The T32 Heavy Tank was a heavy tank project started by the United States Army to create an appropriate successor to the M4A3E2 Sherman "Jumbo". The US Ordnance board managed the production of four prototypes, the main goal being to have the new tank share many common parts with the M26 Pershing.
Despite its promising performance during the final stages of World War II, the M26 Pershing was thought to be too lightly armored to do battle with most German heavy tanks and tank destroyers, such as the Tiger II. Even though its gun was able to penetrate armor satisfactorily, its own armor was believed to be insufficient at stopping enemy shells. Work began in early 1945 to develop a significantly heavier variant of the M26 Pershing. Using data collected from the T29 Heavy Tank project and incorporating an experimental 90mm main gun firing armor-piercing, composite rigid ammunition as well as a more advanced transmission, the first T32 tank was produced. The T15E2 gun mounted on this tank was much more powerful than the gun mounted on the Pershing, and similar to the T26E4 Super Pershing which utilized a similar experimental 90mm, the counterweight at the back of the turret was enlarged substantially to offset the long gun's weight. The T32E1 variant eliminated weak spots in the frontal armor, including removing the hull mounted machine gun. As a result of all the changes, the M26 chassis had to be expanded, with an extra road wheel added on each side, bringing the total to seven, to reduce the ground pressure due to the tank's increased weight. After the end of World War II, the project was cancelled and the vehicles were scrapped.[1][2]
heavy, tank, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, 2016, learn, w. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources T32 heavy tank news newspapers books scholar JSTOR May 2016 Learn how and when to remove this message The T32 Heavy Tank was a heavy tank project started by the United States Army to create an appropriate successor to the M4A3E2 Sherman Jumbo The US Ordnance board managed the production of four prototypes the main goal being to have the new tank share many common parts with the M26 Pershing T32 Heavy TankTypeHeavy tankPlace of originUnited StatesService historyUsed byUnited StatesWarsnoneProduction historyDesigned1945Produced1945 1946No built4VariantsT32 2 T32E1 2 SpecificationsMass120 000 lb 54 431 kg 54 t Length426 6 in 35 55 ft 10 84 m with gun 278 4 in 23 20 ft 7 07 m without gunWidth148 3 in 12 36 ft 3 77 m Height110 7 in 9 23 ft 2 81 m Crew5ArmorTurret Front 298 mm 11 7 in Side 152 197 mm 6 0 7 8 in Rear 152 mm Gun shield 298 mm Hull Front 95 127 mm 3 7 5 0 in Side 76 mm 3 0 in Rear 51 mm 2 0 in MainarmamentT15E2 90mm L 73 gunSecondaryarmamentT32 1 Browning 50 in 12 7 mm caliber heavy machine gun HMG 2 Browning 30 in 7 62 mm caliber medium machine gun MMG T32E1 1 Browning 50 caliber HMG 1 Browning 30 caliber MMGEngineFord GAC V12 770 hp 570 kW Power weight14 36 hp t 10 71 kW t TransmissionCross Drive TransmissionSuspensiontorsion barOperationalrange100 mi 160 km road range Maximum speed22 mph 35 km h roads History and development editDespite its promising performance during the final stages of World War II the M26 Pershing was thought to be too lightly armored to do battle with most German heavy tanks and tank destroyers such as the Tiger II Even though its gun was able to penetrate armor satisfactorily its own armor was believed to be insufficient at stopping enemy shells Work began in early 1945 to develop a significantly heavier variant of the M26 Pershing Using data collected from the T29 Heavy Tank project and incorporating an experimental 90mm main gun firing armor piercing composite rigid ammunition as well as a more advanced transmission the first T32 tank was produced The T15E2 gun mounted on this tank was much more powerful than the gun mounted on the Pershing and similar to the T26E4 Super Pershing which utilized a similar experimental 90mm the counterweight at the back of the turret was enlarged substantially to offset the long gun s weight The T32E1 variant eliminated weak spots in the frontal armor including removing the hull mounted machine gun As a result of all the changes the M26 chassis had to be expanded with an extra road wheel added on each side bringing the total to seven to reduce the ground pressure due to the tank s increased weight After the end of World War II the project was cancelled and the vehicles were scrapped 1 2 T32 3 T32E1 4 Length gun forward 446 6 in 11 3 m Width 148 3 in 3 8 m over sandshields Height 110 7 in 2 8 m over cupola Ground clearance 18 3 in 46 5 cm Top speed 22 mph 35 km h Fording 48 in 1 2 m Max grade 60 Max trench 8 5 ft 2 6 m Max wall 46 in 1 2 m Range 100 mi 160 km Power 770 hp 570 kW at 2800 rpm Power to weight ratio 12 8 hp ST 10 5 kW t Torque 1 560 lb ft 2 120 N m at 1600 rpm Weight combat loaded 120 000 lb 54 430 kg Ground pressure 11 6 psi 80 kPa 28 in 71 cm tracks 14 2 psi 98 kPa 23 in 58 cm tracks Main armament T15E2 90 mm gun Elevation main gun 20 10 Traverse rate 15 seconds 360 Main gun ammo 54 rounds Firing rate 4 rounds minuteReferences edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to T32 Heavy Tank The US T32 Heavy Tank TankNutDave com Retrieved 4 May 2016 Rickard J 24 March 2017 Heavy Tank T32 Military History Encyclopedia on the Web Retrieved 10 August 2017 Hunnicutt 1988 p 201 Hunnicutt 1988 p 202 Sources editHunnicutt Richard Pearce 1988 Firepower A History of the American Heavy Tank Novato California Presidio Press ISBN 0 89141 304 9 nbsp This military vehicle article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title T32 heavy tank amp oldid 1222607203, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,