A.C.IV

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Rank VI USSR | Premium | Golden Eagles
Su-25K Pack
A.C.IV
uk_ac4_thunderbolt.png
GarageImage A.C.IV.jpg
A.C.IV
AB RB SB
5.3 5.3 5.3
Purchase:3 410 Specs-Card-Eagle.png
Show in game

Description

The Cruiser tank A.C. Mark IV, also known as the AC IV Thunderbolt or the AC IV Sentinel, is a premium rank III British medium tank with a battle rating of 5.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was released some time after Update 1.55 "Royal Armour". Armed with a 17-pounder gun, it has a high firepower for the battle rating it is in, able to effectively fight any other tanks at the battle rating. The Thunderbolt is also a small and manoeuvrable tank able to exploit harsh terrain to target the enemy.

The AC IV is a well-rounded tank with superior armour layout compared to other British tanks at its BR; it can occasionally bounce shells from Tigers and Panthers if lucky. It is a relatively small medium tank in comparison to the common mainstay of the other countries, especially when compared to the American Sherman tanks. The Sentinel also has a good manoeuvrability and power-to-weight ratio for the propulsion, able to accelerate to its max speed of roughly 30 km/h quickly and stay there on stable terrain. The tank has a great advantage of a decent reverse speed in comparison to other medium tanks of its calibre, with a reverse speed almost the same speed as forward. The addition of the 17-pounder gun also gives this tank a whopping high firepower for the size, so it can stand a chance against tanks of the same tier despite being out of the league in terms of armour.

The tank in the game is the version planned for serial production, so it has the hull of the AC III; unlike the actual prototype design developed, which used the hull from the AC I version.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armourfront / side / back
Hull64 / 45 / 45
Turret64 / 64 / 64
Crew4 people
Visibility91 %

The AC IV Thunderbolt is one of the few British tanks at this BR with sloped armour rather than the traditional boxy armour found in other British tanks. Its armour has a high tendency to bounce shells. This is obvious with the extreme slope on the from of the tank, and turret design. The armour itself is not thick, but thanks to the angle of it this tank can be very fierce competition to enemy vehicles. Although the armour is superior to that of other British tanks, it is not recommended to rely on it too heavily. Other nations, particularly the Germans, have no trouble penetrating the tank from any range. Because the crew compartment is relatively cramped, any penetrating shots can be fatal. The side armour on the Sentinel is extremely weak and vulnerable to SPAA flanking.

Armour type:

  • Cast homogeneous armour
  • Rolled homogeneous armour (Hull roof)
Armour Front Sides Rear Roof
Hull 50.8 mm (66-67°) Frontal glacis
50.8 mm (30°) Driver's port
50.8 mm (7-68°) Lower glacis
44.45 mm (0-12°) 22.22 mm (78°) Top
44.45 mm (21-52°) Bottom
22.22 mm
Turret 63.5 mm (4-47°) Turret front
25.4-63.5 mm (1-68°) Gun mantlet
63.5 mm (0-88°) 63.5 mm (1-53°) 35 mm
Armour Sides Roof
Cupola 63.5 mm 35 mm

Notes:

  • Suspension wheels and bogies are 20 mm thick, tracks are 20 mm.
  • The rear bottom area has a track placed there, providing 20 mm of extra armour.
  • The commander cupola is extended outwards from the left side of the turret, creating a vulnerable unsloped area vulnerable to weaker guns.

Mobility

Speedforward / back
AB54 / 11 km/h
RB and SB48 / 10 km/h
Number of gears5 forward
1 back
Weight26.4 t
Engine power
AB757 hp
RB and SB397 hp
Power-to-weight ratio
AB28.7 hp/t
RB and SB15.0 hp/t

The AC.IV has an overall good mobility, with an acceptable reverse speed not found in other British tanks (e.g., Challenger, Comet, etc.). The manoeuvrability in soft terrain can be significantly reduced and can feel sluggish.

Game Mode Max Speed (km/h) Weight (tons) Engine power (horsepower) Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Forward Reverse Stock Upgraded Stock Upgraded
Arcade 54 11 26.4 615 757 23.3 28.67
Realistic 48 10 351 397 13.3 15.04

Modifications and economy

Repair cost
AB1 319 Sl icon.png
RB1 532 Sl icon.png
SB2 031 Sl icon.png
Crew training10 000 Sl icon.png
Experts250 000 Sl icon.png
Aces630 Ge icon.png
Research Aces870 000 Rp icon.png
Reward for battleAB / RB / SB
Talisman.png 2 × 90 / 150 / 180 % Sl icon.png
Talisman.png 2 × 160 / 160 / 160 % Rp icon.png
Modifications
Mobility Protection Firepower
Mods new tank traks.png
Tracks
Mods new tank suspension.png
Suspension
Mods new tank break.png
Brake System
Mods new tank filter.png
Filters
Mods new tank transmission.png
Transmission
Mods new tank engine.png
Engine
Mods tank tool kit.png
Improved Parts
Mods extinguisher.png
Improved FPE
Mods tank reinforcement uk.png
Crew Replenishment
Mods tank ammo.png
76mm_britain_17pdr_APC_ammo_pack
Mod arrow 0.png
Mods new tank horizontal aiming.png
Horizontal Drive
Mods tank ammo.png
76mm_britain_17pdr_APCBC_ammo_pack
Mods tank cannon.png
Adjustment of Fire
Mods new tank vertical aiming.png
Elevation Mechanism
Mods art support.png
Artillery Support
Mods tank ammo.png
76mm_britain_Smoke_ammo_pack

Armaments

Main armament

Ammunition50 rounds
Reloadbasic crew → aces
7.6 → 5.9 s
Vertical guidance-10° / 20°
Main article: QF 17-pounder (76 mm)

The classic Ordnance QF 17-pounder is a very powerful gun: its performance against Tiger I and Panthers is very consistent and satisfactory. The Sentinel offers a smooth gun handling, with a good turret traverse speed and a good gun elevation speed. It has an excellent gun depression of -10 degrees and offers a small silhouette when hull down, comparable to the Comet. Because British tanks do not have access to APHE shells, any shot fired must be accurate; always aim for crew compartments and vital components of enemy tanks.

76 mm QF 17-pounder Turret rotation speed (°/s) Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode Capacity Vertical Horizontal Stabilizer Stock Upgraded Full Expert Aced Stock Full Expert Aced
Arcade 50 -10°/+20° ±180° N/A 17.14 23.72 28.80 31.85 33.88 7.67 6.79 6.25 5.90
Realistic 10.71 12.60 15.30 16.92 18.00

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
Shot Mk.6 AP 171 168 155 139 126 113
Shell Mk.1 HE 20 20 18 16 15 13
Shot Mk.4 APC 171 168 155 139 126 113
Shot Mk.8 APCBC 190 187 172 155 140 126
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%
Shot Mk.6 AP 883 7.71 - - - 47° 60° 65°
Shell Mk.1 HE 883 6.98 0.2 0.1 580 79° 80° 81°
Shot Mk.4 APC 883 7.71 - - - 48° 63° 71°
Shot Mk.8 APCBC 883 7.71 - - - 48° 63° 71°
Smoke shell characteristics
Ammunition Velocity
(m/s)
Projectile
mass (kg)
Screen radius
(m)
Screen deploy
time (s)
Screen hold
time (s)
Explosive mass
(TNT equivalent) (g)
17pdr Shell SS Mk.1 229 8.44 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
9th
rack empty
Visual
discrepancy
50 45 (+5) 39 (+11) 35 (+15) 31 (+19) 25 (+25) 19 (+31) 15 (+35) 11 (+39) (+49) No
Ammo racks of the A.C.IV

Notes:

  • Racks disappear after you've fired all shells in the rack.

Optics

A.C.IV Optics
Which ones Default magnification Maximum magnification
Main Gun optics x1.85 x3.5
Comparable optics T-34-57

Does not have improved zoom like the other rank III British tanks of similar BR, thus has worse zoom than many of its opponents, which may have variable zooms up to X5. Do not unnecessarily provoke German SPGs, as they have superior optics and are unlikely to miss.

In full up-tier, do not let Japanese medium tanks (e.g. ST-A1) get an upper hand at all costs, as they have optics eclipsing these entirely and can easily snipe A.C.IV from 2 km away, with accuracy modifications.

Machine guns

Ammunition4 250 rounds
Belt capacity250 rounds
Reloadbasic crew → aces
10.4 → 8.0 s
Fire rate390 shots/min
Main article: Vickers (7.7 mm)

There is only one 7.7 mm coaxial MG with a very slow rate of fire, and no roof-mounted MG to defend against incoming planes. The small calibre of the Vickers machine gun makes it largely ineffective against all armoured vehicles but the ones with an open compartment. It still can be used to ping targets as a rangefinding help. While the belt capacity of the machine gun is adequate, its rate of fire is extremely slow for the battle rating.

7.7 mm Vickers
Mount Capacity (Belt) Fire rate Vertical Horizontal
Coaxial 4,250 (250) 390 N/A N/A

Usage in battles

Exploit the A.C. IV's manoeuvrability against the heavier tanks, plus the 17-pounder tank allows for a penetration through the enemy's armour to cause internal damages. The fast reverse speed makes the "shoot-and-scoot" tactic a viable method against the enemy, and should be the prime one as the armour of the Sentinel is not exactly the most durable at only 50 mm flat. However, the sloping nature of the armour could give the bouncing capability of the tank comparable to the T-34, it's even arguably much better. So while the weight class is definitely against the Sentinel, a chance is always there to take out the opposition. When compared to other British tanks, this tank lacks access to APDS rounds. Extra caution should be paid during full uptier matches as there will be many enemy tanks, particularly German tanks, that this tank will find difficult to engage from the front.

"Shoot-and-scoot" tactics are the best tactics to use with this vehicle. The Sentinel's armour does not let the tank be a brawler, so it must be more "sneaky" against the enemies. Another thing to note is the driver's hatch at the front of the tank. To avoid a frontally penetrating shot, always angle the driver's hatch away from the enemy.

The AC.IV can play any role in the game, since it is decent at brawling, close range, mid range, and far range.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • High penetration solid shot rounds
  • Good manoeuvrability
  • Fast reverse speed
  • Small profile

Cons:

  • Sloped armour only on the front
  • Susceptible to large calibre HE shells
  • Only 44 mm of side armour
  • Cannon lacks armour-piercing rounds with high-explosive filler
  • No APDS rounds, unlike other British medium tanks at this rank
  • Single 7.7 mm coaxial MG with a very slow rate of fire

History

Development

Australia began designing a tank in November 1940 as the AC I, and was intended to be a cruiser tank weighing between 16 to 20 tons with a 2-pounder gun. With no prior experience in producing a domestic tank, Australia sent a task force to the United States to study the M3 Medium design to understand the in-and-outs of a tank. They also received the aid of Colonel W.D. Watson MC in December 1940 from Britain, who has many years of tank designing experience. The overall mission ended up having the tank design to have a similar concept as the Canadian Ram tank, being based off the the M3 Medium chassis and mated with a domestic design of their choice for the upper part along with the incorporation of a suspension system of horizontal rubber cylinder springs seen on many early-war French tanks notably the H.39 and H.35. The Australian attached the chassis with a hull and turret with design similarities to the British Crusader tanks. The design started to become less of a cruiser tank and more of a medium tank by American specifications due to the attempt to up-armour and up-gun the tank to keep up with German armour development.

The first design was completed in February 1942 as the Cruiser Tank Mark 1 (AC I) and designated the "Sentinel". The design was simplified by using existing parts of current tanks and using a cast hull and turret. The entire hull being casted would be the first in history as many tanks of the era did not use such techniques. Although originally specified for a 2-pounder, it was then asked for a 6-pounder armament but due to the manufacturing of such guns not begining at the time in Australia they would have to use the 2 pounder for the first 65 produced. Two Vickers machine gun were used as the coaxial and hull machine gun the later having an armoured mount to protect its water sleeve resulting in a rather lewd looking front of which is made fun of to this day. With the power of three Cadillac V8 Petrol engines. It was unorthodox, but powerful enough to propel the vehicle. 65 of these tanks were made by June 1943 before being succeeded by a more advanced design known as AC III, also known as the "Thunderbolt". It had better armour and an improved firepower in the form of the 25-pounder howitzer. Despite the bigger gun, the 54-inch turret ring was never expanded to accommodate for the gun's larger size, so the crew experienced a slightly cramped turret interior for the benefit of having a better high-explosive charge and armour-piercing capability. Other differences in the design was the removal of the hull machine gun and a different set-up of the three Cadillac engines. One pilot model was built and plans were made for a production for 25 tanks for further trials, but the program was terminated.

Another attempt was made to increase Australian tank firepower with the AC IV design. It first started when the designers check to see if the turret could mount the massive 17-pounder in use by the British to fight the heavier and more protected German tanks. When the tests proved successful, the 17-pounder was chosen to be the gun for the AC IV, with a new and larger turret and 70-inch turret ring to improve crew comfort. These tanks were only made for evaluation purposes only and were never mass-produced for equipping the armoured units. However it would be the only commonwealth tank ever to mount such a gun.

Termination

The AC IV design, along with the entire Australian Cruiser tank program, was terminated in July 1943, ending with only 65 tanks produced and a few prototype models. The reason was that the funds were better spent improving the infrastructure than building new tanks due to the large number of American tanks such as the M4 Medium that were being supplied to Australia. The AC "Sentinel" were all put into storage and kept until the end of the war. The only use the Sentinel saw was in the film The Rats of Tobruk in 1943 when a squadron of AC I tanks were modified to resemble German tanks.

Survivors

After the war, the Australian government disposed most of the tanks in 1945, most were sold off by the Commonwealth Disposals Commission. Today, about six Sentinels survive in intact conditions across the world. One notably in the Bovington Tank Museum, and three in Australia in the RAAC Tank Museum, Treloar Technology Centre, and one in the United States in the Collings Foundation.

Media

Skins
Videos

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


New South Wales Railway Company
Medium tanks  A.C.I · A.C.IV

Britain medium tanks
Valentine  Valentine I · Valentine IX · Valentine XI
Cromwell  Cromwell I · Cromwell V · Cromwell V (RP-3)
Cromwell derivatives  Challenger · Avenger · Comet I · Comet I "Iron Duke IV" · Charioteer Mk VII
Centurion  Centurion Mk 1 · Centurion Mk.2 · Centurion Mk 3 · Centurion Mk.5 AVRE · Centurion Mk 10 · Centurion Action X · FV4202
Vickers MBT  Vickers Mk.1 · Vickers Mk.3 · Vickers Mk.7
Chieftain  Chieftain Mk 3 · Chieftain Mk 5 · Chieftain Mk 10
Challenger 1  Challenger Mk.2 · Challenger Mk.3 · Challenger DS
Challenger 2  Challenger 2 · Challenger 2 (2F) · Challenger 2 TES · Challenger 2 OES · Challenger 2E · Challenger 2 Black Night
Challenger 3  Challenger 3 TD
Australia  A.C.I · A.C.IV · Centurion Mk.5/1
South Africa  Olifant Mk.1A · Olifant Mk.2 · TTD
India  Vijayanta · Bhishma TWMP
Israel  ▄Sho't Kal Dalet
Jordan  Khalid
Sweden  ▄Strv 81 (RB 52)
USA  Grant I · Sherman II · Sherman Firefly · Sherman IC "Trzyniec"

Britain premium ground vehicles
Light tanks  A13 Mk I (3rd R.T.R.) · A13 Mk II 1939 · AEC Mk II · Crusader "The Saint" · Rooikat 105
Medium tanks  A.C.I · Grant I · Cromwell V (RP-3) · Sherman IC "Trzyniec" · A.C.IV · Comet I "Iron Duke IV"
  Centurion Mk.2 · ▄Strv 81 (RB 52) · Centurion Mk.5 AVRE · Centurion Mk.5/1 · ▄Sho't Kal Dalet · Centurion Action X
  Vijayanta · Khalid · Challenger DS · Challenger 2 OES
Heavy tanks  Independent · Matilda Hedgehog · Excelsior · TOG II · Churchill Crocodile · Black Prince
Tank destroyers  Alecto I · Achilles (65 Rg.) · QF 3.7 Ram