Rptd 28/Feb/2018 Somua S-35. incorrect armor.

[CaID 8,969]

i would like to bring to your attention the incorrect armor thickness of the Somua S.35.

 

 

the Somua S.35 was an incredible tank and in game it seem to be a bit disappointing. the main default is the frontal armor who is left at 35mm (while the side is 40mm. the strongest part of the armor of a tank is always the front. the Somua S.35 make no exception.

 

 

 

 

while pretty much everywhere, the reported thickness of the tank is 47mm for the front of the hull. the tank in the game is incorrect. so i went to find a credible source.

 

this book that is put into PDF here will provide you a decent source with a lot of reference which some of them could provide the necessary source.

 

http://conflictuel.pagesperso-orange.fr/LGGtemp/1940 FRENCH ARMAMENT.pdf

please scroll down to page 28-29

 

Detailed armor thickness (mm) :

Turret Front: 42mm/0° + gun and CMG mantlet (42

mm)/round covering about 50% of the front surface

Turret Sides: 42mm/23°

Turret Rear: 42mm/24° (rear hatch is 42mm thick)

Turret Top: 30mm/74° and 90°

Copula: 40mm/25° and 90° (round)

Hull Front, Upper : 47mm/21°

Hull Front, Lower : 47mm/round

Hull Sides, Upper : 40mm/15°

Hull Sides, Lower : 40mm, 25mm+10mm/0° (10mm of prot

ective skirting plates to protect the wheels)

Hull Rear: 35mm/0° and 25mm/30°

Hull Top: 25mm/82° and 90°

Hull Bottom: 20mm/90°

 

 

http://www.atf40.fr/ATF40/articles/Somua S35 et DLM DGM7.pdf

please scroll to page 2

 

the Somua S.35 was know to have a average armor of 30mm all around. a tank his usually stronger in the front and the somua is no exception. the fact that this tank in game have 35mm of frontal armor while the side is 40 make it very odd. the Somua was a pretty good tank in the early war. in the game, this tank is not really good and one of the reason is the lack of protection (alone with the bad firepower) having the frontal armor at the real historical value, would make that tank great again.

 

 

Edited March 4, 2018 by CaID

[KnightoftheAbyss 3,385]

Hi
  Thank you for your interest and help improving the game.  

 

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[No_Camping 1,803]

As everybody has now realized, it is very hard to find official documentation on the S35 concerning its armor, compared to other French tanks of the same period (I am now the proud owner of the full 1938 maintenance 80 pages booklet of the S35... which, disappointingly, does not provide any info on the armor...).

In fact, @SWIFT_SILENT may have found the explanation for the 35mm (Gaijin)/40mm (some sources)/47mm (most sources) front armor thickness imbroglio... as all seem to have some veracity!

As an ex-army, he contacted the Saumur Tank Museum and a technician in charge of the maintenance of the S35 measured the armor thickness, finding 3 different thicknesses for the lower/slopped middle/upper front armor: 40mm/37mm/47mm... that is, exactly the 3 reported thicknesses!

 

I understand that this post (link below) would not be sufficient to convince the devs, but maybe they can also call Saumur to confirm these data. Indeed, Gaijin has already established contacts with Saumur, and visited there to record tanks sounds - like that of the only working Tiger II in the world - and more recently, to help design French tanks

 

Edited March 5, 2018 by No_Camping

[KnightoftheAbyss 3,385]

No_Camping or SWIFT_SILENT,  

 

Can one(or both) contact me in PM with the name of the Museum tech, so the Devs have a contact on this please.(We don't want 5000 ppl ringing them, if it became public! )

Did he measure the angle of the front plates do you know?

 

Thanks

[KnightoftheAbyss 3,385]

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