[2022] Black nerf

I assure you that the decisions to nerf or buff ships based on an understanding of metrics takes into account player skill.
It's a nerf of a few seconds to radar on a ship that combines American Smoke and radar on a DD.
She'll be fine

I love the analogy
Guys - I recall it the T9 CB season the USS Black was a must-have for most teams. It's sluggish and it's torps are sea-mines, but the ability to combine DD stealth with American Smoke and radar is extremely powerful and warranted a small nerf to the duration of the radar.

This process was announced back in December.

Of course - we don't want two versions of the ship running around with 3 seconds difference in radar

Right?

Here's an idea of where the Black radar sits in comparison to the comparable Radars on other DD's.
Nothing special, right?
The difference is circled.
The Black's ability to smoke up itself or allies and maintain a radar (the PA DD's must choose one) gives it unparalleled utility. A short nerf to the radar duration does exactly what @Your_SAT_Score highlighted - it means your allies get 1 less salvo on average.

It's been a common theme for at least a year now that people would like to see the USS Black come back and be available. I am one of those people as I was not playing ranked when it arrived there, nor did I have the resources needed when it was available for resources.
A number of you have pointed out the idea that, "If there aren't that many, then why nerf it?" - that's fine as long as it's not available again. We would like to have the option to bring it back to availability to please those many folks that would like to see it available again. Ergo - if it's released again, it will cease to be a ship that "is not there in large enough numbers to warrant balance concerns". See where this went?
To me, the Black lost status as a "Reward Ship" that is untouchable like the Iwaki A or Arkansas B when it was put into the armory for Steel. Steel ships can change, and thank goodness for that because FDR is a steel ship.

Interesting idea! Unfortunately it's just not how we do things.

Oh, sure! I 100% agree with you there. Things change all the time, can change, and SHOULD change.
Forgive me if it came across wrong, I meant to say that "this is not the kind of idea that we generally implement". It doesn't mean it can't happen, but making multiple versions of ships to account for a small balance adjustment is generally not what we do. Missouri's credit bonus was an odd exception seeing as the difference was an economic one and has no bearing on combat capabilities.

@SteveStevenson

No, this isn't to say that everyone is going to happy with this decision. I linked the Thread as a way to let people know that there was an intense discussion which happened on this topic already. In short, the community remains divided on this topic.

One group wants Game Balance to be at the fore of our decision-making. This includes members from competitive communities and some older players that feel ships should be allowed to be adjusted as the game moves forward.

Another group wants "Rare and Unique" ships to stay as they are. This includes previous owners of the ship that acquired her through very hard means as well as other players that want isolated content to remain novel and special.

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In this instance, we stated a ship that was being sold for Steel would instead be sold for Coal. In order to execute on that promise, the ship was determined to be too capable for mass-distribution methods after the power of Radar DDs was observed via Smalland and other high-end play. Black was not initially used in heavily competitive means due to her being a Tier 9 (which was only recently seen in a Tier 9 Clan Battle season). Due to the additional information, her capabilities were reassessed and shown to require adjustment. That process was announced in December and has begun in February.

Decisions on whether a ship would be adjustable or not pre-date my time playing this game. I've been a player for only about 3 years and really don't have information on that topic.

While we do have the ability to clone ships, this is something the playerbase does get quite divided over. People want THE ship, not a copy of the ship. That does weigh into decision-making processes.

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The present situation is that the Black was at one point a Steel ship. She was removed and said to be coming as a Coal ship. That process was delayed due to Radar DD performance leading us to re-assess her capabilities and determine adjustments were required before we can follow through on our promise of making her available for Coal.

This is a tricky situation to be sure, but it's worth pointing out that we are extremely aware of not wanting to breaking our word. Just a few short months ago, we made a very strong commitment to our community and are doing our best to meet that commitment through our actions, so the transparency and effort in returning the Black for Coal is one we regard highly.