- Yes
- No
caid’s suggestion #131
I would like to suggest a very vintage-looking tank for USA. the M1922.
Do not let yourself be deceived by the look of this tank. This glorious machine is not useless. It is even rather decent in most aspects.
The M1922 is an old tank based on the Medium Mark D from the UK. This tank was an American version that adapted the suspension to a more conventional tank design. The tank was designed to merge the concept of the Mark D and the configuration of the French Renault F, with a central turret with full rotation. The M1922 was the successor of the M1921. Tested in Aberdeen in 1923, it showed to be a rather capable tank even if it had some defects. The power of the tank was a bit lacking and the suspension wasn’t very durable, yet it was accepted to services in 1928 for a very short time as the M1 Medium Tank before being changed to the T2 as Walter Christie suddenly entered the competition with the M1929 & M1931 fast tanks. The M1922 remained in service in the US Army as an experimental tank until it was withdrawn and stored for good, it can still be found today in Fort Moore, Georgia in the US Army and Cavalry armored collection.
Firepower
The main armament is the 57mm M1920 tank gun. the gun was not intended to be an anti-tank gun but it was compatible with naval ammunition (as far as I know) and this gave it some anti-tank capacity. The penetration would range around 35 mm of penetration at combat distance with a solid shot and 30mm with an APHE. The gun’s elevation is interesting. with -20° to +20° it can be rather flexible to use. The turret can rotate on 360° and the cupola is itself an auxiliary turret with a machine gun for close defense. A large load of 186 rounds is carried for the 57mm. I would suggest carrying only around 50 for safety and to lighten the load as this could improve the mobility of this tank. The fire rate of the main gun is unknown but could range from 12 to 15 rounds per minute. Personally I suggest a 15 rpm to have a 4 sec reload to give it a chance to be balanced (the penetration is not so great).
Mobility
The mobility is not that bad. It could be better but it’s not the worst in the game. Though it is probably still one of the worst the Americans had. The weight is 25.5 tons (23.1 tonnes), which is decent. The engine is a Murray and Tregurtha, Marine, 6-cylinder providing 195 hp at 1,250 rpm. This gives a power-weight ratio of about 8.4 hp/ton. This is not so great but it is still playable. The gearbox includes only 2 forward gears and 1 backward. The speed backward should be a bit less than half of the top speed, which is 25.2 km/h which is still a bit better than some WW2 French tanks. While lacking in the mobility side, it is not the worst.
Protection
The protection of the tank is not bad at all for the low rank. It was designed to be immune to heavy rifles and machine guns. As such it has 1 inch (25.4mm) of armor all around, which is enough to tank HMG fire at combat distance without risking much. The front is heavily sloped and the turret has an unconventional mantlet which makes it rather hard to penetrate. The tank is still vulnerable though because of the large weakspots. The crew of 4 men offers a decent chance of surviving. The tank is large, but it is not exceptionally so. It’s a bit larger than the Sherman, but still a lot smaller than the FCM 2C. It’s even a bit smaller than the M6 heavy tank.
Here is a size comparison between the M1922 (represented by the M1921) and a Sherman. Both in scale.
And here below is a scale comparison with the M6 heavy tank and the M1922
Sources
US Army ordnance, Handout for use in armament course, July 1958
AGF Board No2, Development of armoured vehicles, September 1947
Sherman, History of an American medium tank, by R.P. Hunnicutt
- M1921 medium tank - Wikipedia
- http://afvdb.50megs.com/usa/pics/mediumtankm1.html
- M1921 Medium Tank – The Armourers Bench
- Tank Archives: Medium Tank T1E1: Britain's Heir
- M1922 medium tank - Wikipedia
Weaponry: