T26E5
| This page is about the American heavy tank T26E5. For the other T26, see T26E1-1. |
Contents
Description
The Assault tank T26E5 is a rank IV American heavy tank with a battle rating of 6.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Ground Breaking".
It is a American assault tank intended to be used like M4A3E2. It is based on the M26 Pershing, uses the same 90 mm M3 gun but has additional armour on the front and the turret. Therefore, the T26E5 is able to effectively combat late World war II vehicles with greater efficiency compared to its predecessors.
General info
Survivability and armour
The frontal armour is quite strong, able to resist common weapons such as the 7,5cm KwK 42 and the 8,8cm Kwk 43 if angled properly. A notable weak spot on the front glacis is the machine gun port but it is a small target difficult to hit with precision. The other notable weak spot is the lower front plate. With a relatively thin lower glacis, it is not able to absorb rounds from most guns, and there is no transmission to absorb a penetrating shell. However, the side armour can protect you to a certain degree when angled.
The turret armour is strong, consisting of variable thickness armour ranging from 150 to 300 mm thickness, with the mantlet ranging from about 100 to 200mm of protection. A notable weakness in the turret is the first stage ammo, stowed on the left side of the turret, protected by about 170mm of armor, plus 20mm from an added track segment. Any penetrating shell hitting the turret from this side will most likely knock out all of your crew members in the turret as well as detonate the first-stage ammo rack.
The cupola with only 76 mm thickness can be penetrated by an APHE shell, taking out your gunner and commander, however the cupola is small in size, and is not an easy shot to make.
Survivability is about average for a tank of this type. You have 5 crew members, which is standard for US tanks at this time, but the turret is cramped, and a well placed shot can destroy the tank entirely if said round has an explosive filler.
Additionally, this tank only has 25 mm of protection on the roof, making it vulnerable to attacking aircraft with heavier ground focused weapons.
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour (Hull sides, rear and roof)
- Cast homogeneous armour (Front hull, turret, gun mantlet, cupola)
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 152.6 mm (46°) Upper front glacis 242 mm (21-35°) Upper front bulge 25.4 mm MG port 101.6 mm (31°) Lower front glacis |
76.2 mm Fighting compartment 50.8 mm Engine compartment |
50.8 mm (7°) Upper rear plate 22.2 mm (72°) Lower rear glacis |
152.6 mm (44°) Front glacis 22.2 mm (0-20°) Fighting & engine compartments 5 mm (10°) Engine vents |
| Turret | 170-229 mm (24°) Turret front 177.5 mm (cylindrical) Gun mantlet |
160 mm (cylindrical) Front & centre 110 mm (8°) Rear |
127 mm (2°) | 25 mm (0-7°) |
| Cupola | 76.2 mm (conical) | 25 mm | ||
Notes:
- Suspension wheels, tracks and torsion bars are 20 mm thick.
- Mudguards and storage boxes are 4 mm thick.
Mobility
The T26E5 use the same engine as the M26 Pershing. It has a poor power-to-weight ratio and its top speed is 40-43 km/h. But expect the average cruising speed to be closer to 30 km/h. When off-road the speed will drop even more. Lacking neutral steering, it might be difficult for the heavy tank to turn in urban environment. As such, the player should plan the route they want to take carefully and avoid flanking manoeuvres that will take a lot of time.
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 43 | 14 | 46.4 | 646 | 954 | 13.92 | 20.56 |
| Realistic | 41 | 13 | 442 | 500 | 9.53 | 10.78 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Armaments
Main armament
Give the reader information about the characteristics of the main gun. Assess its effectiveness in a battle based on the reloading speed, ballistics and the power of shells. Do not forget about the flexibility of the fire, that is how quickly the cannon can be aimed at the target, open fire on it and aim at another enemy. Add a link to the main article on the gun: {{main|Name of the weapon}}. Describe in general terms the ammunition available for the main gun. Give advice on how to use them and how to fill the ammunition storage.
| 90 mm M3 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 70 | -10°/+20° | ±180° | N/A | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ |
| Realistic | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | ||||||||
Ammunition
The T26E5 uses the same standard ammunition found in the other 90 mm M3 cannons. When first unlocked, the T26E5 will have an APBC(T33) shell as its default round. The APBC has decent characteristics, but since it doesn't have any explosive filler, it should be replaced by the APCBC(M82) shell as soon as possible. The APCR shot can be used to penetrate some heavily armoured vehicle such as the Tiger II (H), the Ferdinand or the Jagdtiger but the player should be aware of the poor post-penetration damage of the APCR projectile. Thus, the APCR should be used as a last resort against an already disabled tank. Additionally, the HE shell can be used to damage lightly armoured vehicles and the smoke shell can be used to provide smoke cover for teammates or to blind entrenched enemy tanks.
| 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 | ||
| T33 shot | APBC | 175 | 172 | 160 | 146 | 132 | 122 |
| M82 shot | APCBC | 173 | 170 | 159 | 147 | 135 | 124 |
| M304 shot | APCR | 287 | 281 | 259 | 234 | 211 | 191 |
| M71 shell | HE | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 |
| 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% | |||||||
| T33 shot | APBC | 853 | 10.9 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 47 | 60 | 65 |
| M82 shot | APCBC | 813 | 10.9 | 1.2 | 14 | 137.2 | 48 | 63 | 71 |
| M304 shot | APCR | 1,021 | 7.6 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 66 | 70 | 72 |
| M71 shell | HE | 823 | 10.6 | 0 | 0.1 | 925 | 79 | 80 | 81 |
| 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) |
| M313 | 821 | 10.7 | 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 |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 70 | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ |
Machine guns
The 12.7 mm M2HB Browning can shred light tanks and also engage low-flying aircraft to a certain degree. The coaxial 7.62mm machine gun is not able to damage anything except open-topped vehicles and unarmored trucks.
| 12.7 mm M2HB | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Pintle | 600 (200) | 577 | -10°/+30° | ±60° |
| 7.62 mm M1919A4 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 3000 (250) | 500 | N/A | N/A |
Usage in battles
Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but instead give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Adequately armoured, capable of shrugging off shells fired by lower caliber armaments
- 90 mm M3 cannon is a noticeable upgrade from the Jumbo's 76 mm M1 cannon
- APCR shell is able to penetrate most heavily armoured targets
- Weak spots are relatively small and difficult to hit
- Serves the same purpose and role as the preceding M4A3E2 (76) W Jumbo
- M82 has insane damage potential - either destroys in a single hit or severely cripples your target
- Frontal armour can, when properly angled, even shrug off the dreaded 88 mm shells fired by the Tiger II
- Stronger lower frontal plate than on the regular M26's
- Reverse speed is decently high and fairly responsive
- Strong mantlet armour, a true force to be reckoned with in a hull-down fighting position
- Decent zoom and relatively wide FOV in the gunner's sight
- Fairly quick turret rotation
Cons:
- 90 mm M3 is inadequate in uptiers
- M82 shot does not like sloped armour - bounces frequently
- Front armor is vulnerable to heavier weapons(Such as the 122mm D-25T and 8,8cm KwK43)
- Increased armour makes the vehicle even more sluggish than the already sluggish M26 its based on
- Very low power-to-weight ratio - sluggish acceleration and low reactive mobility
- Average survivability
- Struggles when uptiered - its armour loses its value due to facing more potent ammunition and the mobility and speed is too low to keep up with the faster, more manoeuvrable cold war MBTs it can face
- Large muzzle break - expect your gun to be knocked out frequently
- First stage ammunition is stored upright in the turret - ammo detonations are quite frequent
History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).
Media
- Skins
- Videos
See also
External links
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 |
