. This thing would be ruining the meta even with RR1. I do agree that she needs some more love armorwise tho. But adding more to her fire power? Let's just forget about this proposal.

[@StingyTrigger]

@liudonghuang7611 The Buffalo has RR and the same number of guns. The Buffalo is stealthier, more maneuverable and harder to hit, but that didn't break the game or balance.

[@liudonghuang7611]

@@StingyTrigger But this thing gets into T8 games. If she is a T10 ship, no bothers, give her as much love as possible, give her Des Moines guns, give her 14 km base range with RR2 or even RR3. WG had learned some lesson, they don't want players to complain again about a fire spitting monster that is so hard to kill.

[@bricklord340]

How did you obtain this ship?

[@kronosmond]

What can we learn here? Don't drink and design ships, kids. 🤣

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

At least it was just beer. If Vodka gets involved, you get things like Okhotnik.

[@sonnyrockwel1266]

Honestly she preformed best against enemy cruisers , she sems to be another anti cruiser , super cruiser ... not my preferred cup of tea since I dont play any ships higher than tier Viii

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

She works ok against battleships with HE spam, for a supercruiser, the calibre is actually too low. Also, at range, she can't land hits on enemy cruisers, making her quite vulnerable.

[@sonnyrockwel1266]

@FunandGameswithTerry thank you for correcting me , once again your attention to detail shows me my own flawed logic. Bravo 👏 I just wanted to say I really enjoy your work and and respect the way you run your channel 👍 I watch all your videos as soon as they are available and make sure to like them all in support of your work and vision. They are also very entertaining and I really appreciate that you take the time to add thoughtful long replies . You're a real one. 💯

[@conamer6738]

Ummm, no.

[@Richard1976]

Not really special and in crate so hard pass. Like deathfromabove mentioned better grind for baltimore or des moins

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

Yeah, it was a bit of an oddball, and while she has more guns than Baltimore, the overall reload is lower, and positional play is a lot harder.

[@Richard1976]

@@FunandGameswithTerry grinding for us heavy cruisers now. T7 new orleans is great fun as is t6 pepsicola as well.