Lorraine 40t

Lorraine 40t

▄M26

Char 25t

Lorraine 40t

▄M26

Char 25t

France

V Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
7.0	7.7	7.3

Class:

Medium tank

Research:95 000

Purchase:270 000

Show in game

Description

The Char de bataille de 40 tonnes (40 tons battle tank), also known as the Lorraine 40t (Lorraine is both a region of France and the company that made this tank), is a Rank V French medium tank with a battle rating of 7.0 (AB), 7.7 (RB), and 7.3 (SB). It was introduced in Update 1.75 "La Résistance". Introducing tremendous firepower at its BR with its 100 mm SA46 L/58 gun on a highly mobile chassis. Unfortunately, it is plagued with poor armour, which encourages a battle role more similar to that of a light tank.

The Lorraine is one of the best representative of rank IV French medium tanks: it has good mobility, an oscillating turret (fitted with an autoloader), sloped armour in front and back, high hull, high gun placement, good gun depression, 4 crew member, a coaxial MAC 31 machinegun and large tracks. Specifically, the Lorraine distinguishes itself by having a pike nose, similar to that of an IS-3, road wheels instead of metal ones and it is the first French vehicle to be able to consistently pierce more than 200 mm of armour at standard combat ranges and it can do it seven times a minute.

Even if its armour pattern is very efficient, with strong and well-designed angles, it is only at most 40 mm thick, meaning it will only bounce HMG fire. The best way to protect this tank is staying away from the action and taking down its foes as far as possible.

This "medium" tank actually behaves as a light one: high top speed and acceleration, good turning rate (neutral steering) and awesome hill climbing capacity. Use its mobility to follow light tanks into large flanking manoeuvres, providing them an extra punch for scouted targets. In a more "static" usage (i.e. once in good position), its good reverse speed should get it fast enough into cover and out of bad situations if required.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour (Casemate hull)
• Cast homogeneous armour (Gun mantlet, Driver's hatch)

Armour	Front	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	40 mm (57-69°) Front glacis 35 mm (59°) Lower glacis 40 mm (69°) Driver's hatch	30 mm (30°) Top 30 mm Bottom	25 mm (31°)	20 mm 8 mm Engine grille
Turret	45 mm (52-64°) Turret front 30 mm (20-53°) Turret base 50 mm (9-83°) Barrel shroud	30 mm (0-56°) Turret 30 mm (0-28°) Turret base	30 mm (1-29°) Turret bustle 30 mm (6-22°) Pivot ball 20 mm (72-89°) Turret underside	20 mm
Armour	Sides	Roof
Cupola	30 mm	20 mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheels are 20 mm thick while tracks are 30 mm thick.

Mobility

Mobility characteristic
Weight (tons)	Add-on Armour weight (tons)	Max speed (km/h)
39.7	N/A	66 (AB)
		60 (RB/SB)
Engine power (horsepower)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	1,317	1,622
Realistic/Simulator	752	850
Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	33.17	__.__
Realistic/Simulator	18.94	__.__

Armaments

Main armament

100 mm SA47 L/58
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
49			-8°/+15°	±180°	N/A
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	28.6	__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__
Realistic	17.9	__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
4.0	__.__	__.__	__.__

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 0° Angle of Attack
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
100 mm Obus de rupture	APCBC	295	293	279	263	248	233
100 mm Obus explosif	HE	22	22	21	20	20	20

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
								0%	50%	100%
100 mm Obus de rupture	APCBC	1,060	15	N/A	N/A	N/A	°	48°	63°	71°
100 mm Obus explosif	HE	1,000	14.8	0.1	0.5	1,400	+0°	79°	80°	81°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the Lorraine 40t

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	7th rack empty	8th rack empty	9th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
49	46 (+3)	41 (+8)	35 (+14)	29 (+20)	24 (+25)	19 (+30)	14 (+35)	7 (+42)	1 (+48)	no

Machine guns

7.5 mm MAC 31
Coaxial mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
4,800 (150)				1,350	N/A	N/A

Usage in battles

Use it as a sniper tank. Don't engage close quarters combat: it will only result in a ~8000 SL pile of scrap. Even if spalling damage is very good, one-shots are a bit rare: in order to destroy an enemy, immobilize it first, snipe the fire control group (gunner, gun breech, barrel,etc.) and then finish off the rest of the crew. In an average engagement, you will need ~3-4 shots per enemy: the first shot misses, it is the ranging shot, the second hits (disables mobility) the third and fourth finish the job. If lucky, penetrating frontal shots can do enough spalling damage to incapacitate the entire crew.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Very mobile
• Excellent penetration from the gun
• High top speed
• Fast reverse speed
• Sloped frontal armour, a similar pattern to that of an IS-3
• Great conical fragmentation from the gun. Frontal penetrations/centre of mass shots are deadly
• Very fast turret rotation speed, almost as fast as some SPAA
• Excellent flanker
• Powerful gun with fast reload rate
• 7 rounds autoloader allows engaging multiple threats before having to "long reload"
• Good gun depression angle
• Neutral steering

Cons:

• Thin frontal armour
• Lack of explosive filler in the round
• Conical fragmentation makes side shots less effective
• Side armour is flat and thin
• High repair costs (similar to that of MBTs)
• Filled with ammo
• Bad turret elevation angle
• Thin top armour, vulnerable to strafing planes and artillery

History

At the end of the 1940s, during development of the AMX-50 heavy tank project, French engineers also decided to try creating a lighter tank that could serve the same role as the AMX-50.

The project was initially designated “40 ton battle tank”. Later, the vehicle was called the Lorraine 40t, based upon the name of the region in which the experimental prototypes of it were built. The tank used many of the same technological developments of the experimental AMX prototypes, and was clearly influenced by the German Tiger II, Panther/E-50, and the Soviet IS tanks.

With armor plating at a maximum thickness of 45mm, the Lorraine 40t isn’t as well armored as the AMX-50. The designers, however, set the armor plates on the Lorraine 40t at clever angles and implemented a chevron shape for the front of the hull (for which the tank is known). This effectively armored the most vulnerable parts of the front projection and effectively exceeded the equivalent of 90mm armor..

In addition, the Lorraine 40t’s lighter armor significantly reduced its weight, thereby increasing its speed and allowing the use of steel paired roller wheels with bulletproof tires. Combined with the 850 horsepower German Maybach engine, the Lorraine 40t could reach 60 km/h, move smoothly and fire effectively at low speeds.

Two prototypes of the Lorraine 40t were completed in 1952. But the tank never reached production.

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

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

• [Devblog] Lorraine 40t: Sports Heavy