Calliope

Calliope

Calliope

USA

III Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
4.3	4.0	4.0

Class:

PREMIUM

Medium tank

Purchase:9 740

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Description

The T34 Calliope is a premium Rank III American medium tank with the battle rating of 4.3. It was introduced with Update 1.49 "Weapons of Victory". Though using the base model of a M4 Sherman, it has a 60 round rocket rack sitting above the turret that fires 114 mm rockets at a general location. While giving the team a good edge in firepower, the rocket rack also presents a large weak point that can be targeted with a high-explosive round for an ammo-rack kill.

This vehicle has guide rails for 114 mm M8 rockets mounted on a M4 tank turret. However, the additional rocket payload makes fire from the main cannon impossible. All rockets have to be used before the 75mm can be fired. The coaxial LMG is not affected by this.

The rocket armaments greatest disadvantage is the innaccuracy, despite its finstabilized tail. There is no guidance system, thus every barrage needs to be fired in an arc, greatly increasing the warhead dispersion. Furthermore the stabilizing fins showed little impact in lateral guidance when fired from the ground, in comparison with their aerial version.

Another drawback is the small warhead with only a 1.9 kg of high explosive filler. Adequate against barricades and entrenchments, but lacking in stopping power against heavy armoured vehicles such as tanks and pillboxes. Additionally, as with any other ground vehicle firing unguided rockets, the weapon will present a very loud but distinct firing signature, allowing enemies to identify the type of vehicle as well as its location on the map. The distinct smoke trail from fired rockets can also reveal the position of the vehicle. However, the higher fire rate of the M8 rockets allows for multiple volleys of rockets to be fired quickly at a target. The ensueing flash, fire and smoke effects from constant barrage against a target can temporarily blind targets and in some cases can cause sudden software performance dips such as drops in frame rate due to the smoke effects, hindering enemy targeting.

This rocket launcher system allowed fire not only from a defilade position but also from point-blank range. So, once all the rockets have been fired, the Calliope may continue to fight as a standard tank.

Drawbacks are the inaccuracy of the volleys due arc fire and the lack of anti-tank damage. The warheads are pure HE, thus they need to hit thinly armoured areas, like rooftops and armour hulls above the tracks to be able to deal any sort of damage.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour (Front, Side, Rear, Hull roof)
• Cast homogeneous armour (Turret, Transmission area)

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	50.8 mm (56°) Front glacis 50.8 mm (12-56°) Transmission area 50.8 (13-20°) + 25.4 mm (35°) Protruding hatches	38.1 mm 38.1 + 25.4 mm Appliqué addition	38.1 mm (0-10°) Top 25.4 mm (33-64°) Bottom	19.5 mm Sides 12.7 mm Engine deck and center
Turret	76.2-88.9 mm (4-67°) Turret front 50.8 + 88.9 mm Gun mantlet	50.8 mm (0-68°)	50.8 mm (2-66°)	25.4 mm
Armour	Sides	Roof
Cupola	50.8 mm	25.4 mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick, bogies are 10 mm thick, and tracks are 17 mm thick.
• Front armour has two protruding areas for driver and co-driver hatches. These are weak points as they present a flat armour surface.
• Belly armour is 12.7 mm thick.

Mobility

Mobility characteristic
Weight (tons)	Add-on Armor weight (tons)	Max speed (km/h)
30.6	N/A	42 (AB)
		38 (RB/SB)
Engine power (horsepower)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	620	763
Realistic/Simulator	354	400
Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	20.26	24.93
Realistic/Simulator	11.57	13.07

Armaments

Main armament

75 mm M3
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
104			-10°/+25°	±180°	Vertical
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	14.28	19.80	24.0	26.60	28.20
Realistic	14.28	16.80	20.4	22.60	24.00
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
6.50	5.75	5.30	5.00

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 90°
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
M72 shot	AP	110	109	92	76	62	51
M48 shell	HE	10	10	10	10	10	10
M61 shot	APCBC	90	88	81	73	65	59
T45 shot	APCR	143	137	127	106	86	70

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%
M72 shot	AP	619	6.3	N/A	N/A	N/A	-1°	47°	60°	65°
M48 shell	HE	463	6.3	0.4	0.5	666	+0°	79°	80°	81°
M61 shot	APCBC	618	6.8	1.2	20	63.7	+4°	48°	63°	71°
T45 shot	APCR	868	3.8	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	66°	70°	72°

Smoke characteristic
Ammunition	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Screen radius in m	Screen time in s	Screen hold time in s:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):
M89	259	3	13	5	20	50

Ammo racks

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	7th rack empty	8th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
97	85 (+12)	73 (+24)	61 (+36)	49 (+48)	37 (+60)	25 (+72)	13 (+84)	1 (+96)	Yes

Turret empty: 49 (+48)

Rocket launcher racks can be easily detonated
by high-explosives when there are rockets.

Additional armament

114 mm M8 rocket
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Flight speed (m/s)	Range (m)
60			-9°/+12°	260	4,500

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 the battles

The T34 Calliope is effective as a close quarters brawler. It should aim to start engagements suddenly and spam rockets primarily at an enemy's main cannon and roof armour. It is a small chance that this will immediately disable or knock out an enemy vehicle. This is usually enough to either finish off the target with rockets or by using the 75mm cannon.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Armament:
  • Quick-firing 75 mm gun with adequate shell options.
  • Is now equipped with 60 rockets, a salvo can blind or even cripple, if not kill other enemy tanks.
• Armour:
  • Reasonably good frontal protection, can work nicely when in downtiers.
  • Turret is quite strong.

Cons:

• Size:
  • The Sherman is already a pretty large vehicle, the addition of the rockets makes the Calliope stick out like a sore thumb.
• Armament:
  • The 75 mm gun begins to lack the penetration to go up against tougher foes.
  • Does not get access to the T45 APCR shot.
  • Rockets are inaccurate past ~100 meters.
  • Rockets act as a massive (and unarmoured) ammunition rack.
  • Rockets only have 29 mm of penetration.
  • Loses access to the .50 caliber M2 machine gun.
  • The distinctive firing sound of the rockets can lure unwanted enemies to your position.
• Armour:
  • Overall armour protection is no longer effective against tougher foes, especially against the German long 75 mm gun.
  • The extra 25.4 mm side plating indicates the location of ammunition racks (can be resolved by taking less than 23 cannon rounds).
• Price:
  • The Calliope is the most expensive premium vehicle in War Thunder, clocking in at an astounding 9,740 Golden Eagles.

History

Development

Midway into World War II in 1943, the Western Allies realized that unlike the Soviet Union, they did not have any form of a "multiple rocket launcher system" that the Soviets had with their Katyusha Launchers trucks. The idea of rocket launchers isn't new at this period, they present some advantage over the standard mortar or howitzer. The rocket launcher can launch massive amounts of high-explosive ammunition at a longer distance at a shorter time with a greater psychological impact than normal artillery, at the price of a longer reload time and less accuracy. The Soviets showed the best utilization of this weapon with their Katyushas, having a whole bunch of them fire at a designated target, minimizing accuracy loss with a full area saturation of fire. The effectiveness of this system prompted the Allies to start producing some form of multiple rocket launcher system as well.

In 1943, the project began in United States and the design was to use the current M4 Sherman tanks in service to mount the rocket launchers to bring into combat. The design, developed by Victor Hawkins, had a rocket mount on the Sherman turret with sixty launch tubes, all made to fire the 4.5 in. M8 rockets. The project gave the experimental tank design the designation T34, and the troops adopted the name "Calliope", which was the name of a steam organ and has a similar look.

Combat usage

These rocket launcher tanks were sent to France in 1944, although many never saw combat for various reasons. During its development, three different variants were made. The original T34 had 60 tubes for the 4.5 in. rockets with 36 fixed tubes on top and 24 on the bottom able to be jettisoned (except on the M4A1 Sherman variant). The second, T34E1, has the 24 jettisonable tubes replaced by 28 tubes, though the total tubes was still 60. The T34E2 had the rocket caliber increased from 4.5 in. to 7.2 in. with the same 60 tubes. This saw combat during the 1944-1945 time span.

However, the modifications of the Shermans seem unnecessary as the war progressed, new development had the rocket launcher system mated to trucks, armoured chassis, and jeeps so the tanks could be left alone to do its purpose. But when the Calliope saw service in the Pacific and Europe, its performance was moderately successful. The T34 was replaced by the T40 "Whiz Bang" Sherman, which was a Sherman with a tank-mounted multiple rocket launcher system like the T34, but only saw combat in the last few months of the war and had the 7.2 in. rockets.

Media

Camouflages & skins

Skins and camouflages for the T34 Calliope from live.warthunder.com

Images

The T34 "Calliope" firing a salvo of 4.5 inch rockets.

Videos

WW2 News Reel:
"1944 M4 T34 Calliope"

Read also

[Devblog] РСЗО T34 Sherman Calliope

Sources

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

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