37 mm/50 model 1933 (37 mm)

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Two 37 mm/50 model 1933 (37 mm) turrets on Colbert

Description

37 mm/50 Modèle 1933 was designed as a successor to the 37 mm Modèle 1925 to address newer aerial threats, but it failed to meet expectations, leaving the French Navy with a grossly outdated gun, struggling to deliver enough firepower to counter expected threats.

The 37 mm/50 model 1933 (37 mm) is a twin-mount high-angle gun, originally designated for use against aircraft. However, lacking the HE-TF or the rate of fire needed to counter such threats effectively, its best use is against coastal vessels, particularly Motor Torpedo Boats. Requiring a direct hit on target and having a relatively small explosive filler, the HE shells of this gun have very limited damage potential. Still, with two shells flying in parallel, it is still likely to inflict visible damage against softer targets.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

General info

The gun is deployed on a unique twin-gun mount, firing both of them every 2 seconds with an Aced crew. It can engage targets in angles of +80/-8° and a guidance speed of 20°/s horizontally or 15°/s vertically.

Available 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
OEA Mle 1925 HE 3 3 3 3 3 3
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%
OEA Mle 1925 HE 810 0.73 0 0.1 50 79° 80° 81°

Comparison with analogues

Give a comparative description of cannons/machine guns that have firepower equal to this weapon.

Usage in battles

Being grouped with the Secondary armament or Anti-aircraft armament, AI gunners will use it to typically engage aerial and surface targets alike. Lacking timed or proximity fuses means that the weapon will really struggle to damage aircraft, being forced to directly impact the airframe to detonate. The best potential target for this gun is small coastal vessels, notably Motor Torpedo Boats and some of the small, unarmoured Motor Gun Boats, but an average muzzle velocity combined with a low rate of fire make even that a non-trivial task. Generally, the gun is best thought of as a support weapon of opportunity, rather than something reliable.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Good guidance speed

Cons:

  • Low rate of fire
  • Low explosive filler
  • Only a single type of ammunition - High Explosive
  • Despite of being anti-aircraft gun, lacks timed fuse

History

The 37 mm/50 Modèle 1933 gun was developed for the Marine Nationale based on the Modèle 1925. However, compared to foreign equivalents, such as the 40 mm Bofors or the Pom Pom, it was inferior in terms of rate of fire and damage potential.

In 1930, the design for the Le Fantasque class contre-torpilleurs called for improved anti-air capabilities, in response to rapidly advancing aviation technology. The design specified two twin automatic 37 mm guns. The development of this new automatic variant proved difficult, with the vessels initially commissioned with older, single-mount 37 mm Modèle 1925 guns.

The gun featured a conventional sliding breech mechanism and was fed from boxes containing six cartridges. This design resulted in a maximum theoretical rate of fire of only 30–40 rounds per minute per barrel, a rate that was quickly deemed insufficient against the rapidly advancing aircraft performance of the 1930s. This led to the creation of the 37 mm ACAD (Automatique Contre-Avions Double) Modèle 1935, a twin fully automatic gun designed to achieve an unprecedented rate of fire of 200 rounds per minute per barrel. The ACAD featured remote power control (RPC), significantly enhancing its capability against the latest high-performance aircraft. The new, ultimate design in the family was tested on the Arras-class sloop Amiens from 1936 but failed to see widespread adoption before the Fall of France. Instead, the 37 mm/50 Modèle 1933 became the weapon of choice for the navy, with hundreds manufactured and used until the end of the Second World War and beyond, with aviso La Grandière and cruiser Tourville being one of the last vessels utilising this gun in 1950s.

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 article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;
  • references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.

External links


France naval cannons
37 mm  37 mm/50 model 1925 · 37 mm/50 model 1933
47 mm  3 pdr QF Hotchkiss
57 mm  57 mm/60 ACAD Mle 1951
75 mm  75 mm/50 Canet model 1891 · 75 mm/50 model 1922
90 mm  90 mm/50 model 1926
130 mm  130 mm/40 model 1919
138.6 mm  138.6 mm/55 model 1910 · 138.6 mm/40 model 1927 · 138.6 mm/50 model 1929 · 138.6 mm/50 model 1934 R1938
152 mm  152 mm/55 model 1930
155 mm  155 mm/50 model 1920
203 mm  203 mm/50 model 1924
305 mm  305 mm/45 model 1906-10
340 mm  340 mm/45 model 1912
  Foreign:
20 mm  2 cm/65 C/38 (Germany) · 2 cm/65 Flakvierling 38 (Germany) · 20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mk.II (USA/Britain)
40 mm  2pdr QF Mk.IIc (Britain) · 2pdr QF Mk.VIII (Britain) · Bofors L/60 Mark 2 (USA) · Bofors L/60 Mark 3 (USA)
87.6 mm  Ordnance QF 25pdr (87.6 mm) (Britain)
102 mm  4 in QF Mark V (Britain) · 4 inch/45 Mark XVI (Britain)
105 mm  SK C/33 AA (Germany)
128 mm  12.8 cm/45 SK C/34 (Germany)
150 mm  15 cm/48 KC/36 (Germany)

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