Matilda Hedgehog

Matilda Hedgehog

Matilda Hedgehog

Britain

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
2.7	2.7	2.7

Class:

PREMIUM

Heavy tank

Purchase:Bundle or Gift

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Description

The Matilda Hedgehog is a premium gift rank II British heavy tank with a battle rating of 2.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced during Update "New Power" as a reward for Battle Pass: Season I.

The Matilda Hedgehog is an Australian late-war experiment of the early but legendary Matilda infantry tank. The most notable difference from other Matildas is the presence of a new type of armament in the rear; a Spigot system fitted with Hedgehog mortars. This mortar was commonly used in naval warfare as an anti-submarine weapon and as such is very lethal weaponry if used correctly against tanks.

Along with other minor differences in armour protection and capabilities, the Matilda Hedgehog provides a somewhat of a unique playstyle for any commander in the shape of indirect fire. Although, her playstyle still resembles the other variant already found in the British tech tree, the Matilda III. In short, the performance could be summarised with the phrase: slow and steady.

One of the remarkable flaws of the Matilda Hedgehog over other variants is combat readiness and versatility. This is because the Hedgehog is a situational and limited weapon in tank warfare. The vehicle also loses equipment as the smoke grenade launchers and receives a large weak spot in its rear, as the Hedgehog launcher acts as a large unprotected ammo rack.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armourfront / side / back

Hull75 / 70 / 55

Turret75 / 75 / 75

Crew4 people

Visibility84 %

Describe armour protection. Note the most well protected and key weak areas. Appreciate the layout of modules as well as the number and location of crew members. Is the level of armour protection sufficient, is the placement of modules helpful for survival in combat? If necessary use a visual template to indicate the most secure and weak zones of the armour.

Armour type:

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	___ mm	___ mm Top ___ mm Bottom	___ mm	___ - ___ mm
Turret	___ - ___ mm Turret front ___ mm Gun mantlet	___ - ___ mm	___ - ___ mm	___ - ___ mm
Cupola	75 mm All-around 25 mm Base	75 mm 25 mm Base	75 mm 25 mm Base	75 mm

Notes:

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB26 / 5 km/h

RB and SB24 / 4 km/h

Number of gears6 forward

1 back

Weight27.3 t

Engine power

AB363 hp

RB and SB190 hp

Power-to-weight ratio

AB13.3 hp/t

RB and SB7.0 hp/t

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	26	5	27.3	294	363	10.77	13.3
Realistic	24	4		168	190	6.15	6.96

Modifications and economy

Repair cost

AB876

RB645

SB1 428

Crew training3 400

Experts23 000

Aces160

Research Aces380 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

2 × 40 / 60 / 80 %

2 × 118 / 118 / 118 %

Modifications

Mobility	Protection	Firepower
Tracks Suspension Brake System Filters Transmission Engine	Improved Parts Improved FPE Crew Replenishment	Horizontal Drive 40mm_uk_2pdr_APHV_ammo_pack Adjustment of Fire 40mm_uk_2pdr_APHE_ammo_pack Elevation Mechanism 40mm_uk_2pdr_APCBC_ammo_pack

Armaments

Main armament

40 mm QF 2-pounder cannon

Shoulder stabilizer

Reduces the swing of the gun in one plane while moving

Ammunition93 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

3.6 → 2.8 s

Vertical guidance-20° / 20°

Horizontal guidance-150° / 150°

40 mm QF 2-pounder					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	93	±20°	±150°	Vertical	16.2	22.4	27.2	30.1	32.0	3.64	3.22	2.97	2.80
Realistic					11.9	14.0	17.0	18.8	20.0

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
Shot Mk.1 AP/T	AP	72	68	52	37	27	19
Shell Mk.2	HE	4	4	4	4	4	4
Shot Mk.IXB APCBC/T	APCBC	89	86	77	66	57	50
Shot Mk.1 APHV/T	AP	80	75	58	41	30	21
Shell Mk.1 AP/T	APHE	66	62	49	36	26	20

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%
Shot Mk.1 AP/T	AP	792	1.08	N/A	N/A	N/A	47°	60°	65°
Shell Mk.2	HE	687	1.34	0	0.1	85	79°	80°	81°
Shot Mk.IXB APCBC/T	APCBC	792	1.24	N/A	N/A	N/A	48°	63°	71°
Shot Mk.1 APHV/T	AP	853	1.08	N/A	N/A	N/A	47°	60°	65°
Shell Mk.1 AP/T	APHE	792	1.08	1.2	9	20.9	47°	60°	65°

Ammo racks

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

Additional armament

Hedgehog

Ammunition7 rounds

Belt capacity7 rounds

Fire rate90 shots/min

Vertical guidance30° / 45°

Hedgehog
Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer
7	+30°/+45°	N/A	N/A

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
Hedgehog projectile	HE	80	80	80	80	80	80

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%
Hedgehog projectile	HE	45	29.5	0	0.1	25,280	79°	80°	81°

Ammo racks

Full ammo	1st rack empty	Visual discrepancy
7	__ (+__)	__

Machine guns

7.92 mm BESA machine gun (coaxial)

Ammunition4 050 rounds

Belt capacity225 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

10.4 → 8.0 s

Fire rate600 shots/min

7.92 mm BESA
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Coaxial	4,000 (225)	600	N/A	N/A

Usage in battles

If attacking, the Matilda should take point in the attacking force (if your team will wait for you) and crawl slowly towards the enemy locations with support from your team members. Stop and fire at any target that reveals itself to attack you. When defending, park some distance away from a choke point to a vital area and blast enemies as they try to enter. Remember to maintain team support so that enemies don't try to out manoeuvre you. Make sure to keep a safe distance away from the enemy to maximise the effectiveness of your armour with the shell damage drop-off. Like this, your armour will be very hard to penetrate. At the same time use the 2-pounder gun to attack the enemy. Close-distance fighting is ill-advised as opponents will be able to more easily penetrate the front armour and find weak points. A very important tip to know about the Matilda III is to not go into towns! You will be easily out manoeuvred, allowing your opponents to get close and flank and destroy you.

Opponents that deserve extra attention are the tank destroyers. The two German Marders carry a gun that can easily knock you out at long range, especially the Marder III (H), but those have thin armour, so use that to your advantage. The more armoured German TD, the StuG III, is even more dangerous. The StuG III A carry the short 75 mm that can fire high-penetrating HEAT rounds while its front armour can resist the 2-pounder's shots from a longer distance. The StuG III F is a bigger problem with its longer 75 mm gun and thicker armour, but its high battle rating of 3.7 should make this an uncommon sight. The Matilda will have a hard time to fight the StuGs due to the front armour and inability to manoeuvre to hit the side armour, thus it would be better to leave that to more manoeuvrable team members.

Other tanks to worry about are the more common medium tanks each nation carries from the M4 Shermans, Panzer IVs, and T-34s. These medium tanks have frontal armour able to resist the Matilda's 2-pounder rounds and easily out manoeuvre it as well. The most noteworthy tank to worry about is the Panzer IV with the long 75 mm guns, which can easily destroy your frontal armour.

Unlike Matilda III, this tank has a Hedgehog 183 mm launcher on its back. While it can be useful against clusters of unmoving vehicles, it is highly inaccurate and takes time to get used to. It also makes the Matilda Hedgehog much more vulnerable to flanking attacks, as the launcher can be shot easily, and results in an ammo rack explosion. This can get the tank destroyed by even SPAA vehicles.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Identical 40 mm gun to Matilda III, meaning same excellent gun depression, rate of fire and armour penetration
• Hedgehogs can be lethal versus clusters of unmoving or light vehicles; such as those in close quarters battles
• Frontal armour weak spots as the commander's cupola and the turret ring has been reinforced

Cons:

• Poor mobility on all terrains, something retained from its predecessor, the Matilda III
• Hedgehog launcher cannot be aimed or lowered; this means inaccuracies when firing and a permanent weak spot
• Overall configuration is unimproved, however firing range is now limited by the Hedgehog launchers and there is no smoke launchers

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

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Matilda Hedgehog from live.warthunder.com.

Images

• 

  Matilda Hedgehog devblog image.

Videos

Matilda Hedgehog - Getting Gaijined Again [War Thunder] - Napalmratte

Matilda Hedgehog Very Quick Mortar Tutorial - PhantomRiderWT

See also

• Matilda III

External links

• [Special] Battle Pass in War Thunder!