Ka-Mi
Contents
Description
The Special Type 2 Ka-Mi (特二式内火艇「カミ」) was a special type light tank built by the Japanese Navy for naval landing operations. Primarily based on the Ha-Go tank, the Ka-Mi was majorly modified to be a water-tight hull allowing it to float in the water, with add-on pontoons to improve high sea traversability.
The Ka-Mi was introduced along with the initial Japanese Ground Forces tree in Update 1.65 "Way of the Samurai". Unlike the Ha-Go, it features a slightly better Type 1 37 mm instead of the Type 94 37 mm and comes with a coaxial machine gun which is rather rare for WWII Japanese tanks. While the Ka-Mi doesn't receive its pontoons in-game, it still can float through the water as the propellers are mounted directly to the chassis and allows the tank crew to exploit aquatic terrain to their advantage, especially since the gun is shoulder stabilized, making it easier to aim with the waves.
General info
Survivability and armour
The Ka-Mi features a very unusual layout. Being originally designed as an amphibious tank, it is very lightly armoured. With armour thickness ranging from around 8 mm, and just reaching 12 mm on the larger portions of the hull, this tank is very fragile to anything bigger than MG fire. To increase survivability, one can enter a fight backwards in order to absorb shots with the engine, though using hard cover (such as hills and rocks) is preferable.
This armour pattern really shines at distances (500+ m), where a little angling can mostly defeat HMG fire. Since most guns at this BR are quite inaccurate, exposing only your small turret should not be a problem since it is hard to hit. If caught in an open field (still at a distance), try directly facing your foe. Angling is useless with armour so thin, meaning some shells might punch through cleanly and just fly by your crew in the uninhabited portions of the tank (ammo racks located there are pretty small, so these are often missed in such cases).
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour
| Armour | Front | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 12 mm (30°) Front plate 6 mm (83°) Front glacis 12 mm (4-39°) Lower glacis |
10 mm | 10 mm (12°) Middle 12 mm (59°) Side |
6 mm |
| Turret | 12 mm (0-8°) Turret front 30 mm Gun mantlet |
12 mm (10-12°) | 12 mm (12-13°) | 6 mm |
Notes
- Suspension wheels and tracks are both 15 mm thick.
- Belly armour is 6 mm thick.
Mobility
The Ka-Mi provides a decent top speed on the road but lacks such mobility when going off-road. Narrow tracks make mobility in snow/desert maps really painful. A good thing to mention: this tank has a respectable reverse speed of -11 km/h with two reverse gear, which is a rare feature at this BR. It can sometimes get you out of bad situations.
Compared to other tanks at its BR, the Ka-Mi has average mobility with no significant drawbacks, offering an ability to reach most destinations with the rest of the team, or to position for sniping or ambushes. The Ka-Mi is also somewhat prone to drifting when taking sharp turns at high speed.
The Ka-Mi travels at 10 km/h (AB/RB/SB) in water but can't propel itself backwards. Trajectory should be planned accordingly to avoid being stuck.
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 45 | 12 | 9.1 | 124 | 219 | 13.63 | 24.07 |
| Realistic | 40 | 10 | 102 | 115 | 11.21 | 12.64 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
The main gun of the Ka-Mi is a very basic 37 mm cannon with decent penetration and spread. A major disadvantage is its slow turn rate, making it preferable to have already aimed the turret before emerging from cover, and similarly attempting to hide it as early as possible, once the enemy emerges from a flanking direction. It does, however, feature a good depression rate, making it a potent weapon when attacking from the hills.
The 37 mm is a decent gun with a good reload time and good ammo count: don't bother wasting ammo while stationary, just fire on the move. This tank has a "lock", which is a primitive form of gun stabilizer, decreasing vertical movement from the main armament - at low speeds, gun handling sees significant improvement. Note that turret rotation speed is somewhat slow: pre-aim your gun in the general direction of the enemy in close-quarter engagements.
| 37 mm Type 1 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 132 | -10°/+24° | ±180° | Vertical | 11.52 | 15.94 | 19.36 | 21.41 | 22.78 | 5.20 | 4.60 | 4.24 | 4.00 |
| Realistic | 7.20 | 8.47 | 10.29 | 11.37 | 12.10 | ||||||||
Ammunition
It's highly preferable to use the Type 1 APHE ammunition over the stock one, due to its significantly better penetration and its explosive filler. While the Type 94 shell may only damage enemy crew or components with anything barring a perfectly-placed shot, the Type 1 shell will nearly always result in an effectively destructive hit, damaging modules and crew alike. Similarly, the penetration characteristics of the Type 1 shells make all the difference between a ricochet and a successful knock-out when dealing with other tanks at this BR.
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| Type 94 APHE | APHE | 46 | 44 | 36 | 29 | 23 | 18 |
| Type 1 APHE | APHE | 57 | 54 | 39 | 26 | 18 | 12 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | |||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| Type 94 APHE | APHE | 700 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 9 | 11 | 47° | 60° | 65° | |||
| Type 1 APHE | APHE | 800 | 0.72 | 1.2 | 9 | 12.8 | 47° | 60° | 65° | |||
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 132 | 73 (+59) | 25 (+107) | 1 (+131) | No |
Due to a high maximum ammo capacity, leaving at least the first ammo rack empty could be preferred in order to reduce the chance of enemy shots causing any ammo detonation. This can be done by only carrying 73 or fewer shells. Furthermore, when angling the tank to the enemy, it's preferred to expose the left side to the enemy, rather than the right one, which will always contain a loaded ammunition rack. To prevent crew members from being knocked out, the right side should be protected whenever possible.
Machine guns
One thing that saves the Ka-Mi's reputation is its MG count: there are 3 of them. One is coaxial, fired by the gunner, another is pintle-mounted, also fired by the gunner, and the last is hull-mounted, fired by the machine gunner. These weapons have good burst capabilities that can take out lightly-armoured targets (Soviet SPAA trucks, open-topped SPGs, etc.). This also allows the Ka-Mi to become an unlikely SPAA, armed with three machine guns and a cannon. It can quite easily damage low-flying biplanes, although sustained hits are still required to successfully down an aircraft. One downside of the Type 97 machine gun is its low ammo count, which limits bursts to a couple of seconds before having to reload. Reloads, fortunately, don't take long.
The Ka-Mi has a rare setup for its BR, featuring a group of three 7.7 mm MGs that allow it to quickly dispose of enemy lightly-armoured vehicles, especially rank I SPAAGs. The MGs are supplied with limited ammo capacity, allowing for a short bursts before reloading. In effect, shorter bursts into different portions of the enemy vehicle are recommended over lengthy bursts to gradually disable modules and crew members.
| 7.7 mm Type 97 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 4,000 (20) | 499 | N/A | N/A |
| Hull | 3,000 (20) | 499 | -11°/+35° | ±20° |
| Pintle | 1,000 (20) | 499 | -10°/+70° | ±60° |
Usage in battles
With its average armour, firepower and mobility, the Ka-Mi should be played wisely, with a bit of finesse: you will not survive frontal engagement, neither can you flank nor snipe. This leaves you the support role. Always play as a team when driving the Ka-Mi, bringing an additional potent close-range gun to the fight, threatening your foes while more potent allies reload.
Use hills to your advantage, fall back when outnumbered and beware difficult terrain since it can slow down your manoeuvres significantly. Do not rely on the armour as even with angling, its effective protection is nearly always penetrable by enemy tanks.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- 37 mm gun has decent post-penetration damage
- Has a lot of machine guns, allowing a mediocre amphibious tank to turn into an impromptu SPAA instantly
- Tiny turret. Hard to target it at the range
- High ammo count (both cannon and MG)
- 10° gun depression
- Decent reverse speed (-11 km/h)
- Has a coaxial machine gun, unlike most low rank Japanese tanks
- Amphibious design will float on water
Cons:
- 37 mm penetration value starting to feel lacking
- Hull size is wider than other Japanese light tanks
- Hull front plate is thin and relatively unsloped
- Tiny turret, big hull. People with have no trouble targeting you
- Only two ammo choice, both APHE, one is clearly superior over the other
- Narrow tracks means poor off-road mobility
- Low engine HP makes hill-climbing only possible at low gear, which even then is difficult
- Weak armour makes you an easy target for aircraft with high penetration on their guns
History
Development
While tanks were used mainly in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA), the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) also owned their own land forces known as the Special Naval Landings Forces (SNLF). Their standard tanks was the Type 95 Ha-Go, but the SNLF wanted a more capable tank fitted for amphibious landings. The Japanese have touched upon the amphibious tank concept since the 1930s, but one built to withstand rough seas needed more durability than one designed for rivers and more calm waters. The IJN approached Mitsubishi in 1941 to develop the new amphibious tank, named Ka-Mi "Special Craft". The tank was to go along with the IJA's Type 2 Ke-To light tank, using a similar turret design. The suspension of the vehicle was one derived from the Ha-Go. The amphibious capability was given to the tank via two removable pontoons on the front and back of the tank. A trunk and a tower were fitted over the engine and turret respectively to prevent water from flowing into the engine and crew compartment. The vehicle, accepted as the Type 2 Ka-Mi, began production in 1943. Up to 182 tanks were produced by the end of the war, mostly supporting Japanese positions in Saipan and the Philippines.[1]
Combat Usage
The Type 2 Ka-Mi saw combat in 1944 in Saipan and Leyte.[1] They assisted the stationed SNLF units on these islands in attacking the American beachheads via amphibious assaults. The Ka-Mi were also stationed in Luzon, and a handful were captured by Allied forces in 1945. Their limited numbers and usage meant they fought with relative obscurity to the IJA's Type 97 Chi-Ha tanks. However, the Type 2 Ka-Mi was deemed rather successful by the IJN. Some have dubbed it the "best-designed amphibious tank of the war" after the conclusion of World War II. This led to successors like the Type 3 Ka-Chi, a parallel to the Type 1 Chi-He, and the Type 5 To-Ku, based on the Type 5 Chi-Ri.
Media
- Skins
- Images
Type 3 Ka-Chi & Type 2 Ka-Mi landing ashore
Type 3 Ka-Chi & Type 2 Ka-Mi driving across land
Ka-Mi driving across Jungle
Ka-Mi promotional image showing front of the hull and size with a human to scale
Rear of the vehicle on another promo image
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See also
- Related Development
- Type 95 Ha-Go (Based off)
- Type 3 Ka-Chi (Successor)
- Tanks of comparable role, configuration, and era
External links
References
| Yokosuka Naval Arsenal (横須賀海軍工廠) | |
|---|---|
| Destroyers (DD) | |
| Momi-class | IJN Momi |
| Light Cruisers (CL) | |
| Mogami-class | IJN Suzuya |
| Heavy Cruisers (CA) | |
| Myōkō-class | IJN Myoko |
| Battlecruisers (BC) | |
| Kurama-class | IJN Kurama |
| Amagi-class | IJN Amagi |
| Battleships (BB) | |
| Fusō-class | IJN Yamashiro |
| Nagato-class | IJN Mutsu |
| Tanks | Ka-Mi · Ka-Chi · Chi-Ha LG |
| See also | Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal |
| Japan light tanks | |
|---|---|
| Type 89 | I-Go Ko |
| Type 95 | Ha-Go · Ha-Go Commander |
| Type 98 | Ke-Ni |
| Other | Ka-Mi |
| IFV | Type 89 |
| RCV | Type 87 RCV (P) · Type 87 RCV · CTWV RCV |
| MCV | Type 16 (P) · Type 16 (FPS) · Type 16 |
| USA | ▅M24 · ▅M41A1 |
