T30

T30

T30

USA

IV Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
6.7	6.7	6.7

Class:

PREMIUM

Heavy tank

Purchase:Bundle or Gift

Show in game

MARKET

Description

The Heavy Tank T30 is a premium gift rank IV American heavy tank with a battle rating of 6.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.85 "Supersonic" in the 2018 "Festive Quest" that took place between 21 December 2018 to 14 January 2019. It was obtainable via completing 10 Christmas Toys for tankers. It could also be purchased on the Gaijin market after the event was over.

The T30 was a World War II American tank project developed to counter new German tanks, such as Tiger I, Tiger II, and tank destroyers, such as the Jagdtiger, or Soviet heavy tanks, such as IS-1 or IS-2. The T30 was designed at the same time as the T29 Heavy Tank. However, it had a 155mm gun mounted on the same hull and turret as the T29 and T34 heavy tanks.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour (hull roof, sides & rear - engine bay, hull bottom)
• Cast homogeneous armour (hull front, sides & roof - fighting compartment, turret, gun mantlet, cupola)

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	102 mm (55°) Front glacis 70.25 mm (61°) Lower glacis - centre 70.25 mm (40°) Lower glacis - sides 102.5 mm (5°) MG housing 88 mm (sphere) MG port	76.2 mm Front half 51 mm Rear half	51 mm (5°) Top 51 mm (60°) Bottom	38.1 mm (57°-81°) Front 38.1 mm Rear
Turret	203 mm Gun mantlet 158.7 mm Gun mantlet frame	158.7 mm	102 mm Vertical part 50 mm (71°) Turret ring area	38.1 mm (79°)
Cupola	152.45 mm (45°)			38.1 mm (79°)

Notes:

• Suspension wheels are 20 mm thick while tracks are 30 mm thick.
• Mudguards are 4 mm thick.
• Frontally, the MG housing (around the MG port) as well as the lower glacis are weak spots on the T30.
• The bottom of the hull is only 25.4 mm thick, making it vulnerable to powerful HE shells shot under the belly.

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	38	15	65.8	1046	1,545	15.9	23.48
Realistic	36	14		716	810	10.88	12.31

The T30's mobility is good for the role it fulfills. Its acceleration and maximum speed are good for a heavy tank. While the reverse speed is average, it isn't a handicap. And the T30 can brake quickly in spite of its weight. Neutral steering allows you to turn your hull towards flanking enemies relatively quickly on the spot. The offroad mobility is good: the T30 can reach 15 km/h when climbing uphill from idling and 21 km/h when fording. Due to its weight, the tank's mobility is unhindered by obstacles.

Armaments

Main armament

155 mm T7					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	34	-10°/+15°	±180°	N/A	14.5	20.1	24.5	27.1	28.8	38.9	34.4	31.7	29.9
Realistic					10.7	12.6	15.3	16.9	18.0

Ammunition

The available choice of ammunition focuses on heavily armoured targets:

• M112B1: APBC; an armour-piercing ballistic capped shell with high explosive mass and good penetration power that will one-shot any tank it penetrates.
• T29E1: APCBC; an armour-piercing capped shell with a ballistic cap offering an increased penetration compared to the M112B1.
• M107: HE; a powerful high-explosive shell useful to destroy all enemy vehicles and even open and lightly armoured vehicles indirectly with the blast.
• M110: Smoke; useful to blind enemy vehicles that are too remote for you to disable so that you can progress towards objectives.

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
M112B1	APBC	179	177	168	158	148	139
M107	HE	54	54	54	54	54	54
T29E1	APCBC	199	197	187	175	165	155

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%
M112B1	APBC	670	45	1.2	20	640	47°	60°	65°
M107	HE	717	43	0.1	0.1	6860	79°	80°	81°
T29E1	APCBC	670	45	1.2	19	640	48°	63°	71°

Smoke characteristic
Ammunition	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Screen radius in m	Screen time in s	Screen hold time in s:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):
M110	717	45	25	5	30	50

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the T30

Full ammo	Ammo type	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
34	Projectiles Propellants	30 (+4) 21 (+13)	8 (+26) 7 (+27)	3 (+31) 3 (+31)	1 (+33) 1 (+33)	No

Notes:

• The T30 uses two-piece ammunition, composed of projectiles (yellow) and propellant bags (orange). Both have separate racks.
• Racks 3 and 4 are first stage ammo racks. They total 7 shells for projectiles and 6 shells for propellant bags.
• These racks get filled first when loading up the tank and are also emptied early: the rack depletion order at full capacity is: 4 - 3 - 1 - 2.

Machine guns

12.7 mm M2HB
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Coaxial	1200 (200)	577	N/A	N/A
Pintle	1000 (200)	577	-10°/+50°	±120°

These heavy machineguns can be extremely useful for gauging distance measurements (coaxial), engaging lightly armoured vehicles or shooting down enemy aircraft (pintle).

Usage in battles

Despite its labeling as a heavy tank, the T30 is better used as a tank destroyer and being more of a supportive role than a breakthrough role that most heavy tanks were designed to do. With its long reload for the 155mm makes it's gameplay a bit similar to tank like KV-2 than tank like T29 or T34. The T30 can handle itself on its own if in a one on one encounter but will be at a disadvantage if it is facing more than one due to the long reload time. So to fully utilize that heavy gun it might be best to be a supportive role tank for the medium tanks or the MBTs that got a faster reload but not the same destructive power as the T30's 155mm have.

The T30 share similarities with the armour as the T29 and T34, having a thick heavily armored turret got it's advantages. Since it's most heavily armoured part is the front turret it can be a key factor on how to make plans where to best utilize the tank, keep in mind even if having the turret only exposed it's not a 100% guaranteed safety from shells like APDS that will with ease be able to penetrate turret. But shells like HEAT-FS will mostly not do same amount of damage but can take out the gunner or in worst case scenario the gun's breech.

Enemy tanks to be aware of is mostly MBTs like Leopard 1, M60, Vickers MBT, T-54 (1951), STB-1, OF-40, Strv 101. But that is not the only threat there is also ATGM Vehicles and large caliber tanks that can have enough Power to disable the T30's turret when hull down and out flank the slow T30's position.

Modules

Tier	Mobility		Protection	Firepower
I	Tracks		Parts	Horizontal Drive
II	Suspension	Brake System	FPE	Adjustment of Fire
III	Filters		Crew Replenishment	Elevation Mechanism	M110
IV	Transmission	Engine		T29E1
This is a premium vehicle: all modifications are unlocked on purchase

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Inherits the great armour layout of the T29
• Huge 155 mm gun that packs a devastating punch
• HE shell is great at taking out heavily armoured tanks if the explosion occurs over the turret, or under the hull
• Because of the slow shell velocity, this is one of the few tanks that's really good at hitting targets behind cover
• Despite the massive breech, the tank still has 10 degrees of gun depression
• Has two .50 cal machine guns that can rip apart lightly armoured vehicles

Cons:

• Has one of the slowest reloads in the game, an ace crew will only reload the gun every 29.9 seconds
• Despite the massive gun, the top APCBC shell only has 199 mm of pen at point blank range
• Bad shell velocity makes hitting moving targets at ranges exceeding 500 meters a challenge
• Has one less .50 cal machine gun than the T29 and T34
• The first stage ammo rack means there is almost always ammo in the turret
• Is simply a worse T29

History

In 1944, the Army requested 4 prototypes for heavy tanks, two armed with a 105 mm gun and two armed with a 155 mm gun. The intention was to create vehicles that could face enemy heavy tanks on even terms, or even advantageous terms. The vehicles armed with the 105 mm gun were designated T29, and the two armed with a 155 mm gun were designated T30.

The armament of the T30, a 155 mm T7 L/40 gun, was one of the largest guns ever fitted to an armored fighting vehicle made in the United States. The gun was carried in a tall, long turret with rounded edges. The height of the turret was quite necessary, as the size of the gun and its ammunition required a standing loader. The hull of the T30 was the same as the T29. It was a lengthened version of the T26E3 chassis. The armor of the T30 was quite thick, and the hull was also well angled, as one of the requirements for the design was protection from the German long 88 mm anti-tank gun. The T30 carried a crew of six men. These were the driver, commander, bow machine gunner, gunner, and two loaders. One loader moved the crane that placed the shell, and the other used the rammer that put the shell into the breech. The gun could only be loaded at certain angles. The T30 saw an upgrade, called the T30E1, which added an automatic loading system, which moved the gun to the correct position, loaded the shell, and moved the gun back to the firing position. A hatch was added to the rear of the turret to allow the ejection of shell casings after firing.

World War 2 ended before the heavy tank designs (T28, T29, T30, T32, T34) could enter service, and the development of these vehicles ended, but the development of these heavy tank designs provided experience that proved useful when designing the M103 heavy tank during the Cold War.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the T30 from live.warthunder.com.

Videos

T30 Tank Review: Missing Punch - Napalmratte

See also

Other tanks sharing the design

• T29 - 105 mm gun
• T34 - 120 mm gun

External links

• [Devblog] T30 Premium heavy tank
• [Wikipedia] T30 Heavy Tank
• Military Factory - T30 (Heavy Tank T30)

USA heavy tanks
M4 Jumbo	M4A3E2 · Cobra King · M4A3E2 (76) W
M6	M6A1 · T1E1 · T1E1 (90) · M6A2E1
T26	T26E1-1 · T26E5
T29/30/34	T29 · T30 · T34
T32	T32 · T32E1
M103	M103
Others	T14

Winter events
2022	Winter Quest
Pilot stars	Late 298D · ◄Tornado IDS MFG
Tanker stars	T-80UM2
Sailor stars	USS Newport News
2021	Operation W.I.N.T.E.R.
Pilot stars	C. 202D · ◊MiG-23MF
Tanker stars	A.C.I · AGS
Sailor stars	IJN Hayanami · MPK Pr.201K
2020	Operation W.I.N.T.E.R.
Pilot stars	Ro.57 Quadriarma · MiG-21PFM
Tanker stars	E.B.R. (1954) · Class 3 (P)
Sailor stars	Type K-8 No.13 · USS Baltimore
2019	Operation F.R.O.S.T.
Pilot stars	TIS MA · J6K1
Tanker stars	QF 3.7 Ram · ▃Merkava Mk.2B
Sailor stars	PT-811 · Jaguar
2018	Festive Quest
Pilot stars	M.B.152C1 · Fw 190 C
Tanker stars	SU-85A · T30
Christmas Lights	P-43A-1 · Comet I "Iron Duke IV"
2017	Festive Quest
Pilot christmas toys	P-40C · NC.900
Tanker christmas toys	AEC Mk II · Ersatz M10
Christmas Lights	Fw 189 A-1 · KV-2 (1940)
2016	Winter Holiday
Pilot stages	Ki-21-I hei · Me 262 A-2a
Tanker stages	▃LVT(A)(4) (ZIS-2) · ▂Type 62
2015	War Thunder Fulfills Your Wishes!
Pilot reward	▂P-63C-5
Tanker reward	VK 45.01 (P)
2014	Holiday War Thunder Marathon!
Pilot reward	I-301
Tanker reward	M8A1 GMC