Strv m/42 EH
Contents
Description
The Stridsvagn m/42 EH is a rank II Swedish medium tank with a battle rating of 2.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.97 "Viking Fury".
It is a further development of the Lago I medium tank.
General info
Survivability and armour
The Strv m/42 has increased frontal protection compared to the Lago I. Both the hull and turret fronts have a maximum thickness of 55 mm, which provides good resistance against small calibre anti-tank guns and autocannon fire. However, the side and rear are still quite thin, and are only resistant against heavy machine guns. The engine deck and turret roof are only 9 and 10 mm thick respectively, and are thus vulnerable to aircraft cannon and heavy machine gun fire.
Despite this increase in armour, the Strv m/42 can still be easily penetrated by the upgraded guns that come with the shift from 2.7 to 3.0. Notably, the long barreled Panzer III's, M4A1, Chi-Nu, and the P40's HEAT round can all cut right through your armour like paper. It is highly recommended to avoid head-on engagements with these opponents, although you can compete with the Chi-Nu and P40 if you manage to get the first shot off due to their relatively weak armour.
When being up-tiered to 4.0, the Strv m/42 will have to play like a light tank flanker, as any gun at 4.0 can penetrate it and the m/42's cannon will rarely frontally penetrate due to the increase in armour. The worst enemies for the m/42 to face at 4.0 are the Pz.IV F2, T-34E STZ, T-34-57, Achilles, M4A2 and Breda 501. All of these tanks can either punch right through the Strv's armour and/or are virtually invulnerable to its cannon frontally, with the exceptions being the Breda 501 and the Pz.IV F2.
Armour Type:
- Rolled Homogeneous Armour (hull, turret, cupola)
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 55 mm (2-59°) Lower Glacis 10-30 mm (55-80°) Upper Glacis 55 mm (20-29°) Upper Plate |
30 mm Upper Front 25 mm Upper Rear 30 mm Lower |
25 mm Top 20 mm Bottom |
5-9 mm |
| Turret | 55 mm (2-46°) Turret front 55 mm (5-62°) Gun mantlet |
30 mm Frontal 25 mm Rear |
25 mm | 10-20 mm |
| Cupola | 55 mm (13°) Right 25 mm (74°) Left |
25 mm Left 25 mm Right Rear 30 mm Right Front |
25 mm | 9 mm |
Notes:
- Suspension wheels and tracks are 15 mm thick.
- Turret ring: 53 mm
- MG Port appliqué armour: 20 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 | 47 | 7 | 22.5 | 635 | 782 | 28.22 | 34.76 |
| Realistic | 42 | 6 | 363 | 410 | 16.13 | 18.22 | |
The Strv m/42 is considerably heavier than the Lago I, but the engine is uprated to compensate for the increased weight. The mobility is therefore not significantly affected and is quite adequate for a medium tank of its tier. It has a relatively low reverse speed and the long hull relative to its width also has a noticeable impact on its turning ability.
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
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Armaments
Main armament
The Strv m/42 is armed with the 7,5 cm kan m/41, the same 75 mm field gun found on the Ikv 72. While quite respectable on the Ikv 72, the gun is not quite as competitive on the Strv m/42 due to the heavier opposition it will face, such as the Churchill and KV heavy tanks. The turret does provide an excellent amount of gun depression (15°), allowing for more hull-down opportunities.
Like on the Ikv 72, the gun starts off with the slpprj m/40 uncapped AP shot, which unfortunately tends to suffer ricochets against the sloped armour that is increasingly common at the Strv m/42's BR. The gun may also be upgraded to fire the slpgr m/39 uncapped APHE shell and the slpprj m/40B APBC shot. The APHE round has a very lethal 260 g TNT filler but tends to ricochet more and has less penetration than the other rounds. It is best used when presented with sideshots against tanks with weak side armour. The APBC ricochets less, although the penetration is still rather inadequate. It is recommended to carry a mixture of both APHE and APBC.
| 75 mm Kan m/41 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 59 | -15°/+25° | ±180° | N/A | 14.30 | 19.76 | 24.00 | 26.54 | 28.24 | 7.60 | 6.78 | 6.25 | 5.90 |
| Realistic | 8.90 | 10.50 | 12.75 | 14.10 | 15.00 | ||||||||
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 | ||
| sgr m/40 | HE | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| slpgr m/39 | APHE | 63 | 61 | 53 | 44 | 37 | 31 |
| slpprj m/40 | AP | 85 | 83 | 74 | 64 | 55 | 48 |
| slpprj m/40B | APBC | 85 | 82 | 73 | 63 | 54 | 46 |
| 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% | |||||||
| sgr m/40 | HE | 570 | 6.43 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 580 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| slpgr m/39 | APHE | 580 | 6.5 | 1.2 | 9.0 | 260 | 47° | 60° | 65° |
| slpprj m/40 | AP | 580 | 6.6 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 47° | 60° | 65° |
| slpprj m/40B | APBC | 590 | 6.3 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 48° | 63° | 71° |
| 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) |
| rökgr m/22 | 496 | 6.6 | 13 | 5 | 20 | 8 |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 59 | 50 (+9) | 48 (+11) | 28 (+31) | 16 (+43) | 4 (+55) | 1 (+58) | None |
Machine guns
The Strv m/42 has two 8 mm ksp m/36 machine guns mounted alongside the main gun. It should be noted that these machine guns cannot depress as much as the main gun.
| 8 mm Ksp m/36 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt capacity) |
Rate of fire (shots/minute) |
Vertical guidance |
Horizontal guidance |
| Coaxial | 2,000 (250) | 648 | -10°/+25° | N/A |
| Coaxial | 2,000 (250) | 648 | -10°/+25° | N/A |
Usage in battles
The Strv m/42 EH is a fairly conventional medium tank that distinguishes itself with its excellent gun depression. It thus excels in hull-down positions or ridge-fighting. However, the gun is quite weak and will struggle in uptiers against angled and well armoured tanks. Enemy tanks like KV-1 and Churchill are almost untouchable for the Strv m/42 EH to take on head on, but also tanks like T-34 and M4 Sherman can be quite troublesome aswell to face headon with the Strv m/42 EH's short 75mm. If Strv m/42 is played properly it can be a troublesome tank to deal with for the enemy aswell. Strv m/42 has a relativly decent armour for it's BR and the turret armour is well rounded for shells to bounce off it. With its modest mobility and high profile makes the Strv m/42 EH not the best for flanking manoeuvres but with it's excellent gun depression makes it a great tank for ambushes from hills and elevated positions, where the 75mm is not enough for frontal engagement it's best to retreat find a position where the gun can take a shot at the enemy vehicles side or rear armour.
The Strv m/42 EH gun got one of the bad penetration shells for a Medium tank at its BR Slpprj m/40(AP) and m/40B(APBC) got top penetration at 10m 85mm which is not the greatest penetration but it's enough when facing its own BR and being downtiered. But really lacks the penetration for an uptier. But Strv m/42 EH also got a third shell, the slpgr m/39 (APHE) that will deal most damage if it is able to penetrate the target. Slpgr m/39 only has 63mm penetration at 10m makes it efficent at 2.0 downtier and almost useless in a uptiered situation. But if Strv m/42 EH manage to flank and hit enemies from side the shells will be able to penetrate and destroy enemy targets with relative ease, might struggle against heavy tanks like KV-1 and Churchill still.
Targets the Strv m/42 EH should be aware of are tanks like T-34 with it's 76mm main gun and sloped front armour can pose to be a big threat to the Strv m/42 in close ranged combats where the T-34 got better acceleration and mobility, M4 Sherman the 75mm and sloped front will like the T-34 pose a major threat at close range for the Strv m/42 mainly when forced in a frontal confrontation, Pz.IV H/G/F2 and Panzer III's with long barrels wil be a threat for the Strv m/42 at medium to long range but the flat frontal armour will make it a easy kill for the Strv m/42 if manage to get them into close range confrontations. Then there is threats like the heavy KV-1 and Churchill tanks that are well armoured and well equipped to deal with the firepower and armour that the Strv m/42 possess these tanks are major threats and will most likely force the Strv m/42 to retreat or ask for help from a player with better equipped anti-tank gun.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Acceptable mobility for a medium tank.
- Excellent gun depression.
- Lethal APHE round, if it penetrates.
- Relatively fast reload.
- Decent frontal armour.
Cons:
- Must choose between higher penetration or higher lethality with the APBC or APHE rounds.
- Somewhat sluggish turret traverse.
- Relatively large tall profile.
- Struggles a lot in up-tiers.
- Poor reverse speed.
- Thin side armour and very thin turret roof and engine deck armour.
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
- Images
- Media
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.
Bibliography
- David B. (2016, June 2). Stridsvagn m/42. Tank Encyclopedia. https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/sweden/stridsvagn-m42.php
- Stridsvagn m/42. (2020, March 6). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stridsvagn_m/42&oldid=944239000
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- encyclopedia page on the tank;
- other literature.
| Sweden medium tanks | |
|---|---|
| Strv m/42 | Lago I · Strv m/42 EH · Ikv 73 · Strv m/42 DT · Pvkv IV |
| Centurion derivatives | Strv 81 · Strv 81 (RB 52) · Strv 101 · Strv 104 · Strv 105 |
| Strv 103 | Strv 103-0 · Strv 103A · Strv 103С |
| Strv 121/122 | Strv 121 · Christian II · Strv 122A · Strv 122B PLSS · Strv 122B+ |
| Other | Sherman III/IV · T 80 U |
| Finland | |
| WWII | ▄T-28 · ▄T-34 · ▄Pz.IV · ▄T-34-85 |
| Post War | ▄Comet I · ▄Charioteer Mk VII · ▄T-54 · ▄T-55M · ▄T-72M1 · ▄Leopard 2A4 · ▄Leopard 2A6 |
| Norway | Leopard 1A5NO2 |
