61-K (37 mm)
Contents
Description
Write an introduction to the article in 2-3 small paragraphs. Briefly tell us about the history of the development and combat using the weaponry and also about its features. Compile a list of air, ground, or naval vehicles that feature this weapon system in the game.
Vehicles equipped with this weapon
General info
Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.
Available ammunition
Describe the shells that are available for the weapon and their features and purpose. If it concerns autocannons or machine guns, write about different ammo belts and what is inside (which types of shells).
Comparison with analogues
Give a comparative description of cannons/machine guns that have firepower equal to this weapon.
Usage in battles
Describe the cannon/machine gun in the game - its distinctive features, tactics of usage against notable opponents. Please don't write a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought.
Pros and cons
Summarise and briefly evaluate the weaponry in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark pros and cons as a list.
Pros:
Cons:
History
The 61-K's story begins with the Soviet Navy in 1935 purchasing Bofors 25 mm Model 1933 cannons for testing. After successful trials, the Soviets attempted to make a variant of the Swedish design scaled up to 47 mm, but the Red Army thought it would be too large and ordered Artillery Factory No. 8 in Sverdlovsk (now the Kalinin Machine Building Plant in Yekaterinburg) to produce a version of the Bofors that was scaled up to 37 mm. The end result was the 61-K which was designed by Mikhail Loginov and his assistant Lev Loktev. After passing firing trials in October of 1938, the gun was adopted as the 37 mm automatic air defense gun M1939. The 61-K was used successfully during World War II on the Eastern Front against dive bombers and other aircraft flying at low or medium altitudes. Fed from five-round clips, the gun was mounted on the ZU-7 carriage, but a prototype was made later during the war based on the design of the SU-76M called the ZSU-37. Due to the Luftwaffe being almost non-existent at this point, the ZSU-37 saw no service and it was later retired due to a low rate of fire and weak 37 mm gun. The 61-K ended Soviet production in 1945 and was later replaced by the 57 mm S-60, but it was also produced in Poland, China, and North Korea, and remains in service to this day in multiple nations primarily in Africa or the Middle East.
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
- references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.
External links
| USSR anti-aircraft guns | |
|---|---|
| 7.62 mm | Maxim's |
| 12.7 mm | DShK |
| 14.5 mm | KPVT |
| 23 mm | AZP-23 · ZU-23 |
| 25 mm | 72-K |
| 30 mm | 2A38 · ZK453 |
| 37 mm | 2A11 · 61-K · Sh-37 · Type 65 |
| 57 mm | S-68 |
