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| M46 Patton. |
Although the M26 Pershing was the final production tank of the US Army when WWII ended, it did not reflect the latest design concepts. The vehicle's lack of performance was becoming increasingly apparent and various upgrades to the armament were already being tested. In 1948, authorization was given for the construction of ten pilot vehicles under the designation T40, which were essentially just modernized M26 tanks. These utilized the improved AV-1790-3 engine and M3A1 gun.
On 30 July 1948, the T40 was standardized as the M46. It was also decided that all existing M26 tanks could be converted to the new M46 standard. However, the onset of the Korean War in June 1950 created a sudden shortage of M26 tanks. The M26 tanks available for conversion were rushed to Korea to help stem the enemy advance, and new production of the M46 was not desirable since the overall design was considered obsolete. In addition, there was no time to develop a completely new design to meet the Army's needs with a war already under way.
This created an emergency program to combine the proven chassis of the M46 with the promising experimental turret and armament of the T42. Some slight modifications were required to the M46 hull to fit the T42 turret, but the conversion was successful and the result was more than acceptable. This new vehicle was designated as the M47, even though the design was not yet standardized. After some further slight improvements during trials, production of the M47 began in 1951, and the tank was formally standardized as the M47 Patton II on April 1952. A total of 8576 tanks would be built before production ended in November 1953.
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| M47 Patton. |
In World Of Tanks, the M46 Patton is a little bit of a mess. Recent changes have nearly doubled the armor of the M47 turret, grossly misrepresenting the vehicle into something it's not. In order to rectify this, I've gone and dropped the tank a tier while ideally keeping its other stats the same. The M47 Patton should be a rather large and slow medium tank with average armor. However, it gets some sharp improvements to its on-the-move handling. In my opinion, the vehicle should be able to be just as accurate while moving as it its stationary, if not slightly worse. Although the vehicle does have average accuracy overall, this quality should give it something unique to stand out amongst the rest of the US mediums.
Here at Tier VIII, and with a more authentic configuration, the M47 Patton should be very happy.
Guns: 90 mm Gun M3A1; 90 mm Gun M36; 90 mm Gun M41
Engines: Ford GAN (525 hp); Continental AV-1790-1 (740 hp);
Turrets (Turret Armor (mm)): M46 Patton (114/76/76); M47 Patton (114/64/76)
Suspensions/Alternate Hulls, Total Weight (metric tons): M46 Patton (44); M47 Patton (46.18)
Hull Armor (mm): 102/76/51
Top Speed: 48 km/h
Crew: 5 (Driver; Gunner; Loader; Commander; Radio)
Sources:
Hunnicutt, R. P. Patton, 2015
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