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Type 4 Ka-Tsu ( 特四式内火艇)
The Type 4 Ka-Tsu is a Japanese amphibious assault vehicle developed in 1943 to support the Japanese Army’s isolated troops in the Pacific Islands. Never used in its original role, it was planned to be used in the final defense of the home islands. About 20 were probably produced.
History
By early 1943, the IJN was unable to secure transport routes for Japanese troops in the Pacific islands. Transport ships were sunk by American aircraft or by submarines. Japanese naval commanders decided that supplies had to be transported in concealment and unloaded at night. Submarines were best suited for this task, but it was not an ideal solution.The submarine could not reach the shore of the island, so a transport vehicle was needed to transport supplies to shore from the submarine. Therefore, in early 1943, Mitsubishi was commissioned to make a new amphibious vehicle that could go ashore and be transported by submarines. The experience gained from the Type 2 Ka-Mi and Type 3 Ka-Chi tanks was used in the production.By the autumn of 1943, the prototype was ready for testing, most of which was successful. There were two problems:
- the engine was too loud
- During transport by submarine, the engine was flooded and could not be started quickly after surfacing .
However, despite these problems, the vehicle was adopted into service as the Type 4 Ka-Tsu in early 1944.
Further history
Due to the above-mentioned problems, the vehicle was not used in its original form. Between 18 and 50 Ka-Tsu were produced. In 1944, the Japanese learned of a large U.S. Navy anchorage on the lagoon of Uliti Atoll. It was a place naturally protected from submarines, but not from amphibious vehicles.
Therefore, the Japanese decided to use Type 4 Ka-Tsu amphibious vehicles to attack American ships on Uliti Atoll. For this purpose, two 45 cm torpedoes were mounted on Ka-Tsu. They were to be transported by submarines: I-36, I-38, I-41, I-44 and I-53.However, on May 12, 1944, it was determined that this operation was unfeasible. Such modified vehicles waited for the Americans to attack the home islands to be used as kamikaze vehicles. The attack never took place, and a pair of Type 4 Ka-Tsu were sent to America for testing.
Type 4 Ka-Tsu Art
Structure description
Ka-Tsu is large – 11 meters long, 3.3 meters wide and 4.06 meters high. The curb weight of the machine was 16 tons. The armament consisted of a pair of 13 mm caliber machine guns on rotating mounts, which additionally between the machine guns there was a “standing” cabin for machine gunners. In total, there were five people in the wagon – the commander, the driver, two artillerymen and the loader.As a power plant, the engine was taken from a floating tank “Type 2” Ka-Mi ", 6-cylinder air-cooled diesel engine “Mitsubishi” A6120VDe, 115 hp The full load capacity of the machine was 4 tons. Power at full weight was about 5.75 hp per ton, which was a very small value. Instead of cargo, the hold could hold 20 soldiers with equipment.Because the Ka-tsu was originally developed to transport personnel and supplies, it had poor aircourse armor. Even the thickest front of the hull had an armor thickness of only 10mm, and since the hull was made of mild steel rather than bulletproof steel, it could easily be penetrated by rifle bullets if shot.
Specifications
- Length: 11 m
- Width: 4 m
- Height: 2.25 m
- Gross Weight: 16 t
- Top speed: 20km/h (On land) 8km/h (in the water)
- Crew: 5 people
- Armor : Hull : 3 mm ,Driving compartment : 10 mm ,rear and superstructure : 3 mm
- Armament: 2 x Type 93 Machine Gun 13,2mm ( , 2 x 45 cm Torpedo )
- Engine: Mitsubishi Type A6120V-De, 6 cylinder air-cooled diesel in line of 120 hp (89,5 kW) at 1400 rpm135 hp (100 kW) at 2000 rpm
- Operational range: 300 km on road
Summary
The Type 4 Ka-Tsu is a very interesting vehicle. For War Thunder, the sea can be used as a dual-use vehicle, which means that it can take part in both land and sea battles. Armed with a 2 x 13.2 mm rifle, it is insufficient to fight tanks, but it is suitable for destroying aircraft and small ships. In naval battles, for example, he could go ashore to open fire on unsuspecting opponents from an unexpected direction.The armor does not guarantee invulnerability, but all hits in the center of the hull will do nothing because there is nothing there. Torpedoes in land battles have three ways of use:
- just don’t mount them
- use an earth torpedo that sticks into the ground and moves underground to the target (such a joke)
- kamikaze option, you ram the enemy, throw the torpedo overboard and both players die (I highly recommend this option) (Another joke)
I encourage you to discuss in the comments and share your own knowledge on this topic.Finally, I apologize for the linguistic and logical errors because unfortunately English is not my main language and I had to use google translator.
Internet Sources
特四式内火艇 - Wikipedia
Type 4 Ka-Tsu - Wikipedia
A Ka-what!!?? Rare Japanese tracked vehicle housed on MCLB > United States Marine Corps Flagship > News Display (marines.mil)
Ka-Tsu (plala.or.jp)
[舰colle] [美妙的舰学时间]海军八嘎的陆战梦——特四式内火艇 178
特四式内火艇 カツ (combat1.sakura.ne.jp)
Type 4 Ka-Tsu Amphibious Tank : Japan (JPN) (armedconflicts.com)
Type 4 “Ka-Tsu”. Submarine transport and sabotage tracked torpedo transporter (topwar.ru)
IJN Type 4 special motor boat (Katsu): Amphibious MTB - Japan - War Thunder - Official Forum
Type 4 Ka-Tsu (globalsecurity.org)
Type 4 Ka-Tsu IJA amphibious tank (1944) (tank-afv.com)
How to improve the Type 4 KA TSU Dragon kit ? - Missing-Lynx
