- Yes
- No
Many players probably dislike the Churchill AVRE Petard’s short firing range; unsurprisingly, the British Military thought so too. The Churchill Mk.III with Ardeer Aggie was meant to be a solution to these problems. The Ardeer Aggie, a 241mm “recoilless” mortar, could lob a 24kg high explosive projectile 410m away, and the crew could safely reload the weapon (or at least, the mortar itself; more on that later) within the turret. A powerful gun on a sturdy chassis, sounds great right? I wonder what could go wrong…
History
The core of the Churchill Mk.III with Ardeer Aggie was the Ardeer Aggie mortar, whose development began in September 1943 (technically speaking, the name “Ardeer Aggie” only refers to the mortar; for simplicity though, I shall also be referring to the whole tank by this name hereafter). The mortar was an early version of what would later be known as “recoilless rifles”. When the mortar was fired, a counterweight made of sand wrapped in cardboard would be simultaneously fired out of the rear, cancelling out the recoil. Being an early experiment in this kind of technology, the Ardeer Aggie mortar couldn’t cancel out all of the recoil but did manage to reduce it significantly.
The first prototype had a 10.5-inch bore and fired a projectile 10 inches in both length and diameter and weighed 51 lbs. It was tested on a 6-pounder AT gun mount, but its accuracy and damage were found to be poor. The second prototype had the bore reduced to 9.5 inches, and the projector barrel was 10 feet long. The new projectile weighed 54lbs (24kg). The accuracy was better, and it had a range of 450 yards (410m). This version was mounted on a Churchill III tank in 1944. The projector ran through the whole turret, so large holes had to be cut out in the front and back for the barrel and back blast, respectively. A new mantlet was fitted over the front, and a sliding hatch could cover the back when not in use. The turret could still rotate 360˚, but gun elevation/depression was reportedly very limited, due to the need to keep the back of the projector aligned with the rear opening. The tank retained its five crew members, although some sources say the bow machine gunner may have been removed to store more ammo. The projector could be reloaded 3 times in 2 minutes (a 40s reload rate), but while the projectile could be loaded from within the turret, the counterweight had to be loaded from outside.
The Ardeer Aggie was a powerful weapon, but testing revealed… it was a bit too powerful for its own good. The back blast from the counterweight was so great that it could injure infantry and sappers working around the tank and also damage the engine. Some reports claim that the issue was alleviated by installing a deflection shield on the back of the turret, but no images exist of the Ardeer Aggie in this configuration. The conditions inside the tank were also dire. Even though the counterweight system greatly reduced the recoil, firing the weapon still sent horrendous shockwaves throughout the tank, causing discomfort among the crew. The turret was cramped due to the huge size of the barrel, and as it heated up after repeated firing, crew members could easily get burned by it. Finally, the loader, whose duties were already made difficult by the lack of space, had to exit the tank to reload the counterweight from outside, negating the safety advantage of reloading from inside the turret. Considering all these problems, the Ardeer Aggie was not adopted into service.
Specifications
Vehicle specifications: largely the same as the standard Churchill III
Ardeer Aggie mortar:
- Bore: 9.5in (241mm)
- Barrel length: 10ft (3048mm)
- Projectile weight: 54lb (24kg)
- Counterweight weight: 48lb (22kg)
- Range: 450 yards (410m)
- Reload: 40 seconds
Unverified details (from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsnmscxOQpg): - HE content: 25lb (11kg)
- Muzzle velocity: 830ft/s (253m/s)
- Gun elevation: +7˚/-3.5˚
More pictures
Turret rear, showing vent for backblast
Artist’s illustration of Ardeer Aggie, from Tank Encyclopedia
In-game
Luckily in War Thunder, you won’t have to deal with all the problems the Churchill Mk.III with Ardeer Aggie had in real life. No unlucky crew members whining about ergonomics, nor hapless infantrymen thrown around by back blast, the Ardeer Aggie will be superior to its more successful cousin, the Churchill AVRE Petard. With almost five times the muzzle velocity and range, it will be much more comfortable to use, although it will still be confined to close-quarters combat. The HE content is allegedly reduced from the Petard, but should still be adequate around this BR. The main downside is the reload time, double that of the Petard, most likely due to the need to also load the counterweight. Overall, the Ardeer Aggie should sit quite comfortably at 3.0 or even 3.3.
(Also, it would be funny if the back blast caused damage to exposed crew. Imagine driving up to an SPAA and annihilating them through the back of the turret.)
Sources
- “Churchill and Sherman Specials” by Peter Chamberlain and Chris Ellis
- “The Churchill Tank - A Visual History of the British Army’s Heavy Infantry Tank 1940-1945” by David Doyle
- https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2-uk-churchill-mkiii-ardeer-aggie
- https://en.topwar.ru/97460-proekt-inzhenernogo-tanka-churchill-ardeer-aggie-velikobritaniya.html
