Difference between revisions of "Churchill NA75"
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== History == | == History == | ||
<!-- ''Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: <nowiki>https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History</nowiki>) and add a link to it here using the <code>main</code> template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <code><nowiki><ref></ref></nowiki></code>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <code><nowiki><references /></nowiki></code>. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under <code><nowiki>=== In-game description ===</nowiki></code>, also if applicable).'' --> | <!-- ''Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: <nowiki>https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History</nowiki>) and add a link to it here using the <code>main</code> template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <code><nowiki><ref></ref></nowiki></code>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <code><nowiki><references /></nowiki></code>. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under <code><nowiki>=== In-game description ===</nowiki></code>, also if applicable).'' --> | ||
| − | '' | + | The Churchill NA75 was the Churchill IV upgraded, under 'Operation Whitehot', during the period between March and June 1944.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20110222053014/http://northirishhorse.net/articles/na75/1.html</ref> |
| + | |||
| + | 190 - 200 of these were produced and mainly used in Africa and Italy<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_tank</ref> | ||
| + | |||
| + | === Development === | ||
| + | It was the idea of P.H Morrell who was a captain in command of a detachment of 665 Tank Troops and following the Fall of Tunis Morrell was attached to 16 Base Workshop R.E.M.E and employed in scrapping large numbers of battle casualty armored vehicles accrued during the North African campaign. He stated: "''It was under-gunned - its 6-pdr, with an AP range of 800 yards and NIL HE performance, had proved to be no match for the 75 and 88mm guns of the hull down or dug in German tanks encountered during its advance up the Medjerda Valley"''<ref name=":0">http://www.armourinfocus.co.uk/a22new/articles/na75text.htm</ref> | ||
| + | |||
| + | Morrell noted that often the least damaged part of the scrapped tanks was the main armament, which in many cases, showed a useful remaining life of up to 85%. In light of his views on the effectiveness of the 6-pdr and the internal mantlet of the Churchill, Morrell considered the possibilities of adapting Churchill to take the Sherman 75mm gun.<ref name=":0" /> | ||
| + | |||
| + | === Modifications === | ||
| + | The first step was to remove the 6pdr together with its mantlet and auxiliary gear from the turret of a Mk.IV Churchill. The turret was then cleared and the internal guide ribs for the 6pdr mantlet removed. To accommodate the Sherman mantlet, a large aperture was cut in the front of the Churchill turret. Due to the curvature of the front of the cast Churchill turret it was necessary to rebate the cheeks on either side of the hole to accept the flat flange of the Sherman mantlet. When a satisfactory fit had been achieved the Sherman mantlet, complete with gun, was arc welded into position.<ref name=":0" /> | ||
| + | |||
| + | The elevation limits of the gun posed an immediate problem. The mantlet and mount of the Sherman was designed to be set at an angle of some 30 degrees from the vertical. The gun barrel protruded through the mantlet with the elevation being limited by its movement in a slot. The effect of welding the mantlet to the vertical front face of the Churchill turret was to limit resultant maximum elevation to a little over the horizontal whilst permitting a much grater depression than was required. To compensate for this the top of the slot was extended by some 8" with the resulting cut out being welded back into the bottom of the slot.<ref name=":0" /> | ||
| + | |||
| + | === Trails === | ||
| + | The prototype took ten days to complete after which it was taken to the RAC Training Depot for firing trials. The were performed before the "top flight" of the armoured formations in North Africa, plus several flown in from Italy and elsewhere. The trials were conducted by Major ‘Dick’ Whittington’ a gunnery instructor at the school who also was one of Morrell’s friends. Once he had become accustomed to the gun Whittington was able to target a deserted Arab village at a range of some 8,000 to 8,500 yards, bringing down round after round of HE on top of it. Whittington subsequently commented that he found the Churchill a much more accurate gun platform than the Sherman as it did not 'rock' to the recoil of the gun to anything like the same extent.<ref name=":0" /> | ||
| + | |||
| + | The trials were a great success and immediate steps were taken to enable the conversion of further vehicles. The 665 Tank Troop Workshop was moved to Bone and attached to 16 Base Workshop R.E.M.E., where a large tank shop allocated specifically for the conversions. Work proceeded round the clock and in three months to June '44 some 190-200 conversions were produced.<ref name=":0" /> | ||
| + | |||
| + | === Service === | ||
| + | Upon arrival in Italy the 21st and 25th Tank Brigades were re-structured to include two troops (ie. 18) of Shermans in each Squadron. When the NA75s became available they essentially replaced the Shermans (only 3 or so retained). Within 25th Tank Brigade the North Irish Horse appear to have been the first to recieve NA75s - receiving a full complement of 18 in July 1944. The other two regiments in the brigade received theirs a few weeks later. At this time Vauxhalls were producing MkVIs and MkVIIs Churchills mounting the new QF 75mm, however priority for these vehicles was given to the new front in North West Europe. I've yet to come across any evidence of MkVIs in Italy and it would be until the end of November 1944 that the first few MkVIIs arrived with the Tank Brigades.The NA75 stayed in service with the 25 Tank Brigade until the Brigade was disbanded in January 1945, and with 21 Tank brigade until the end of the war. Whilst we've noted the superior HE perfomance of the the Sheman 75mm it should also be noted that the 6-pdr had a better armour piercing performance coupled with a greater rate of fire. We should also realise that for the tank brigades in Italy at least, up until 1945 when MkVIIs started to be appear in numbers the highest proportion of tanks in the brigades were armed with 6-pdrs.<ref name=":0" /> | ||
== Media == | == Media == | ||
Revision as of 16:05, 12 March 2023
| This page is about the British heavy tank Churchill NA75. For other versions, see Churchill (Family). |
Contents
Description
The Tank, Infantry, Mk IV, Churchill NA75 is a rank III British heavy tank with a battle rating of 4.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Sky Guardians".
General info
Survivability and armour
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour (Hull, Cupola doors)
- Cast homogeneous armour (Turret, Hull machine gun area)
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 89 mm Front plate 89 + 89 mm Front plate (MG Port) 38 mm (70°) Front glacis 76.2 mm (20°) Lower glacis |
64 mm 76.2 mm Side hatch 38 mm Edges 26 + 38 mm Rear |
50.8 mm 25.4 mm (71°) Bottom |
15.87 mm |
| Turret | 89-104 mm (1°-38°) Turret front 76.2 mm (5°-65°) + 50.8 mm (10°-63°) Gun mantlet |
76-80 mm | 76-80 mm | 35-45 mm |
| Cupola | 19.05 mm | 19.05 mm | 19.05 mm | 19.5 mm Front door
25.4 mm Back door |
Notes:
- Suspension wheels and chassis construction are 20 mm thick while tracks are 30 mm thick.
- Air inlets have a 63.5 mm plate modelled.
Mobility
Write about the mobility of the ground vehicle. Estimate the specific power and manoeuvrability, as well as the maximum speed forwards and backwards.
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 30 | 3 | 39 | _,___ | 668 | __.__ | 17.13 |
| Realistic | 28 | 3 | _,___ | 350 | __.__ | 8.97 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Armaments
Main armament
| 75 mm OQF Mk.V | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 81 | -12°/+20° | ±180° | - | 19.4 | 26.9 | 32.6 | 36.1 | 38.4 | 6.50 | 5.75 | 5.30 | 5.00 |
| Realistic | 14.3 | 16.8 | 20.4 | 22.6 | 24.0 | ||||||||
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 | ||
| M72 shot | AP | 91 | 88 | 78 | 67 | 57 | 49 |
| M61 shot | APCBC | 104 | 101 | 90 | 78 | 68 | 59 |
| M48 shell | HE | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| 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% | ||||||||||
| M72 shot | AP | 619 | 6.3 | - | - | - | 47° | 60° | 65° | |||
| M61 shot | APCBC | 618 | 6.79 | 1.2 | 14 | 63.7 | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
| M48 shell | HE | 463 | 6.3 | 0 | 0.1 | 666 | 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) |
| M89 | 259 | 3 | 13 | 5 | 20 | 50 |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 81 | 78 (+3) | 57 (+24) | 18 (+63) | 1 (+80) | No |
Notes:
- Racks disappear after all shells in the rack have been fired.
Machine guns
| 7.92 mm BESA | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 9,450 (225) | 600 | - | - |
Usage in battles
Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but instead give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).
Pros and cons
Summarise and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in a bulleted list. Try not to use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - use substitutions with softer forms such as "inadequate" and "effective".
Pros:
Cons:
History
The Churchill NA75 was the Churchill IV upgraded, under 'Operation Whitehot', during the period between March and June 1944.[1]
190 - 200 of these were produced and mainly used in Africa and Italy[2]
Development
It was the idea of P.H Morrell who was a captain in command of a detachment of 665 Tank Troops and following the Fall of Tunis Morrell was attached to 16 Base Workshop R.E.M.E and employed in scrapping large numbers of battle casualty armored vehicles accrued during the North African campaign. He stated: "It was under-gunned - its 6-pdr, with an AP range of 800 yards and NIL HE performance, had proved to be no match for the 75 and 88mm guns of the hull down or dug in German tanks encountered during its advance up the Medjerda Valley"[3]
Morrell noted that often the least damaged part of the scrapped tanks was the main armament, which in many cases, showed a useful remaining life of up to 85%. In light of his views on the effectiveness of the 6-pdr and the internal mantlet of the Churchill, Morrell considered the possibilities of adapting Churchill to take the Sherman 75mm gun.[3]
Modifications
The first step was to remove the 6pdr together with its mantlet and auxiliary gear from the turret of a Mk.IV Churchill. The turret was then cleared and the internal guide ribs for the 6pdr mantlet removed. To accommodate the Sherman mantlet, a large aperture was cut in the front of the Churchill turret. Due to the curvature of the front of the cast Churchill turret it was necessary to rebate the cheeks on either side of the hole to accept the flat flange of the Sherman mantlet. When a satisfactory fit had been achieved the Sherman mantlet, complete with gun, was arc welded into position.[3]
The elevation limits of the gun posed an immediate problem. The mantlet and mount of the Sherman was designed to be set at an angle of some 30 degrees from the vertical. The gun barrel protruded through the mantlet with the elevation being limited by its movement in a slot. The effect of welding the mantlet to the vertical front face of the Churchill turret was to limit resultant maximum elevation to a little over the horizontal whilst permitting a much grater depression than was required. To compensate for this the top of the slot was extended by some 8" with the resulting cut out being welded back into the bottom of the slot.[3]
Trails
The prototype took ten days to complete after which it was taken to the RAC Training Depot for firing trials. The were performed before the "top flight" of the armoured formations in North Africa, plus several flown in from Italy and elsewhere. The trials were conducted by Major ‘Dick’ Whittington’ a gunnery instructor at the school who also was one of Morrell’s friends. Once he had become accustomed to the gun Whittington was able to target a deserted Arab village at a range of some 8,000 to 8,500 yards, bringing down round after round of HE on top of it. Whittington subsequently commented that he found the Churchill a much more accurate gun platform than the Sherman as it did not 'rock' to the recoil of the gun to anything like the same extent.[3]
The trials were a great success and immediate steps were taken to enable the conversion of further vehicles. The 665 Tank Troop Workshop was moved to Bone and attached to 16 Base Workshop R.E.M.E., where a large tank shop allocated specifically for the conversions. Work proceeded round the clock and in three months to June '44 some 190-200 conversions were produced.[3]
Service
Upon arrival in Italy the 21st and 25th Tank Brigades were re-structured to include two troops (ie. 18) of Shermans in each Squadron. When the NA75s became available they essentially replaced the Shermans (only 3 or so retained). Within 25th Tank Brigade the North Irish Horse appear to have been the first to recieve NA75s - receiving a full complement of 18 in July 1944. The other two regiments in the brigade received theirs a few weeks later. At this time Vauxhalls were producing MkVIs and MkVIIs Churchills mounting the new QF 75mm, however priority for these vehicles was given to the new front in North West Europe. I've yet to come across any evidence of MkVIs in Italy and it would be until the end of November 1944 that the first few MkVIIs arrived with the Tank Brigades.The NA75 stayed in service with the 25 Tank Brigade until the Brigade was disbanded in January 1945, and with 21 Tank brigade until the end of the war. Whilst we've noted the superior HE perfomance of the the Sheman 75mm it should also be noted that the 6-pdr had a better armour piercing performance coupled with a greater rate of fire. We should also realise that for the tank brigades in Italy at least, up until 1945 when MkVIIs started to be appear in numbers the highest proportion of tanks in the brigades were armed with 6-pdrs.[3]
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
Similar Churchill variants in the game:
See M4 Sherman (Family) for vehicles sharing the M3 (75 mm) cannon.
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| Britain heavy tanks | |
|---|---|
| Matilda | Matilda III · Matilda Hedgehog |
| Churchill | Churchill I · Churchill III · Churchill VII · Churchill Crocodile · Churchill NA75 · Black Prince |
| Post-war | Caernarvon · Conqueror |
| Other | Independent · Excelsior · TOG II |
