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.

Friday, August 4, 2017

M2 Light


After various modifications to the T2 light tank, the new T2E1 was standardized as the M2A1 in 1935. Additional modifications would give two side-by-side turrets with the M2A2 and with some improvements, the M2A3. However, all these vehicles carried .50 caliber machine guns. In 1938, based off experience gained from the Spanish Civil War, there arose a need for a vehicle to mount a dedicated 37 mm antitank gun. The M2A3 was then modified to use a single turret that could carry this weapon, designated M2A4. However still, the M2A4 proved to be inadequate and ceased production in 1942 after 375 were produced. Nonetheless, the experience gained in its development would prove invaluable with the T7 light tank program.


There really aren’t many changes here to propose. I added a new stock engine, the Continental R-670-3C, found on early versions of the M2 Light. The T-1020 also had its horsepower adjusted to a more historical value. And finally, the turrets and suspension/hulls were renamed to be more easily identifiable to their respective M2 Light variants.

One thing to note is the alternate hulls. The M2A1 hull has much worse armor than the M2A4 hull, but its top speed it a whole 15 km/h faster. The M2A4 turret should be incompatible with the M2A1 hull, however. So if you want super speed, you shouldn't be able to mount the 37 mm gun.

Guns: .50 caliber MG HB M2; 20 mm Hispano-Suiza Birgikt Gun; 37 mm Gun M5

Engines: Continental R-670-3C (235 hp); Gubierson T-1020 (245 hp); Continental W-670-9A (262 hp)

Turrets (Turret Armor (mm)): M2A1 (16/16/16); M2A4 (25/25/25)

Suspensions/Alternate Hulls, Total Weight (metric tons): M2A1 (8.52); M2A4 (11.61)

Hull Armor (mm): 16/13/6 (M2A1); 25/25/25 (M2A4)

Top Speed: 72 km/h (M2A1); 57 km/h (M2A4)

Crew: 4 (Driver; Gunner; Loader; Commander/Radio)




Parent: T1 Cunningham
Children: T7 LightM3 Light
See Also: T2 Light

Sources:
Hunnicutt, R. P. Stuart. 1992. 

No comments:

Post a Comment