Chi-Ha (China)
Contents
Description
The ␗Type 97 Chi-Ha is a rank I Chinese medium tank with a battle rating of 1.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.91 "Night Vision".
General info
The Type 97 Chi-Ha is an upgraded version of the earlier Type 89 I-Go. The engine has been upgraded, from the Mitsubishi A6120VD air-cooled straight-six diesel with 120 hp to a Mitshubishi SA12200VD air-cooled V12 diesel with 170 hp. As such, the top speed has increased from 27 kph on the I-Go to 38 kph on the Chi-Ha. The armament stays the same, with the same shells and gun characteristics. The 5.7 cm Tank Gun Type 97 is robust, but will get the job done. It still has four crewmen inside, no armour, and a 7.7 mm Type 97 in the hull. Overall, it's in general a better I-Go.
Survivability and armour
Armour: Light, but effective against weaker guns (i.e. early French), weaker shells (low-caliber HE), and in long range engagements.
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour
| Armour | Front | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 25 mm (12-32°) Front plate 17 mm (63-81°) Front glacis 15 mm (37-59°) Lower glacis |
25 mm (40°) Top Left 25 mm (25-27°) Top Right 20 mm Bottom |
20 mm (4-58°) | 12 mm |
| Turret | 25 mm (9-41°) Turret front 25 mm Gun mantlet |
25 mm (10-11°) | 25 mm (12°) | 10 mm |
| Armour | Sides | Roof | ||
| Cupola | 17 mm | 6 mm |
Mobility
Having a bigger engine means that it's much more maneuverable. Especially with the increased top speed. Acceleration stays about the same.
| Mobility characteristic | ||
|---|---|---|
| Weight (tons) | Add-on Armor weight (tons) |
Max speed (km/h) |
| 14.8 | N/A | 44 (AB) |
| 40 (RB/SB) | ||
| Engine power (horsepower) | ||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded |
| Arcade | 263 | 324 |
| Realistic/Simulator | 150 | 170 |
| Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | ||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded |
| Arcade | 17.77 | 21.89 |
| Realistic/Simulator | 10.13 | 11.49 |
Armaments
Main armament
The gun is the same as on the I-Go. Not much to write home about, but we're hardly complaining, especially with the HEAT shell.
| 57 mm Type 97 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity | Vertical guidance |
Horizontal guidance |
Stabilizer | ||
| 120 | -15°/+20° | ±180° | Vertical | ||
| Turret rotation speed (°/s) | |||||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert qualif. | Prior + Ace qualif. |
| Arcade | 14.47 | 20.03 | __.__ | 26.9 | 28.61 |
| Realistic | 9.04 | 10.64 | 12.90 | 14.3 | 15.20 |
| Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||
| Stock | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert qualif. | Prior + Ace qualif. | ||
| 4.09 | 3.80 | 3.5 | 3.30 | ||
Ammunition
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration in mm @ 0° Angle of Attack | |||||
| 10m | 100m | 500m | 1000m | 1500m | 2000m | ||
| Type 92 APHE | APHE | 21 | 20 | 17 | 14 | 12 | 10 |
| Type 3 HEAT | HEAT | 55 | 55 | 55 | 55 | 55 | 55 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
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% | ||||||||
| Type 90 APHE | APHE | 349 | 2.6 | 1.2 | 15 | 103 | -1° | 43° | 30° | 25° |
| Type 3 HEAT | HEAT | 380 | 1.8 | N/A | 0.1 | 303.36 | +0° | 28° | 21° | 17° |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
Recommendations | Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 120 | 117 (+3) | 113 (+7) | 89 (+31) | 69 (+51) | 1 (+129) | No |
Right side only: 69 (+51)
Machine guns
| 7.7 mm Type 97 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull mount | ||||||
| Capacity (Belt capacity) | Fire rate (shots/minute) |
Vertical guidance |
Horizontal guidance | |||
| 3,000 (20) | 499 | ±10° | ±15° | |||
Usage in battles
The Chi-Ha is the most interesting tank to play in Rank I tanks as it has little armour, a shot-put like a muzzle velocity and looks like a bus in some sense as to how long it is.
However, there is a way to play this tank despite all the negatives to this tank and to play it to the best of its abilities, one can play it as a support tank in every way (apart from long distance as the rounds drop like a brick after 500m). Stay close to teammates and always play sneaky as the Chi-Ha can be easily one-shotted by everything like all Japanese tanks in this Rank.
But if facing a heavy tank or medium tank of early Rank 2 are very hard to verse from head-on and the fact that the 57 mm APHE rounds lack penetration to destroy it from the front. So the best option is to go up behind it or attack from the side to destroy them. Another problem that shows itself strongly in close quarter fights is that the Chi-Ha has a hand-cranked turret and turning the tank is painful at best.
So it is best to plan ahead before attacking, think where the enemy may be and find a place to hide the bulky tank from the enemy and wait for the enemy to come to the firing range. The Type 3 HEAT shell changes this. With 55mm of penetration, the tank is capable of penetrating tanks that it previously couldn't - which is most tanks at rank I and II. In addition to this, the Type 3 HEAT has the potential to hull break lightly armored targets like LVTs or the Sturmpanzer. Use the protection analysis feature to figure out which tanks you can and can't get through, and adapt your playstyle accordingly when those vehicles are encountered. Now, this is somewhat important "Don't look for the enemy, let the enemy look for the Chi-Ha." Of course, the Chi-Ha could still go look for the enemy, but always be on alert and make sure to have a friend for firing support.
Engine power is not that powerful, which then means that the acceleration will be slow to start up, but it will slowly get faster over time. But reversing is like all British tanks when they reverse, It's going to be slow. But this is compensated for the turning speed of this tank as it is better to turn and run in some cases then reverse.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Outstanding 15 degrees gun depression
- Access to a stabiliser
- Small profile
- 57mm HEAT tend to cause hull breaks on thin-armored vehicles (LVT(A), AS 42, etc)
Cons:
- Slow and sluggish in a turn
- Weak protection
- Severe shell drop makes long range shooting hard for beginners
- 57mm AP ammunition lacks penetration, making the HEAT the only usable shell for the Chi-ha
- Bad machine gun
History
Development
The Imperial Japanese Army's main tank was the Type 89, adopted in 1929, but it was deemed obsolete as of 1935 and the IJA wanted something up to par with their battle style. The Type 89's main fault was its low overall road speed, which was unable to keep up with motorized infantry. Thus, the development of a new medium tank commenced with the goal of improved overall speed, low weight, and low cost.[1]
Two tank designs were developed with these specifications, both were produced by Mitsubishi. The first was the Chi-Ha which was powered by a 170hp diesel engine. The second was Chi-Ni, which was lighter, cheaper, and powered by a 135 hp diesel engine. The IJA chose at the time of 1937, when war with China broke out to the Second Sino-Japanese War. This war increased the IJA's budget and thus they decided to pick the better of the two design. This led to the finalization of the Type 97 Chi-Ha tank. Production started in 1938 all the way to 1942 for a total of 1162 tanks produced.[1][2]
Design
The Type 97 Chi-Ha was a medium tank constructed with rivets in the armour plates. It had a crew of four with a two-men turret. The turret held the same low-velocity 57 mm gun from the Type 89. Armour was relatively thin, but quite standard at the time of 1930s, but this would become very vulnerable past 1941 when the Japanese war expands to the world.[1]
The Type 97 Chi-Ha, like the standard tanks of other countries, was used in a multitude of roles by adapting its chassis to another purpose such as the Ho-Ni assault gun series. The Type 97 Chi-Ha design was also improved upon multiple times with better armour and better guns, resulting in tanks like the Shinhoto Chi-Ha, Type 1 Chi-He, Type 2 Ho-I, and the Type 3 Chi-Nu.[1]
Combat usage
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 series of the vehicles;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- encyclopedia page on the tank;
- other literature.
| China medium tanks | |
|---|---|
| ZTZ59 | Type 59 · ZTZ59A · ZTZ59D1 |
| ZTZ69 | Type 69 · Type 69-IIa |
| ZTZ88/96 | ZTZ88A · ZTZ88B |
| ZTZ96 · ZTZ96A · ZTZ96A (P) | |
| ZTZ99 | ZTZ99-II · ZTZ99-III |
| ZTZ99A | ZTZ99A · WZ1001(E) LCT |
| Export series | MBT-2000 · VT4A1 |
| ROC | CM11 |
| Other | Т-34-85 Gai · Object 122MT "MC" |
| Bangladesh | T-69 II G |
| Japan | ␗Chi-Ha · ␗Chi-Ha Kai |
| Pakistan | Al-Khalid-I |
| USA | ␗M4A4 · ␗M4A4 (1st PTG) · ␗M4A1 (75) W · ␗M48A1 · ␗M60A3 TTS |
| USSR | ␗T-34 (1943) · ␗Т-34-85 (S-53) · T-34-85 No.215 · Т-62 №545 |
