BT-42
Contents
Description
The BT-42 is a rank I Swedish tank destroyer with a battle rating of 2.0 (AB) and 1.7 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Fire and Ice".
Perhaps one of the most iconic light tank in Finland service and being a "meme" tank among players due to its screen time in Japanese animation film; this captured BT-7 modified with a huge QF 4.5 inch howitzer onboard will strike fears to enemies with its fearsome firepower while still retaining the iconic fast and nimble of a BT light tank.
General info
Survivability and armour
If only looking at the hull alone, BT-42 is exactly like any other BT-7 tanks in Soviet service; but what makes it stand out among its "ancestors" is the turret- Finnish upgraded its gun with British QF 4.5-inch (114 mm) howitzer and installed it along with a new welded turret that somewhat resemble to the infamous KV-2 from Soviet Union as well. But the common feature of BT tanks still persist on BT-42, namely its poor protection; other than the mantle, any high-caliber machine guns will have no trouble penetrating its armor even at longer ranges, especially its hull. So be extra careful on where to appear at uptier battles where HMGs such as M2HB start to be common.
Armour type:
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 5 mm (61°) Upper front glacis 20 mm (18°) Driver's hatch 20 mm (5-52°) Lower front glacis |
20 mm Driver compartment 15 + 4 mm Fighting & engine compartments |
10 mm (55°) Upper glacis 13 mm (15°) Centre plate 13 mm (58°) Lower glacis |
10 mm 4 mm Engine vents |
| Turret | 16 mm Turret front 16 mm Gun mantlet |
16 mm | 16 mm | 9 mm |
Notes:
Mobility
Finnish didn't upgrade BT-42's powerplant as it was deemed sufficient, so it retained the same Mikulin M-17T engine and transmission; for players of Soviet BT tanks, they will soon get on hand with the excellent mobility at its rank and make sure it can flank the enemies with ease.
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 55 | 11 | 15 | _,___ | 763 | __.__ | 50.87 |
| Realistic | 50 | 10 | _,___ | 400 | __.__ | 26.67 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
The most iconic feature of BT-42 is the QF 4.5-inch howitzer from Great Britain (named as 114 mm Psv.H/18 in Finnish service); although the revised turret that fits this very gun turns even slower than the original BT-7, if aimed properly, it can even hit tanks behind cover thanks to its ballistics of a howitzer.
| 114 mm Psv.H/18 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 22 | -5°/+25° | ±180° | N/A | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | 13.0 | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ |
| Realistic | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | ||||||||
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 | ||
| akr 32/41 | HE | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| hkr 42/C | HEAT | 115 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| Shell details | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||
| akr 32/41 | HE | 350 | 14.4 | N/A | 0.1 | 2 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| hkr 42/C | HEAT | 357 | 13.5 | 0.05 | 0.1 | 2.55 | 62° | 69° | 73° |
The stock akr 32/41 round is an HE shell, although its velocity at barely supersonic makes it unsuitable for hitting mobile targets at some distance; but thanks to its 2 kg of explosives, if it hits the roof armor of tanks or spots that will cause overpressure, it can make sure the crew will knock-out right away, let alone a near-miss to truck-based SPAAs at its rank with minimal protection; alternatively, the curve ballistic also means a bad news for enemies who took cover at longer ranges- there are still chances of being hit from the roof.
The only researchable round, hkr 42/C is a HEAT round; while it can functionally replace the stock shell and penetrates up to 115 mm of armor at any given range, do remember that HEAT has very few spalling against heavier targets, so make sure to hit the ammunition of enemy targets.
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | 17 (+5) | 12 (+10) | 6 (+16) | 0 (+22) | No |
Usage in battles
Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but instead give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).
Pros and cons
Pros:
- One of the largest guns of its rank
- Fast and nimble for flanking
- Surprisingly fast reload for its calibre
- Both HE and HEAT have high explosive contents
- HEAT has extremely high penetration for its rank
Cons:
- Lightly armoured
- Big profile
- Slow turret traverse
- HEAT is still unreliable
- uptierd to 2.7 frequently
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
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 series of the vehicles;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
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- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| Sweden tank destroyers | |
|---|---|
| Strv m/41 derivatives | Spj fm/43-44 · Sav m/43 (1944) · Sav m/43 (1946) · Pvkv II · Pvkv III |
| Ikv 72/103 | Ikv 72 · Ikv 103 |
| Pvkv m/43 | Pvkv m/43 (1946) · Pvkv m/43 (1963) |
| ATGM | UDES 33 · Pbv 302 (BILL) · Pvrbv 551 |
| Other | SAV 20.12.48 · Bkan 1C |
| Norway | VIDAR |
