M18 GMC (China)
Contents
Description
The ␗M18 Gun Motor Carriage is a rank IV Chinese tank destroyer with a battle rating of 5.3 (AB) and 6.0 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.91 "Night Vision".
General info
Survivability and armour
The M18 GMC (China) has extremely thin armour throughout its construction. As such, a player with the M18 should throw away any notion of trying to survive a shot and instead aim to avoid being hit at all. With an open-top construction and the placement of certain crew members, even enemy machine gun rounds can knock out the crew members inside and lower combat efficiency.
The thin armour is also both a blessing and a curse for the vehicle. It is a curse as it means the vehicle can suffer through the hull-break mechanics. A single shell has the potential of knocking out the M18 instantly regardless of how many crew member it defeats. The blessing is that if the enemy kinetic round hits the M18 and does not meet the requirements for a hull-break, the M18 may end up with minimum critical damage such as a damaged module or crew member. As such, there can be second chances for this vehicle, but as mentioned, this should not be relied upon as a combat strategy.
With five crew members, the M18 has a standard amount of crew to survive off of. Three are essential for combat efficiency: the gunner, loader, and driver. The commander operates the cupola machine gun and if knocked out will cause the machine gun to no longer function. This will be a constant occurrence due to the position of the commander model with the torso exposed above the turret, and so enemy machine gun rounds can hit and incapacitate the commander from the vehicle's functions.
The M18's module configuration is rather standard with the transmission in front and engine in the back. The spread out nature means there are more "wiggle room" for kinetic shells to hit and pass through around the modules, but it also means that any part of the M18 exposed can be hit and induce a hull-break.
Mobility
Though the previous section on armour may imply poor survivability, the M18's shining trait will be in its mobility. It produces enough engine horsepower to become a speed demon on the battlefield, quickly traversing through rough terrain to get to advantageous positions to ambush enemies that are just starting to get to the fight.
The vehicle displays great mobility when driving forwards and backwards, and so it can perform quick exits from a compromised position.
Armaments
Main armament
| 76 mm M1 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity | Vertical guidance |
Horizontal guidance |
Stabilizer | ||
| 45 | -10°/+20° | ±180° | N/A | ||
| Turret rotation speed (°/s) | |||||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert qualif. | Prior + Ace qualif. |
| Arcade | 21.13 | 29.25 | __.__ | __.__ | 41.79 |
| Realistic | 14.28 | 16.80 | 20.4 | 22.60 | 24.00 |
| Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||
| Stock | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert qualif. | Prior + Ace qualif. | ||
| 7.93 | 7.02 | 6.47 | 6.10 | ||
Ammunition
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration in mm @ 0° Angle of Attack | |||||
| 10m | 100m | 500m | 1000m | 1500m | 2000m | ||
| M62 shell | APCBC | 145 | 142 | 130 | 116 | 103 | 92 |
| M42A1 shell | HE | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| M79 shot | AP | 133 | 131 | 121 | 109 | 98 | 89 |
| M93 shot | APCR | 221 | 215 | 203 | 181 | 154 | 124 |
| 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% | ||||||||
| M62 shell | APCBC | 792 | 7.0 | 1.2 | 20 | 63.7 | +4° | 48° | 63° | 71° |
| M42A1 shell | HE | 800 | 5.84 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 390 | +0° | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| M79 shot | AP | 792 | 6.8 | N/A | N/A | N/A | -1° | 47° | 60° | 65° |
| M93 shot | APCR | 1,036 | 4.26 | N/A | N/A | N/A | +1.5° | 66° | 70° | 72° |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45 | 37 (+8) | 27 (+18) | 17 (+28) | 9 (+36) | 1 (+44) | No |
Machine guns
| 12.7 mm M2HB | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pintle mount | ||||||
| Capacity (Belt capacity) | Fire rate (shots/minute) |
Vertical guidance |
Horizontal guidance | |||
| 800 (200) | 576 | -10°/+70° | ±60° | |||
Usage in battles
Before all, avoid colourful or bright decals. Camouflage is the main part of the M18's defence. Chances for good performance in battle are: be "invisible", fast and effective. The M18's speed is its best ally. This speed has to be used for flanking manoeuvres and relocate. Not for trying to cross an open field, that will leave it open to enemy fire, speed is not a substitute for armour.
- Relocate
- This movement will have to be done again and again. Choose a good spot wisely, remove the foliage if necessary to get a clear field of fire. When in the fire spot, use the gun depression and stay in a hull down position until a target is located. Once a target is locked on, aim at critical components. Try to immobilize the enemy by firing at the engine or transmission, or remove their firepower by shooting the gun or breech, or for instant destruction with a shot to the ammo storage. The last option can work very well or not, as skilled players only carry a few rounds of ammo.
- If positive that the enemy hasn´t discovered the firing spot, go for another shot. Stay attentive that none of the enemy's teammates has also located the firing spot. If detected, hide immediately and relocate.
- Flanking
- Flanking is the most dangerous manoeuvre of all because the vehicle will have to be exposed as it moves to the enemy's rear, but it is very effective when it's coordinated with other vehicles. A distraction is needed to gain the enemy's attention while the M18 makes its move. Isolated enemy units are very vulnerable to this tactic. Using the M18 speed to get to the rear and as the enemy heads toward the objective, the firing perspective should give a very clear view of the enemy's side armour. A good shot with the M62 APCBC shell could knock out the enemy rather quickly, but if using solid AP shots like the M79, aim at critical components on mobility and firepower before knocking out the crew or ammo stowage.
- Avoid flat terrain
- Flat terrain means that the Hellcat will become an easy target for virtually any vehicle by exposure, especially when not moving or when moving in a straight line. Open plains are the bane of the Hellcat. Whenever possible, one should try to stay amongst hills.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Outstanding firepower, especially with the availability of APCR ammunition, coupled with the fast reload speed and turret traverse
- Overall mobility is superb, with very responsive manoeuvring that allows the Hellcat to excel in flanking maneuvres
- Overall construction is low profile, reducing target size
- The nature of its thin armour means AP rounds have a tendency to pass straight through without damaging modules, and an APHE fuze may not even be triggered
Cons:
- Thin armour also means rapid-fire autocannons, heavy machine guns, and aerial weapons could easily shred it
- Commander is exposed at the 0.50 cal machine gun mount, and knocking him out would render the weapon useless
- Open-top construction means aerial strikes and artillery could rain havoc onto the crew
- Standard AP and APCBC round may be inadequate facing against most foes from the front
- A moment of immobility due to a damaged engine or transmission could be a sign of impending doom for the M18
- Hull-break mechanics mean any explosions or well-aimed AP round could instantly destroy the vehicle
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: 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></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. 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.
| China tank destroyers | |
|---|---|
| PLA | |
| Gun vehicles | PLZ83 · PLZ83-130 · PTZ89 |
| Missile vehicles | AFT09 |
| ROC | |
| Missile vehicles | CM25 |
| USA | |
| Gun vehicles | ␗M8 HMC · LVT(A)(4) (ZiS-2) · ␗M10 GMC · ␗M36 GMC |
| Missile vehicles | ␗M113A1 (TOW) |
| USSR | |
| Gun vehicles | ␗SU-76M · ␗ISU-152 · ␗ISU-122 · ␗SU-100 |
