M18 (Italy)

▄M18

Breda 501

AUBL/74

▄M18

Breda 501

AUBL/74

Italy

IV Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
5.3	6.0	6.0

Class:

Light tank

Research:54 000

Purchase:185 000

Show in game

Description

The Cannone da 76/52 Semovente M18 is a rank IV Italian tank destroyer with a battle rating of 5.3 (AB) and 6.0 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Starfighters". The M18 "Hellcat" was the epitome of the American tank destroyer doctrine, it was very fast, very mobile, and has a powerful gun, though with a large trade-off with only 12.7 mm (0.5 inches) of armour.

The M18 "Hellcat" compensates the lack of anti-tank capability by having absurdly fast maneuverability. While it looses access to APCR, this is justified seeing how it doesn't face very armored vehicles, the likes of Panther D, Tiger H1.

Unlike the other tank destroyers known in the game, the M18 "Hellcat" has access to a 360° traversable turret, allowing players to have a greater arc of fire than a typical casemate tank destroyer like the StuG III, but at the expense of a slightly higher profile. Americans tank destroyers also have very high maneuverability compared to other nation's tank destroyers, allowing it to flank the enemy.

The main weak point of M18 is its very thin armor, a feature that actually allows the M18 to reach its high speed. The thin armour makes it possible for any enemy tanks to penetrate the vehicle. A single hit would destroy many critical components in the M18 or cripple the crew. The only saving grace with this extremely thin ammunition is that standard AP rounds may over-penetrate the armor, doing minimal damage to the internals. Thus, when facing the M18, it's best to use AP rounds with explosive fillers or HE and HEAT rounds while avoiding usage of pure AP rounds.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour
• Cast homogeneous armour (Gun mantlet)

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	12.7 mm (39-64°) Front glacis 12.7 mm (23-52°) Lower glacis	12.7 mm (23-26°) Top 12.7 mm Bottom	12.7 mm (12°) Top 12.7 mm (36°) Bottom	8 mm
Turret	25.4 mm (15-26°) Turret front 19 mm + 25.4 mm (0-55°) Gun mantlet	12.7 mm (1-21°)	12.7 mm (7°)	N/A Open-top 8 mm Bustle and Front

Notes:

• Suspension wheels and tracks are 15 mm thick.
• Belly armour is 5 mm thick.
• The hull underside right above the tracks are only 8 mm thick.
• Tracks are attached the turret rear, granting some 15 mm in thickness.

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	90	29	17.7	653	878	36.89	49.6
Realistic	81	26		407	460	22.99	25.99

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.

76 mm M1					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	45	-10°/+20°	±180°	N/A	__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__	_.__	_.__	_.__	_.__
Realistic					__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__

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
M79 shot	AP	__	__	__	__	__	__
M62 shell	APCBC	__	__	__	__	__	__
M42A1 shell	HE	__	__	__	__	__	__

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%
M79 shot	AP	___	_.__	__	_._	___	__°	__°	__°
M62 shell	APCBC	___	_.__	__	_._	___	__°	__°	__°
M42A1 shell	HE	___	_.__	__	_._	___	__°	__°	__°

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)
M88	___	____	__	__	__	___

Ammo racks

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
45	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__

Machine guns

Offensive and anti-aircraft machine guns not only allow you to fight some aircraft but also are effective against lightly armoured vehicles. Evaluate machine guns and give recommendations on its use.

12.7 mm M2HB
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
	___ (___)	___	__°	__°

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).

Modules

Tier	Mobility		Protection	Firepower
I
II
III
IV

Pros and cons

Summarise and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in a bulleted list. Try not to use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - use substitutions with softer forms such as "inadequate" and "effective".

Pros:

Cons:

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

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.