Strv m/42 DT
Contents
Description
The Stridsvagn m/42 Delat Torn is a rank III Swedish medium tank with a battle rating of 5.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.97 "Viking Fury". It is a development of the Strv m/42 medium tank.
General info
Survivability and armour
The hull of the Delat Torn is identical to that of its predecessor, the Strv m/42 EH. While decent for its BR on the earlier tank, the hull armour is no longer good against the bigger guns that the Delat Torn faces.
However, the Delat Torn also sports a new turret to house the more powerful gun. The turret front is 60 mm thick, and the right side and area around the main gun is an angled flat plate. While not very thick, it is capable of ricocheting some rounds if the effective angle is increased using the excellent gun depression of the Delat Torn. The left side housing the machine gun is rounded and is a weakspot when hull-down.
It is important to note that the turret has an open rear that exposes the crew to machine gun fire and shrapnel. It is also a considerably bigger target than the Strv m/42's turret. Most importantly, the gun autoloader is poking out of the turret and can be easily damaged by any aircraft, which is arguably even worse than losing a crew member.
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 | 51 | 7 | 23.5 | 635 | 782 | 27.02 | 33.28 |
Realistic | 46 | 7 | 363 | 410 | 15.45 | 17.45 |
Unsurprisingly, the mobility of the Delat Torn is very similar to that of the Strv m/42. It can reach a respectable top speed and will usually be able to keep up with most advances, but suffers from a low reverse speed of about 5 km/h that makes it harder to back up from hull-down positions or into cover.
Modifications and economy
Armaments
Main armament
The Delat Torn is armed with the same 7,5 cm pvkan m/43 used by the Pvkv m/43 tank destroyer. However, on the Delat Torn, the gun is fed by a special semi-automatic loader with a four-round clip (similar to the Japanese Chi-Ri medium tank), allowing for a fast five-round burst (including one pre-loaded in the gun barrel) after which the gun must be reloaded manually. As is usual for Swedish vehicles, the turret provides for an excellent 10° of gun depression, though gun elevation is limited to only 12°.
The Delat Torn starts with the rather underwhelming stock slpprj m/41 uncapped AP shot, which has no explosive filler. However, at Rank IV the excellent slpgr m/43 APCBC shell becomes available. Not only does it ricochet less than the stock AP, has a higher muzzle velocity, and has better penetration, it also has a lethal 110 g TNT filler that is devastating when it penetrates. The penetration is not very good for a 5.0 tank, but the Delat Torn is quite tall and at close to medium range it can negate enemy angled armour with that alone.
Note that the gun breech is rather large and takes up a lot of room in the turret, thus a turret penetration is likely to also result in a damaged breech.
75 mm pvkan m/43 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
Arcade | 42 | -10°/+12° | ±180° | N/A | 14.3 | 19.8 | 24.0 | 26.5 | 28.2 | 3.90 | 3.45 | 3.18 | 3.00 |
Realistic | 8.9 | 10.5 | 12.8 | 14.1 | 15.0 |
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 | ||
slpprj m/41 | AP | 139 | 136 | 121 | 104 | 90 | 78 |
sgr m/38 | HE | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
slpgr m/43 | APCBC | 149 | 146 | 132 | 116 | 102 | 89 |
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% | |||||||
slpprj m/41 | AP | 815 | 6.63 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 47° | 60° | 65° |
sgr m/38 | HE | 840 | 6.43 | 0 | 0.1 | 690 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
slpgr m/43 | APCBC | 890 | 6 | 1.2 | 14 | 110 | 48° | 63° | 71° |
Ammo racks
Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
42 | 37 (+5) | 31 (+11) | 25 (+17) | 22 (+20) | 19 (+23) | 15 (+27) |
7th rack empty |
8th rack empty |
9th rack empty |
10th* rack empty |
11th* rack empty |
Visual discrepancy | |
11 (+31) | 8 (+34) | 5 (+37) | 4 (+38) | 1 (+41) | No |
Notes:
- The first-stage ammo racks provide the vehicle with a faster reload, however the vehicle is also capable of reloading the main gun directly from the other ammo racks.
- In order to empty the hull's ammo racks, one must carry 11 (+31) rounds.
Machine guns
The Strv m/42 DT has a standard 8 mm coaxial machine gun. While it is slightly bigger in calibre than 7.62 or 7.7 mm MGs met on comparable vehicles, the machine gun lacks penetration power to damage most opponents. Nevertheless the ksp m/36 machine gun can be used against open-topped vehicles. Furthermore, it also has an additional 13 degrees of elevation which can prove useful in engaging enemy planes.
8 mm ksp m/36 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
Coaxial | 4,000 (250) | 648 | -10°/+25° | N/A |
Usage in battles
The Delat Torn's standout feature is an excellent reload rate, which can be as low as 3 seconds. To complement this gun, the Delat Torn is equipped with a stock AP round, and an APCBC shell which has quite good penetration and explosive filler values compared to similarly-sized rounds at this tier.
This vehicle is not especially well-armoured. It can often withstand one or two hits, but any more and it will usually be destroyed. Taking high ammunition loads further hampers the tank's survivability, as it makes the chance of an ammunition detonation significant. From the side, a weak armour setup means that autocannons on many anti-air vehicles can penetrate and deal massive damage to internal components.
The Delat Torn's hull is taken from the earlier Strv m/42 EH, and thanks to an improved engine, is above-average in terms of mobility. When stock, mobility can be sub-par, but once mobility modules have been researched, the tank becomes quite capable in this department. With this mobility, it can acquire ambush positions or act as a viable flanker. (In such situations, the gun's quick reload makes itself very useful; the Delat Torn is able to destroy multiple unsuspecting enemies in quick succession.) One thing to note is that this tank has a poor reverse speed, which can make peeking and firing from behind ridgelines dangerous.
In hull-down positions, this vehicle can use its great gun depression to effectively fire at enemies from behind cover.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Excellent reload rate
- Great gun depression
- Quite mobile
- Good sight magnification
- Good APCBC shell with lethal explosive filler
- Still has a reasonable fire rate when first-stage rack runs out
Cons:
- Poor stock uncapped AP shot with no explosive filler
- Very long ready-rack reload
- Narrow tracks reduce off-road mobility
- Poor reverse speed
- Lightly armoured
- Large and visible profile
- Gun loader and breech can be easily destroyed by an airstrike
History
In 1944, the Swedish military considered upgunning the Strv m/42. They designed a new turret with a new 75 mm gun with an autoloader. The turret was named Delat Torn, which means "split turret" in English. This name comes from the fact that the autoloader would split the turret down the middle into two separate compartments. The gun was set as far back as possible inside the turret in order to reduce how much of the barrel hung out of the turret. In 1944, a mockup was made, with a wooden turret. The prototype was made in 1945, and it was tested throughout 1946. It was found that the design was unsuccessful, and it never entered production or service.
Media
- Skins
- Images
See also
- Related development
- Similar Role
External links
References
- Bibliography
- David B. (2016, June 2). Stridsvagn m/42. Tank Encyclopedia. https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/sweden/stridsvagn-m42.php
Sweden medium tanks | |
---|---|
Strv m/42 | Lago I · Strv m/42 EH · Ikv 73 · Strv m/42 DT · Pvkv IV |
Centurion derivatives | Strv 81 · Strv 81 (RB 52) · Strv 101 · Strv 104 · Strv 105 |
Strv 103 | Strv 103-0 · Strv 103A · Strv 103С |
Strv 121/122 | Strv 121 · Christian II · Strv 122A · Strv 122B PLSS · Strv 122B+ |
Other | Sherman III/IV · T 80 U |
Finland | |
WWII | ▄T-28 · ▄T-34 · ▄Pz.IV · ▄T-34-85 |
Post War | ▄Comet I · ▄Charioteer Mk VII · ▄T-54 · ▄T-55M · ▄T-72M1 · ▄Leopard 2A4 · ▄Leopard 2A6 |
Norway | Leopard 1A5NO2 |