M6A1
Contents
Description
The Heavy Tank M6A1 is a Rank III American heavy tank
with a battle rating of 4.7 (AB) and 5.0 (RB/SB). It was one of the first American tanks to be released with the American ground tree in Update 1.45 "Steel Generals". A rather unusual tank design mounting two cannons in the turret, however it has a durable frontal armour for the battle rating it occupies.
The M6A1 is a one of the most unique tanks in the game, with it large hull and being as tall as a Tiger I. Another interesting feature is that it is one of the most maneuverable heavy tanks in the game with a powerful Wright G-200 engine (the same engine powering the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber) with a max speed of 35 km/h, making it very mobile in a battle situation. The tank has two 12.7 mm's in the hull which can be used but cannot be angled sideways. The M6A1 is one of the first American tanks as well in the game to have the transmission at the rear of the tank.
Some thing to keep in mind is the shell arc of the secondary 37 mm cannon. Its shell will usually hit the same spot on distances up to 1400 m (~1 mile). But do not forget that the gun is offset to the left in close combat, or it will not hit the target.
General info
Survivability and armour
Armour type:
- Cast homogeneous armour (Front, Transmission area, Turret)
- Rolled homogeneous armour (Front, Side, Rear, Roof)
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 82.5 mm (5-35°) Front 101.6 mm (5-35°) Transmission |
44.4 mm | 44.4 mm | 25.4 mm |
| Turret | 250 mm (6-65°) Turret front 50.8 + 50.8 mm (7-62°) Gun mantlet |
82.5 mm (0-12°) | 82.5 mm (0-68°) | 25.4 mm |
| Armour | Sides | Roof | ||
| Cupola | 82.5 mm | 25.4 mm |
Notes:
- Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick while tracks are 17 mm thick.
- Front armour is rounded so have variable slope angle along the surface.
Mobility
| Mobility characteristic | ||
|---|---|---|
| Weight (tons) | Add-on Armor weight (tons) |
Max speed (km/h) |
| 56.8 | N/A | 37 (AB) |
| 35 (RB/SB) | ||
| Engine power (horsepower) | ||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded |
| Arcade | 1,033 | 1,272 |
| Realistic/Simulator | 708 | 800 |
| Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | ||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded |
| Arcade | 18.19 | 22.39 |
| Realistic/Simulator | 12.46 | 14.08 |
Armaments
Main armament
| 76 mm M7 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity | Vertical guidance |
Horizontal guidance | |||
| 75 | -10°/+30° | ±180° | |||
| Turret rotation speed (°/s) | |||||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert qualif. | Prior + Ace qualif. |
| Arcade | 10.70 | 14.80 | 18.00 | 19.90 | 21.20 |
| Realistic | 10.70 | 12.60 | 15.30 | 16.92 | 18.0 |
| Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||
| Stock | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert qualif. | Prior + Ace qualif. | ||
| 7.67 | 6.78 | 6.25 | 5.90 | ||
Ammunition
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration in mm @ 90° | |||||
| 10m | 100m | 500m | 1000m | 1500m | 2000m | ||
| M62 Shell | APCBC | 127 | 125 | 116 | 106 | 97 | 89 |
| M42A1 Shell | HE | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| M79 Shot | AP | 155 | 154 | 131 | 107 | 88 | 72 |
| Shell details | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | 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 | 792 | 7 | 1.2 | 20 | 63.7 | +4° | 48° | 63° | 71° |
| M42A1 Shell | 800 | 5.8 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 390 | +0° | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| M79 Shot | 792 | 6.8 | N/A | N/A | N/A | -1° | 47° | 60° | 65° |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75 | 40 (+35) | 4 (+71) | 1 (+74) | Yes |
Additional armament
| 37 mm M3 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity | Vertical guidance |
Horizontal guidance | |||
| 202 | N/A | N/A | |||
| Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||
| Stock | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert Qualif. | Prior + Ace Qualif. | ||
| 3.77 | 3.33 | 3.07 | 2.90 | ||
Ammunition
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration in mm @ 90° | |||||
| 10m | 100m | 500m | 1000m | 1500m | 2000m | ||
| M74B1 | AP | 90 | 89 | 69 | 50 | 37 | 27 |
| M63 Shell | HE | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| M51B1/B2 | APC | 79 | 78 | 69 | 59 | 51 | 43 |
| Shell details | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | 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% | |||||||
| M74B1 | 883 | 0.87 | N/A | N/A | N/A | -1° | 47° | 60° | 65° |
| M63 Shell | 807 | 0.73 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 38 | +0° | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| M51B1/B2 | 883 | 0.87 | N/A | N/A | N/A | +4° | 48° | 63° | 71° |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 202 | 85 (+12) | 161 (+41) | 121 (+81) | 81 (+121) | 41 (+161) | 1 (+201) | Yes |
Machine guns
| 12.7 mm M2HB | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pintle mount | ||||||
| Capacity (Belt capacity) | Fire rate (shots/minute) |
Vertical guidance |
Horizontal guidance | |||
| 1,000 (200) | 576 | -10°/+50° | ±120° | |||
| Hull mount #1 | ||||||
| Capacity (Belt capacity) | Fire rate (shots/minute) |
Vertical guidance |
Horizontal guidance | |||
| 3,000 (200) | 576 | -10°/+35° | ±15° | |||
| Hull mount #2 | ||||||
| Capacity (Belt capacity) | Fire rate (shots/minute) |
Vertical guidance |
Horizontal guidance | |||
| 3,000 (200) | 576 | -10°/+35° | ±15° | |||
Usage in the battles
The M6A1 is at first a powerful machine with a 76 mm gun able to penetrate the front of most Rank III tanks. Once, bought make sure to stay behind cover as much as possible as one good hit can knock out the 76 mm gun. Another note is that with all multi-gun tanks, the secondary gun should be fired separately to maximize efficiency of the shells. Since the tank is at Rank III, beware of IS-1s,Panthers, Tigers and Jumbos as they can all easily penetrate the weak frontal armour. Make sure to keep the rear safe as the M6A1's engine is very large for a heavy and is likely to set fire on first hit. The M6A1 is only as powerful as to how player uses it to its advantages.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Great main gun.
- Very good gun depression.
- Good power-to-weight ratio.
- Good acceleration.
- Good climb abilities.
- Secondary gun has the same shell arc as main gun.
- Very good cross country performance due to large tracks.
- Big hull increases chance of surviving after a penetrating hit.
- Surprisingly still can fire both cannons with only skeleton crew.
- Reload rate isn't generally affected when losing crew members.
- Lower portion of the hull sides are protected by additional 25.4 mm armour sheet.
- Can be independent from teammates, but works wonderfully when supported.
- First heavy tank in the US tree that can dish and take punishment equally.
- Rear mounted transmission.
- Adequate roof armour.
- Now has .50 cal AA machine gun.
- Provides a good learning curve to the Maus.
Cons:
- Slow top speed.
- Mediocre turn speed.
- Pretty large in general, will stand out in the battlefield.
- Gun mantlet is weak.
- Weak upper side armour with only ~40mm
- Ammo is stored in the lower side armour!
- Drivers and MG-port are frontal weak spots.
- Large engine and transmission mounted in the rear.
- Rear compartment of the vehicle is filled with fuel tanks that can easily set ablaze or explode altogether when shot.
- Tank cannot be angled as it exposes the cheeks.
- Flat-ish armor
History
Development
When World War II broke out, limited development in United States meant that the military possessed very few tanks and so development hastened and eventually gave them tanks such as the M3 Lee and M4 Sherman. On May 20, 1940, the US Army Ordinance Corps began to work on a 50-ton heavy tank for their army. Initially, it was going to have a multi-turret design, two turrets with the 75 mm gun and one secondary turret with a 37 mm gun with a coaxial machine gun, then one more with a 20 mm gun with coaxial. Plus, four .30 cal machine guns were to be put on ball mounts on the front glacis and rear corners of the hull. This project was approved on June 11, 1940 and moved on as the Heavy Tank T1. However at the same time, similar concepts in Europe of heavy breakthrough tanks such as the Soviet T-35 and the German Neubaufahrzeug tanks were falling out of favour due to lack of combat effectiveness and unfavourable performance for their cost, and the US did the same in October so the design was changed.
The tank now had one turret with a 3-inch (76.2 mm) gun alongside a coaxial 37 mm gun. The turret housed three crew members and was powered by an electrical traverse system. The commander's cupola was copied from the M3 Lee, featuring a hatch with it sown machine gun. Two .50 cal machine guns now protruded from the bow mount (fired by bow gunner) and two .30 cal machine guns as well (fired by driver). The entire tank held six crew members, the commander, gunner, driver, assistant driver, loader #1, and loader #2. While the construction of the vehicle was feasible, the engine was not enough to power the vehicle reliably due to heavy 57 ton weight.
In 1941 to 1942, three prototypes were constructed with different transmission, one with electrical and the rest with a torque converter. The ones with the torque converters were designated the Heavy Tank M6 and M6A1. The electrical transmission design, designated M6A2, was never approved by Ordinance, but was to be manufactured anyway. It was hoped that 115 of these tanks could be built for further testing and production started in December 1942 with design changes. The commander's cupola now featured a regular hatch rather than the machine gun one, which was removed along with one of the machine gun in the front hull. By the time the M6 were ready for production, the Army were moving forward and interest waned on these heavy tanks with the M4 Sherman's performance in the war. The M6's armour was only slightly more thicker than the Sherman's and the 3-inch gun didn't offer too much improvement over the 75 mm gun, plus it had a large profile and low ergonomics, not to mention mechanical issues.
Production and cancellation
In early 1942, the M6 production was set for 250 a month, but was cut down in September from 5,000 to a mere 100 when manufacturing focus moved to planes. By the end of 1942, the Sherman's performance in the war proved its role in the war was more adaptable than the M6 heavy tank, while remaining cheaper and lighter for transportation and supplying. This caused the M6 production to lower even more to just 40, before being shut down. Though testing with a 90 mm gun found the M6 to be a good gun mount, the poor layout of the tank restricted it, and the project was shut down before further development could be made.
In August 1944, the Ordinance Corps planned to modify some of the M6 heavy tanks with more armour and heavier armament to breach fortified areas. These were to be the M6A2E1 and weighed 77 tons with a 190 mm front armour and a 105 mm gun. Eisenhower rejected these as impractical, and cancelled it. The M6 was found to be obsolete by December 1944 with only 40 units produced and never seeing combat service. They served as a propaganda piece during the war and were all scrapped after it except one, which is put on display at Aberdeen, Maryland at the United States Army Ordinance Museum. During development, the M6 turret was modified to become the turret for the M10 Tank Destroyer.
Media
An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.
Read also
Sources
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| USA heavy tanks | |
|---|---|
| M4 Jumbo | M4A3E2 · Cobra King · M4A3E2 (76) W |
| M6 | M6A1 · T1E1 · T1E1 (90) · M6A2E1 |
| T26 | T26E1-1 · T26E5 |
| T29/30/34 | T29 · T30 · T34 |
| T32 | T32 · T32E1 |
| M103 | M103 |
| Others | T14 |
