Hello everyone,
this morning, first pictures of the upcoming American light branch (coming in 9.3, unless something changes) were leaked, starting with the new tier 6 T37 light tank. Now, we are going to have a look at this interesting piece of engineering, its history and historical performance.
Ever since 1945, the US Army started to look for its new future light tank. Sure, there was the Chaffee, but the army was looking for something that would pack a bigger punch. The production of the Chaffee ended in August 1945 with roughly 4.7k made (in the future, they would scatter all over the world, sold to US-friendly countries). Meanwhile, between January and November 1945, an army equipment committee convened twice, each time recommending a new tank development. In the eyes of the committee, this new light tank should have better firepower and mobility than the M24 and should be armed with a 76mm (3in) gun, capable of penetrating 127mm of armor (5in), sloped at 30 degrees at 914 meters (1000 yards). The vehicle was to weigh 25 tons.
The development of this requested vehicle was started in July 1946 at the Detroit Arsenal R&D division and on 27th of September 1946, the project officially recieved a designation “T37″. It was recommended by the committee to manufacture three prototype tanks (in May 1947, it was reduced to two).
The design was complete in early 1949 and a wooden mock-up was built. The vehicle had a crew of four (commander, driver, gunner, loader) and was powered by the Continental AOS-895-1 engine (air-cooled six cylinder supercharged 8,2 liter engine, providing 500 gross horsepower at 2800 RPM – note that this engine is already in the game as Chaffee’s top engine with 500hp). The vehicle weighed 21,9 tons (22,83 hp/t power-to-weight ration, ingame Chaffee has 25,74). Maximum speed was 41 miles per hour (66 km/h).
The armor was as follows:
Upper frontal plate: 25mm (60 deg, 50mm EFF)
Lower frontal plate: 32mm (45 deg, 45mm EFF)
Hull sides: 19-25mm
Hull rear: 19mm
Turret front: 32mm (55 deg, 55mm EFF)
Mantlet: 25-32mm
Turret sides: 25mm
Turret rear: 25mm
Judging from the leaked pictures, the armor in the game seems historical.
The vehicle was armed with the 76mm T94 gun (already in the game, Chaffee’s top gun with 137mm PEN), capable of -9/+20 elevation, historical rate of fire was 12 rounds per minute. It was not automatically loaded. Its historical muzzle velocity with AP rounds was 2600 feet per second (792 m/s).
In development Phase II, the vehicle was supposed to be armed with the 76mm T91 (an identical gun to the 76mm T185 – in the game, it’s the T71′s top gun (175mm penetration), only without the automatic loading and with Vickers fire control system). Phase II vehicle was subsequently renamed to T41. Phase III (also T41) was to include an automatic loading device or a stubby case, increasing the proposed rate of fire. The first T37 was shipped to Aberdeen Proving Grounds in May 1949 and was tested until August 1950, when it was returned to Detroit for test results evaluation, after the outbreak of fighting in Korea.
T41
Along with the T37, the Phase II tanks (T41) were also tested in Aberdeen (three prototypes were made), armed with the aforementioned T91 76mm high-power gun in a modified turret. The original T37 project was cancelled due to the Korean war, while the T41 Stage II (Stage III with autoloader was never built, again, due to the Korean War) project was modified, specifically by changing the internal turret layout, eliminating the turret blister machineguns and increasing the turret ring size. This redesigned version by Detroit Arsenal was redesignated as T41E1 and in January 1950, Cadillac recieved a contract to build roughly 100 of those. The contract was later postponed due to Korean War (again), resulting in further modifications of the vehicle and that is how the M41 Walker Bulldog came to be, but that is a story for another time.
The T41, like the T37, had a crew of four men. It had the same nominal armor, the turret just looked a bit different. Its T91 gun was capable of 12 round per minute (as mentioned, the Stage II had a loader), the elevation was -9/+20 as well. The engine and performance was the same too, but the vehicle weighed 23,4 tons, resulting in slightly worse power-to-weight ratio.
Source:
R.P.Hunnicutt: A History of the American Light Tank Vol.2 – Sheridan
anyone knows if they will nerf chaffee when the branch is introduced?
i always wanted to play the chaffee but the grind on the stuart kept me away. with the new brach chaffee will no longer be end of line and the grind will be easier but i suppose it will get a big big nerf.
I suggest to get it while it’s hot. It might get nasty nerfs, who knows. I’m playing the shit out of it atm, just in case of the worst will happen.
It probably will, but it’ll get MUCH more forgiving matchmaking on par with the other tier 5 light tanks if it does (limiting it to seeing tier 8 at the highest, as opposed to tier 10 like it does now).
That being said I don’t think the nerf will be that big – they’ll probably nerf soft stats on the top gun, but otherwise it should be fine.
Would it be worthwhile to build up some spare XP on my Chaffee now?
It’s sitting there in my garage, full cammo, no crew. I’d need to retrain my 3-skill T20 crew for it.
Perhaps. I’m primarily a medium tank driver, not a light tank driver, so I probably wouldn’t be the right person to ask.
I would say: get around 25k exp with it. That roughly my estimate on how much it might set you back(judging by the VK16 and MT-25).
I think they’ll take off the top turret and gun. Chaffee doesn’t need that much firepower if it stops seeing tier 10s.
Maybe also the top engine?
tbh I’m looking forward to Chaffee nerf. The current top turret is fugly as hell and I’ve been losing so much credits with the current one that I’ve evetually decided to sell it >_>
They did have a new top turret in one of the recent test servers, didn’t they?
Yeah, but that was a mistake. It was probably just a new turret skin that was being worked on for the patch, since the Chaffee will need to become HD.
Looking at Hunnicutt: they can (and probably will) remove top turret, because this is T37 one, and replace with older equipped with T122 cupola.
They can remove top gun too and use following:
• 75mm M6
• 75mm T21
• 75mm M17
It will bew nerfed. But I thin kas a whole T5 Scouts will get another Buff to MM. Otherwise the T5`s would be facing T8 lights every 2nd game and that would be death.
I think they will make T5 scouts historical. Chaffee will get best 75mm and maybe mini derp. Then I think it will have normal MM so it will see T29`s at most I think.
Otherway they will go is keep the T5`s as true scouts and make the others more like true lights….So think older T50-2 vs T71, one actually has to do dmg for there team to win where as other was purely scout.
lovely
They definitely had too much time and money for such projects…
hope they will NERF the chafee to the gound after they add the new lights.
Why? Chaffee has barely had its time in the sun. T50-2 owned all in scouting, and 2801 owned all in DMG dealing. And one by one they fell until Chaffee was only thing left.
Actually the T64 will get buffed major if Chaffee is nerfed as it will remain basically ya Chaffee.
The Chaffee is the last of the old tier 5 scouts – scouts designed to counter artillery in hi-tier battles and hence had mobility, firepower and other stats sufficient to fight even tier 10 battles.
Therefore it is hugely overpowered compared to other tier 5 vehicles and YES it will be NERFED to the ground compared to what it currently is… I still think it will be fun though with a suitable MM balance :-)
BTW, what about todays HB event, SS?
There is a HB event?
Well, you have promised, every saturday at 16…
Only WG can launch a WHOLE NEW BRANCH of light tanks, when they do nothing about buffing them.
I know what’s gonna be next. Since they nerfed TD camo, it’s time to launch new TD’s.
You know they’ve said they were coming to buff them when the US LT line was complete? Lowering scout MM was just part 1. Its why all the T8 LTs are coming out together.
Also they are going to release new TDs soon. The British LL medium – turreted TD hybrid line is coming next
If you are gonna make snarky comments you could at least pay attention beforehand.
Are we sure the UK tanks are next?
I just hope they leave Chaffee as it is.. it’s a fun tank
OK what is going on?
the M24/t24 chaffee was made and designed after the T21! why is the M24/t24 chaffee a tier 5? an the earlier more primitive t21 stays at tier 6? WG logic :(
the tech tree should look like >
tier 2 m2 light, tier 3 M3 Stuart, tier 4 M5 Stuart, tier 5 T21, tier 6 M24/t24, tier 7 M41 walker bulldog,+
Super Chaffee was made later. the one ingame was after the tan kwas retired
OMG when Chaffee gets nerfed imagine how OP the T64 will be…..Its basically a Chaffee but makes a lot of creds and IDK if they would change it because the fallout of whiners.
I do not think WG will nerf the Type 64. It will provide WG with revenue for those purchasing the vehicle who are looking for the “Chaffee in game experience.”