Stuart 18-Pdr: Improvised Honey

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Stuart 18-Pdr: Improvised Honey
This improvised SPG was created by men of British 8th Army following operation Crusader in year 1941. Someone got idea to mount 18-Pdr field gun on top of Stuart light tank (which were often called Honey by British) with damaged turret to create self-propelled version of said gun and give damaged tank second chance in life.

There is no known technical data regarding this unique vehicle, but taking in acount time of its creation and what is known about both hull and gun themself, it is possible to quess aproximate statistics.


Hull is most propably from early Stuart tank due to time of creation being during North African Campaign, which would most likely mean hull of Stuart I. As Stuart I is already in game, stats such as engine power and general hull armor should be same for 18-Pdr Stuart.

Armor:
Front - 38.1 mm (18°) Driver Port, 15.8 mm (69°) Front Glacis,44.4 mm (21°) Lower Glacis
Side - 25.4 mm
Rear - 25.4 mm
Roof - 12.7 mm
Engine: 262 hp Continental W-670-9A
Max speed: 51 kmh (31.7 mph)

Unfortunately I dont know weight of turettless hull of M3 Stuart and thus I cant calculate power to weight ratio, but if turret weight was about 1/4 of tanks total weight and I added weight of 18-Pdr field gun, aproximate weight of this vehicle should be about 11-12 tons, giving it power/weight ratio of between 21-24 hp/t, but this is only rough estimate.

I would apriciate it, if someone would add any missing information in order to improve this post


Gun on other hand would be new addition to game and thus I will speak of it in more detail.
QF 18-Pounder field gun was standard field gun of British Empire during First World War and predecessor to famous 25-Pdr, with first versions intreduced in 1904 and later versions saw service into early 1942 with approx. 10,469 built.

QF 18-Pounder filed gun
Mass: 1.282 tonnes/2,825 lb
Barrel length: 7 ft 8 in (2.34 m)
Width: 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Crew: 6
Gunshield: proof against shrapnel and rifle fire (500 yds)(cca 7-8 mm by my calculations, but I may be wrong)
Calibre: 3.3 in (83.82 mm)
Shell: 84 x 295 mm R
Shell weight: 18.5 lb (8.4 kg) projectile 23 lb (10 kg) total including case.
Types of Ammo: Armour piercing, High explosive, Smoke, Shrapnel shell (also Gas, Star and Incendiary, but these types of shell are not present in game)
Recoil: 41 in (1.0 m) (Mk I – II), 26 in (0.66 m) to 48 in (1.2 m) (Mk III – V)
Elevation: -5° to +16°(Mk I & II), -5° to +30°, -5° to +37°(Mk IV & V)
Traverse: 4.5° left and right (Mk I – IV), 25° left and right (Mk V)
Rate of fire: 20 rpm, 4 rpm (sustained)
Muzzle velocity: 1,615 ft/s (492 m/s)


These are only known photos of this vehicle:

Model of 18-Pdr Stuart:


Disclaimer: This is my first post and english is not my primary language, so I am sorry for any technical info mistakes, missing information or incorrect grammar.

Sources:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Warthunder/comments/u044az/a_british_m3_stuart_transformed_into_a_spg_with_a/
https://www.reddit.com/r/shittytechnicals/comments/j9v4d5/m3_stuart_18_pdr84mm/
18-Pdr gun on Wikipedia
Stuart light tank specs
Stuart I on War Thunder wiki
18-Pdr Stuart model on Youtube

5 Likes

Well it would have no (or very little) traverse and would be very vulnerable to MG fire but it could be a fun event machine. Any information on the ammunition supply?

3 Likes

This gun and its ammunition are a bit elusive. There was an AP-T shell in use in Finland according to Jaegerplatoon.net, Weighing 8.32 kg and a muzzle velocity of 853 m/s (155mm pen @ 0m).

Checking Wikipedia’s page it has an HE shell with 510 gram filler of picrite (x1.1) and later amatol (x1.0). There are also some shrapnel shells but those are of limited use in the game.

In terms of ammo stowage, I found this handbook (p.33) from 1913 with a couple of pictures of various ammo carriages which could give an idea how the ammo could be stored. Especially if the carriages were still in use and repurposed to the inside of the vehicle.

This looks like a fun derp thumper (which I am biased towards <3), and in terms of traverse you’d have to treat it like any other assault gun and be careful how you advance and position yourself. +1

3 Likes

what happened to my poor stuart

1 Like

The poor Stuart chose more fire power and said " see I’m still relevant."

1 Like

+1 support. Was going to suggest this vehicle myself! Also I did a bit of digging and apparently it was in a book from 1969 called “British and American Tanks of World War 2” by Peter Chamberlain and Chris Ellis if another source is needed

2 Likes