Jump to content
Please support this forum by joining the SH Patreon ×
Sturgeon's House

The M4 Sherman Tank Epic Information Thread.. (work in progress)


Recommended Posts

I've read somewhere, that the French liked to put the add-on armor on the tanks that did not need it. I think its the Sherman Minitia Site that has some pics of French tanks with the cheek armor added to the turrets that had the cast in thicker cheek, though I do not recall ever seeing extra armor for the driving hoods on small hatch tanks added to a large hatch hull before. 

 

Also, could it be a way to cover a penetration hole?  The Sherman Vegas Ron has, has a very odd looking repair that matches nothing else I have seen. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Jeeps_Guns_Tanks said:

I've read somewhere, that the French liked to put the add-on armor on the tanks that did not need it. I think its the Sherman Minitia Site that has some pics of French tanks with the cheek armor added to the turrets that had the cast in thicker cheek, though I do not recall ever seeing extra armor for the driving hoods on small hatch tanks added to a large hatch hull before. 

 

Also, could it be a way to cover a penetration hole?  The Sherman Vegas Ron has, has a very odd looking repair that matches nothing else I have seen. 

Makes sense, akin to the Littlefield Jumbo I briefly dealt with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/31/2018 at 11:30 PM, Jeeps_Guns_Tanks said:

So there is also the possibility of a restoration gone wrong there too. 

Well, just the "joe has a bunch of app-armor kits kit and orders to apply this kit to all tanks in this park, so joe gets to work", I've seen applied firsthand.

It's probably "wrong" in a technical sense, but "right" in that it probably was done by some government authority for reasons they did not comprehend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, EnsignExpendable said:

An M4A4 blueprint from AMX. Was there such a thing as a large hatch M4A4? I've never seen a photograph of one.

 

 

Spoiler

lB1axCi.png

 

 

I'm not exactly sure that it is the correct designation, after all the other blueprint labelled as M4A4 show what seem to be a cast hull

 

https://i.imgur.com/Icrhjrh.png

 

My guess is that they put the wrong name tag when uploading the picture.

In both case the title on the blueprint itself only say  "Sherman tank armor"

 

AFAIK most of the French Sherman were M4A4 or M4A2 with sometimes A1 (76mm) and A3 given to replace the losses of the previous two (and only one known A3 E2).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This drawing is pretty mysterious, depending on how specific and accurate we think it might be. The M4A1 drawing features the air scoops/grouser compartments on the rear of the hull and the welded hull does not, which might indicate it's an M4A3 and not an M4 or M4A2. Like Jeeps mentioned, the presence of engine compartment doors would seemingly eliminate the M4A2, but might they be a little wide for an M4A3, since its aperture was constrained by exhaust pipes on either side? Also, the rear hull armor appears to go straight across at the sponson line, which would typically eliminate both the M4A2 and M4A3.  So it seems to simultaneously combine and lack features of all the large hatch welded hull tanks? :huh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, EnsignExpendable said:

More Sherman questions. By American measure, the Sherman turret ring is 69 inches across, but by Soviet measure, it's 1730 mm, which is slightly less. Was the American figure rounded, or were they measuring from the outside of the turret race? The Soviets only measured the diameter of the clear space.

Well those french drawings show 1950 mm for what I assume is just the size of the cut opening on hull top.

 

Canada had the M4's outside diameter of the turret ring as 2051 mm, the inside diameter of the ring is listed as 1752.6 mm. I can only assume that is being measured from before the ring is installed and then when the ring and all the mounting equipment is installed, it also may be factoring in that 65 mm extra for the bolt down area, but I'm unsure on that.

 

I don't have many Sherman photos with the turret off showing the turret ring installed so using the Ram as an example. Using 8Haussars photos from the war museum.

 

 

Turret ring listed as having a 1832 mm lower outside diameter, and a 1537 mm upper inside diameter. You can see quite well on the third photo just how much space is eaten up by it's turret ring design.

 

8uHaJxq.png

 

5ZKUODy.png

 

RamIICastNov1941.jpg

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...