211 Shì shuǐlù tǎnkè, the First prototype of the Type 63

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caid’s suggestion #159


I want to suggest an interesting Chinese light tank, the 211 armed with the 76mm gun

the 211式水陆坦克 or 211 amphibious tank for those who can’t read Chinese, is the prototype of the Type 63 as we know in the game.
design from 1958 and heavily based on the Soviet PT-76B which was tried in 1958 but proven unsatisfactory, the tank was intended to give improved performance over the soviet tank. but guess what, it didn’t. What China did there was mostly create their cheap version of the PT-76 which was already considered as not very good. the Chinese tank was retaking most of the Russian part, including the engine and they redesigned the hull and turret to meet their production capacity and host their gun. in the end, the tank was overweight while offering poorer overall performance. What China did improve was the operational range and the reliability of the amphibious capacity. The Tank was intended to be used primarily for long-range reconnaissance. the addition of extra fuel tank made the tank have a much longer range. China built 4 prototypes in 1960 which had for unofficial name Type 60 amphibious tank. the tanks were sent for trial in the army. the test was not great. the tank lacked mobility. the engine tended to overheat and the general design was not liked by the driver. the test went on and the engineer polished the design. the gun was officially abandoned in favor of the 85mm in 1962 because it was too weak and also because the ammunition was no longer produced notably. After all, the gun was too weak. after years of trial, the tank was finally accepted for production in 1963 as the Type 63. The initial production was still featuring the PT-76’s engine but it was only for a short time as China soon came up with the much better 400 hp engine. the Type 63 were all retrofitted with the new engine and this variant became known as the Type 63-I. prototype 211 of the amphibious tank was used to study the effect of a nuclear bomb on tanks. I believe it was such a waste. I would have rather sacrificed a regular Type 63 to Atom’s power and kept the 211 for posterity.

Firepower
this tank featured a 76mm Type 60 gun. this gun is not well known but it is believed to be a derivative to the D-56T or the Type 54 which was a copy of the Zis-3. As both guns have performance close to each other, both theories are plausible. it is unlikely the information about the gun will resurface any soon. but there are 3 details we can consider.

  1. China had chosen another gun due to the absence of powerful rounds
  2. China was withdrawing the Type 54 at the same time which only had APHE and HE in China
  3. China didn’t import the ammunition for the D-56T for more than the PT-76’s need and they only had 1 for a limited time.

if we go with the performance of the D-56T we still can get a performance that is interesting for the game. as long we do not put it in a BR too high. the performance should be around 100mm of penetration using APHE at a short distance. which is more than enough for me. if we decide to put it in a low BR and make it face thing like Sherman or T-34-76 or Panzer IV, it would be comfortable enough. the elevation and depression are unknown. and so is the ammunition load carried. surely it will carry at least as much as the Type 63 and the elevation would be at least as good. -4 to + 22 of the 211-I amphibious tank sounds like a good guess to me.

Mobility
if you want a speedy tank, you can walk away. this version of the tank was rather weakly powered. the tank featured the PT-76 engine which was the V-6 Type diesel straight-six engine providing 241hp at 1800 rpm. the problem is the tank has been rather heavy. the PT-76 already does not have great mobility, this tank will have reduced mobility due to the engine. the speed should be around 40 km/h. the weight of around 18 tonnes make the engine been overloaded. the tank will seldom get above 35 km/h in-game which is enough to move around but not enough to be first in key position.

Protection
the armor of this thing is extremely weak. the turret offers a bit of protection. with 20mm on the side and 50mm on the mantlet. that is about the only decent protection the tank has. the chassis, while well-sloped on the front, offers just enough protection against LMG. The driver is sitting at the center of the hull and the gunner and commander are sitting in the turret. the crew has a total of 3 men. The tank is fairly small which helps to be noticed.

Sources

development of the Type 63

















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Isn’t this the object 211?

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3

China never used the name “object” for their tanks. it’s a bad translation.

and yes, it’s the 211 amphibious tank project. but the one we have in the game is the 2nd generation of prototypes with the wrong engine…
this suggestion is about the first generation which is armed with a 76mm

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So this is the one that is supposed to have that rock grinder for an engine?

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5

the PT-76 engine yes. and the mobility will be affected

the PT-76 engine was used on every 211 and the first production of the Type 63. the new engine only came with the Type 63-I

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IMG_4562

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