and yeah if you decide to armor, the ships that you can armor up relatively well would be
the Heavycruiser New Orleans, Portland, and Pensacola.

and if you REALLY want some armor, 1.8-2.0+ inches of deck armor would bounce most low
level DD shells.

again, im talking about deck hits, and im not encouraging armoring US ships

to help answer some of your other questions,

yes, i suppose armoring up your CA/BB (in blitz only) is a option if you are not
comfortable with the controls yet. Putting deck armor at close to 5" i think would stop
8" shells (around 2.5" for 6" shells). I usually dont encourage armoring but i
supposed in the new blitzs with the hobbit map, it would teach you to use your CA/BB range
and prepare you for great battles a little. Belt armor should still not be used at all,
unless you plan on rushing straight in and still get killed.

also, a little on bulkhead armor,
So you probably noticed that your ship slows down when it is damaged below a certain
point. higher bulkhead armor can reduce that threshold - meaning it allows you to still
overheat at a lower health. Its not commonly used since it is very heavy and you need a
lot to actually see a difference. I personally only use it in BB battles, but only to the
point before i lose speed.

still, i still have to agree with others that you should not armor US ships at all other
than 0.2-0.3" belt and some bulge. You could practice your dodging skills in a DDX. Its
always fun to bring down a CL or CA in a DD without being hit much. Makes ppl mad hah!
gl

Think of it this way. To truly armor whore a ship means to have enough armor to stop
(bounce) shells of at least equal caliber as you and ships in your class are using. For
anything CA and higher this means deck armor.

The New Orleans for example, like umbrella mentioned, can mount enough armor to stop all
8" shells except UK County duals shooting at max angle. In order to do this you have to
shave off weight to make room for armor. This means mounting a DD3 heavy engine and only
using the 2 front turrets. Without the deck armor and using 3 turrets a New Orleans can go
51 knots + depending on your crew weight and engineer abilities. With the armor you are
only able to make 35-38 knots. Thats alot of speed you are giving up. Not to mention the
firepower and attack potential.

My best attack score in New Orleans in blitz is 77k with a 26% hit rate, using up all of
my ammo. Considering the same hit rate thats a damage potential of around 50k only. With
the 51 knots I was able to effectively dodge the enemy fire and took only 4.5k damage. If
I was only going 38 knots I would have ultimately been swarmed by DDs and CLs that cannot
normally hit me at range and would have been hit in my unarmored belt, sinking long before
I could spend all my ammo.

NF != real life, hence the ability to make full use of a ship's range, the limited utility
of armor, etc. And yes, I do push speed hard. It goes well with my aggressive (perhaps
too aggressive?) play. Small amounts of armor tend to either do nothing, or stop shells
from ships much smaller than you. In the case of the latter, that's generally not of much
use -- due to how NF models damage, a BB can safely absorb a number of DD salvos with
little effect.

As for CL/CA capable of armoring, the Omaha, New Orleans, and Pensacola come to mind.

You mentioned that you're using the Atlanta right now. Have you tried out the lost art of
high angling at all? >_>

@ V2 - I've been reading through guides and comments in the "shipyard". It seems almost
everyone is as Raptor said "speed is armor". I find that strange considering that the
battle cruiser concept failed (partly of course with the ships not being properly
employed) but also because of the failure to find that they eventually come into contact
with each other. Kapuska mentioned uparmoring a Guam. Interesting, as it is a
BATTLECRUISER. Then again, this is the game where the historically rebuilt Renown is rated
worse than her never upgraded or rebuilt sister Repulse... so you never know! Anyway, you
mention several USN ships (I assume CAs) worth putting armor on. Suggestions?

@ Raptor - Thanks for explaining what armor does what. I figured out the bulges and the
decks, but had no clue about the bulkheads. I guess your a speed guy to. I'm a little
older and slower, so I'm thinking that I'd like a little bit of armor to give me a second
chance. Armoring an Atlanta would be stupid/suicide. What about after that? I'm setting up
two crews, 1 for a CV and 1 for a BB. If I were to have one CA/CL armored and one
unarmored, what would you do?

Thanks guys, I really appricate you and the others posting in here taking the time to
answer my questions. Its saving me time and $$$

i think the H would be better because u can stick heavier guns on there take more
damage without dying but the only bad thing would be is that it might go slower
than the L i have played with both and i would rather go H

Like I said they come out of the woodwork and claim it works :D

You can AW a Guam pretty effectively. I tried it, it worked, and if anyone wants to say
that it's complete BS, well that's too bad.

The rule of thumb is 0.2" of belt and as much bulge as you can fit without losing speed.

A common goal of armor is to "bounce" shells. If you can reach a critical threshold
(which varies with the shell, whether we're talking about belt or deck hits, and what
angle the shell is coming in at), you can dramatically reduce the shell damage (stopping
90+% of it). That said, effective use of speed and dodging can also result in evading
large amounts of enemy firepower. "Speed is armor" applies very strongly to NF.

Several US ships can do with with belt/close in low angle shells in a Blitz (very few
shells over 8" and a fair number 6" or smaller), or in rarer cases deck/higher angle
shells. Even so, one can use those same ships effectively without armor. In a Great
Battle environment, most shells cannot be effectively bounced, and those that can are
typically from ships that can be effectively dealt with without using armor.

Against torpedoes, the situation is somewhat different -- every last unit of bulge has an
effect in absorbing torpedo damage. Even then, one can use speed and situational
awareness to evade a large fraction of torpedoes. (Essentially all of them in a Blitz
situation) The 0.2" of belt that Bong suggested is a well tested, light, and surprisingly
effective torpedo defense -- damage from hits is roughly halved. (More belt has little
effect)

Bulkhead offers the ability to maintain overheat capability (and slow cruise speed loss)
with large amounts of damage. The high weight means that you often can't mount much
without taking a serious speed hit. If you're able to make torpedoes a non-issue (BB
rooms, possibly some blitzes), it can be worth replacing your belt/bulge with a few units
of bulk.

I'm just gonna assume you mean USN only since its where you are posting. Theres only a
couple USN ships that can armor effectively and none of them are battleships. All of those
ships are far more effective without giving up speed and firepower.

Alot of people will say otherwise and alot of people will make claims or even post
screenshots of the rare game or 2 that it does work. But what it comes down to is either
they were farming noobs or no one caught on to what they were doing quick enough to switch
to AP (armor penetrating) shells.

Bulge is the only type of armor that should be used on USN ships but not enough so that it
slows you down more then 2 knots. Bulge is used as torpedo defense. Pair that with .2" of
belt armor and you will be able to absorb abit or torpedo damage. You can check out the
tips and tactics section for more detailed information on that.