- Yes
- No
I would like to suggest a stop-gap for the Israeli Sherman fleet. the M-1 Sherman
the M-1 Sherman is the name given by Israel after 1956 for the Sherman tank armed with the 76mm M1 gun. Israel had acquired the Sherman in 1948 in rather small quantity. despite being a great tank in comparison to the tanks used in the region of the Middle East in 1948, Israel was well aware that the 75mm gun was obsolete. they even considered the US 76mm as insufficient as it couldn’t penetrate the modern tank that was entering into services in the Arabic countries all around Israel. Israel needed something more modern with more punch. Just starting to have full access to their importation of tanks, Israel had taken their pick in the European junkyard to acquire for themselves a large fleet of M4 Sherman of all types. if at first they were only allowed to buy Sherman with 75mm (and usually with the gun disabled) they were allowed in the early 50s to buy any Sherman who’s was considered obsolete by the European country that was now replacing them with M26 Pershing or M47 Patton.
Israel has been in 1950 a rather poor country had a rather low budget, and couldn’t yet afford to buy brand-new equipment, but the M4 Sherman remained a reliable choice. cheap and available in large numbers, it was only logical for Israel to choose the Sherman to be their standard tank. but came the question of the firepower. the 75mm been good in early WW2, was already obsolete by 1943. and knowing that Syria and Egypt were importing semi-modern Russian material amounts of which were the T-55 and IS-3, Israel was aware the old gun wasn’t going to be enough. the US 76mm was not even going to be good enough. the solution came from the upgrade of the Sherman with a new gun, but until then, they needed a stopgap. the 76mm M1 armed Sherman. which was still a huge improvement over the 75mm M3
Originally the plan was to rearm all the Sherman in Israel with the 17-pounder. negotiation even started with the UK to import the 17-pounder. but came the idea from France to put the 75mm SA50 instant. France had already been negotiating with Israel to up-grade the M10 Wolverine with the SA50, the 75mm SA50 having more penetration was considered modern, the idea had charmed the IDF and they had finally chosen to equip their M10 with the 17-pounder and the Sherman with the SA50.
from there, all Sherman in Israel was named after their gun. the 75mm armed with the M3 gun, was named M3 Sherman. the one with the 105mm M4 howitzer was named M4 Sherman. the one with the 76mm M1 was named M1 Super Sherman. the new one developed to have the SA50 gun was named M50 Sherman. and the later 105mm D1504 was named M51 Sherman and was the only exception of the Sherman named after their gun.
it would be cool to also have the huge spotlight to make it look different.
Firepower
The main armament was the 76mm M1 gun, from which the tank got its name. the gun is pretty good, capable of dealing used APCBC-HE rounds with 146mm of penetration at 100m . for harder targets, they can also use APCR with 186mm of penetration at 100m . the elevation is -10°/+25° allowing the tank to be used with good flexibility in almost all circumstances. the rotation speed is 24° seconds which makes it also good in close combat. the rate of fire of 12 rounds minutes is also very great.
additionally, 2x LMG M1919 are installed in the tank. one been in the chassis, the other being coaxial. and a 12.7mm HMG is installed on the roof.
mobility
powered by a Continental R975 C1 providing 400hp , the 32.100 kg tank would feel a bit more sloppy than the other Sherman due to a lower power/weight ratio of 12.23 hp/ton . the tank would still have an average mobility for a medium tank which allows it to move around with enough agility to not be frustrating and enough speed to be amounts of the main forces. the speed reaching 38 km/h on the road would be more than enough in most situations.
Protection
in the level the 76.2mm gun allows the M-1 to be, the protection would feel a lot weaker than the other Sherman (namely the M-3 or M-4) but it would remain fairly decent. with 51mm at the front of the hull heavily slopped , the armor would still allow it to take some hit without damage. the side has been 38mm and would not be of reliable protection against anything above the HMG. turret with a 76mm thick gun shield , would be the most effective armor of the front of the tank. the tank also features 4x smoke discharger to provide a smoke screen if needed. the crew of 5 men also allow a decent survivability.
Source
IDF ARMOR חיל השריון-צה"ל: Sherman M4A4 tank in the IDF service
M4 Sherman variants - Wikipedia
Israel’s Early Shermans | Armored Warfare - Official Website
Medium Tank M4 Sherman
Suenkler, Soeren, and Marsh Gelbart. IDF Armoured Vehicles: Tracked Armour of the Modern Israeli Defense Forces. Erlangen, Germany, Tankograd Publishing, 2006
Israeli Sherman, by Thomas Gannon