M2A2
| This page is about the American light tank M2A2. For other uses, see M2 (Disambiguation). |
Contents
Description
The M2A2 is the second variant of the M2 light tank family (formally Light Tank, M2) that served in the U.S. Army during the interwar period. During the 1920s, the U.S. Army tank design began with the prototype T1 light tank, which progressed into a series of experimental upgrades and versions that were never produced. Several design aspects from the prototype T1 light tank were used into the prototype T2 light tank concept, which began five years later. The first prototype T2 light tank was designed in 1933 and built with minimal changes, mounted with a single fixed turret holding one M2HB Browning heavy machine gun, and designated as the M2A1 in 1936, with a total of 17 units produced. This variant was quickly revised, and the M2A2 was designed, with 239 built, and became the primary tank of the U.S. Army during the interwar period.
Introduced in the Update "Weapons of Victory", the M2A2 gives players vital insights into tank design philosophy prior to World War II, when machine guns were utilized as the primary offensive weapons for many light tanks. The M2A2 had twin turrets, with one M2HB Browning heavy machine gun in the left and one M1919A4 light machine gun in the right, where the turrets partially obscured each other, restricting fields of fire. The M2A2's primary offensive armament was a heavy machine gun, and it quickly became obsolete as adversary tanks were constructed with heavier armour.
General info
Survivability and armour
The whole armour is made out of rolled homogeneous armour plates. Tracks provide 15 mm of armour.
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 15.8 mm (20°) Driver port 15.8 mm (71°) Front Glacis 15.8 mm (18-59°) Lower Glacis |
12.7 mm | 6.35 mm (2-61°) | 6.35 mm |
| Turret | 15.8 mm (0-2°) Turret front 15.8 mm (2°) Gun mantlet |
15.8 mm (0-1°) | 15.8 mm (2°) | 6.35 mm |
| Armour | Sides | Roof | ||
| Cupola | 15.8 mm (2°) | 6.35 mm |
Mobility
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 81 | 10 | 8.6 | 308 | 500 | 35.81 | 58.14 |
| Realistic | 73 | 9 | 232 | 262 | 26.98 | 30.47 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
| 12.7 mm M2HB | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 1,400 (200) | 576 | -10°/+20° | -170°/+20° | N/A | 14.28 | 19.76 | 24.00 | 26.54 | 28.24 | 10.40 | 9.20 | 8.48 | 8.00 |
| Realistic | 8.93 | 10.50 | 12.75 | 14.10 | 15.00 | |||||||||
Ammunition
- Common: API-T · I · AP · API-T
- API: API-T · AP-I · API-T
- AP: AP · AP · API-T
- APIT: API-T
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | ||||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| AP | 31 | 29 | 21 | 14 | 9 | 6 | |
| I | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 3 | |
| API-T | 29 | 27 | 19 | 12 | 7 | 5 | |
| AP-I | 30 | 27 | 19 | 12 | 8 | 5 | |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay | Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| AP | 894 | 0.05 | - | - | - | 47° | 56° | 65° | ||||
| I | 944 | 0.04 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 47° | 56° | 65° | ||||
| API-T | 929 | 0.04 | - | - | - | 47° | 56° | 65° | ||||
| AP-I | 929 | 0.04 | - | - | - | 47° | 56° | 65° | ||||
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 3 (+4) | 0 (+7) | Yes |
Machine guns
The M2A2 is armed with a secondary .30 cal machine gun in a separate turret, as well as another emplaced in the hull. This extra turret restricts the traverse angles of both this and the main turret. The machine guns can be against very lightly armoured AA vehicles and can be used as a distraction against enemy tanks.
| 7.62 mm M1919A4 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Turret | 9,500 (250) | 500 | -10°/+20° | -5°/+160° |
| Hull | 9,500 (250) | 500 | N/A | N/A |
Usage in battles
The M2A2 is a strange vehicle as a twin-turreted machine-gun armament only vehicle. It is, however, fast, and could be sped around as a scout tank to get on the enemy's side. Your main turret, which uses 12.7 mm (.50) MG can only fire forward and to the left, with secondary turret (which sports standard 7.62 mm (.30) MG, which can only really scare SPAA trucks) firing to the right. Additionally, the M2A2 has a working hull machine gun, but it is fixed to the hull and angled up so its usefulness is extremely limited.
The .50 cal main armament makes it necessary to rush as close to enemy as possible, as it could only penetrate ~20 mm at standard ranges, meaning that it is only really effective against the reserve tanks, and even so, the machine guns often may only be effective when shot at the flat sides or even only at the engine deck.
Avoid any "medium" and "heavy" tanks like M13/40 or R.35 (SA38), as they will resist even pure AP belt fired point blank. Avoid messing with tanks of BR 2.0, as even lightly armoured tanks of that rank are only vulnerable from the sides and only from about 100 m away or closer. If you absolutely have to attack them, drive in circles around them and shoot at their weak spots, like engines or turret neck, whenever you get a chance.
Mostly your targets will be "scout" and "sniper" tanks, as you can do serious damage to them. To avoid getting annihilated while attacking them from the front, you can fire at their turret while approaching them. Quite often, even if you can't penetrate them as is, they will un-angle themselves, trying to fire at you by turning their flat turret armour parts towards your fire, dooming themselves. If it didn't penetrate, you already lost and shouldn't have attacked them in the first place.
A lot of light tanks and tank destroyers will have stronger turret or gun mantlet armour, than the hull. In such case, simply fire at their hull, trying to get their gunner and driver as soon as possible. Remember, they often don't have to turn their hull towards you to fire back, and angled hull may actually ricochet MG bullets, so it's better to attack from their sides, or at the very least completely head-on.
Overall, it is best to not go around the map without a teammate with a cannon to provide a substantial upgrade in firepower, should it come face to face with the enemy.
Another way to use the M2A2 is as an SPAA. The turrets have decent gun elevation so hitting aircraft is quite easy. The .30 and .50 cal machine guns are very good at destroying any planes at its BR or at least will cripple them. It is recommended to turn the hull with the turrets so you can fire both guns and will not end up only firing one.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Very fast, can reach 60 km/h on a road in AB
- Can sacrifice speed to make a fast turn
- Accurate in the long run
- High and stable fire rate
Cons:
- Armour is only sufficient to protect itself against machine gun fire
- Pathetic armament, which can be used only against anti-air vehicles and some light tanks, and some sides or rears of medium tanks, but not all
- Two non-fully rotating turrets
- In an event in which the .50 gunner is knocked out, the .30 machine gun can't do much to protect the tank
- Cramped crew
- Any high speed collision can result in the driver and co-drivers knockout, or worse the entire crew
- Terrible steering, not adequate under gear 2
- Can get stuck when driving up the hills without track upgrade
History
Development
The M2 Light Tank series was an American pre-World War II design as their answer to a fast, effective tank in a cavalry role.
The idea of light tanks started with the Defense Act of 1920, which defined tanks as an infantry support weapon, but the idea of a cavalry role for the tanks was brought up by multiple theorists, to which the British were the first to incorporate with the cruiser tanks. Limitation in American development leads to the establishment of light tanks as the combat cars. The development team soon looked at the tank prototypes T1 Light Tank and the T2 medium tank and decide to use them as the basis for the light tank design.
Modifications made onto the experimental tanks, mostly installing the new Vertical Volute Spring Suspension (VVSS) that would be the main suspension in future American tank development, made the tanks into the M2A1 Light Tank. The main version used before the war was designated the M2A2, which had two turrets, both with a .50 calibre M2 Browning as its armament. However, the Spanish Civil War showed that this kind of tank is insufficient in tank warfare, so initially the design was revised with improved armour up to 22 mm (M2A3) and then with one turret with a 37 mm cannon, this would become the M2A4, which would be the main light tank variant in US service before World War II broke out.
Combat usage
Although the M2 light tanks were promising in their introduction, they were soon succeeded by the M3 and M5 light tanks. The M2 light tanks were seen by armament as a stopgap solution for the dire need of tanks and a development project for tank improvements. By December 1941, the M2 light tanks were being used for training only in the US Army, but the Marine Corps used them in the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Pacific due to the lack of M3 light tanks available.
Britain ordered some M2 light tanks in early 1941 in part of the Lend-Lease Act, but only 36 were delivered before switching to the improved M3 light tanks.
A unique feature on the M2 Light tank was the number of machine guns it could house. Aside from the coaxial and the bow gunner's ball mounted one, two machine guns were fixed facing forward on the sides of the hull, fired by the driver. Another M1919 Browning machine gun could be mounted on the turret top for anti-aircraft use.
| Archive of the in-game description | |
|---|---|
|
The M2A2 light tank developed and built by Rock Island Arsenal (RIA). A total of 239 of these tanks were built in 1935. The M2A2 was used to train tank operators, who gave it the unofficial nickname "Mae West". It was never used in combat. | |
Media
- Skins
- Videos
See also
- Vehicles equipped with the same chassis
- Other vehicles of similar configuration and role
External links
- [Devblog] M2A2 / 4M GAZ-AAA / BF109B-1
- [Wikipedia] M2 light tank
- [Tanks Encyclopedia] Light Tank M2A2/A3
- [Tanks Encyclopedia] Archives Section - M2 Light Tank
- [Military Factory] M2 (Light Tank, M2)
| Rock Island Arsenal | |
|---|---|
| Tanks | |
| Light Tank | Light Tank M2A2 · Light Tank M2A4 |
| Medium Tank | Medium Tank M2 |
| USA light tanks | |
|---|---|
| LVT | LVT(A)(1) · ○LVT(A)(1) · LVT(A)(4) |
| M2 | M2A2 · M2A4 · M2A4 (1st Arm.Div.) |
| M3/M5 Stuart | M3 Stuart · M3A1 Stuart · M3A1 (USMC) · M5A1 · M5A1 TD · ▃Stuart VI (5th CAD) |
| M22 Locust | M22 |
| M24 Chaffee | M24 · M24 (TL) |
| M18 Hellcat | M18 GMC · M18 "Black Cat" · Super Hellcat |
| M41 Walker Bulldog | M41A1 |
| M551 Sheridan | M551 · M551(76) |
| M3 Bradley | M3 Bradley · M3A3 Bradley |
| Wheeled | M8 LAC · T18E2 · M1128 · M1128 Wolfpack |
| Other | M8A1 GMC · T92 · T114 · HSTV-L · CCVL · XM8 · XM800T · AGS |
