T-26E

T-26E

T-26E

USSR

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.3	1.3	1.3

Class:

PREMIUM

Light tank

Purchase:Bundle or Gift

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Description

The T-26E is a gift Rank I Soviet light tank with a battle rating of 1.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in during the Closed Beta Test for Ground Forces before Update 1.41. An up-armoured version of the T-26, it stands a better chance deflecting enemy shells off its front armour.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour

Armour	Front	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	30 + 15 mm (22°) Front plate 7 mm (64-80°) Front glacis 15 mm (6-52°) Lower glacis	30 + 15 mm (24-25°) Top 15 mm (0°) Bottom	30 + 15 mm (1°) Top 30 + 15 mm (12°) Bottom	6 mm
Turret	30 + 15 mm (12-33°) Turret front 30 + 15 mm (5-44°) Gun mantlet	30 + 15 mm (17-19°)	30 + 15 mm (17°)	10 mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheel are 10 mm thick while tracks are 15 mm thick.
• The 30 mm applique armour does not cover the entire area on the hull, so there are exposed areas vulnerable to enemy fire.

Mobility

Mobility characteristic
Weight (tons)	Add-on Armor weight (tons)	Max speed (km/h)
12.0	N/A	33 (AB)
		30 (RB/SB)
Engine power (horsepower)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	141	174
Realistic/Simulator	80	91
Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	11.75	14.50
Realistic/Simulator	6.67	7.58

Armaments

Main armament

45 mm 20-K
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
205			-6°/+22°	±180°	N/A
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	9.50	13.20	_.__	_.__	_.__
Realistic	9.50	11.20	_.__	_.__	_.__
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
3.80	_.__	_.__	_.__

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 90°
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
BR-240	APHEBC	62	59	45	35	29	26
BR-240SP	AP	73	68	51	35	25	17

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%
BR-240	APHEBC	760	1.4	1.2	15	32.3	+4°	48°	63°	71°
BR-240SP	AP	757	1.4	N/A	N/A	N/A	-1°	47°	60°	65°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the T-26.

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
205	165 (+40)	124 (+81)	83 (+122)	42 (+163)	1 (+204)	Yes

Turret empty: 124 (+81)

Machine guns

7.62 mm DT
Coaxial mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
1,890 (63)				600	N/A	N/A

Usage in the battles

The main purpose of the tank is diversion. In battle, when a close friendly player is attacked by an enemy, go behind a rock that has the size of the tank's hull, then shoot the target.

• When it's a Tank Destroyer, shoot it's tracks, to make it immobile
• When it's a Medium tank (like the T-28 ), shoot it's horizontal turret drive (The ring below it's turret), then shoot the tracks, to make it defenseless.

In Summary, it is a good tank, it is friendly to new players, but it is not recommended to players above Rank II.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• High rate of fire.
• High turret armour.
• Good for gathering SL in low ranks.
• It's penetration is effective against almost all enemies in Tier I, except the Sturmgeschütz III Ausf. A.

Cons:

• Low hull armour.
• A weak spot in the hull box at the driver - keep this away from enemy.
• Slow for a scout, but agile.
• Useless in Rank II or higher.

History

Development

The T-26 light tank in Soviet service, while making up a major part of the Soviet armoured forces, proved quite under-armoured when against newer anti-tank weapons as it was an old 1931 design. The Spanish Civil War showed some of these defects in the T-26, but it wasn't until the Winter War against Finland that proved that the majority of light anti-tank weapons could destroy the T-26.

In order to remedy this, Factory No. 174 in Leningrad designed a new variant for the T-26 utilizing applique armour on the hull and turret. This variant was dubbed the T-26E (E for ekranirovanny or "screened"), which added 30-40 mm of armour to the original armour plates via bolting and welding. All of the single-turreted T-26 models made during the Winter War period was given this modification and testings proved that the additional armour made the T-26 much more resilient against light anti-tank weapons. A total of 89 T-26Es were made during and after the Winter War, with 27 single-turret models made from the factory, 27 more as flamethrower-models, and 15 single-turret models were made in workshops near the front-line. After the war, 20 more single-turret variants were made and delivered for tank units. Many more modified T-26s were made during the course of World War II.

Combat usage

These T-26Es were used in the Winter War against Finland and the extra armour over the normal T-26 variants made it impenetrable to Finnish light anti-tank weapons. However, the extra armour added to the T-26 raised the weight from 9.6 tons to 12 tons, thus a larger strain on the chassis, engine, and suspension so the driver were advised to drive the tank in low gear and must take extra care to not overload these systems.

During World War II, applique armour of varying thickness from 15–40 mm were added onto many different T-26s in large quantities ranging to hundreds in the front-lines to fight back the German invasion. Such areas where these modifications took place in Leningrad, Odessa, Moscow, and Sevastopol in the period of 1941–1942 during battles and sieges taking place in or near these cities. However, compared to the modifications made during the Winter War, the World War II T-26Es were more crude and rough that the gun mask on the tank were unable to move, and the applique armour was only added on the front.

No known combat records exist for these modified T-26s in World War II and may have been simply be added as performances done by regular T-26s, but due to the obsolesce of the T-26 models compared to the German Panzer III and Panzer IV, many can be presumed to be lost in combat if not due to mechanical failures.

Media

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

Read 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.

ETC.

Sources

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• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.