LVT-4 Zis-3, early chinese glass cannon with large crew

Suggestions Ground
1
[Would you like to see this in-game?]
  • Yes
  • No
0 voters

caid’s suggestion #147

I will make the suggestion here for the LVT-4 armed with Zis-3 gun for China.

the LVT-4 Zis-3 was a Chinese modification of the abandoned LVT-4 captured after the exile of the Republican Chinese. a bit like the LVT-(A)-4 the tank was modified using a Russian gun to make it an SPG. Only at the opposite of the Zis-2 version, it did not have any turret. the Zis-3 appears to be simply mounted in the rear compartment on the left side which is normally one of the two machine guns. On the right side, the 7.62mm M1919 remains the same. the LVT-4 is different than the LVT(A)-4. the LVT-4 is normally an open-top APC with serial LMG all around while the LVT(A)-4 is an IFV with an open-top turret that normally has a 75mm Howitzer gun (Same as the M8 HMG)

This modification was made in the mid-50s. photo possibly dated 1957 shows two of them and used to provide amphibious fire support in southern China and possibly in the long-planned large-scale invasion of Taiwan (who was always delayed due to the threat of the USA getting involved)

the LVT-4 Zis-3 soon disappeared from record at the end of the 50s. the Zis-3 gun was simply not of any use against armored targets and the 76mm was going to be phased out. the development of the Type 63 and the project to locally build the PT-76A under the designation of Type 60 was the obvious replacement for the Chinese LVT-4.

Firepower
the armament is the 76mm Zis-3 which is in the field version. the gun has no modification on its mount which indicates to has the same fire arc as the field version. the traverse is 54° which gives 27° to the left and right. the elevation is 37° which is good but the depression is a bit lacking with -5°. the gun can fire a large choice of soviet WW2 rounds as well as some post-war ammunition. the 76mm includes APCR and APCBC-HE rounds which give it a penetration in the 90mm at combat distance. The gun was fast to reload with a fire-rate of 24 rounds/minute in suppressive fire. but ingame it would be closer to 10-12 rounds minutes which gives a reload of 6 to 5 seconds. the is no information about the ammunition carried. it was not lacking of space to carry the ammunition. a stock of 100 rounds or over would not be surprising. additional machine guns can be seen on the vehicle. they can be placed all around in pintle mount. I can identify two 7,62mm M1919 placed on the front and what seems to be a 12.7mm Type 54 but the picture has too few details to identify it. the frontal machine-gunner might reduce bit the angle for the 76mm but not by much as it was still limited to 27°



Mobility
this tank does not have the greatest mobility but it will not be so slow. the tank has a weight of 16.5 tons, and the gun is 1.1 tons. with the ammunition, it would get about 18 tonnes. the engine is a Continental W-670 9A that provides 250 hp at 2400 rpm; which gives it a power-weight of 13.89 hp-tonnes. it will be more than enough to move around well. the top speed is limited to 32 km/h. the Spicer manual transmission offers 5 forward speeds and 1 reverse. the vehicle is amphibious with the speed in water reaching 11.2 km/h which is not bad for an amphibious vehicle. the large size of his chassis however will make the tank difficult to move around on the land.

Protection
the vehicle is armored but only on paper. as the armor will feel paper thin. the concern of the weight to preserve the amphibious ability made this tank have minimal protection, the tank is almost entirely built with 6.35mm of steel and it is open-top as well which makes it vulnerable to air attack. the gun’s shield also offers light protection with around 5mm which makes it just capable of taking some LMG fire at some distance. this tank will feel like an early glass cannon. the photo evidence shows the tank can have a crew of up to 9 men which makes it capable of taking quite many shots before getting down. 2 men are in the chassis, 3 are manning the 76mm gun and 4 others are manning pintle-mounted machine gun all around the vehicles. this makes it have quite a lot of men to spare.

SOurces

for the both chassis and gun.

for LVT-4 Chassis

For the ZIS-3 Gun

3 Likes
2

+1

1 Like
3

here is a weird navy skin with gray chassis and green gun

1 Like
4

+1 at 2.0 br

1 Like
5

This is one of my most wanted additions for low tier China, +1 for sure.

2 Likes
6

The four corner machine guns really add a lot. This would be quite fun! +1

1 Like
7

there is also one in the front hull.

at first, I thought the one in front with the shield might block the gun but I do not think the gun can turn enough to be blocked by it. it will probably just give additional cover for the crew in the frontal arc.

2 Likes
8

+1

1 Like
9

Makes sense. In a vehicle like this, every bit helps!

1 Like
10

+1
Loved the ZiS-2, will also love this

1 Like
11

+1 ，low BR original vehicle

1 Like
12

If they do add this, I doubt they’re gonna add the hull machine gun. From what I noticed, Gaijin don’t add hull MGs unless that is the only MG available.

1 Like
13

as long the guy is stell there, I do not mind