Ship:Imperator Nikolai I

14.8

Imperator Nikolai I

Battleship | U.S.S.R. | Tier IV

Tech Tree Position

General

Purchase priceSpecial

Hit Points44,800

Main Battery

305 mm/52 Model 1907 in a Metal Works Plant turret4 х 3 pcs.

Rate of Fire1.7 shots/min

Reload Time36 sec

Rotation Speed3.2 deg/sec

180 Degree Turn Time56.3 sec

Firing Range14.1 km

Maximum Dispersion201 m

HE Shell305 mm HE Model 1913

Maximum HE Damage4,500

Chance of Fire33 %

Initial HE Velocity762 m/s

HE Shell Weight470.9 kg

AP Shell305 mm AP Model 1913

Maximum AP Shell Damage8,600

Initial AP Shell Velocity762 m/s

AP Shell Weight470.9 kg

Secondary Armament #1

130 mm/55 Model 1913 on an Obukhov Plant mounting20 х 1 pcs.

Firing Range4 km

Rate of Fire5 shots/min

Reload Time12 sec

HE Shell130 mm HE Model 1911

Maximum HE Shell Damage1,900

Initial HE Shell Velocity823 m/s

Chance of Fire on Target Caused by HE Shell9 %

AA Defense

7.62 mm Maxim machine gun4 х 1 pcs.

63 mm Model 19162 х 1 pcs.

Maneuverability

Maximum Speed21 knot

Turning Circle Radius660 m

Rudder Shift Time12.8 sec

Concealment

Surface Detectability Range12.4 km

Air Detectability Range8.3 km

Battle Levels

12345678910

IV

Special

Imperator Nikolai I — Soviet special premium Tier IV battleship.

To prevent a possible advantage of the Turkish Fleet over the Black Sea Fleet during World War I, the fourth dreadnought of the Black Sea Fleet, Imperator Nikolai I, was laid down in the city of Mykolaiv in 1914. The initial armament composition of the ship was revised to speed up her construction—it was planned to mount 305 mm guns on the battleship instead of 356 mm ones. The ship was launched in 1916; however, further work was halted due to a lack of the required mechanisms and equipment. The Soviet authorities renewed their plans to complete the battleship construction in the 1920s, but they were never fulfilled.

She is no longer available to purchase.

Modules

	Rate of Fire (shots/min)	180° Turn Time (sec)	Maximum Dispersion (m)	Maximum HE Shell Damage (HP)	Chances of HE shells causing a fire on target (%)	Maximum AP Shell Damage (HP)		Research price (exp)	Purchase price ()
305 mm/52 Model 1907 in a Metal Works Plant turret	1.7	56.3	201	4,500	33	8,600		0	0

	Hit Points (HP)	Armor (mm)	Armor (mm)	Main Turrets (pcs.)	Secondary Gun Turrets (pcs.)	AA Mounts (pcs.)	Torpedo Tubes (pcs.)	Hangar Capacity (pcs.)		Research price (exp)	Purchase price ()
Imperator Nikolai I	44,800	13	400	4	20	4/2				0	0

	IDS_SHIP_PARAM_SUO_INCREASE_DIST (%)	Maximum Firing Range (km)		Research price (exp)	Purchase price ()
GFCS IV mod. 1		0		0	0

	Maximum Speed (knot)		Research price (exp)	Purchase price ()
Propulsion: 30,000 hp	21		0	0

Compatible Upgrades

Slot 1
Slot 2

Player Opinion

Performance

Warning: The data presented in the AA Defense sidebar section may be incorrect.
Refer to the in-game Port screens for more useful data.

Imperator Nikolai I is the first Russian battleship that was added to World of Warship, and sits at Tier IV.

Her main battery is located in four triple turrets whioch are mounted along the centerline, which give her a weaker firepower over the bow and stern than Wyoming or Orion, however, of these four turrets three are facing forward with excellent firing arcs which allow an aggressive player to use 75% of Nikolai's firepower without exposing too much of her broadside. A special trait of Imperator Nikolai I is her accuracy, featuring a 2.0 sigma she has among the best accuracy of any T4 battleship, and the shells are likely to land where the player aimed them. With a decent penetration and good ballistics, any opponent showing too much side will face severe punishment.

The armor scheme of Imperator Nikolai I is typical of that of a dreadnought. With a long belt, which extends from the bow until almost the tip of the stern, hits into the citadel are unlikely to occur through the bow. The upper belt and a 35mm strong weather deck ensure that HE fire from cruisers will mostly shatter, while the superstructure is almost non-existant, making it more difficult for cruisers to deal consistent HE damage to Imperator Nikolai I. The upper bow remains a weakness being covered in thin armor, which can and will get overmatched by the battleships in her MatchMaking, and her side armor is not sufficient to stop shells from other battleships. Angling in Imperator Nikolai I is key.

The maneuverability is one of Nikolai's greatest weaknesses. Lacking the speed of other battleships like König or Myogi, players will struggle to reposition or disengage should the situation so demand. Her turning behaviour is average, which does allow her to maneuver if so needed.

Against aircraft Imperator Nikolai I is defenseless. Staying with allies and keeping an eye on the minimap is heavily recommended to avoid taking too much damage from enemy aviation.

Pros:

• Heaviest broadside of any Tier 4 battleship.
• Excellent shell grouping with decent ballistics, making firing her guns very comfortable.
• Armor that covers the majority of her side, allowing an angled Imperator Nikolai I to bounce off many shells while shattering HE.
• Lack of superstructure, denying enemy cruisers the opportunity to farm damage.
• Turret setup allows the usage of 75% of her firepower while remaining angled.

Cons:

• Weak side protection in combination with a high citadel.
• Non-existent AA defense.
• Slow and somewhat sluggish when turning.
• Slow main battery reload.
• Weak secondary battery, with a slow reload.

Research

As a Premium ship, Imperator Nikolai I doesn't have any upgrades to research.

Optimal Configuration

Upgrades

The recommended upgrades for Imperator Nikolai I are as follows:

• Slot 1: Main Armaments Modification 1
• Slot 2: Damage Control System Modification 1 

Commander Skills

Recommended Commander Skills
Cost (points)	Attack			Defense
1	Gun Feeder -40% time to switch shell type. ★	Demolition Expert +1% chance of main and secondary HE shells causing a fire +15% to the fragmentation damage area of HE ordnance when firing at submarines.	Consumable Specialist −7.5% cooldown time of all Consumables except:  Damage Control Party ,  Repair Party .	Emergency Repair Specialist -3% cooldown time of Damage Control Party  and Repair Party . ★★	Incoming Fire Alert Receive a warning about a salvo fired at your ship from more than 4.5 km.	Preventive Maintenance −30% chance of main armament, engines, steering becoming incapacitated +15% to HP of secondary and AA guns. ★
2	Grease the Gears +20% main turret traverse speed. ★★	Inertial Fuse for HE Shells +25% armor penetration of HE shells. Base fire chance reduced by half.	Brisk So long as the ship remains undetected: +10% ship speed.	Vigilance +25% detection range of enemy torpedoes +7% damage reduction of Torpedo Protection System. . ★	Priority Target The detection indicator will show the number of enemies targeting you with main battery. ★★	AAA & ASW Expert +15% continuous AAA and flak damage . +10% damage inflicted by depth charges. While AAA is active: −40% ship consumables reload time..
3	Super-Heavy AP Shells +7.5% AP shell damage −10% fire and flood damage received +25% fire and flood duration. ★	Long-Range Secondary Battery Shells +20% secondary battery firing range.	Adrenaline Rush -0.2% reload time of all armaments per 1% HP lost +0.2% AA continuous damage per 1% HP lost. ★★★	Basics of Survivability -15% repair, fire, and flooding duration. ★★	Improved Repair Party Readiness −0.8% reload time of Repair Party each time your ship receives potential damage equal to 100% of the ship's base HP. After receiving 2M HP potential damage: +1 charge of Repair Party ..	Focus Fire Training In an active priority AA sector: •  +1.5% (to 5%) immediate damage. •  +25% continuous damage. •  +1 flak burst per salvo. −10% aircraft preparation time. −15% reload time of Airstrike armament..
4	Furious 1st fire / flood   −10% Main battery reload time 2nd etc. (up to 5), each   −5% Main battery reload time	Manual Secondary Battery Aiming −10% secondary battery reload time. −10% secondary battery dispersion. When firing at a manually selected target: dispersion gradually improves from -25% to -50%.	Close Quarters Combat -10% reload time of main battery if an enemy ship is spotted within secondary range. ★	Emergency Repair Expert Damage Control Party  and Repair Party : +1 charge (each). +10% action time . ★★★	Concealment Expert -10% detectability range of the ship. ★★★	Fire Prevention Expert -10% risk of fire. Three fires maximum. ★★★
Key: ★★★ - Extremely Useful      ★★ - Frequently Useful      ★ - Occasionally Useful     No stars - Not Useful

Consumables

Imperator Nikolai I can equip the following consumables:

• Slot 1: Damage Control Party 
• Slot 2: Repair Party 

Camouflage

As a premium ship, Imperator Nikolai I comes with Default permanent camouflage and a set of permanent combat bonuses.

Imperator Nikolai I also has an alternate premium camouflage called "Rasputin", in which she appears as she does during the Halloween scenarios "Saving Transylvania" and "Sunray in the Darkness". These camoflages do not provide additional benefits, but merely give a new appearance and are desired collector items.

Signals

Recommended Signal Flags
Combat
Charlie Kilo +5% ship HP; +2.5% squadron HP.	Juliet Yankee Bissotwo -20% to flooding duration.	India Yankee -20% to fire duration. ★★★	Hotel Yankee -20% to damage received when ramming the enemy. +50% to damage dealt when ramming the enemy. ★	Victor Lima +1% chance for HE bombs and shells with a caliber above 160mm causing a fire. +0.5% chance for bombs and smaller shells causing a fire. +4% chance of torpedoes causing flooding.	India X-Ray +1% chance for HE bombs and shells with a caliber above 160mm causing a fire. +0.5% chance for bombs and smaller shells causing a fire.
Juliet Whiskey Unaone +15% chance of causing flooding. ★	Mike Yankee Soxisix +5% to secondary battery maximum firing range. -5% to maximum dispersion of secondary battery shells. -5% to secondary battery loading time. ★	November Echo Setteseven +5% continuous AA damage at all ranges. +5% damage from flak bursts.	Sierra Mike +5% to the ship's maximum speed. ★★	November Foxtrot -5% reload time on all consumables. ★★	India Delta +20% to the amount of HP recovered when Repair Party  is used. ★★★
X-Ray Papa Unaone +10% action time of a Smoke Generator .	Sierra Bravo +10% action time of Hydroacoustic Search  -10% reload time of Defensive AA Fire .

Gallery

• 
  Imperator Nikolai I' in port.
• 
  Imperator Nikolai I in "Rasputin" camouflage.
• 
• 
  Imperator Nikolai I unleashing a broadside.
• 
  Coming under an air attack, Imperator Nikolai I can only attempt to dodge the incoming Torpedoes.
• 
  An enemy Cruiser made the mistake of showing his vulnerable side, which Imperator Nikolai I punished.

Historical Info

Imperator Nikolai I, 1916

Construction

Builder: ONZiV; Nikolayev, Russian Empire
   (later Mykolaiv, Ukraine)

Laid down: 15 April 1915

Launched: 5 October 1916

Commissioned: Never Completed

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Specifications

Displacement: 27,830 tons, standard

182m length

29m beam

9m draft

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Machinery

20 Yarrow small-tube boilers, four Parsons turbine sets

3,557 tons of coal, 150 tons of oil

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Performance

21 knots at 29,700 shaft horsepower

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Armor

Main belt: 270mm, thinning to 100mm forward and 175mm aft

Transverse Bulkheads: 25-50mm forward, 300-150mm aft

Main Deck: 35-63mm

Conning tower: 400mm side, 250mm roof

Turrets and Barbettes: 300mm turrets, 300mm barbettes

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Armament

Main

Twelve (4x3) 305mm/52 Pattern 1907 guns

Secondary

Twenty (20x1) 130mm/44 Pattern 1913 guns

Anti-Aircraft

Four (4x1) 63mm/38 Pattern 1916 guns

Four (4x1) 7.6 2mm Maxim machine guns

Torpedoes

Four (4x1) 450mm Model 1910 torpedoes

Imperator Nikolai I under construction, date unknown.

Design

The three dreadnoughts of the Imperatritsa Mariya-class initially seemed sufficient to counter the threat of the two Turkish super-dreadnoughts ordered in Britain in Early 1911, more so after one was cancelled following the Balkan Wars and the Ottoman Empire’s finance was in a precarious situation. Come 1913 however, the Turkish had secured the Brazilian battleship Rio de Janeiro, renaming her Sultan Osman I, also expressing interest in two Argentine battleships under construction in the USA and two Chilean battleships under construction in Britain, and the possibilities of Turkey buying a German battlecruiser. Come 1913 however, one thing was certain; The three Russian Imperatritsa Mariyas armed with 12” guns would be facing three Turkish battleships, two of them carrying 13.5” guns.

Expansion of the Black Sea Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy was quickly put into action, calling for the construction of six submarines, eight destroyers, two cruisers, and a fourth Black Sea battleship. Several initial designs including a repeated fourth Imperatritsa Mariya with twelve 12” guns, an Imperatritsa Mariya based design with eight 14” guns, and an entirely new design with ten to twelve 14” guns. As speed was of the essence, and Russian gunnery doctrine dictated that capital ships have 12 guns for good fire control, and the fact that this new battleship would need to be able to work with her older half-sisters, it was decided by January 1914 that the new Black Sea battleship would retain the same base design as the preceding Imperatritsa Mariyas, with heavier armor being the primary upgrade.

With this new design being based so heavily on the pre-existing Imperatritsa Mariya design, and being built by the ONZiV shipyard which was then constructing Imperatritsa Mariya-class battleship Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya, the fourth Black Sea battleship named Imperator Nikolai I (sometimes confused as Ioann Groznyi or even Imperatritsa Elizaveta) was developed incredibly quickly, as many features of the ship simply repeated designs of the previous Imperatritsa Mariya, including the usage of the same propulsion plant as Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya in an effort to get the ship built as quickly as possible. After her design was finalized in January 1914, she was laid down six months later in late June; following Ekaterina’s launch earlier that month.

With her design finalized, Imperator Nikolai I took the general shape of an enlarged Imperatritsa Mariya, with some peculiarities. One peculiarity of note was her ice-breaking bow; something unnecessary on Black Sea battleships and absent on the other three Russian battleships of the Black Sea, perhaps hoping that the Black Sea fleet may one day operate outside the confines of the inland sea. She retained the same general shape as the other Black Sea battleships, with a smokestack behind the main bridge and one amidships, and the same main turret and secondary layout. What stood out the most was her raised forecastle; the Imperatritsa Mariyas trimmed by the bow, so Nikolai’s design was modified to abate this; but the added weight of the taller barbette for the A turret may have only increased her trim problems.

The primary improvement of Imperator Nikolai I was her armor. Designed to be protected by nearly 9,500 tons versus the Imperatritsa’s 6,900 tons, Nikolai’s increased size was since Russian armor mills were unable to manufacture belt armor plate thicker than 273mm, meaning that to substantially increase the ship’s horizontal protection, the only route was to increase the thickness of the longitudinal bulkhead behind the main belt. Behind the main 270mm armor belt was a 75mm longitudinal bulkhead set 3 to 4.5m back from the outer side. While this lead to Nikolai being over 20 meters longer and 2.5 meters wider than her half-sisters, this thicker bulkhead allowed face-hardened plate to be used, with calculations showing that this would have increased the ship’s broadside protection by as much as 40%. However, like all Russian dreadnoughts, Nikolai lacked proper side-protection systems against underwater explosions; making the ships vulnerable to the more and more powerful torpedoes coming into service during World War I.

Imperator Nikolai I’s main armament was twelve 305mm/52 guns in four triple turrets, mounted in the typical Russian linear fashion along the centerline. They were arranged in the same pattern as the preceding Imperatritsas, with three facing forward and the rearmost facing aft. These guns were the same guns mounted on both the Imperatritsas of the Black Sea and the Ganguts of the Baltic, as new 14” guns that were intended for the Izmail-class Baltic Battlecruisers would take several more years to complete for Nikolai I. Her secondary armament was identical to her Black Sea half-sisters, carrying 20 130mm/55 secondaries in the same arrangement as her predecessors. For her AA armament, she was loaded with four semi-automatic 63mm/38 semi-automatic AA guns, a model considered largely unsuccessful and quickly taken out of service; there were plans to replace these with new 102mm/37 guns in 1917, but these – like the ship itself – never came to fruition. She was to carry 4 47mm saluting guns, and four 7.62mm machine guns. Finally, she had four 450mm underwater torpedo tubes, with a pair on each broadside.

Service History

The Naval General Staff had hoped that Imperator Nikolai I would be launched come October 1915, and be ready for service by the Summer of 1917. The outbreak of World War I threw a spanner in the works, but not in an entirely negative way. Construction continued at the previous pace, as it was believed that the war would be short and the ship would likely not be needed until afterwards. Even the seizing of the three Turkish battleships being built in the UK did not slow construction down; but soon things changed. As the war started to grow long, urgent war production began to slow the feed of materials to Nikolai, with workers being transferred to finish Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaia and begin construction of badly-needed destroyers. By 1916, construction had slowed down considerably, but Imperator Nikolai I was finally launched come October of 1916.

Following slight modifications to her design based on wartime experiences, work was still ongoing, with hopes that she’d be completed within 18 months. The February Revolution of 1917 quickly changed this. Come April of 1917 her hulk was renamed Demokratiya; by this time the hulk was about 60% completed, with her horizontal armor and barbettes in the final stages of completion. Work slowed to a crawl over 1917, until finally the provisional government ceased all work on the ship until “a more favorable time” by October 1917. As Russia internally fell apart, the Russian Army collapsed to the German-Austrian offensives of Spring 1918, with the Central Powers reaching the shipyard Demokratiya rested in. The occupying forces made no changes, nor had any plans to complete the ship that lay in the port of Nikolaev. Come 1923, the new Soviet government inspected the incomplete Tsarist capital ships, Demokratiya among them. Her hulk had sat afloat but uncared for for five years, rusting away in Nikolaev. She was considered too slow for modern operations, and would be too costly to properly modernize, and after discussions dragged on until 1927, where it was finally decided upon that her hulk would be scrapped, slowly being dismantled in Sevastopol until she finally disappeared in 1928.

In-game historical inaccuracies

• Imperator Nikolai I is based on one of the paper designs and not the final design that was being built. The final design had all the turrets at the same height, like Gangut.
• Rate of fire is actually 1.8 rounds per minute, not 1.67.
• The horizontal tricolour camouflage was only applied to a few Novik-class destroyers of the Baltic Fleet; Imperator Nikolai I is a battleship of the Black Sea Fleet.

Historical Gallery

• 
  Plan and side views.
• 
  Imperator Nikolai I under construction.

References

1. Russian battleship Imperator Nikolai I (1916) - Wikipedia

Ship Change Log

• Available to supertesters in the game starting from Update 0.5.0.1.
• Update 0.5.0.3:
  • Added to the Premium store.
• Removed from the Premium store on February 1, 2016 due to excessively high win rates.
• Update 0.5.3.2:
  • The Type 6 camouflage was renamed to Type 9.
• Update 0.6.2:
  • Improved appearance with the use of a special technology for improved rendering of thin elements (rigging, etc.).
• Update 0.6.12:
  • Detectability when firing main guns in smoke changed to 9.75 km.
• Update 0.6.15:
  • The permanent camouflages "Type 9" and Rasputin received a bonus - a 10% discount to the cost of post-battle maintenance.
• Update 0.8.7:
  • Minor geometry and texture fixes.
• Update 0.9.0:
  • Minor fixes to the armor geometry.
• Update 0.9.6:
  • The value of the in-game turning circle radius was changed to 660 m to correct prior discrepancy.
• Update 0.10.0:
  • The firing range of the secondary battery was increased to 4 km.
• Update 0.10.2:
  • Fixed errors in the armor thickness values.
• Update 0.11.2:
  • Green smoke effect on the sides of the Rasputin permanent camouflage was re-enabled.

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