M2
Contents
Description
The M2 Medium is a Rank I American medium tank with a battle rating of 1.3. It was one of the first American tanks to be released with the American ground tree in Update 1.45 "Steel Generals". It has the distinction of having the most operational machine guns on a ground vehicle with a grand total of 7 (with 2 more non-operational guns on the turret!).
General info
Survivability and armour
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour
- Cast homogeneous armour (Gun mantlet)
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 28.5 mm (53°) Front glacis 28.5 mm (17-48°) Lower glacis 28.5 mm (13-16°) Driver's port |
25.4 mm (16-36°) Front 25.4 mm Everywhere else |
25.4 mm (1°) Hull top 25.4 mm Top engine deck 9.5 mm (12-52°) Bottom engine deck |
9.5 mm |
| Turret | 25.4 mm (10-14°) Turret front 25.4 mm (9-54°) Gun mantlet |
25.4 mm (20°) | 25.4 mm (19°) | 9.5 mm |
Note:
- Driver vision area is a weak spot in front armour, only sloped by about 15°.
Mobility
| Mobility characteristic | ||
|---|---|---|
| Weight (tons) | Add-on Armor weight (tons) |
Max speed (km/h) |
| 19.0 | N/A | 60 (AB) |
| 54 (RB/SB) | ||
| Engine power (horsepower) | ||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded |
| Arcade | 542 | 668 |
| Realistic/Simulator | 310 | 350 |
| Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | ||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded |
| Arcade | 28.53 | 35.16 |
| Realistic/Simulator | 16.32 | 18.42 |
Armaments
Main armament
| 37 mm M3 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity | Gun Depression |
Gun Elevation | |||
| 200 | -10° | 25° | |||
| Turret rotation speed (°/s) | |||||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert Qualif. | Prior + Ace Qualif. |
| Arcade | 3.27 | 4.50 | 5.50 | 6.00 | 6.40 |
| Realistic | 3.27 | 3.85 | 4.67 | 5.17 | 5.50 |
| Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||
| Stock | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert Qualif. | Prior + Ace Qualif. | ||
| 3.77 | 3.33 | 3.07 | 2.90 | ||
Ammunition
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration in mm @ 90° | |||||
| 10m | 100m | 500m | 1000m | 1500m | 2000m | ||
| M74 shot | AP | 78 | 76 | 59 | 43 | 31 | 22 |
| M51 shot | APC | 67 | 66 | 58 | 50 | 43 | 37 |
| Shell details | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | 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% | |||||||
| M74 shot | 792 | 0.87 | N/A | N/A | N/A | -1° | 47° | 60° | 65° |
| M51 shot | 792 | 0.87 | N/A | N/A | N/A | +4° | 48° | 63° | 71° |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | 101 (+99) | 1 (+199) | Yes |
Machine guns
1 x 7.62 mm M1919A4 machine gun (coaxial)
2 x 7.62 mm M1919A4 machine gun (Fixed hull)
4 x 7.62 mm M1919A4 machine gun (Sponson mounts)
Usage in the battles
The M2 with its decent frontal armour, mobility, and firepower allows it to compete in Rank I. However, it is best to use the vehicle from a distance as it would increase the sloped armour effectiveness against enemy rounds, which would've lost most of its power due to the distance. While the 37 mm cannon can penetrate most tanks at the BR, the gun is on a slow traversing turret, requiring for careful alignment of the turret in the right direction. Flanking enemies would make this a problem so stay in an area that can narrow down enemy paths and stay alert.
Past that, the M2 can prove forgiving with its aforementioned sloped armour and large crew size of six. Though a penetrating shell could knock out a good number of the crew in the cramped interiors, it will prove unlikely to knock out every single crew member in one shot. As such, even if shot on the side, it is possible to react against the flanking enemy if the driver or commander is still alive to align the gun onto the offending target.
In short, the M2 is a good jack-of-all-trade vehicle for the American tree line, a common trait as one moves on into the Rank II and Rank III vehicles.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Reliable gun with good rate of fire.
- 37 mm rounds have good penetration.
- 6 crew members give a more than average crew count.
- Has 7 machine guns modeled and functional.
- Very effective against open top vehicles due to machine guns.
- Can be used as a form of SPAA due to the amount of machine gun coverage. Low flying aircraft can be damaged or shotdown if enough shots hit.
Cons:
- Tank is cramped, a shot can take out many crew members at once.
- Turret rotation is very slow.
- No ammunition with HE filler.
- Large and tall, making it an easy target.
- All the ammo are packed into neat little boxes in the bottom of hull, a shot at suspension area could set one off.
- 7 machine guns is of questionable value against all but the lightest armoured vehicles.
- Very thin roof armour of 9.5 mm.
- Past the front, the overall tank surface is poorly sloped and angled.
- Tall center of gravity, resulting in very unstable turns at high speeds, and at risk of tipping.
History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ground vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too big, take it to a separate article, taking a link to an article about the vehicle and adding a block "/historical reference" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/Name-vehicles/historical reference) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to include links to sources at the end of the article.
Media
An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.
Read 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.
ETC.
Sources
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- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
