Hotchkiss Mle 1930 (13.2 mm)

Description

13.2mm Hotchkiss Mle 1929 in Naval quadmount

The 13.2 mm Hotchkiss Mle 1930 is a French-build heavy machine gun for multi-purpose use. Starting as Hotchkiss Mle 1929, the Mle 1930 is a ground-based anti-aircraft designation of the machine gun. It is commonly used as close anti-air defence by the French Navy and also by the French Infantry during the 30s until WW2. The guns was also adapted as main armament for tanks, armoured cars and anti-aircraft vehicles. The Hotchkiss was for France the equivalent of the M2 Browning heavy machine gun.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• P.7.T AA

General info

The 13.2 mm Hotchkiss offer a good and balanced performance against aircraft and soft targets, but have difficulty against vehicles with more than 20 mm of armour. It feeds from a 30 rounds magazine, which would lead to the weapon's limited capacity to sustain a suppressing fire. The gun has a fire-rate of 450 rounds per minutes, but in practice it would seldom reach 200 rounds per minutes due to the reload and recoil.

Available ammunition

Only one belt is currently available for the Hotchkiss in the game, the AP-T belt.

AP-T belt composition: AP-I, API-T

Penetration statistics
Belt	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
AP-I	24	23	14	10	7	4
API-T	24	23	14	10	7	4

Belt details
Belt	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
						0%	50%	100%
AP-I	800	0.05	N/A	N/A	N/A	47°	56°	65°
API-T	800	0.05	N/A	N/A	N/A	47°	56°	65°

Comparison with analogues

• M2HB (12.7 mm) - Similar gun in performance, but a lot more successful. It replaced the Hotchkiss 13.2mm after WW2 for standardization purpose.
• Type 93 (13.2 mm) - Japanese license copy of the Hotchkiss
• Breda Model 31 (13.2 mm) - Italian license copy of the Hotchkiss

Usage in battles

This armament is having a relatively small calibre which cause the post-penetration damage to be rather low. in many case, a direct hit of the bullets to the crew might not be enough to knock him out. however, the 30 rounds magazine and fast fire-rate allow the user to place more than a single hit at the time. due to his low penetration, vehicles medium armoured, even amounts of the reserve's level, might prove difficult targets. anything with more than 20mm of armour is better to avoid in combat. if you get close enough to a ground target, you might find this armament rather effective. but i would still strongly suggest to try to get your enemy from the side and rear where they are more vulnerable and pay less attention.

if you have enough elevation and a transverse speed fast enough to fallow air target, this gun can prove pretty effective against aircraft. a couple hit and the target is likely to either get in fire or lose some part.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Good fire-rate
• Effective against soft target
• Effective against aircraft

Cons:

• Penetration a bit lacking
• Magazine has only 30-rounds

History

Developed by Hotchkiss & Cie in the middle of the 20s, the Hotckiss Mle 1929 was a multi-purpose heavy machine gun. First used by the French Navy, it was serving as close anti-air defence for the ships for up to 2,500 meters. The Army also adopted the gun, but in the Mle 1930 variants. The difference was that the Mle 1930 wasn't equipped with the sight and mount that allow the machine-gun to be used against the aircraft. The reason was the French army worry about the bullets might fall back on civilian area and potentially kill someone. The Army strictly used this armament as anti-tank and anti-infantry weapons in their official services.

In the 1930s, the French cavalry mounted the 13.2 mm machine gun onto AMR.35 ZT1 reconnaissance vehicles to add some anti-tank capability to defend themselves during missions. This was also attempted on armoured cars such as the Laffly 80AM. Some machine guns were also attended for export, arming anti-aircraft trucks, though the export attempt as anti-aircraft ground had no success. but as an independent heavy machine-gun however, this armament was very successful, been exported notably to Brazil, Poland and Romanian, but also licensed to Italy and Japan. nearly all of which had used the 13.2mm intensively during WW2.

Hotchkiss Ammunition

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
Type O	AP	24	23	14	10	7	4
Type OT	AP-T	24	23	14	10	7	4
Type P	APC	28	27	20	15	11	9
Type PT	APC-T	28	27	20	15	11	9

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%
Type O	AP	810	0.051	N/A	N/A	N/A	66°	70°	72°
Type OT	AP-T	810	0.051	N/A	N/A	N/A	66°	70°	72°
Type P	APC	810	0.052	N/A	N/A	N/A	66°	70°	72°
Type PT	APC-T	810	0.052	N/A	N/A	N/A	66°	70°	72°

main combat rounds for the 13.2mm Hotchkiss

Cartouche à balle ordinaire O or AP type O

The Type O was a standard armour-piercing rounds used against soft target such as infantry, unarmoured vehicles and aircraft. The projectile was made of carbon steel and was capped with lead. There was a brass cloak around the projectile.

The round can be identify by the primer seal painted either black or purple.

• Projectile weight: 51,2 g
• Velocity: 810 m/sec

Cartouche à balle traçante OT or AP-T type OT

The Type OT was a standard rounds equipped with a tracer tail. It have the same ballistic as the Type O.

The round can be identify by the primer seal painted green.

Cartouche à balle perforante P or AP type P

The Type P round was a armour-piercing hardened round used against armoured target. Rhe projectile was made of alloy Tungsten-steel (3% tungsten, 97% steel) and was tempered. There was a lead cap and brass cloak on the rounds.

The round can be identify by primer seal painted red.

• Projectile weight: 52 g
• Velocity: 810 m/sec

Cartouche à balle perforante traçante PT or AP-T type PT

The Type PT was a armour-piercing rounds equipped with a tracer tail. It have the same ballistic as the Type P.

It can be identify by the primer seal painted yellow.

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 article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
• references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• French Manual of the Hotchkiss Mle 1929

France anti-aircraft guns
13.2 mm	Hotchkiss Mle 1930
20 mm	GIAT M693/mod F2 · Oerlikon KAD (Swiss)
30 mm	HSS 831A
40 mm	Bofors L/60 · Mle. 1951 T1 (Bofors L/70)