T26E1-1

From War Thunder Wiki
Revision as of 09:11, 23 February 2020 by Inceptor57 (talk | contribs) (Pros and cons)

Jump to: navigation, search
Rank VI USA | Premium | Golden Eagles
A-10A Thunderbolt (Early)
T26E1-1
us_t26e4_superpershing.png
T26E1-1
AB RB SB
6.7 6.7 6.7
Class:
Research:31 000 Specs-Card-Exp.png
Purchase:200 000 Specs-Card-Lion.png
Show in game

Description

GarageImage T26E1-1.jpg


The Heavy Tank T26E1-1 "Super Pershing" is a Rank IV American heavy tank with a battle rating of 6.7 (AB/RB/SB). The T26E1-1 was added with Update 1.57 "Battle March". The tank takes the basis of a normal M26 Pershing, then increases its armour with welded-on metal slabs and up-guns it with a T15E1 cannon, which is nearly identical to the one in the T32. This gives the tank a much appreciated armour protection and firepower for the battle rating and is comparable with the premium M26E1.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

  • Cast homogeneous armour (Front, Turret)
  • Rolled homogeneous armour (Side, Rear, Roof, Turret appliqué armour)
  • Structural steel (Hull appliqué armour, Rear turret counterweight)
Armour Front (Slope angle) Sides Rear Roof
Hull 101.6 (42-46°) + 38.1 (47°) + 38.1 mm (57°) Front glacis
162.5 (25-60°) + 38.1 (47°) + 38.1 mm (57°) Upper front glacis
76.2 mm (53°) + 38.1 (41°) + 38.1 mm (48°) Lower glacis
76.2 mm Front
50.8 mm (0-2°) Rear
50.8 mm (4°) Top
22.2 mm (68°) Lower
22.2 mm
Turret 101.6 mm (1-55°) Turret front
114.3 (1-84°) + 80 mm (3°) Gun mantlet
76.2 mm (2-54°) 76.2 (0-79°) + 100 mm (3°) 25.4 mm
Armour Sides Roof
Cupola 76.2 mm 25.4 mm

Notes:

  • Suspension wheels and tracks are 20 mm thick.
  • The left turret side has a few tracks welded on, providing an additional 30 mm of armour where they are.
  • The "ear flaps" on the turret provide 38.1 mm of armour. The steel on the gun mantlet gives an additional 80 mm of armour.
  • Front glacis have sheets of 38.1 mm armour added on, sloped at varying angles.


Mobility

Game Mode Max Speed (km/h) Weight (tons) Engine power (horsepower) Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Forward Reverse Stock Upgraded Stock Upgraded
Arcade 43 14 49.9 646 954 12.95 19.12
Realistic 41 13 442 500 8.86 10.02

Armaments

Main armament

Main article: T15E1 (90 mm)
90 mm T15E1
Capacity Vertical
guidance
Horizontal
guidance
42 -10°/+20° ±180°
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode Stock Upgraded Prior + Full crew Prior + Expert qualif. Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade 14.28 19.80 24.0 26.60 28.24
Realistic 14.28 16.80 20.4 22.60 24.00
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock Prior + Full crew Prior + Expert qualif. Prior + Ace qualif.
16.25 14.38 13.25 12.50
Ammunition
Penetration statistics
Ammunition Type of
warhead
Penetration in mm @ 90°
10m 100m 500m 1000m 1500m 2000m
T43 shot AP 211 208 193 177 162 148
T42 shell HE 13 13 13 13 13 13
T41 APCBC 224 221 206 188 172 157
T44 shot APCR 336 330 304 274 248 223
Shell details
Ammunition Velocity
in m/s
Projectile
Mass in kg
Fuse delay

in m:

Fuse sensitivity

in mm:

Explosive Mass in g
(TNT equivalent):
Normalization At 30°
from horizontal:
Ricochet:
0% 50% 100%
T43 shot 975 10.9 N/A N/A N/A -1° 47° 60° 65°
T42 shell 975 10.6 0.4 0.5 925 +0° 79° 80° 81°
T41 975 10.94 1.2 14 137.2 +4° 48° 63° 71°
T44 shot 1143 7.6 N/A N/A N/A +1.5° 66° 70° 72°
Ammo racks

Last updated: 1.77.2.68

Ammo racks of the T26E1-1.
Full
ammo
1st
rack empty
2nd
rack empty
3rd
rack empty
4th
rack empty
5th
rack empty
6th
rack empty
7th
rack empty
8th
rack empty
9th
rack empty
Visual
discrepancy
42 32 (+8) 28 (+14) 24 (+18) 20 (+22) 16 (+26) 12 (+30) (+34) (+38) (+42) No

Notes:

  • Recommended ammo load is 15 to remove most ammo from the hull floor, leaving rack 9 intact.
  • Ammo rack 1 is a ready rack, and takes priority in being filled at the beginning of the battle, then fills racks 9 through 2.
  • Full reload speed will be realized as long as ammo exists in the ready rack. If the ready racks is empty, a penalty to reload speed will occur.
  • Simply not firing when the gun is loaded will load ammo from racks 2-9 into rack 1, as long as there is ammo in racks 2-9. Firing will interrupt the loading of the ready racks.

Machine guns

12.7 mm M2HB
Pintle mount
Capacity (Belt capacity) Fire rate
(shots/minute)
Vertical
guidance
Horizontal
guidance
1,000 (200) 576 -10°/+70° ±60°
7.62 mm M1919A4
Coaxial mount
Capacity (Belt capacity) Fire rate
(shots/minute)
Vertical
guidance
Horizontal
guidance
4,500 (250) 500 N/A N/A

Usage in the battles

This is not exactly a brawling tank. Try to take the shots that is positive to hit and then fall back into cover. Don't stay exposed too long as enemy shells will most likely penetrate the armour. Try to stick with an ally, going of alone can/will be suicide.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Nearly identical 90mm gun as the T32 and the premium M26E1.
  • T41 APCBC shot is available that can mess up any penetrated tank's internals.
  • Thick sloped frontal armour.
  • .50 on top of the turret is useful against low-flying aircraft and lightly armoured vehicles.
  • 224 mm of penetration for the T41 shot makes Tiger IIs less of a threat when met dead-on.
  • Front spaced armour can reduce effectiveness of HE and HESH rounds.

Cons:

  • Despite the add-on armour, the armour is still inefficient for the BR.
  • Spaced armour doesn't help against HEAT.
  • The add-on armour has a negative impact on mobility on the already sluggish M26 it is based on.
  • Gun gets damaged quite often due to its long profile.
  • Springs on top of the turret tend to deflect shells into the turret.
  • Hull machine gun port is a prominent weak spot.
  • 90mm gun takes a long time to reload compared to its competitors.
  • Slightly lower penetration in comparison to its adversaries like the Tiger II (H).
  • Due to over-matching mechanics, the layered front is more of a weakness than a bonus due to the plates being only 38 mm by themselves, despite the total thickness of the front being 177.8 mm.
  • Vertical aiming drive can be shot outside the tank, on top of the turret

History

Development

The M26 Pershing helped the American armored forces by bringing in the heavy 90 mm Gun M3 into service on a tank mount. The gun was similar in performance to the German's Tiger I's 8.8 cm KwK 36 cannon, but Army Ordnance wanted something to match the more powerful 8.8 cm KwK 43 cannon on the Tiger II. The development to match this cannon made the T15 90 mm gun; the gun was 73 calibers long, compared to the 90 mm Gun M3's 53 calibers length. The first produced guns were called the T15E1 and had large, fixed ammunition. To test the gun's viability in the tank, the gun was mounted onto the very first production T26, T26E1 tank serial #1, registration #0103292, with the conversions being done by the Wellman Engineering Company. This upgraded tank was titled the T26E1-1 by means of a painted-on designation on the turret's left side to distinguish the design, although this title was not official, and few if any sources refer to it as such. The extreme length of the T15E1 gun barrel caused the manufacturers to add a very prominent counter balance on the mantlet, which could be seen on the left side of the turret when facing it. The T26E1-1 tank was sent to Aberdeen Proving Grounds on 12 January 1945 for testing purposes.[1]

In March 1945, following the Aberdeen tests, the T26 tanks mounting the T15 gun was officially classified as the T26E4. As such, the mentioned T26E1-1 would be classified as the first of the T26E4 models, with an initial procurement plan for 1,000 more units. The first T26E4 (henceforth referred to as T26E1-1) would be the only M26 model with the T15 gun to see service in Europe. Among the troops, the T26E1-1 in Europe would be known by its eponymous name "Super Pershing" when compared alongside to the normal M26 Pershing.[1]

Combat usage

The T26E1-1 "Super Pershing" was sent to Europe and arrived in 15 March 1945 and assigned to the 3rd Armored Division. In its introduction, the "Super Pershing" was given additional armour by the maintenance crew in hopes to keep it up to date against the heavier German tanks. The front hull had two large pieces of metal welded onto it, each 38 mm in thickness, with a space in between the metal pieces. These metal pieces were sloped more than the hull armour it was over. An additional armour piece was welded on the turret mantlet, the metal was taken from a Panther turret and was about 80 mm thick when welded onto the turret.[1] The T15E1 gun has much promise to the crew when using the tank as the gun could reliably penetrate the frontal hull of a Panther tank, a feat not many other American tank gun could claim at the time.

The T26E1-1's performance in battle is largely written in the accounts of John P. Irwin, who was the tank gunner of the only active "Super Pershing" in the war. He mentions of three prominent combat actions with the T26E1-1, each one destroying the enemy with little difficulty. Records show that the T26E1-1 destroyed a total of three tanks and captured one after an extended firefight that left the opposing tank out of ammunition. Though it was hoped to have the T26E1-1 fight a Tiger II for a rather explosive comparison, the T26E1-1 never saw a Tiger II during its tour in Europe. After the war, the T26E1-1 was most likely scrapped in the post-war demobilization as the final image of the tank was it lying in a vehicle dump in Kassel, Germany.

Legacy and similar vehicles

The T26E1-1 continued as an idea long after the war was over, with the next development arming the long 90 mm cannon in the T26E3 tank models, but the cannons used the new two-piece ammunition gun T15E2 rather than the one-piece one in the T15E1 when it was found that the long 50 inch rounds made loading prohibitive in the M26 turret. 25 of these tanks were built and were designated the T26E4. Another development was to convert normal M26 Pershings to mounting the T54 cannon, another development of the T15E1 which featured shorter ammunition. These tanks were redesignated the M26E1, but work was halted due to issues with the guns and a cut in project funds.[1]

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Hunnicutt, R.P. Pershing: A History of the Medium Tank T20 Series U.S.A.: Feist Publications, 1971

Read also

[Devblog] T26E1-1 Super Pershing: Under a Panther Mask

Sources

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

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


USA heavy tanks
M4 Jumbo  M4A3E2 · Cobra King · M4A3E2 (76) W
M6  T1E1 · M6A1 · M6A2E1
T26  T26E1-1 · T26E5
T29/30/34  T29 · T30 · T34
T32  T32 · T32E1
M103  M103
Others  T14