MISSION STATEMENT

This website is to serve as a catalog of historical information for various tanks, across various stages of development, created for use by the United States from Pre-WWII through to the 1970s. However, the primary purpose for this website is to illustrate a proposal for what an "endgame" could look like for the US tech tree in the game, World Of Tanks, and to show that there's still plenty of life left to breathed into this game.

My aim is to see as many tanks in the game about tanks as possible, and I hope to show that in a way that respects both the historicity of the tanks shown and the balance of the game overall. As such, I will not be going into great detail on individual statistics. Rather, I will only be showing the possible modules for each tank, changes that could be made to make it more historically authentic, a historical overview, and how the tank's playstyle may be represented in-game. I will also attempt to future-proof this by including alternate hulls, half-tracks, and wheeled vehicles.

This is certainly not perfect and everything is subject to change. This is still a work in progress, and updates are frequent if not daily. This is a fan project and a labor of love. Do enjoy.

Saturday, August 5, 2017

M7 Medium



After abandoning the T7 and T7E1, work on the T7 program continued with the T7E2, T7E3, and T7E4. The T7E2 was selected to utilize the British QF 6-Pounder Mk. III as its main armament and was powered by a Wright Whirlwind R-975-EC2 engine. The T7E3 used twin Hercules DRXBS engines that could put out 123 hp each, and the T7E4 used twin Cadillac engines. The T7E2 was later selected to mount the M4 Sherman’s 75 mm M3 gun, where it became the T7E5. But at this point, the tank had bloated to a weight of almost 27 tons. At this point it was redesignated as the M7 medium tank.







The production tank was to use a Continental R-975-C1 engine, or possibly even the Ford GAF. The weight issues were addressed and some of the armor was thinned, resulting in the M7E2. However, this tank was even worse than the M4 in just about every respect. A total run of 13 tanks would be completed before the project was cancelled. In 1944, the M7 was declared obsolete.



Historically, the M7 was a worse M4 Sherman and ultimately a bit of a waste of time and resources. After the initial T7E2 redesign from the earlier pilots, the tank became shorter, better armored, slower, and heavier. Being a worse M4, I’ve decided to put it a tier below the M4, where I think it fits perfectly. It’s got its historical armaments (with the guns from the T7 Light carried over), and a crap ton of engine options to choose from. I included them all because I’d like to see them all, but any of these can easily be taken out without much issue. Compared to the M3 Lee, as the T7 Light compares with the M3 Light, this tank should be more sluggish in exchange for slightly better armor. The “M7E2” hull has been excluded from here, because I don’t think there’s a need for it.



Guns: 37 mm Gun M5; 37 mm Gun M6; QF 6-pdr Mk. III; 75 mm Gun M3

Engines: Twin Hercules, DRXBS (246 hp); Twin Cadillac, Series 42 (296 hp); Continental R-975-C1 (350 hp); Continental R-975E-C2 (400 hp); Ford GAF (500 hp)

Turrets (Turret Armor (mm)): T7E2 (51/38/38); M7 (51/41/41)

Suspensions/Alternate Hulls, Total Weight (metric tons): T7E2 VVSS (19.37); M7 VVSS (24.03)

Hull Armor (mm): 38/32/25

Top Speed: 48 km/h

Crew: 5 (Driver; Gunner; Loader; Commander; Radio)

Parent: T7 Light
Children: T20, Nahuel

Sources:
Hunnicutt, R. P. Stuart. 1992. 
Hunnicutt, R. P. Sherman. 2015.  
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2 comments:

  1. MatthewSeptember 15, 2017 at 4:36 PM

    I'd thought the M7 as a Tier IV lead in to the M4 would fix an issue in the current Medium tree of the M3 playing more like a TD and not matching the crew positions of the rest of the line. Move the M3 to be the Tier IV turretless TD in place of the T40. Maybe move the T40 to Tier V and start to branch out a complete turretless line. Would just need a Tier VI to fill the gap.

    The M8A1 could then lead off two turreted lines, or maybe just jigger the existing ones around.

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    1. ThatTrafficConeSeptember 15, 2017 at 5:44 PM

      The issue with that is that the M3 is distinctively a medium tank, despite its appearances. It also doesn't make much sense for the M7 to come before the M4, as it was meant to be an improvement over the M4 (despite the eventual outcome). I'd like to avoid that kind of chronological inconsistency whenever possible.

      Plus, here the M7 fits as part of a "failed prototype" branch that ends in the T95E6.

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