T18E2

T18E2

T18E2

USA

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
3.0	3.0	3.0

Class:

PREMIUM

Light tank

Purchase:Bundle or Gift

Show in game

Description

The T18E2 "Boarhound" is a gift rank II American light tank with a battle rating of 3.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.77 "Advancing Storm" in the 2018 "Chronicles of World War II" that took place between the 14th of April till the 10th of May of the same year. It was obtainable by earning 6 "Chronicle awards" in ground vehicles.

The T18E2 is an American heavy armored car built on a 8x8 suspension and features a 57 mm M1 cannon.

General info

Survivability and armour

While the T18E2 is a heavy armored car that favors protection over mobility compared to other armored cars, it only enough protection to solidly protect it from heavy machine guns, as most anti-tank cannons at its Battle Rating have little to no problem dealing with its armor. Despite having sufficient armor to protect the crew from artillery shrapnel, the transmission located under the floor armor is very susceptible to damage from such barrages.

Outside of armor, the vehicle carries a full complement of 5 crew members. A driver and MG gunner sit together in the forward driving compartment, while the Gunner, Loader, and Commander sit in close proximity in the rather small turret in the fighting compartment. Altogether, a well placed APHE round can be enough to knock out all of the crew members in the vehicle, but may survive multiple solid shot AP or APCR rounds, especially from the side. However, the crew and floor are relatively high off from the ground then visuals would indicate, so shots to the lower half of your lower glacis can result in only damage to the transmission.

Armor type:

• Cast Homogeneous armor (Turret and Hull Front and Sides)
• Rolled Homogeneous armor (Hull Rear and Hull Roof)
• Structural Steel (Fender, various boxes along the hull, vents on engine compartment)
• Wheels

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	51mm (0-40°) Lower Glacis & Upper Hull 32mm+51mm (0-61°) Machine Gun Port 38mm (10-16°) Driver's Port 32mm (49-81°) Upper Glacis 25mm (72-75°) Small Hatch on Upper Glacis	32mm (0°) Side 25mm (0°) Hatches	25mm (0-16°) Main 13mm (16-58°) Upper & Lower	19mm Driving Compartment 13mm (83-90°) Fighting/Engine compartment 5mm (84°) Vents
Turret	51mm+38mm (0-49°) Gun Mantlet 38mm (4-30°) Turret Front	38mm (0-39°)	38mm (0-33°) Rear 25mm (10°) Hatch	19mm Roof 13mm Hatches

Notes:

• Floor armour is only 10 mm thick, though the suspension mounting found between each pair of wheels is reinforced with 13 mm of armour underneath the vehicle.
• Turret ring armour is 25 mm thick.
• Structural steel boxes and drums of 5 mm thick dot the exterior of the car, which can add some precious little armour thickness.
• Wheels are 10 mm thick.

Mobility

In RB/SB mode, the T18E2 is a very sluggish vehicle, especially compared to other armored cars. Despite its listed top speed of 80 kph (50 mph), most drivers will only see up to 65 kph (40 mph) on paved roads and 39 kph (24 mph) cross country depending on terrain. Even so, with its low power to weight ratio of 10.41 hp/ton (in comparison to 14.44 hp/ton of the M3 Lee), it takes driving relatively straight for a long while for it to reach these speeds. Best stick to paved roads when you can if you need to be somewhere quick and avoid muddy terrain altogether like that found at White Rock Fortress, where mud can drag your speed down to as low as 8 kph (5 mph), leaving you vulnerable if trying to cross potential fire zones quickly.

The T18E2 also possesses a very high top reverse speed of 20mph, though again because of its low acceleration, will take some time to possibly reach this. However, in comparison to other tanks, the reverse acceleration and eventual speed is still acceptable for quick retreats. This can even migrate the disadvantage that the vehicle requires a large turn radius if the vehicle needs to turn around.

Mobility characteristic
Weight (tons)	Add-on Armor weight (tons)	Max speed (km/h)
24.0	N/A	89 (AB)
		80 (RB/SB)
Engine power (horsepower)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	387	477
Realistic/Simulator	221	250
Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	16.13	19.88
Realistic/Simulator	9.21	10.42

Armaments

Main armament

57 mm M1
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
64			-10°/+20°	±180°	Vertical
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	23.01	23.72	28.80	31.85	33.88
Realistic	10.71	12.60	15.30	16.92	18.00
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
5.20	4.60	4.24	4.00

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 0° Angle of Attack
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
M70	AP	117	114	97	80	65	54
M86	APCBC	103	99	84	68	56	45

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%
M70	AP	900	2.85	N/A	N/A	N/A	-1°	47°	60°	65°
M86	APCBC	822	2.71	1.2	20	41.16	+4°	48°	63°	71°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the T18E2 "Boarhound"

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
64	52 (12+)	40 (24+)	24 (+40)	12 (+52)	1 (+63)		no

Notes:

• Recommended load is 24 (+40) to keep the hull empty of ammo.
• 1st and 2nd ammo racks are ready racks, and takes priority in being filled at the beginning of battle, then fills 5, 4, then 3.
• Full reload speed will be realized as long as ammo exists in either ready rack. If both ready racks are empty, a penalty to reload speed will occur.
• Simply not firing when the gun is loaded will load ammo from racks 3-5 into 2 then 1, as long as there are ammo in racks 3-5. Firing will interrupt loading of the ready racks.

Machine guns

7.62 mm M1919A4
Coaxial mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
3,000 (250)				500	N/A	N/A

Usage in battles

Though this is an armored car, this is best played as a tank destroyer, as the gun is arguably the best feature on this tank. Even with your sluggish speeds, you should be able to keep up with most medium tanks and provide support to them, letting them soak up damage while you dish out it back with your great gun.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Quick firing 57mm cannon that can fire as quick as 4 seconds with a highly trained crew
• High penetration APHE shell can make short work of foes at its BR
• Large ready-rack of 24 shells
• Can scout targets in AB/RB
• Good speeds can be reached on paved roads
• Armor will protect it from heavy machine guns from nearly any angle
• Carries a bomb launcher, able to shoot up to 14 smoke grenades
• Possesses a vertical gun stabilizer to increase accuracy at low speeds
• Turret rotation speed is adequate, but could be better

Cons:

• Transmission is easily knocked out by artillery shrapnel
• Slows down substantially when crossing muddy terrain or deep snow
• Very sluggish acceleration, will take a while to reach high speeds
• Large turning radius, can be problematic in narrow streets or environments
• Any caliber bigger then 14.5mm will likely tear through the car at close range
• Requires a wide radius to turn around
• Only possess AP and APHE, no HE available

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ground 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: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, 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

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the tank;
• other literature.