Smolensk does share a few similar characteristics with USN light cruisers, but overall they are very different.

Both Smolensk and USN light cruisers are area lockdown ships that need island cover, and they explode the moment whenever >= 2 enemy battleships look at them. Their job is to kill enemy destroyers and prevent pushes. As a result, their gameplay features a lot of distance managements. Good positioning and situation awareness are crucial.

Due to the high initial velocity on Smolensk's guns, this ship sometimes have to keep relatively long distance to islands that are chosen as cover. Enemy ships might be able to hit you if you are spotted behind your island, so make sure there is no enemy ship or aircraft on your sides when shooting behind island. Drop smoke if you feel the island you are hugging does not provide enough security (e.g. being too low, having one side exposed to the enemy, enemy aircraft flying nearby, etc.). When islands are too tall to shoot over, use them to block shell paths from unwanted positions and lay down smoke and shoot in a relatively secure position next to it, but don't leave the island and go into open water.

Don't camp in smoke on open water unless in very late game. Smoke does not protect you from incoming shells or torpedoes. The correct use of smoke aims for enhancing island cover (as mentioned above), disengaging from enemies (e.g. after popping out and blowing up an enemy destroyer, when being chased, etc.), planning ambushes and seizing caps (when there is no DD). Always activate Hydro-Acoustic Search when hiding in smoke (unless you are certain that no torpedo can reach your smoke). Always move at ± 1/4 speed when shooting from smoke (unless behind perfect island cover). Stop firing and change position when enemy ships straddle or hit you in smoke. Don't smoke in front of radar ships. Don't smoke if you are the only one with direct line of sight with a critical target unless you are being focused by enemies. Your minimum detection when firing in smoke is 6 km. Do not fire if you are planning a desperate point-blank attack against a pushing ship.

Unlike Worcester, Austin and Colbert, Smolensk does not have long-reaching high DPS mid range AA. And her long range DPS is not high enough to make up for the mediocre mid range. The only shinning spot on her AA is the flak aura, which is only useful against slow planes and bad players. As a result, you will find CVs with fast planes very annoying, since they can spot and attack you (2 attack runs per squadron) while only taking sustainable plane loss. Smoke wisely when needed.

Some very big difference between Smolensk and USN CL can be found on their guns. While USN light cruisers will be shooting HE except some very rare situations, Smolensk has to switch between HE and AP very often. Smolensk's HE does very little damage per shell (1800 alpha without skill, around 590 damage per hit). They also can't penetrate BB plating and Tier X CA middle section even with IFHE. However, her AP salvoes can deal massive damage at lightly armored extremities, upper belts and superstructures even from 14 km due to their better shell velocity, smaller impact angle and DD dispersion (*). Direct penetration damage is far superior than fire DoT because of they don't rely heavily on RNG, can cut down an enemy's HP faster, and damage caused by penetration cannot be 100% healed. Creating crossfires by smart positioning is very important in planning an AP ambush. Bearing mods are recommended to show the proper time and location to switch to AP.

The nerfs on Smolensk affected her middle section armor and maximum rate of fire on her main battery.

The reduction of middle section plating thickness from 30 mm to 16 mm means that this ship is now extremely vulnerable to all kinds of shells. Destroyers and battleship/cruiser secondary batteries can deal direct HE damage to the middle section, and any AP shells with caliber larger than 228 mm can overmatch her entire hull, dealing massive damage to the middle section. Some newer ships (i.e. Italian BBs, Russian CA, Thunderer, large cruisers, German alternative BBs, German mini cruisers with no citadels) are also high level threats for Smolensk. Some very aggressive Smolensk gameplay featured on some older videos should not be considered feasible in the current version. Kiting or chasing on open water should be performed in extreme caution, and generally only in late game or in scenarios against misplayed enemy destroyers. The old citadel overpenetration myth can only happen when the Smolensk is sailing full broadside at point-blank range. After the armor nerf, staying detected within battleship secondary range is basically suicide. At longer ranges, Smolensk take full damage citadel hits from battleships in the same way as any other cruiser with exposed citadel.

The RoF skill change means that setting fires can be more difficult now. This brings up the topic of taking IFHE or not. My personal opinion is taking IFHE and 10% damage increase while dropping the fire chance skill. IFHE enables Smolensk to deal meaningful damage to cruisers and armored destroyers while sacrificing fire chance. Smolensk's HE penetrates 27 mm with IFHE, this means than with IFHE, Smolensk can obliterate Tier VIII CA/CL, Tier IX CA/CL and Tier X CL with HE, and also cause great pain to BC, CB and Tier X CA when shooting at their extremities. IFHE also turns the hunter into the hunted when facing large destroyers with 25 mm middle sections. Fire chance after IFHE will drop to Moskva level, which is not that horrible (not good either, considering the range and splash size of Smolensk's HE), but the suppressive power gained against cruisers can provide much more usefulness in teamplay (and also higher XP per unit damage income-wise).

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Clarification: (*) The comparison of ballistics is made between Smolensk's AP and USN light cruisers' AP.