The Curious Case of the Missing USS Scorpion (SSN-589)

Fifty-two years ago, the USS Scorpion disappeared without a trace. The missing skipjack-class nuclear-powered submarine inspired several theories, books, songs, and even movie references. Was the crew involved in a skirmish with Soviet forces? Or was it just a tragic accident? The true reason for the submarine’s loss may never be known for sure.

What we do know is that the crew never made their scheduled arrival in Norfolk, Virginia on May 27, 1968. The method used to locate this sub is both eerie and fascinating and could be used to boost online gaming wins, to bet on sporting events, or to gain an advantage in stock and derivatives trading.

The Case of the Missing USS Scorpion

On February 15th, 1968, the sub and its crew of 99 US soldiers departed from Norfolk. Over the next few months, the crew participated in several exercises with the US Navy and NATO forces and collected information about Soviet naval units in the Meditteranean.

After its primary mission, the crew enjoyed exploring ports in Italy and Sicily before embarking for their homeward journey in May.

For several days, the sub’s journey seemed to be proceeding as normal. On May 22nd, Commander Francis A. Slattery radioed that the sub would arrive back in port at 1 pm on May 27th.

They never made it home.

When the arrival time came and went, family and officials knew something was amiss. Later reports suggested that officials knew something was likely wrong earlier when the crew failed to respond to routine messages, though that information was not shared with families of the missing soldiers.

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WoWS ST 0.9.5, balance changes to German Battleship Odin

Odin combines all the best features of German Battleships: good secondary armament, torpedoes, and strong, reliable armor. These positives are balanced out by a lower amount of HP and a relatively low caliber. Of course – as a battleship – one of the main threats Odin can potentially face is a torpedo attack. However, this threat is all but neutralized by her Hydroacoustic Search consumable – another brand feature of German Battleships

In spite of her main gun caliber, Odin is not held back by the traditionally mediocre German battleship accuracy. On top of that, she enjoys good ballistics, a fast rate of fire, decent concealment, and capable AA. She can effectively fight against cruisers at any range, and she’s pretty strong in close combat, too.

While playing against ships of Tiers IX – X, Odin’s gameplay changes: instead of leading aggressive pushes – which can be justified against Tier VI-VIII enemies – the battleship can instead switch to a safer strategy and take full advantage of her accurate guns.

From a balance point of view, her performance stats proved to be too high: both average and skillful players showed performance that far exceeded other Tier VIII battleships they played.

Moreover, we should take into account that the general efficiency of ships usually grows after their release. The reason for it is the following: on test ships, players tend to take more risks and the enemies are always happy to focus the new ship to test her strength.

Our goal with Odin, as with any other ship, is to create interesting gameplay while keeping her balanced with other ships in the game. Furthermore, Odin is a premium ship, which means that a situation where it would need nerfs after release is highly undesirable.

With all that in mind, we are applying these final changes to the ship: strengthening her AA and Secondary Armament, but increasing main battery reload time. We do it in the best interest of the game as we want to keep Odin interesting and dynamic, but at the same time we don’t want to have her power creep other battleships.

  • Main battery reload time increased from 20 to 23 sec.
  • Secondary battery firing range increased from 7.5 to 7.7 km.
  • Secondary battery 128 mm reload time reduced from 3.6 to 3.4 sec.
  • Secondary battery 150 mm reload time reduced from 7.5 to 7.0 sec.
  • Continuous AA damage increased from 249 to 258;
    • Damage by Medium-Range AA guns reduced from 336 to 333;
    • Damage by Long-Range AA guns increased from 249 to 258.

Before Odin becomes available for everyone, we will release a small update with these final settings (estimated time: June 2) so that our Community Contributors will be able to make their final reviews and showcase what Odin’s got to offer.

Source: WoWS Devblog

WoWS ST 0.9.5, changes to test ships

Source: WoWS Devblog

Please note that all information in the development blog is preliminary and subject to change during testing. Any showcased features may or may not end up on the main server.

We continue to adjust the parameters of test ships

IX Zarya Svobody

  • Number of Hitpoints reduced from 88,100 to 80,900.
  • Main Turret traverse speed reduced from 6.0 to 4.0 degrees per second.

X Shikishima

  • Secondary battery firing range increased from 6.0 to 7.7 km.

VIII Champagne

  • AP shell penetration increased to the previous value;
  • Number of Hitpoints reduced from 60,900 to 52,600.
  • Main battery reload time increased from 26 to 28.6 s.

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WoWS Submarine Battles: Free Submarine Rentals

Source: EU Portal

Submarines have come a long way and changed significantly since the first tests, but a lot of work still remains to be done before they can become a full-fledged unit type.

While we continue configuring the submarines, you’re welcome to try them out in Submarine Battles.

Key Points

  • Submarine Battles are a separate battle type for Tier VI ships, available from May 27 through June 24.
  • You’ll receive Submarine Tokens for your first login each day.
  • The Tokens can be exchanged in the Armory for random bundles, one of which contains three rental submarines.
  • New game mechanics: dive and ascend, sonar pings, battery charge, depth charges, and Hydrophone.
  • A special combat mission that will reward you with XP and credits for cruisers, destroyers, battleships, and aircraft carriers.

Submarine Battles

Starts: Wed. 27 May 06:00 CEST (UTC+2) / your local time: Wed. 27 May 07:00
Ends: Wed. 24 Jun. 06:00 CEST (UTC+2) / your local time: Wed. 24 Jun. 07:00

Select Submarine Battles, select any Tier VI ship, and fight against submarines!

To stand at the helm of a submarine yourself, you need to collect and use Submarine Tokens. These Tokens will be credited upon your first login each day during the run of Submarine Battles. You can exchange Submarine Tokens for random bundles in the Armory. One of the seven available random bundles will drop three 21-day rental submarines, each with a special 19-skill-point Commander. The remaining bundles will drop 500 Coal each.

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WoWS PT, balance changes

Please note that all information in the development blog is preliminary and subject to change during testing. Any showcased features may or may not end up on the main server.

We’ve changed the characteristics of several ships, having analyzed their combat performance and taken player feedback into account. Such changes were required to carefully adjust the balance of selected warships. We’ll continue to introduce changes in the updates that will follow, if deemed necessary.

III Valkyrie

  • Main battery reload time increased from 5.5 to 5.8 s.

II Weymouth

  • Main battery reload time increased from 8.9 to 9.2 s.

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