Difference between revisions of "Ho-Ni I"
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== History == | == History == | ||
Revision as of 12:55, 1 December 2023
| This page is about the Japanese tank destroyer Ho-Ni I. For the succeeding vehicle of similar name, see Ho-Ni III. |
Contents
Description
The Type 1 Ho-Ni I (一式砲戦車「ホニI」) was a Japanese tank destroyer and self-propelled gun that used the Type 97 chassis and engine, and mounted a Type 90 75 mm field gun in an open casemate. It was developed in 1941 and produced in 1942, with only 26 units built. It was intended to provide fire support and anti-tank capabilities for the Japanese armoured divisions. It participated in its first and only combat in the Battle of Luzon in the Philippines in 1945. There, it faced superior US forces and many units were lost. The Japanese army replaced it with two new types of self-propelled guns: the Ho-Ni II, which specialized in shelling enemy positions, and the Ho-Ni III, which focused on destroying enemy tanks. Some Ho-Ni I units stayed in Japan for home defense until the end of the war.
The Ho-Ni I was introduced along with the initial Japanese Ground Forces tree in Update 1.65 "Way of the Samurai". It has a high-velocity 75 mm Type 90 gun, which can penetrate most tanks it encounters at its rank. However, the Ho-Ni I also has very thin armour and no turret, making it vulnerable to enemy fire and flanking manoeuvres. Therefore, it is advisable to use this tank destroyer in a sniping role, taking advantage of its long-range accuracy and powerful gun. The Ho-Ni I can also use its gun depression to hide behind hills and ambush unsuspecting enemies. The Ho-Ni I is a formidable opponent for tanks like the Char B1, which rely on their armour to survive. The Ho-Ni I can easily punch through their frontal armour and disable them with one shot. The Ho-Ni I is a tank destroyer that requires skill and patience, but can reward its commander with devastating results.
General info
Survivability and armour
The Ho-Ni I's excellent firepower and good mobility is balanced out by its very poor armour protection. The front of the hull is covered in unsloped 25 mm plates, which is only sufficient to protect the tank from machinegun rounds - and even then some high-calibre guns (such as the 50 cal or DShK) can find their way through.
In addition, the gun compartment of the tank is uncovered, leaving the gunner and commander extremely vulnerable to artillery, machine guns, and aircraft attack. As the tank only has three crew members, the two being knocked out will leave the vehicle inoperable. Be sure to immediately retreat away from any artillery, preferably with your front facing the area being attacked, in order to protect the crew.
It is also important to try not to arouse the attention of enemy aircraft, as the open design means that any fighter plane can easily destroy you in a single strafe. With no machine gun, it does not have any means of fighting back against them either, so stay in the shadows!
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour
| Armour | Front | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 25 mm (12-32°) Front plate 15 mm (63°), 17 mm (81°) Front glacis 15 mm (37-59°) Lower glacis |
25 mm (40°) Top left 25 mm (24-27°) Top right 20 mm Bottom |
17 mm (69°) Top 20 mm (4-72°) Bottom |
12 mm |
| Superstructure | 25 mm (14-15°) | 25 mm (0-11°) | N/A | 10 mm |
Notes:
- Suspension wheels and tracks are both 15 mm thick
- Belly armour is 8.5 mm thick.
- Roof superstructure armour will not protect crew from strafe fire.
Mobility
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 44 | 21 | 14.8 | 241 | 324 | 16.28 | 21.89 |
| Realistic | 40 | 19 | 150 | 170 | 10.14 | 11.49 | |
The Ho-Ni I is based off the Chi-Ha chassis, which Japanese ground forces will be familiar with since it is featured on other Japanese early tanks: Chi-Ha,Chi-Ha Kai, Ho-Ro and Ho-Ni III.
Thus, it has a fairly good level of mobility, reaching a peak speed of 36 km/h on flat grass in Realistic, with a theoretical maximum of 40 km/h. It also has a quite good traverse rate, both on the hull and the gun, performing a full 360 degree rotation from a stop in about 16 seconds.
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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|
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Armaments
Main armament
Packing a high-velocity 75 mm Type 90 cannon, the Ho-Ni I has a serious amount of firepower.
Its Type 1 APHE shell has up to 100 mm of armour penetration, which is the second best of tank destroyers at its rank, only beaten by the Soviet ZiS-30, and being very closely followed by the American M3 GMC.
However, a cannon this big does come with two drawbacks; being that it has a fairly long reload time of 7.8 seconds, and no turret, meaning it can only aim in an arc in front of you. Thus, it is important that you make sure your shot lands, and that you are well aware of your surroundings, so that you do not end up wasting precious time turning your entire hull towards an enemy. You should play this tank as a support vehicle, hiding in bushes and shooting at targets at medium range. Chances are, you'll be able to penetrate and score one-shot after one-shot. You could also play as a sniper, if you are so inclined.
The Ho-Ni I does also not feature any machine guns, which leaves it unable to fight back against enemy aircraft or uncovered vehicles.
| 75 mm Type 90 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 40 | -10°/+20° | ±10° | N/A | 14.09 | 19.50 | 23.68 | 26.19 | 27.86 | 7.80 | 6.90 | 6.36 | 6.00 |
| Realistic | 9.52 | 11.20 | 13.60 | 15.04 | 16.00 | ||||||||
Ammunition
| 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 1 APHE | APHE | 103 | 101 | 92 | 82 | 73 | 65 |
| Type 94 HE | HE | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 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 1 APHE | APHE | 668 | 6.56 | 1.3 | 15 | 84.8 | 47° | 60° | 65° | |||
| Type 94 HE | HE | 522 | 6.02 | 0 | 0.1 | 810 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| Smoke shell characteristics | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Screen radius (m) |
Screen deploy time (s) |
Screen hold time (s) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
| Type 90 Smoke | 570 | 5.72 | 13 | 5 | 20 | 100 |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | 27 (+13) | 4 (+36) | 0 (+40) | No |
Usage in battles
The Ho-Ni I should be played like most open crew compartment, fixed gun tank destroyers, fighting from a distance from the front-lines and delivering support fire. The thin armour means the Ho-Ni I will not survive a direct confrontation with any enemy tank and will require the vehicle to obtain the fighting advantage of being able to target the enemy first to ensure any chance of victory. The Ho-Ni I should also be wary of enemy aerial attacks as the open compartment and three-man crew means that an accurate strafing fire could potentially knock out the entire crew.
At its battle rating, the worst the Ho-Ni I could face are the German Pz.IV E and British Cromwell V and Matilda Mk II. The two medium tanks have sufficient armour to withstand the 75 mm gun while the Matilda II requires precise shot in order to destroy it frontally - the driver's port. All of these tanks have guns able to shred the Ho-Ni I apart if they could get a bead on it. The Char B1 can also be a challenge, the only way to deal with it head on is by shooting the driver's port, which will require making you vulnerable to the powerful 75mm hull gun that tank has.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- 75 mm cannon is great, reloads fast and causes massive damage upon penetration
- Favourable matchmaking will leave the tank destroyer being matched with enemies the gun is able to handle
- Mobility is decent due to being built on a Chi-Ha chassis
- Gun is able to effectively penetrate all tanks the Ho-Ni regularly faces frontally
- Similar play style as the German Marder with better gun depression
- Good gun traverse speed
- Powerful HE shell
- Has smoke shells
Cons:
- Tall profile
- Overall armour is thin
- Poor cross country performance due to narrow tracks
- Exposed crew space makes it vulnerable to air attacks
- Reverse speed is abysmal
- Only 3 crew members
- Rather small traverse angle
- Inconsistent gun often non-penetrates Stuarts and other lightly armored armor faces
History
The creation of their own independent armoured division had Japan also envision an enlargement of their artillery forces. They decided to build a series of assault guns based off the Type 97 Chi-Ha chassis. One of the first of these design was the Ho-Ni I which had the Type 97 chassis fitted with a 75 mm Type 90 field gun.[1]
The Ho-Ni I was used in China by the 3rd Tank Division and on Luzon by the 2nd Tank Division. It could be used as mechanized artillery or as a tank destroyer/assault gun. A total of 124 were built.
Media
- Skins
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 series of the vehicles;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
References
- ↑ Zaloga Steven. Japanese Tanks 1939-1945 Great Britain: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2007
| Hitachi, Ltd. (株式会社日立製作所) | |
|---|---|
| SPG | Ho-Ni I · Ho-Ni III |
| Japan tank destroyers | |
|---|---|
| Ro-Go Derivatives | Ro-Go Exp. |
| Chi-Ha Derivatives | Ho-Ni I · Ho-Ni III · Ho-Ro · Chi-Ha LG |
| Ho-Ri | Ho-Ri Prototype · Ho-Ri Production |
| Other | Na-To |
| JGSDF | |
| SPRG | Type 60 (C) |
| SPH | Type 75 · Type 99 |
| ATGM | Type 60 ATM |
| Rocket | Type 75 MLRS |
| USA | ▅M36 |
