Chi-Ha Short Gun

This page is about the premium Japanese medium tank Chi-Ha Short Gun. For other versions, see Chi-Ha (Family).

Chi-Ha Short Gun

Chi-Ha Short Gun

Japan

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
2.0	1.7	1.7

Class:

PREMIUM

Medium tank

Purchase:1 000

Show in game

Description

The Type 97 Chi-Ha Short Gun / Short 12cm SPG (短十二糎自走砲) is a premium rank II Japanese medium tank with a battle rating of 2.0 (AB) and 1.7 (RB/SB). It was introduced along with the initial Japanese Ground Forces tree in Update 1.65 "Way of the Samurai". The Type 97 Chi-Ha Short Gun was made available as a pre-order premium pack as Type 97 Chi-Ha 12cm for the release of the Japanese ground tree.

The Chi-Ha Short Gun is a Naval refit of the Chi-Ha Kai with a Navy short gun (120 mm), it keeps the mobility from the Chi-Ha chassis but loses the turret rotation speed due the added weight of the gun. The Chi-Ha Short Gun is a later iteration of the Chi-Ha with a modified turret coming from the Chi-Ha Kai which was made to support navy infantry as a gun tank during the defense of the homeland.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armourfront / side / back

Hull25 / 25 / 20

Turret32 / 25 / 25

Crew5 people

Visibility75 %

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour (hull, turret, cupola)

Chi-Ha Short Gun scanning the seaside

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	25 mm (11-31°) Front plate 15-17 mm (62-80°) Front glacis 15 mm (37-59°) Lower glacis	25 mm (25 / 40°) Top 25 mm Bottom	15 mm (69°) Top 20 mm (5-57°)	12 mm
Turret	25 mm (9-10°) Turret front 32-35 mm Gun mantlet	25 mm (9-10°)	25 mm	10 mm
Cupola	25 mm (cylindrical)			10 mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheels and tracks are 15 mm thick.

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB45 / 21 km/h

RB and SB40 / 19 km/h

Number of gears8 forward

2 back

Weight14.8 t

Engine power

AB324 hp

RB and SB170 hp

Power-to-weight ratio

AB21.9 hp/t

RB and SB11.5 hp/t

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	21	14.8	263	324	17.77	21.89
Realistic	40	19		150	170	10.14	11.49

The Type 97 Chi-Ha is an upgraded version of the earlier Type 89 I-Go Ko. The engine has been upgraded, from the Mitsubishi A6120VD air-cooled straight-six diesel with 120 hp to a Mitsubishi SA12200VD air-cooled V12 diesel with 170 hp. As such, the top speed has increased from 27 km/h on the I-Go Ko to 40 km/h on the Chi-Ha.

Modifications and economy

Repair cost

AB934

RB498

SB1 235

Crew training2 300

Experts15 000

Aces115

Research Aces320 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

2 × 40 / 50 / 70 %

2 × 112 / 112 / 112 %

Modifications

Mobility	Protection	Firepower
Tracks Suspension Brake System Filters Transmission Engine	Improved Parts Improved FPE Crew Replenishment	Horizontal Drive Adjustment of Fire Elevation Mechanism Artillery Support

Armaments

Main armament

120 mm Navy short gun

Ammunition23 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

13.0 → 10.0 s

Vertical guidance-10° / 15°

Chi-Ha Short Gun firing

The 120 mm Navy short gun is built to deal with submarines and close range naval combat, and that does translate over in-game as a gun that have a very low muzzle velocity, which on the bright side can be used to shoot at vehicles over cover.

The gun can only fire an HE round by default. However, the shell contains 2.64 kg of TNT equivalent, which is enough to cause a lethal overpressure damage against almost any enemy the tank has to face at its BR.

While the shell is certainly powerful, it is not as powerful as the Ho-Ro's 150 mm howitzer rounds. This means careful aim is still needed when facing a more well-armoured opponents. Against these targets, aim at any deflective angles that can cause the explosion effect to deflect on the weak hull roof.

120 mm Navy short gun					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	23	-8°/+15°	±180°	N/A	5.7	7.9	9.6	10.6	11.3	13.0	11.5	10.6	10.0
Realistic					3.6	4.2	5.1	5.6	6.0

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
Short Ordinary HE	HE	31	31	31	31	31	31

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%
Short Ordinary HE	HE	290	13.0	0.1	0.1	2,640	79°	80°	81°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the Chi-Ha Short Gun

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	Visual discrepancy
23	18 (+5)	0 (+23)	No

Note:

• Racks disappear after you've fired all shells in the rack.

Machine guns

7.7 mm Type 97 machine gun (coaxial)

Ammunition3 000 rounds

Belt capacity20 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

3.9 → 3.0 s

Fire rate499 shots/min

7.7 mm Type 97 machine gun

Ammunition1 000 rounds

Belt capacity20 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

3.9 → 3.0 s

Fire rate499 shots/min

7.7 mm Type 97
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Hull	3,000 (20)	499	±10°	±15°
Pintle	1,000 (20)	499	-10°/+70°	±60°

Usage in battles

Chi-Ha Short Gun coming out behind a rock

Because the Chi-Ha Short Gun was designed for an infantry support role, its performance shows how tank combat wasn't put in mind for the vehicle. With awfully slow turret traverse and poor shell trajectory harming the tank's combat effectiveness. However, with each shell having 2.64 kg of TNT equivalent of explosives, it can easily deal overpressure damage against most tank it will face.

Most lightly-armoured vehicles and tanks with less than 30 mm of armour will be able to be destroyed from crew knock-out wherever you hit them. But when you start opposing medium to heavy tanks, you should fall back for friendlies to deal with the target. It might be possible fire a shot to deal overpressure damage against weak hull roof, but it's a tricky shot and won't always deal a fatal blow on first hit.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Familiar Chi-Ha chassis
• Ten-seconds reload with a 120 mm cannon
• Huge explosive mass for 120 mm HE shell means it can destroy every tank it faces via overpressure
• Five crew members

Cons:

• Slow reload compared to cannons commonly met at this BR (37 to 75 mm)
• Only fires high explosive rounds
• As the shell is much less effective than the 150 mm howitzers, it requires some knowledge for where to aim on enemy's tanks to cause overpressure effect
• Poor turret traverse, just 5.1°/s
• Very slow muzzle velocity (290 m/s) causes large shell drop

History

Development

The Chi-Ha Short Gun, designated the Short 12 cm Self-propelled artillery (短十 二糎 自走砲) was a navy refit of the Type 97 Chi-Ha Kai to make a similar gun tank as the Army's Type 2 Ho-I with greater firepower to support the Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF).

To get greater firepower than the Type 2 Ho-I, a naval short barrel 120 mm was chosen with an additional bespoke muzzle brake, the official designation of this 120 mm gun is unclear but may greatly be the 12cm/12 short naval gun. Additionally, there was a small storage compartment added onto the back of the ShinHoTo Chi-Ha turret.

Combat usage

The only certain information on this variant is that only a dozen or so vehicles were built and all were assigned to the Yokosuka No. 16 Special Land Battle Corps. The Chi-Ha's weren't the only vehicles assigned to this squadron and saw service next to the Type 2 Ka-Mi and Type 3 Ka-Chi amphibious tanks.

These vehicles would most likely have seen service in defense of the homeland next to the SNLF infantry. But in-case that these tanks would be required to move to forward islands, they would most likely be transport by Daihatsu-class Landing Craft's just like the infantry accompanied and escorted by the Amphibious tanks during landings.

There's only a handful of images of Chi-Ha 120 mm, all being American and taken at the naval yard in Sasebo, Japan, October 1945. None of the vehicles survive today.

• 

  American Inspection

• 

  Stored Chi-Ha 12 cm's

• 

  Inside picture of the breech, seen from the commander's port

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Chi-Ha Short Gun from live.warthunder.com.

Images

• 

  Chi-Ha Short Gun coming from the sea

• 

  Chi-Ha Short Gun engaging an enemy

• 

  Chi-Ha Short Gun back view

Videos

'Most unusual vehicles discusses the Chi-Ha Short Gun at 2:15 - War Thunder Official Channel

What 120mm of Power is doing at 1.7 BR? - Chi-Ha Short Gun - HowToPlay1337

Chi-Ha Short Gun Tank Review - NUSensei

See also

Related development

• Directly Related:
  • Type 97 Chi-Ha (base hull)
  • Type 97 Chi-Ha Kai (base turret)
  • Type 2 Ho-I (reference role)

• Related:
  • Type 97 Chi-Ha Long Gun (another navy variant)

Tanks of comparable role, configuration and era

• M8 Scott

External links

• [Development] Chi-Ha Short Gun: Naval Caliber
• Short 12cm/20cm Gun (JP)

Sasebo Naval Arsenal (佐世保海軍工廠)
Destroyers
Mutsuki-class	IJN Mutsuki
Hatsuharu-class	IJN Hatsuharu
Shiratsuyu-class	IJN Yuudachi
Light Cruisers
Agano-class	IJN Agano
Unique Ships	IJN Yubari
Tanks	Chi-Ha Short Gun

Japan premium ground vehicles
Light tanks	Ha-Go Commander · Type 16 (FPS)
Medium tanks	Chi-Ha Short Gun · Chi-He (5th Regiment) · Ka-Chi · Chi-Nu II · Type 74 (G) · Type 90 (B) "Fuji"
Heavy tanks	Ro-Go · ▅Heavy Tank No.6
Tank destroyers	Ho-Ri Prototype · Type 75 MLRS