Sho't Kal Dalet (Great Britain)

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▄Sho't Kal Dalet
uk_centurion_shot_kal_d.png
▄Sho't Kal Dalet
AB RB SB
9.0 9.0 9.0
Show in game
STORE

Description

GarageImage Sho't Kal Dalet (Great Britain).jpg


The ▄Sho't Kal Dalet is a gift rank VI British medium tank with a battle rating of 9.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.85 "Supersonic".

General info

Survivability and armour

The base survivability towards various forms of APDS and APHE/APCBC is virtually the same as that of the Centurion Mk 10 in the regular tech tree, but now you will encounter less of these munitions, with HEAT and APFSDS rounds being your primary threat now. The upper front plate and the turret "forehead" will easily bounce APDS and APCBC/APHE rounds from various 100mm and 105mm guns at beyond 500m range. APFSDS rounds however, will penetrate through your tank at any angle and at any range.

But the really interesting and unique aspect about Sho't Kal Dalet is the entire array of ERA tiles that cover the front and side of the tank. They even cover the turret "forehead", turret cheeks and most importantly, the turret ring. Apart from the ERA themselves, there is a considerable amount of air gap behind the ERA tiles and the tank skin which acts as an additional spaced armour against HEAT projectiles. This setup makes your tank immune to any HEAT, ATGM and HEAT-FS round that penetrates 400-450mm RHAe by default, easily eliminating the threat posed by 105mm DM12, 100mm 3BK17M and 3BK5 rounds (most commonly used chemical energy rounds at this BR). ATGMs and higher caliber HEAT rounds(like the 650mm penetration 120mm DM12 round from Leopard 1A1A1 L/44) will have no trouble penetrating your ERA tiles.

Protection against autocannon fire with virtually any belt is mediocre at best, with frontal protection somewhat decent but side armour is too thin for APDS belts of cannon fire from BMP-2 and Gepards.

The interior layout suffers from the same drawback as the regular Centurion, with ammunition littered throughout the fighting compartment. Any penetration in the hull at centre of mass is sure to hit the ammo rack resulting in an catastrophic explosion of the tank. The ammunition rack next to the driver can be eliminated by taking less number of rounds but doesn't help the survivability much.

The commander in Sho't Kal Dalet sits in a pretty exposed position on the turret with his head directly behind the commander's cupola, resulting in him getting knocked out pretty often by potshots when the tank is in a hull down position.

Armour Thickness Material
Upper front plate 127mm at construction angle of 56 degrees Rolled Homogeneous Armour
Lower front plate 127mm at construction angle of 47 degrees Rolled Homogeneous Armour
Turret mantlet Varying between 154mm-178mm around the gun. Thickest at the edges of the gun mantlet Cast Homogeneous Armour
Turret front Varying between 230mm-240mm Cast Homogeneous Armour
Turret sides 92mm Cast Homogeneous Armour
Hull side 55mm Rolled Homogeneous Armour
Rear armor(Hull) 38mm Rolled Homogeneous Armour
Rear armor(Turret) 89mm Cast Homogeneous Armour
Engine deck Varying between 16mm-20mm Rolled Homogeneous Armour
Turret roof Varying between 38mm-55mm Mix of Rolled Homogeneous Armour and Cast Homogeneous Armor

Notes:-

  • The road wheels are made of structural steel and are 20mm worth of RHAe
  • The side skirts are made of Rolled Homogeneous Armor are 6mm thick
  • Each Blazer ERA provides 260mm worth of Chemical Energy protection

Mobility

When it comes to mobility, consider the Sho't Kal Dalet to be a Centurion Mk.10 on steroids. It comes with a decent 750hp Continental diesel engine with 2400 RPM. It can reverse itself at a decent -12 Km/h(2 gears) and hit speeds upto 48 Km/h(5 gears). While it's not the best as compared to Leopard 1A1A1 and Centuro, it is more than enough to get you quickly into a good firing position early in the match or switch firing positions after scoring a few kills.

Being good in the Sho't depends on how you use your mobility to your advantage. If you rush in beginning of the match, you'll get chewed up by Leopards and Centuros already waiting for you. If you camp throughout the match, you'll find yourself at the bottom of the scoreboard or worse, get bombed by enemy helicopters and aircrafts.

Knowing when to "rush" and when to "camp" is the key to utilising the Sho't's brutal firepower effectively.

Armaments

Main armament

The main gun of the Sho't is the Israeli modification of the legendary Royal Ordnance L7 cannon, dubbed as Sharir (105 mm). It can fire an assortment of APFSDS, HEAT-FS, HESH and Smoke rounds, effectively making you an effective hunter for virtually every tank at your BR. The gun is devastatingly accurate and quick firing, taking only 6.7 seconds for each shot at 8.3 BR.

Your main round for most of the situations is the M111 "Hetz" APFSDS. It can penetrate 195mm RHAe at 60 degrees at point blank range and 177mm RHAe at 60 degrees at 2000m, and comes with a muzzle velocity of 1455 m/s, making the M111 one of the strongest penetrating kinetic rounds at 8.3 BR against sloped surfaces. You'll use this round 9/10 times in your engagements. It'll chew up Leopards, T-54s, T-55s, OF-40, Centuros, IS-3s, AMX-30s, STBs and Type-74s at all ranges.

This round WILL struggle to penetrate T-10M, IS-4M, IS-7 and Maus if facing from an "awkward angle". In such a scenario, disable the gun barrel and reposition yourself to take a side shot if situation permits or disengage from combat.

The default round, the M152 HEAT-FS round, is a very good round overall, penetrating 400m at 0 degrees and 200mm at 60 degrees at any range. However, it's usefulness is mitigated by the fact that it has low muzzle velocity than the APFSDS and can be detonated by fences and walls in it's path. Carry a few of them to deal with T-10M, IS-4M and Maus at long ranges. Don't try to use the M152 against IS-7 as it has a very complex array of spaced armor behind it's main armor.

The M156 is a typical British 105mm HESH round found on all tanks using the L7 guns and it's derivatives. Like any HESH round, use it against tanks with surfaces directly in contact with crew and modules(i.e no spaced armor or side skirts). M156 works best against surfaces 100mm-150mm in thickness and sloped at 30-60 degrees. This creates the maximum amount of spalling and results in catastrophic damage to crew and modules.

For eg. If you're facing an AMX-30 or T-54/55 from front, hitting the left side of the lower front plate is an easy temptation for initiating an ammo rack explosion, however, players keep forgetting that the ammunition rack is surrounded in front by a fuel tank, which will absorb shaped charges and HESH spalling, making HEAT and HESH rounds not worth the attempt(APFSDS and higher caliber APDS rounds, like the ones from Conqueror, Conway, Chieftains and Challenger Mk.2 will however punch through and blow up the ammo rack anyway). You can however, fire the HESH on the sloped but thin turret, which will surely kill at least two crew members in the turret and disable the gun breech.

Remember, as with HEAT rounds, it can be triggered by obstacles in it's path and spaced armor will nullify it's effectiveness.

Use the M156 primarily to destroy enemy IFVs and SPAAAs at close to medium ranges.

The final round is the M416 smoke round, an often neglected but very useful round. Be creative with this round and use it to harass enemy snipers or cover friendly axis of advances.

All in all, the Sho't by virtue of the M111 and a quick firing Sharir cannon, has one of the most brutal firepower at long range at it's BR.

Round Type Muzzle velocity Projectile mass Explosive mass Fuze delay and sensitivity Point blank Penetration@Angle (at 0,30 and 60 degrees in RHAe) Penetration@Angle at 2000m (at 0,30 and 60 degrees in RHAe)
M111 Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot 1455 m/s 3.79 kg N/A N/A 337/292/195 mm 306/265/177 mm
M152 High Explosive Anti Tank Fin Stabilized 1173 m/s 10.73 kg 0.970 kg of Composition B with TNT equivalent of 1.27 Kg 0.1 mm of fuze sensitivity 400/346/200 mm 400/346/200 mm
M156 High Explosive Squash Head 732 m/s 14.85 kg 2.99 kg 0.1 mm of fuze sensitivity and 0.4 m of delay 127/134/143 mm 127/134/143 mm
M416 Smoke Round 730 m/s 11.4 kg N/A N/A N/A N/A

Machine guns

The Sho't comes with 3x FN MAG 60-40 (7.62 mm) (1 co-axial and 2 roof mounted) and 1 M2HB (12.7 mm) heavy machine gun(co-axial), providing an extremely concentrated stream of small arms and heavy machine gun fire to target harassing aircrafts and helicopters. Although not as effective as the 20mm auto cannons on some other tanks, it's still quite useful.

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 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:

  • Great 105mm L7 gun.
  • E.R.A. grants improved protection.
  • No less than three pintle-mount machine guns on the turret roof; good for warding off pesky low-flying planes.
  • Good mobility.

Cons:

  • Somewhat slow in comparison to other medium tanks at its rank.

History

In the late 1950s, Israel struck a deal with Great Britain to purchase a number of Centurion Mk.5 tanks as a response to Egypt’s own rearmement efforts at the time. Deliveries continued well into the 1960s, with Israel fielding more than 300 Centurion tanks prior to the Six-Day War in 1967.

Although the Centurion, or Sho’t as it was called by the Israelis, was the most modern tank in service with the IDF at the time, it wasn’t very liked among Israeli tank crews due to its low reliability in desert conditions. Therefore, the decision was made to modernize the vehicles in May 1967 by replacing the petrol engine with a more powerful and reliable Continental diesel engine. Further upgrades included the fitting of a new transmission, larger fuel tanks and other minor improvements.

In the following Middle Eastern conflicts of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, the Sho’t had proven its effectiveness in combat. However, after the devastating tank losses of the Yom Kippur War, Israeli engineers realized the importance of crew protection and work on an indigenous tank design, that would become the Merkava, began.

In the meantime, the vehicles that were already in service had to be modernized in order to prevent a repeat of the high losses of the Yom Kippur War in potential future conflicts. This modernization effort primarily focused on the addition of the Blazer ERA package to the Sho’t Kal and Magach tanks, which would reduce the effectiveness of chemical munitions fired at the vehicles.

The upgraded Sho’t Kal Dalet, as it was known, proved the effectiveness of the upgrade during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, where it fared well against ATGMs and RPGs.

The Sho’t Kal Dalet was the last mass-produced modification of the Israeli Centurion, before it was replaced by the more modern Merkava tank models. In total, Israel had purchased and used over 1,100 Centurion tanks, with some still being in limited service today as APCs, ARVs or CEVs.

- From Devblog

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as 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


Britain medium tanks
Valentine  Valentine I · Valentine IX · Valentine XI
Cromwell  Cromwell I · Cromwell V · Cromwell V (RP-3)
Cromwell derivatives  Challenger · Avenger · Comet I · Comet I "Iron Duke IV" · Charioteer Mk VII
Centurion  Centurion Mk 1 · Centurion Mk.2 · Centurion Mk 3 · Centurion Mk.5 AVRE · Centurion Mk 10 · Centurion Action X · FV4202
Vickers MBT  Vickers Mk.1 · Vickers Mk.3 · Vickers Mk.7
Chieftain  Chieftain Mk 3 · Chieftain Mk 5 · Chieftain Mk 10
Challenger 1  Challenger Mk.2 · Challenger Mk.3 · Challenger DS
Challenger 2  Challenger 2 · Challenger 2 (2F) · Challenger 2 TES · Challenger 2 OES · Challenger 2E · Challenger 2 Black Night
Challenger 3  Challenger 3 TD
Australia  A.C.I · A.C.IV · Centurion Mk.5/1
South Africa  Olifant Mk.1A · Olifant Mk.2 · TTD
India  Vijayanta · Bhishma TWMP
Israel  ▄Sho't Kal Dalet
Jordan  Khalid
Sweden  ▄Strv 81 (RB 52)
USA  Grant I · Sherman II · Sherman Firefly · Sherman IC "Trzyniec"

Britain premium ground vehicles
Light tanks  A13 Mk I (3rd R.T.R.) · A13 Mk II 1939 · AEC Mk II · Crusader "The Saint" · Rooikat 105
Medium tanks  A.C.I · Grant I · Cromwell V (RP-3) · Sherman IC "Trzyniec" · A.C.IV · Comet I "Iron Duke IV"
  Centurion Mk.2 · ▄Strv 81 (RB 52) · Centurion Mk.5 AVRE · Centurion Mk.5/1 · ▄Sho't Kal Dalet · Centurion Action X
  Vijayanta · Khalid · Challenger DS · Challenger 2 OES
Heavy tanks  Independent · Matilda Hedgehog · Excelsior · TOG II · Churchill Crocodile · Black Prince
Tank destroyers  Alecto I · Achilles (65 Rg.) · QF 3.7 Ram