M13/40 (I)
| This page is about the Italian medium tank M13/40 (I). For other versions, see M13/40 (Family). |
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Contents
Description
The Carro Armato M13/40 was a development of the M11/39 tank, the first experiment and breakthrough for Italian tank building. However, due to the unfortunate placement of the gun in the hull, the tank's crew could not fully utilise its already not particularly large potential. Furthermore, the gunner was overloaded with duties, as besides aiming the gun, he also had to load it. Taking these shortcomings into account, the Italian army put forward requirements for improving the M11/39 tank.
Thus, the new tank was requested to feature a full turret with a more powerful 47 mm gun, and the crew was expanded to four people by adding a loader. Over time, it became clear that to install a turret with a full-fledged gun, the tank's hull would also need to be modernised. As a result, the Ansaldo firm prepared a project for a tank with a new hull and turret, but using the old running gear. The first prototype was trialled in 1938, and in 1940 the tank was adopted by the Italian army under the designation M13/40. 100 tanks were built in the first production series, and improvements were subsequently made in the form of the M13/40 (II) and (III).
Introduced in Update 1.85 "Supersonic", the tank has satisfactory armour and a decent gun, but suffers from slow reload times and mediocre mobility. The M13/40 (I) is typically used as a breakthrough tank due to the fact that it is very resistant to enemy fire especially when angled and can disable or destroy enemy vehicles with only one shot when up close. Beware, however, around the 500 m mark, the cannon ammunition starts to lose its punch and can fail to penetrate effectively.
General info
Survivability and armour
All of your armour, which can realistically be targeted, is flat, so despite quite high frontal armour values the M13/40 (I) must always be angled when squaring off with an enemy combatant or risk direct shot penetration of your vehicle. Your side armour value is not as good as the front, but at extreme angles, it becomes more effective.
As long as you angle your tank right, you will have 36 to 50 mm of effective armour thickness and use it to block enemy shots. Destroy British tanks and any SPG as soon as possible, as every single one of them can destroy your tank. It is also worth destroying Soviet and certain USA tanks first as well, however, not every one of them can penetrate your armour.
The rear end is also rather long, so enemies could pick this piece off if it is exposed. But it's better to be shot at your engines, than your crew compartment, located in the middle of the tank. Don't give your opponent any time to do that and make them go away before they started firing onto your second tier.
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour
- Cast homogeneous armour (Interior Mantlet)
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 30 mm (12°) Upper Plate 25 mm (80°) - 30 mm (66°) Upper Glacis 30 mm (Curved) Lower Glacis |
30 mm Upper Front 25 mm Upper 25 mm Lower |
25 mm Upper 3 Levels 27 mm Lower Level |
15 mm Crew Compartment 5 mm - 15 mm Engine Compartment |
| Turret | 45 mm (13°) Turret front 30 mm + 40 mm (Curved)Gun mantlet |
25 mm | 15 mm | |
Notes:
- Turret Ring Guard - 50 mm
- Fenders, Storage Boxes - 4 mm
- Tracks - 20 mm
- Suspension - 10 mm to 15 mm
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 | 36 | 6 | 13.6 | 201 | 248 | 14.78 | 18.24 |
| Realistic | 32 | 5 | 115 | 130 | 8.46 | 9.56 | |
Mobility of the M13/40 (I) is horrible on anything but flat land, but it's okay as long as you don't try to climb steep hills or to cross the entire map fast. Attempting a steep hill flank will just get you stuck and leave you exposed to enemy fire.
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
| 47 mm 47/32 mod.35 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 104 | -15°/+25° | ±180° | N/A | 13.3 | 18.4 | 22.4 | 24.8 | 26.4 | 5.20 | 4.60 | 4.24 | 4.00 |
| Realistic | 8.3 | 9.8 | 11.9 | 13.2 | 14.0 | ||||||||
Ammunition
- The APHE shell is good enough for flank shots and direct shots at flat armour up to 500 m. Post-penetration effect is enough to destroy most opponents of rank 1 with one or two shots.
- The APBC shot does not have increased performance against flat armour, however against angled armour it does increase your chances to penetrate turrets along with angled armour and damage enemy tanks at longer range.
- Overall, almost nothing can deflect your shots at 100-200 m range.
| 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 | ||
| Granata Perforante mod.35 | APHE | 50 | 47 | 37 | 27 | 20 | 15 |
| Granata Perforante mod.39 | APBC | 48 | 47 | 41 | 35 | 30 | 26 |
| 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% | ||||||||||
| Granata Perforante mod.35 | APHE | 630 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 9 | 30 | 47° | 60° | 65° | |||
| Granata Perforante mod.39 | APBC | 630 | 1.44 | 1.2 | 9 | 30 | 47° | 60° | 65° | |||
Ammo racks
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| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 104 | 97 (+7) | 72 (+32) | 1 (+103) | yes |
Note:
- Turret empty: 72 (+32) shells.
Machine guns
| 8 mm Breda Mod. 38 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 1,536 (24) | 600 | N/A | N/A |
| Pintle | 1,536 (24) | 600 | -10°/+20° | N/A |
Usage in battles
Try to push through enemy fire, while being angled at least 30° to your enemy. Destroy anyone who dares to fire at you, specifically targeting SPGs and those who forgot to angle their armour. Upgrade your ammunition for a better damage profile.
Alternatively, take a slightly flanking direction near to your team and use your strong characteristics to intercept any fast-moving vehicles while moving along with your team. After finishing the cleanup, flank main battle and destroy defenceless opponents.
It's not worth fighting heavily armoured vehicles alone while being angled without upgraded ammo. At a range of 500 m, you will probably only penetrate each other's turret and it's more up to luck than anything. One possibility if fighting from this range, your shell can potentially incapacitate turret crew, disabling the tank and allowing a team member with heavier firepower to finish the target off without the threat of being fired upon.
Tanks equipped with autocannons can destroy you from the rear and sides, however, they often go for engines first. Keep an eye out for them.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Can destroy tanks fast with APHE shells
- Thick mantlet - about 40+30 mm overall, but be aware that at long range shells drop at an angle, and at places its protection becomes less than 30 mm
- Excellent gun depression
Cons:
- Struggles against better-armoured foes
- Slow and unable to climb well
- Unsloped armour is easy to penetrate for opponents
- Long reload time
History
Intended to replace the unsatisfactory M11/39, the M13/40 retained its main mechanical features, but with a more powerful gun in a fully rotating turret. The M13 was slow, unreliable, and suffered from the tank commander doubling as the gunner. Similar to early Russian and French tanks, it did not receive radios as standard equipment until 1942. Nevertheless, it became the standard Italian medium tank from 1941 on, and is the best known Italian tank of the war. In War Thunder, the M13/40 (I) represents those made earlier in the production run, with manual turret traverse instead of hydraulic traverse gear. Reportedly Italian crews would remove the hydraulic traverse, which was cumbersome; the (I) model has extra ammo storage to reflect that.
It first saw service with the 3rd Medium Tank Battalion (Battaglione Carri M) in Libya's Sollum-Halfaya region. It later equipped 132nd "Ariete (Ram)" Armoured Division (Divisione Corazzata) in North Africa. From January to April of 1941, it also saw action in Yugoslavia and Greece with the 131st Centauro (Centaur) and 133rd Littorio armoured divisions. For a short time after the first rush of British victories in North Africa in early 1941, there were enough captured M13s to equip a British armoured unit, 6th Royal Tank Regiment, in Libya. These were all lost in turn to Rommel's offensive in March of that year. In late August of 1941, Italian medium tank platoons increased their number from four to five.
When Italy surrendered in September 1943, 22 M13s were captured by Germany, who handed them over to the Italian fascist forces. It is uncertain how many in total were produced, as many were converted to M14/41s: estimates range from 710 to 1,049.
Media
- Skins
- Videos
See also
- Related Development
- M14/41 - (Successor)
- Tanks of comparable role, configuration and era
External links
- [Wikipedia] M13/40 tank
- [Tanks Encyclopedia] Carro Armato M13/40
- [Military Factory] Carro Armato M13/40
| FIAT-Ansaldo | |
|---|---|
| Autoblindo | AB 41 · AB 43 |
| Light Tanks | L6/40 · L6/40 (31 Rgt.) |
| Medium Tanks | Celere Sahariano |
| M11/39 | M11/39 |
| M13/40 | M13/40 (I) · M13/40 (II) · M13/40 (III) |
| M14/41 | M14/41 · M14/41 (47/40) |
| M15/42 | M15/42 |
| P40 | P40 · P40 "G.C. Leoncello" |
| Tank Destroyers | |
| L3/33 | L3/33 CC |
| Semovente L40 | 47/32 L40 |
| Semovente M41 | 75/18 M41 · 75/32 M41 · 90/53 M41M |
| Semovente M42 | 75/34 M42 |
| Semovente M43 | 105/25 M43 · M43 "G.C.Leoncello" · 75/34 M43 · 75/46 M43 |
| SPAAs | M42 Contraereo |
| Italy medium tanks | |
|---|---|
| Italy | |
| M13/40 | M13/40 (I) · M13/40 (II) · M13/40 (III) |
| M14/41 | M14/41 · M14/41 (47/40) |
| M15/42 | M15/42 |
| M16/43 | Celere Sahariano |
| P26/40 | P40 · P40 "G.C. Leoncello" |
| OF-40 | OF-40 · OF-40 Mk.2A · OF-40 (MTCA) |
| Ariete | Ariete (P) · Ariete · Ariete PSO · Ariete AMV |
| Germany | ▄Pz.III N · ▄Pz.IV G · ▄Leopard 1A5 |
| Allied powers | ▄Sherman I Composito · Sherman Ic · ▄Sherman Vc · ▄Sherman V · M26 "D.C.Ariete" · M26A1 · M47 (105/55) · M60A1 "D.C.Ariete" |
| Hungary | |
| Turán | Turan I · Turan II · Turan III |
| Germany | ◔Leopard 2A4 · Leopard 2A7HU |
| USSR | ◔T-72M1 |
