45 mm/89 SM-21-ZIF (45 mm)

Description

Write an introduction to the article in 2-3 small paragraphs. Briefly tell us about the history of the development and combat using the weaponry and also about its features. Compile a list of air, ground, or naval vehicles that feature this weapon system in the game.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• MPK Pr.201K

General info

The 45mm/89 SM-21-ZIF is a postwar Soviet 45mm naval autocannon mounting. It uses the same cannon as the SM-20-ZIF mount, but in a single mount rather than a quadruple mount. The simplest comparison to make is with the Swedish 40 mm Bofors gun: a hard-hitting, high velocity autocannon with a mediocre rate of fire.

Available ammunition

The SM-21-ZIF has one ammunition belt choice: alternating 45mm HEF and HEF-T. The tracer round, besides helping you aim, contains slightly more explosive filler: 54 grams A-IX-2 for the non-tracer round versus 60 grams A-IX-2 for the tracer round. Both rounds have a considerable amount of explosive power and have an excellent muzzle velocity of 1,080 m/s.

Comparison with analogues

Bofors (40 mm) (Family): The ubiquitous Bofors 40 mm L/60 loses out to the SM-21-ZIF in terms of muzzle velocity and high explosive power. However, the L/60 gun has a better rate of fire and access to APammunition. This allows it to engage targets with armor that is too strong for the SM-21-ZIF to damage effectively, such as the SF40 Light. Overall, they have the same practical effectiveness against light targets, but the SM-21-ZIF can generally be considered superior for most use cases.

On the other hand, the Bofors 40 mm L/70 (as found on Hugin, for example) can generally be considered to be in the same class as, or even superior to, the SM-21-ZIF. Advantages of the L/70 gun include access to HE-VTammunition, higher rate of fire, and overall having more explosive mass in both of its ammunition choices. The ZIF has comparable explosive effect with slightly higher velocity and is less prone to overheating, as well as being found at a much lower Battle Rating.

Usage in battles

Describe the cannon/machine gun in the game - its distinctive features, tactics of usage against notable opponents. Please don't write a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought.

Pros and cons

Summarise and briefly evaluate the weaponry in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark pros and cons as a list.

Pros:

• Powerful high explosive shells
• Excellent muzzle velocity
• Takes a long time to overheat

Cons:

• Somewhat low rate of fire
• No protection for gun crew or gun module
• No armor piercing ammunition

History

Examine the history of the creation and combat usage of the weapon 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 weapon and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Weapon-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 />.

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

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• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.

USSR naval cannons
20 mm	ShVAK
25 mm	2M-3
30 mm	AK-230 · 30 mm/54 AK-630 · BP "Plamya"
37 mm	37 mm/67 70-K · V-11
45 mm	45 mm/46 21-K · 45 mm/68 21-KM · 45 mm/89 SM-20-ZIF · 45 mm/89 SM-21-ZIF
57 mm	AK-725
75 mm	75 mm/50 Canet patt.1892
76 mm	34-K · 39-K · 76 mm/60 AK-176M · AK-726 · D-56TS · F-34 · Lender AA gun, pattern 1914/15
85 mm	85 mm/52 92-K · 85 mm/54.6 ZIS-C-53 · 90-K
100 mm	100 mm/56 B-34 · 100 mm/70 SM-5-1 · Minizini
102 mm	Pattern 1911
120 mm	120 mm/50 pattern 1905
130 mm	130 mm/55 pattern 1913 · 130 mm/58 SM-2-1 · B-13
152 mm	152 mm/57 B-38
180 mm	180 mm/57 B-1-P · 180 mm/60 B-1-K
305 mm	12-inch/52 pattern 1907 · 305 mm/54 B-50
	Foreign:
40 mm	2pdr QF Mk.IIc (Britain) · Skoda (Czechoslovakia)
47 mm	3 pdr QF Hotchkiss (Britain)
76 mm	76 mm/40 Ansaldo mod.1917 (Italy)
88 mm	SK C/30 (Germany)
120 mm	120 mm/50 Mk.4 Bofors M1924 (Sweden) · 120 mm/50 O.T.O. Mod.1933 (Italy)
152 mm	152/53 mm O.T.O. Mod.1929 (Italy)
320 mm	320 mm/44 Ansaldo model 1934 (Italy)