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South Carolina is a Tier III American bow-tank battleship: top-decile bow and deck plate shrugs what peer guns cannot crack, so she holds the line bow-in and soaks fire while the team trades around her. A heavy Repair Party stretches the trade further. Standout traits: best AP fuse timer in T3 BBs (0.03 s) and best DCP duration in T3 BBs (20 s).
Sit 12-15 km from the brawl line and exploit the range advantage. You do not need to push into peer fire to land damage; rotate one or two map cells back if a flank starts to collapse.
A battleship caught broadside by two same-tier guns at mid range loses more HP than any single salvo trades back, so rotate with the team or hold your angle instead of charging in first.
20.0 s Damage Control duration, best of T3 BBs. Stays fire / flood immune longer per activation.
18.0 kt, bottom decile of T3 BBs. Hard to rotate flanks or disengage; commit positioning early.
202.6 m max horizontal dispersion, bottom decile of T3 BBs. Long-range salvos are noticeably wider than peers'.
South Carolina is a Premium ship and not available to unlock in the Tech Tree. Acquisition path: Premium/Event.
Pair with a commander whose unique skill complements her main armament; check the build tool for current recommendations.
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Where South Carolina sits among Tier III BBs (19 ships). Notable standouts are shown first; the rest of the cohort-ranked stats are in the expand below. Acquisition variants (Black Friday, Founders Edition) are counted once with their base ship, not as separate peers.
Not standouts for South Carolina -- here's where she sits on every other ranked stat in the cohort. Stats tagged NORM are tied across more than half the cohort, so the value is the cohort default rather than a standout.
Damage Control Party∞ charges · 80 s reload · 20 s active
Repair Party3 charges · 80 s reload · 28 s active · 4,900 HP (14% of max HP) total heal (per charge) 
Secondary Battery Booster3 charges · 160 s reload · 30 s active · +100% grouping · -50% dispersionAll values are ship base stats with modifications and upgrade changes denoted inline.
Numbers the spec table cannot show directly: alpha-strike math, DPM, dispersion, AP penetration. Click the formula chip on any row to reveal how it is calculated.
Horizontal dispersion ellipse width at max range, from the verified WoWS dispersion model: $\sigma_H = \left(\dfrac{R}{30}\cdot\dfrac{\text{idealRadius}-\text{minRadius}}{\text{idealDistance}} + \text{minRadius}\right)\cdot 30$ $= \left(\dfrac{14255}{30}\cdot\dfrac{12-2}{1000} + 2\right)\cdot 30 = 202.6\,\text{m}$How wide your shells scatter at 10 km, from the same dispersion model as the max-range figure above. Picking a fixed range makes this number directly comparable from ship to ship: max-range dispersion makes a longer-range gun look worse even when it's tighter at any common range. The interactive Dispersion tab on the Charts card plots the full curve from 0 to max range.Vertical dispersion ellipse height at max range: $\sigma_V = \sigma_H \cdot \text{radiusOnMax}$ $= 202.6 \cdot 0.6 = 121.5\,\text{m}$How tall the same scatter ellipse is at 10 km. Comparable from ship to ship for the same reason as the width value above.50%-hit horizontal radius: $\sigma_{H,50} = \sigma_H \cdot \text{GetHalfHitsRatio}(\sigma)$ $= 202.6 \cdot 0.344\;(\sigma = 1.8) = 69.7\,\text{m}$50%-hit vertical radius: $\sigma_{V,50} = \sigma_V \cdot \text{GetHalfHitsRatio}(\sigma)$ $= 121.5 \cdot 0.344\;(\sigma = 1.8) = 41.8\,\text{m}$Canonical community AP formula (jcw780/wows_shell), evaluated at muzzle velocity: $P = 10^{-7}\cdot K \cdot m^{0.69} \cdot d^{-1.07} \cdot v_0^{1.38}$ $= 10^{-7}\cdot 2408 \cdot 394.6^{0.69} \cdot 0.305^{-1.07} \cdot 823^{1.38} = 559.8\,\text{mm}$. Matches the in-game spec card.Same formula at the ship's max firing range (17.8 km), where the shell has slowed to 384.1 m/s: $P = 10^{-7}\cdot 2408 \cdot 394.6^{0.69} \cdot 0.305^{-1.07} \cdot 384.1^{1.38} = 195.6\,\text{mm}$.51 mm ≈ 305 mm caliber / 6 (standard HE penetration ratio).floor(305 mm caliber / 14.3) = 21 mm (AP auto-penetrates plating this thick or less).AP shell over-penetration splash radius; scales with shell mass. Wickes 102mm = 3, standard 152mm CL ~ 20, Iowa 406mm ~ 270, Yamato 460mm = 400, Incomparable 650mm = 550 (max). Larger value = bigger splash damage area when AP over-pens.All 8 barrels bear on the broadside.180 degrees / 4 deg/s traverse speed = 45 s.4,500 HE damage x 8 broadside guns = 36,000.8,500 AP damage x 8 broadside guns = 68,000.36,000 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 28 s base reload = 77,143.68,000 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 28 s base reload = 145,714.8 broadside guns x 60 / 28 s base reload = 17.1.17.1 shells/min x 28% fire chance = 4.8.Continuous AA damage summed across AirDefense module auras (no usable per-aura data available, so the formula prediction couldn't be applied on this ship).Longest-reaching aura across AA-only + dual-purpose auras.Max dispersion = range (km) × 57 + 30. Each dispersion type sets its own slope; this is not a percentage applied to a standard baseline.4.5 km × 57 + 30 = 286.5 m.Sum across all secondary families of (per-side barrels × 60 / reload_s × alpha), where per-side barrels = mounts × barrels-per-mount / 2 (the guns that bear on one broadside target). Per-family: 22×1 76.2 mm (11/side) × 60/6 × 1100 = 121,000. Assumes every shell hits (real hit rate is lower; the Brawl matchup tool on the Compare page folds in dispersion + target armor).Maximum HE damage per shell across secondary HE families. Best on this ship: 1100 from the 76.2 mm family.Maximum per-shell fire chance across secondary HE families (before target fire resistance is applied). Best on this ship: 4% from the 76.2 mm family.Maximum HE armor penetration across secondary HE families (caliber × 1/6 for most nations; 1/4 for German/UK BBs). Shells whose pen falls under a plate's armor thickness shatter for 0 hull damage though fire chance still applies. Best on this ship: 13 mm from the 76.2 mm family.Hull HP 35,000, distributed across 5 hull zones, each with its own plate thicknesses, saturation cap, and pen thresholds. HP caps are the exact in-game values, not estimated.
Overmatched by 48+ guns across the bracket. Can’t reliably bow-tank; gets bow-citadelled and overpenned.
Citadels come from a flat broadside at close range; held past ~30° of angle, AP shatters or bounces.
Superstructure and extremities take HE pens and AP overpens from nearly any gun: steady chip damage. Fire resistance 10%, fires burn 60s. Range-by-range in the ballistics tool →
| Section | Plates | HP cap | Threats | Tactic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bow | 16 mm primary (range 16–38 mm) | 1,600 (5% of HP) | Overmatched by 283mm+ (Nassau, Von Der Tann)Angle bounces 203mm16 mm: HE pens from 127mm+ | Bow-tank fits behind this exterior plate. Saturation is FAST here; the cap is often only a few thousand HP. |
| Hull (midship) | 19 mm primary (range 16–203 mm) | 26,300 (75% of HP) | Overmatched by 283mm+ (Nassau, Von Der Tann)Angle bounces 203mm19 mm: HE pens from 127mm+ | Largest HP pool. Citadel sits behind these plates; thinner deck and side plating absorb the rest. |
| Stern | 25 mm primary (range 16–76 mm) | 800 (2% of HP) | Overmatch not possible in its bracketAngle bounces 356mm25 mm: HE pens from 150mm+ | Mirror of bow. Same fast saturation. |
| Citadel | 305 mm primary (range 16–305 mm) | ≈ 165,500 (effectively no cap) | Citadel pen: full damageOver-pen: ×0.10 damage | Effectively no cap; citadel pool sits at ~165k HP on every ship. An AP citadel penetration deals the shell's full damage, the biggest single hit available; only over-penetrations are damped, to ×0.10. |
| Superstructure | 10 mm primary (range 10–305 mm) | 1,100 (3% of HP) | Any HE ≥16 mm pens at full damage | Any HE ≥16 mm pens at full damage. HE-spam target, and the section saturates fast (often only a few thousand HP). |
| Turret (module, per magazine) | separate HP pool, does not drain ship HP | 14,500 magazine HP | Magazine detonation1–30% chance · below ~75% HP | Per-turret powder-magazine HP. Detonation chance scales from 1% (no mag damage) to 30% (full mag damage); this range is the in-game value. Detonation can't roll while the ship is above ~75% HP (the standard detonation-protection threshold, not a per-ship stat). Smaller magazines saturate to the 30% ceiling faster. |
| Secondary mount (76.2 mm mount) | separate HP pool, does not drain ship HP | 800 per-mount HP | Destroyed at 0 HP | Per-mount HP for the heaviest secondary on this ship. A mount destroyed at 0 HP is out for the rest of the battle; DCP does not repair destroyed mounts. Smaller (lighter-caliber) secondaries typically share the same HP value. |
| Engine (module, research) | engine coefficient (unconfirmed) | -0.120 research estimate | Largest on BB/BC; zero on destroyers | Engine durability isn't a per-ship value in the game data. This small negative coefficient is non-zero only on battleships, battlecruisers, and the heaviest cruisers, and is exactly zero on every destroyer, so it scales with hull displacement rather than any commander skill. Most likely an engine drag or power term in the same family as the deceleration stats; its exact meaning is not yet confirmed. |
| Rudder (module) | separate HP pool, does not drain ship HP | 10,500 module HP | Incapacitated at 0 HP | When module HP reaches 0 the rudder locks at its current angle until DCP repairs it. Repair via Damage Control Party. |
Saturation cap = HP a section can absorb before further damage to it is reduced (the "bow-tank" effect). Citadel pool is ~165k on every ship (effectively no cap); damage is gated by pen/over-pen multipliers instead. Superstructure saturates fast but HE always pens regardless of the plate thickness. Rudder (and other module HPs) are a separate pool from ship HP: damaging a module doesn't drain ship HP. Incapacitated modules like the rudder and engine are restored by DCP, but secondary and AA mounts destroyed at 0 HP stay out for the rest of the battle.
Balance updates affecting South Carolina. Cards are condensed; use each source link for full context.
Every custom exterior South Carolina can equip, from in-game data.
Filtered to official World of Warships: Legends pages where this ship is a focus, reward, line member, or high-context variant mention.