M36 GMC

M36 GMC

M10 GMC

M36B2

M36 GMC

M10 GMC

M36B2

USA

III Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
5.3	5.3	5.3

Class:

Tank destroyer

Research:33 000

Purchase:105 000

Show in game

Description

The 90-mm Gun Motor Carriage M36 (or the M36, nicknamed the Jackson) is a rank III American tank destroyer with a battle rating of 5.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.49 "Weapons of Victory". The M36 is a nice upgrade to the M18 GMC, owning a more powerful gun in the form of the 90 mm M3. This vehicle can be a great threat to the enemy. And can be very fun to play if used correctly.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour
• Cast homogeneous armour (Gun mantlet, Transmission area)

Armour	Front	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	38.1 mm (56°) Front glacis 50.8-107.8 (9-63°) Transmission housing	19.05 mm (37°) Top 25.4 mm Bottom	19.05 mm (42°) Top 19.05 (1-45°) Bottom	19.5 mm Front roof 9.5 mm Engine deck
Turret	31.75 mm (2-53°) Turret front 76.2 mm (°) Gun mantlet	31.75 mm (0-21°)	25.4 mm (2-23°)	N/A

Notes:

• Tracks are 30 mm thick, bogies are 10 mm thick while the wheels are 20 mm thick.
• Small slivers of 5 mm armour hang off the top side hull armour, giving minuscule protections at those areas.
• Track blocks on the side hull armour allows an extra 30 mm of armour at their locations.

Mobility

Write about the mobility of the ground vehicle. Estimate the specific power and manoeuvrability, as well as the maximum speed forwards and backwards.

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	52	7	28.1	710	954	25.27	33.95
Realistic	48	7		442	500	15.73	17.79

Armaments

Main armament

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	47	-10°/+20°	±180°	N/A	21.1	29.25	35.52	39.28	41.79	9.7	8.63	7.95	7.5
Realistic					14.28	16.80	20.4	22.60	24.00

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
M77 shot	AP	162	160	148	135	123	113
M82 shot	APCBC	173	170	159	145	133	121
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%
M77 shot	AP	822	10.61	N/A	N/A	N/A	47°	60°	65°
M82 shot	APCBC	813	10.94	1.2	14.0	137.2	48°	63°	71°
M304 shot	APCR	1,021	7.62	N/A	N/A	N/A	66°	70°	72°
M71 shell	HE	823	10.55	0.1	0.5	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

Ammo racks of the M36 GMC

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
47	43 (+4)	37 (+10)	28 (+19)	19 (+28)	10 (+37)	1 (+46)	No

Notes:

• Recommended load is 20 (+27) to remove most ammo from the hull, keeping rack 6 intact.
• 1st and 2nd ammo racks are ready racks and take priority in being filled at the beginning of the battle, then fills 6, 5, 4, then 3.
• Full reload speed will be realized as long as ammo exists in either ready rack. If both ready racks are empty, a penalty to reload speed will occur.
• Simply not firing when the main gun is loaded will load ammo from racks 3-6 into 2 then 1, as long as there is ammo present in racks 3-6. Firing the main gun will interrupt the loading of the ready racks.

Machine guns

12.7 mm M2HB
Mount	Capacity (Belt capacity)	Rate of fire (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
Pintle	1,000 (200)	576	-10°/+70°	±60°

Usage in battles

Play style with the M36 should be about the same as the M10. The speed is slightly better and armour is still just as thin, but it has an improved turret traverse rate and a 90 mm gun, making it able to engage targets much easier. The play style is also similar to the M18, since they have the same concept - speed and maneuverability with a powerful armament.

The greatest advantages of the M36 are its speed and its armament. As such, the best course of action is to make use of the speed to get to good early game positions on the map. The 90 mm gun is powerful at its BR, and it can penetrate many tanks at its BR from the front. But, this is not the case for more heavily armored targets such as those in the IS series or the Panther series, but it can reliably kill every tank at its BR from the side in 1 to 2 shots because of the high explosive filler in the APCBC round. In addition, most enemy tanks can reliably penetrate you from the front, as the M36 does not have thick armor. Your armor can only protect you when a shell hits it at an extreme angle, or against low penetration weapons, such as those one some anti-aircraft vehicles. All of these factors mean that the M36 should never engage enemy tanks from the front, unless they are preoccupied with a friendly vehicle or not looking in your direction, but the M36 should engage enemies from the side. As such, the M36's mobility should be used to get to positions that the enemy would not expect where it will be able to shoot the enemy in the side before they even realize you are there. The M36 can also use its mobility to flank effectively. If an enemy knows your location and has an operational gun, you should not push out into their line of fire, as they are likely to come of better than you. If an enemy is likely to be able to shoot you, do not chance it, as only one shot will often knock out or disable the M36. The rounds you should carry are a mix of M82 APCBC and M304 APCR rounds - which one is in the first slot is up to the driver. The APCBC round is sufficient against the side armor of virtually every target you will face, and can penetrate many enemies from the front. The APCR round is effective against the frontal armor of many enemy tanks. The advantage of the APCBC round is the high explosive filler, which can kill most of the crew in one shot if it penetrates. The APCR round is advantageous against more heavily armored targets, but it has less post penetration damage, and when firing APCR you will need to aim for crew members.

One thing to note: if there is an enemy plane in the vicinity, getting to cover is a priority as the turret is open topped, and a plane can kill all three turret crew in one pass with only low-caliber machine guns.

Modules

Tier	Mobility		Protection	Firepower
I	Tracks		Parts	M82 shot	Horizontal Drive
II	Suspension	Brake System	FPE	M304 shot	Adjustment of Fire
III	Filters		Crew Replenishment	Elevation Mechanism
IV	Transmission	Engine		M313

1. M82 shot (APCBC). This will greatly improve the firepower.
2. Parts. So the vehicle can repair.
3. FPE, to put out fires in the event the M36 isn't done in by pyrotechnics.
4. Adjustment of fire, to improve gun accuracy.
5. Elevation Mechanism, to improve gun accuracy.
6. Personal discretion from here. M304 shot (APCR), Engine, Horizontal Drive are all good next choices. The engine is probably the best bet if taking into RB, but less important in AB.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Easily achieves its top speed of 42 km/h regardless of the ground it drives on, allowing it to get to most position in time
• Excellent firepower with a maximum penetration of 173 mm and 137 g TNT; easily pens and one-shots most opponents like the Tiger H1, Pz.IV 70 and the T-34-85. The APCR with 260+mm penetration posts a big threat to heavy vehicles like the T-44, Ferdinand, Tiger II and Ho-Ri. Combined with its 5x scope magnification it is a deadly sniper.
• 10° gun depression provides great terrain adaptation.
• Around 16°/sec of turret rotation is adequate to respond to surprise attacks
• Powerful roof mounted M2 MG can deal with light vehicles and incoming planes

Cons:

• Only 5 km/h of reverse speed can get the player killed sometimes.
• Weak armour overall. Can die from artillery strikes or small bombs
• Open topped, vulnerable to aircraft attacks
• Quite big and tall for a tank destroyer. Harder to hide

History

Development

United State's anti-tank doctrine called for the formation of a tank destroyer force filled with vehicles that are fast and have powerful guns. One of the vehicles designed for this job was the M10 GMC carrying the 3-inch M7 gun. While adequate at the time of its introduction, later in the war it was encountering more heavily armoured German vehicles that could withstand its calibre. Some M10 were up-gunned to the 76 mm gun, but even that was determined to not be enough. The army needed a tank-killing cannon to be placed on its most numerous tank destroyer vehicle to deal with any armoured threat that could possibly come.

The 90mm gun started as the anti-aircraft M1 and M1A1 gun. It wasn't until the M2 model that it earned a dual-purpose role of anti-aircraft and anti-tank in May 1943. Finally, it was decided to mount the mighty gun onto a vehicle, starting with the M10 GMC. The tank mountable variant was called the 90 mm M3 and was tested on the M10 tank destroyer in early 1943. After installing a modified turret onto the M10 body, the vehicle was designated the T71 GMC, it was approved for service and renamed as the M36 GMC. The nickname Jackson for the M36 was given in September 1944 by Ordnance Department, however, this nickname never saw use during war documents. The nickname only became well-known to the public in the 1970s, and soon became synonymous to the vehicle. Like its predecessor, it features an open-top turret and exposes the crew to the elements and enemy fire. However, a postwar modification allows a folding armoured roof to protect the crew from rain and shrapnel.

Combat usage

The M36 GMC arrived at Europe in September 1944. Though 1,400 were produced during the course of the war, the demand for self-propelled 90 mm guns was so high that 187 M4 were converted with the 90 mm and sent as the M36B1. The 90mm was met with much approval by not only the crew, but other units around the area as the 90 mm could deal with the thick German armour on the Panthers and Tigers. The M36 GMCs were deployed in the Battle of the Bulge along with its other tank destroyer types, where it took out many German tanks with ease due to its high-power cannon and ability to ambush the tanks by the flanks. Humorously, there was an account sometime in March 1945 where a unit of the 635th Tank Destroyer Battalion radioed into their logistic support asking why their newly supplied 90 mm shells were more than a foot too long for their gun chambers. A few forwarding later got the message to a Captain Elmer Gray, who happened to be looking for the misplaced rounds for the new "Super Pershing" doing combat tests.

At the end of World War II, The M36 GMC's role in the tank destroyer doctrine became obsolete. Mainly due to increasing prevalence of well-armoured tanks that could do its job more efficiently such as the M26 Pershings (which also had the 90mm gun), but also the lack of German AFVs at the time of the war and a study on ammo usage indicates that the tank destroyers spent more time supporting infantry with high-explosive shells than killing tanks with armour-piercing, rendering the anti-tank section an unnecessary component in the modernizing armoured forces.

The M36 then served in the Korean War, able to destroy all the Soviet tank designs used by the North Koreans and the Chinese. An addition of a ball-mounted machine gun on the assistant driver's side was done as well. The M36 served well with the South Koreans until American M26 Pershings and M46 Pattons could be built up as reinforcements. Aside from that, the M36 was exported to many countries and are still in use by some today. Some of the notable post-World War II conflicts the M36 GMCs served in was the First Indochina War, Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, and the Croatian War of Independence of 1991, which proved that the M36 GMCs were still useful to countries half a century after they were introduced.

In-game description

The SPG is a 90mm M3 cannon installed in an open-topped, rotating turret on the body of the M10 SPG. It was developed as an enhanced carrier for 90mm guns for fighting German heavy tanks, which current American tank models were unable to do successfully.

Media

• Skins and camouflages for the M36 from live.warthunder.com.

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

• [Devblog] Attacker FB.1 and M10 & M36 Slugger

USA tank destroyers
M10	M10 GMC
M36	M36 GMC · M36B2
T95	T28 · T95
M109	M109A1
ATGM	LOSAT · M901
Wheeled	M3 GMC · T55E1
Other	M8 HMC · M50 · M56
China	▃LVT(A)(4) (ZIS-2)