A bit of history
The history of the T26E4 began during the Second World War. With the appearance of the second generation German Tigers on the battlefield, American troops began to desperately need a new tank that could give a worthy rebuff to the new German vehicles. The Super Pershing developers planned to make it based on the standard M26 Pershing. The first experimental T26 was equipped with an electromechanical transmission.
The first version of the Super Pershing T26E1 was fitted with a T15E2 separate-loading gun and a new "Torquematic" transmission. Later it turned out that the gun was too long and the developers had to change the size and overall appearance of the turret, with a counterweight at the rear and two spring balancers at the front.
In 1945, the command of the Amrikan troops decided to send new Persings to the front while equipping them with additional armor plates from German panthers destroyed in battle. This modification was named T26E4. It is in this form that the tank is presented to us in the game.
What you have to deal with
T26E4 Super Pershing Is a premium American medium tank located at level 8. Introduced in patch 0.7.5 at the end of July 2012 and immediately became popular with players for profitability and armored forehead. In the game, Super Pershing is a medium tank, but it is difficult to assign it to a specific class, as it is done in the game. It's more heavy than average, but let's take it in order.
Those wishing to purchase this tank will have to fork out for 7200 gold, which is approximately $ 29, I personally bought it with a New Year discount for $ 25. Be that as it may, this is the cheapest premium medium tank of the eighth tier, which, however, is not much inferior to its premium counterparts in terms of tier, and even surpasses some in something.
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| Super Pershing and its screens |
Specifications
Although the Super Pershing represents a middle class of tanks, it actually resembles a heavy tank. In fact, this is a heavy weapon with a weaker weapon, but with very strong frontal armor.The tank's durability is equal to 1450 units. In my opinion, it is quite enough for a medium tank with good front armor.
None of the dynamics of the tank is due to its weight of 50 tons, which is a lot for the st (medium tank), and considerable weight, in turn, is caused by the armor plates from the panther, which give the tank unsurpassed frontal armor, because of which the tank was nicknamed Super Pershing.
Forehead thickness at The T26E4 is 178mm. In fact, it can only be pierced by hitting a small machine-gun nest, the commander's hatch, difficult to access due to its size, or, under a successful combination of circumstances for the enemy, under the tower. In practice, very often the owners of this tank do not even penetrate the 9th levels head-on.
At long and medium distances, you can hardly worry, penetration is possible only with the great luck of the opponent, since it is very difficult to target vulnerable points at such distances. However, one awkward movement sideways or stern to the enemy will lead to disastrous results, since the armor of the sides is 76 mm, and the stern is 51 mm. Such weak armor leads to penetration of the sides and stern from almost any weapon.
Also worth mentioning is the sensitivity of the engine - prone to critical damage and fire. It is true only if you expose the mentioned zones under attack. It should also be noted that the T26E4 Super Pershing is very painful with artillery fire, willingly missing damage. Together with low speed and dynamics, it becomes a direct road to the hangar.
That is why, when choosing tactics for playing on this tank, it is better to stick to tactics for heavy tanks. Such as, a battle in the city between buildings, holding narrow directions where it is difficult to bypass us, shooting from afar, supporting allies, both in the second row of the offensive, and slowly pushing the opponent's defense in the forefront due to an armored forehead, but with the obligatory support of allies from rear.
Continuing about the characteristics of the tank, I note a slightly slow turret rotation of 24 degrees per second. Good visibility for CT at 380 meters. For those who like to shoot on the Super Pershing from the bushes, the "eagle eye" perk and equipment for increasing the fixed view of the "stereo tube" are suitable. In the presence of a good radio station with a communication range of 750 meters.
What if you bought it
When I got this one in my hands, at first I was a little disappointed. 500 hp engine with. gave out 20 km / h in calm weather ... 30 km / h, if from a hill (or cliff). Therefore, first of all, in order to evaluate this unit objectively and start getting pleasure and farming from it, you need to bring it to mind, namely, put the right equipment and pump the crew.
The pluses of the unpowered Super Pershing can be attributed only to the reservation of the forehead and the dynamics of the turn in place at 32 degrees per second, despite its weak speed. Since it is the crew that is the only link in the game through which you can improve the premium tank, I started with it.
By supplying the "fan" equipment,
as well as speeding up mixing and reloading by installing "aiming drives"
And the "rammer".
My version of course is not super true, for example, if you want to play in the style of an anti-tank gun while shooting motionlessly from the bushes, then instead of the last two types of equipment, you can install the above-mentioned "stereoscopic tube", popularly called "horns" and a camouflage net to avoid detection and punishment from the side of artillery.
Then the first thing I did was bleed ... no, not repair. The fact is that if you stand with your forehead to your opponent, then the downed caterpillar does not make much of the weather, unless of course you are under artillery, and if you are bypassed, then it does not matter where your tracks are. Therefore, I continued to improve the crew's capabilities, first of all, by pumping the "Combat Brotherhood" perk.
After that, in the second place, the "sixth sense" or "light bulb" is pumped for the commander (its usefulness is difficult to overestimate),
and all the rest - renovation.
Even though I didn’t start to download it in the first place, it doesn’t mean that this skill is not needed. A downed caterpillar is unpleasant and leads to the hangar, but in this case the dynamics and general aura of the tank can enrage you more.
With the third skill, we add "repair" to the commander, and to the rest of the comrades, according to your taste, something from special skills. For example, the driver can be pumped "the king of off-road" to once again improve the speed when passing viscous soils or "cleanliness and order" to reduce the likelihood of a fire hazardous engine igniting. These skills already depend on your playing style and you will immediately understand what you need.
Having pumped the first two skills in the sequence I proposed, we get an interesting tank with a gun reloading time in 6.77 seconds, like the top gun of the Soviet T54 medium tank. Cheerful, as for a heavy tank, speed gain up to 30-35 km / h, faster mixing and generally more enjoyable game.
The average damage of the gun is 240 HP, which is not bad in combination with the aforementioned modifications. Penetration on average is 170 mm, which will often lead to non-penetration, but APCR shells can also penetrate 258 mm of armor (if possible, they should be carried with you).
The profitability of the tank is decent. Without a premium account, on average, about 35 thousand silver per battle, however, all the charm can be felt only on premium - in rare cases, more than 80 thousand silver can be taken out per battle. This allows you to install the appropriate consumables. In addition to the standard repair kit and a fire extinguisher, if desired, you can use high-octane gasoline, which will further speed up the tank.
Diagnosis (conclusion)
The cheapest premium tank of the eighth level will delight those who are used to playing heavy tanks. For those who like dynamic combat, it will not work. T26E4 Super Pershing Is a great purchase. For beginners, the device will seem like a pile of useless metal. The tank requires experience in the game and "straight hands", but for this it rewards a good amount of silver.
With a shell cost less than the premium German "Lion", Super Pershing is often more profitable than it. You also need to have some patience while the crew is pumping, but after that the tank will delight the owner with armor, which will make seasoned players sweat and panic newcomers, as well as pretty good silver farming.
The army's gunsmiths were keen to send the new tank into battle, hoping it would fight the King's Tiger. Having already lost several new M26s from German anti-tank guns with a high initial projectile velocity, we knew that its armor was still inferior to that of the Tiger. My job was to design and install additional armor on a new tank.
In a well-equipped German repair shop, there were several large pieces of boiler sheets, one and a half inches thick. We decided to use a laminating scheme for glacis. We cut two pieces from the boiler plate and connected it in a V shape to fit on the V-shape formed by the glacis and the lower front plate. The upper frontal hull had an inclination of 38 degrees from the horizontal, which gave 52 degrees from the vertical and was considered a sufficient angle to induce a ricochet. This provided zero clearance at the top and about 3 inches below the seam where the bottom sheet joined.
In the same way, we cut off the second boiler sheet and positioned it at a 39 degree angle above the first sheet. Where it connected to the bottom sheet, there was a gap of 7 to 8 inches underneath. As a result, we got 4 inches of cast armor on the glacis tank and two boiler plates one and a half inches thick with a space between them. We decided that although the boiler plate was softer, the lamination and reduced angle of the armor would favor the ricochet of the German shells. The new armor added about 5 tons of weight to the front of the tank. The ruler measured how far the front torsion bar suspension sags.
We then cut out a section from the front plate of the padded German Panther and resized it to be three and a half inches * thick, 5 feet long and two feet wide. A large hole was cut in the middle for a gun barrel and two small holes on the sides for a coaxial machine gun and a telescopic sight. We put this plate on the barrel, moving it up to the mask itself, and welded it tightly around the entire circumference. This plate, weighing fourteen hundred pounds, shifted the center of gravity 14 inches forward from the axle of the trunnions, making the gun barrel heavier towards the front.
The Super M26 Pershing already had balancer springs on top attached to the turret and the original mask, which, as we assumed, compensated for the long barrel of the gun. However, the weight added by us exceeded the force of the balancer springs, and the cannon barrel tilted down in front. The mechanical gearbox inside the turret used to raise and lower the barrel was not sufficient for such a weight.
To compensate for this, we took two pieces of a 1.5-inch boiler plate and cut out some ridiculous-looking counterweights that were about three and a half feet long - about two feet wide on one edge for the first 18 inches and then expanded to about two feet over the next 24 inches. We welded the narrow edges on the sides of the mask, made of Panther armor, so that they went back horizontally and expanded, protruding slightly beyond the tower. Thus, the heavy part was behind the trunnions, creating a counterweight effect. These counterweights helped, although the gunner still found it difficult to steer the barrel upward with the mechanical vertical aiming drive.
It was clear that more weight should be added to these counterweights, but the question was how and where. From my limited knowledge of theoretical mechanics, I knew that this would require a lot of calculations, information and time, which we did not have. [...]
We decided to apply the empirical method. They took several one-and-a-half-inch slabs, one foot wide and two feet long, and clamped them to the back of the large counterweights. By moving this weight back and forth through trial and error, we finally found a balance point where the implement could easily be raised and lowered by hand. Then we welded the plates into place.
With the gun turned forward, the tank looked like an angry elephant rushing ahead. The long trunk stuck out like a trunk; large, distinctively shaped counterweights looked like ears; and the holes in the mask for the telescopic sight and machine gun resembled eyes. We hoped he would make the same impression on the Germans.
The turret had already been modified at the rear with large counterweights to compensate for the long gun. For the same purpose, we added more weight. However, when the tank was on a slope, it was difficult to turn the gun even with a power drive. This problem was noticed even on the German Panther. If it was on a steep slope, and the gun was turned down, then the German gunner took a long time to turn the turret directly using the manual pivot mechanism.
We have now added 7 tons to the tank. The ground clearance was checked again and found that the support wheels had sagged another two inches. This caused the rear of the tank to protrude upward like an agitated wild drake. Despite its ridiculous looks and the fact that we probably slowed down by almost 5 mph, the tank with its 550 horsepower engine still had enough power.
Then we tested the driving performance and drove to the edge of the ravine for test shooting. Looking around for a suitable target, they finally found a knocked out German assault gun Jagdpanzer IV, which was destroyed by a single hit on the side and did not burn. We hooked him up to one of our towing hooks and pulled him to the other side of the ravine, to the very bottom, about 50 feet below the ridge. The Jagdpanzer was placed with its forehead towards us. The distance to the target is about one and a half miles.
The ammunition for the 90mm T15E1 cannon was the standard 90mm round, only the sleeve is longer to accommodate more powder charge. First, we used two people to load the projectile into the barrel. However, with a little exercise, one person could do it, albeit with some difficulty. It was normal for an experimental tank to have certain problems.
Major Dick Johnson sent for the crew for this tank to the 33rd Panzer Regiment. We introduced them to the instructions, while teaching ourselves. The sergeant in charge of artillery armament and firing had previously adjusted the gun and we were ready to fire. I made sure everyone was standing behind the sides and behind the tank so that the flash from the shot would not hit anyone.
Everyone who stood behind the M4 Sherman could see how the projectile took off and, describing a small arc, rushed to the target. This new gun with a high muzzle velocity was completely different from what we are used to. At the first shot, they barely saw the shell. It seemed that he went up slightly, although in fact he hit the target. It was an optical illusion, but the effect was amazing. When he hit the target, sparks shot up into the air 60 feet, as if a giant sharpening wheel had struck metal.
Looking at the target, I was dumbfounded. The 90mm shell penetrated four inches of armor, went through the five-inch differential shaft, the fighting compartment, the rear wall of the fighting compartment, pierced the four and a half inch Maybach engine crankshaft, one inch aft armor, and buried so deep in the ground that they could not find it. Although our gunsmithing officers from Aberdeen told us that a tank cannon could penetrate thirteen inches of armor from a hundred yards, it was still hard to believe in such monstrous power. We all realized that we now have a weapon capable of breaking even the most powerful German Mark VI Tiger.
We instructed the new crew on how to handle the gun and gave everyone a shot. We explained that the new ammo is longer and heavier to load, and the extra armor makes it difficult to change gears, but with a little bit of familiarity, they can handle it all. Although the tank had additional armor, they should not be foolishly substituted. The challenge was to enter the battle under the most favorable conditions and see what the tank could do against the German armor.
The crew was so happy to receive this tank that people were ready to endure any inconvenience. I'm sure they felt that the tank, probably the most powerful of the American, German or Soviet, increased their chances of survival.
I told Major Johnson that his crew should be very familiar with the tank, in particular with the final drive, tracks and engine, as the additional seven tons can cause certain difficulties in service. Despite this, I felt that the tank would do its job.
* To be precise, the Panther's front plate was not 3.5 inches (88.9 cm), but 3.1496063 inches (80 mm). Belton Cooper rounded the figure using the American system of measurement, which gave an error.
Т26е4 super pershing. How to play this tier 8 premium tank where is it better to ride in order to bring maximum benefit and is it worth buying? Which perks to pump out first, and which to leave for later. There is no need to upgrade modules since it is premium and you can get it only for gold or for a promotion.
I skated about 700 battles on Super Pershing (T26E4) and based on experience I will say that the tank turned out to be a more or less normal gun, of course not imba, but its penetration is not bad, the average damage is a little over 230, as the caliber is 90 mm, but you need to have 6 -7 APCR shells, since the vehicle does not have a preferential level of battles and therefore it is often thrown to the top nine.
Advantages of the tank:
- Decent frontal armor.
- Not a bad cannon with subcaliber penetration.
- Preferential level of battles.
- Fast leveling of the crew and increased silver reward for the battle.
disadvantages
- The engine does not pull such a car and is frankly weak for a tank.
- Quite small damage done by projectiles.
- The stabilization could have been better.
- Although the armor on the forehead is strong, it has many places where you can pierce if a person knows them.
- The spread of the gun is pretty high.
Of the perks for the crew, you must first pump a light bulb to the commander, the gunner and the rest of the repair. Also from the equipment you need to buy a Rammer, stabilizer and aiming drives.
Super pershing (T26E4) is breaking through to the places shown in the photo below.
To be honest, it will be difficult for a person who does not know how to cope with this dance.
What perks to pump out in the first place is, of course, a fighting brotherhood as well as repair and a light bulb for the commando. Leave the rest for later.
- Video of the machine how to farm and where it breaks, see below.
t26e4-super-pershing-obzor
Heavy Tank T26E1-1 (T26E4)
"Super Pershing"
Main characteristics
Briefly
In detail
6.3 / 6.3 / 6.3 BR
5 people Crew
105% Visibility
forehead / side / stern Reservation
101/76/51 buildings
101/76/76 towers
Mobility
49.9 tonnes Weight
954 l / s 500 l / s Engine power
19 hp / t 10 hp / t specific
42 km / h forward
13 km / h ago40 km / h forward
12 km / h ago Speed
Armament
42 rounds ammunition
10 shells of the first stage
12.5 / 16.2 sec recharge
10 ° / 20 ° UHN
1,000 rounds ammunition
8.0 / 10.4 sec recharge
200 rounds clip size
577 rounds / min rate of fire
10 ° / 70 ° UHN
60 ° / 60 ° UGN
4,500 rounds ammunition
8.0 / 10.4 sec recharge
250 rounds clip size
500 rounds / min rate of fire
Economy
Description
T26E1-1 "Super Pershing" in the game
The Heavy Tank T26E4 was an American attempt to qualitatively strengthen the armament of the serial M26, bringing it to the level of the "Royal Tiger". After the installation of a new long-barreled 90-mm cannon, the combat power of the tank really increased significantly, however, numerous problems caused by the overweight of the vehicle and the inconvenience of loading longer casings led to the fact that with the end of the war, interest in this project completely faded away.
The Super Pershing tank was the first prototype of the T26E4, and before that was the first prototype of the regular M26, which explains its original designation T26E1-1, which was officially changed to T26E4 shortly after the tank was rearmed. The same tank, after being rearmed with a new weapon, was sent to Europe to test its combat qualities. It was there that he acquired additional armor and his big name. Unlike all subsequent T26E4s, armed with T15E2 cannons with separate loading, the T26E1-1 was armed with an earlier version of the T15E1 cannon using unitary ammunition.
Taking into account the first two prototypes, a total of 27 T26E4 tanks were built, most of which were later used as targets for test firing.
Main characteristics
Armor protection and survivability
Frontal screens
Frontal booking scheme
Scheme of onboard and stern booking
Compared to the regular M26, the T26E1-1 heavy tank has become somewhat more protected.
Sheets of structural steel welded on top of the frontal armor plates of the hull actually only slightly increase the overall armor resistance of the tank, but due to their spaced location, they increase the likelihood of an enemy shell ricochet. The total thickness of the VLD, along with these sheets, increases from 101 to approximately 139 mm of non-monolithic spaced armor. The NLD on the T26E1-1 also receives its 38mm spaced armor bonus, bringing its overall thickness to approximately 114mm.
The gun mask of the modified tank received a much more interesting "patch". To the standard 114-mm cast armor was added an 80-mm rolled armor plate cut from the frontal part of the German Panther, which brought the total protection of this section of the Super Pershing to 194 mm. In this case, in some places the tank's mask overlaps the main turret armor, which adds another 101 mm of cast armor on the path of unsuccessfully fired enemy shells. On the sides of the gun mantlet, additional 38-mm sheets of structural steel are welded there as counterweights, which also slightly increase the side armor of the turret, and sometimes even serve as ersatz anti-cumulative screens.
The side armor of the tank, on the other hand, has not undergone any changes. Most of the sides of the Super Pershing's hull are covered with standard 76-mm plates to the stern, thinning to 50 mm. The tower is covered with 76-mm armor on all sides except for the forehead, however, the rear part of the aft niche is partially covered by a tower counterweight made of structural steel with a thickness of 100 mm.
The thickness of the hull roof reaches 22 mm, and the turret is 25 mm, which provides good protection against most aircraft machine guns and cannons up to 20 mm caliber.
In the conditions of the game, additional armor saves the "Super Pershing" quite often, especially if you expose only the forehead of the tower to the enemy's blow, avoiding rolling out from behind cover with the whole body at once. Additional protection for the tank is provided by the frequent confusion of the enemy at the sight of such a heavily shielded vehicle. As a result of such confusion, most often the enemy tries to penetrate the T26E1-1 into the most protected place, that is, into the gun's mask, since upon a cursory examination the mask seems to be the least inclined part of its frontal projection.
Despite the advantages described above, it is always important to remember in battle that the Super Pershing is still not a full-fledged heavy tank, and therefore its armor is noticeably inferior to those of the T29 and T34, having a considerable number of vulnerable zones. Yes, under a lucky coincidence, the "Royal Tiger" will not be able to penetrate the "Super Pershing" on the move, but you cannot count on the invulnerability of this tank, and therefore it is advisable not to be exposed to the blow once again.
The survivability of the T26E1-1, like all other Pershing, is average. The presence of 5 crew members located in different parts of the tank gives him a good chance to continue the battle even after repeated penetration of armor with extremely dangerous chamber shells, but at the same time, decent ammunition, located mainly in the hull under the tower, makes the probability of detonation when a shell hits the side almost inevitable ... To increase the survivability of the vehicle, it is recommended to take into battle only the minimum required supply of shells.
Mobility
Suspension skew is visible to the naked eye
Compared to the basic version of the Pershing, after all the modifications, the Super Pershing became heavier by more than 8 tons, which could not but affect the already not better mobility of the vehicle. The T26E1-1 accelerates and maintains speed as it is not the fastest heavy tank, and the permanent tilt of the suspension towards the nose of the vehicle can be seen just by looking at the profile of the overweight tank. The Super Pershing also does not feel well on slopes, as a result of which the maximum climb angle of the machine has decreased.
The highest speed of the T26E1-1 when driving over rough terrain is about 32 km / h and the tank develops this speed very slowly. Despite a serious decrease in overall dynamics, "Super Pershing" managed to maintain a good turning rate in place, which, together with a fast rotating turret, allow it to quickly respond to threats arising on the flanks.
The Super Pershing's low mobility imposes obvious limitations on its use on the battlefield. From the very beginning of the battle, it is necessary to choose the direction and preferred combat tactics, otherwise by the beginning of the firefight the T26E1-1 may be in the wrong place and completely at the wrong time, and such a heavy tank will not be able to quickly change its position.
Armament
Main weapon
The main advantage and primary reason for the appearance of this modification of the T26 is its powerful 90 mm T15E1 cannon. The longer barrel length and more gunpowder in the case allows the same M82 chamber projectile, which is used in the standard 90-mm Pershing cannon, to accelerate to a speed of 975 m / s versus 807 m / s when fired from an M3 cannon. The increase in speed gives rise to an increase in armor penetration - 204 mm versus 165 mm at close range at a right angle when fired with an M82 chamber projectile. This difference directly affects the combat effectiveness of the T26E1-1. A shot from a T15E1 cannon can hit the "Royal Tiger" in the forehead of the tower at any real combat distance, with any of the available types of armor-piercing ammunition. The die-hard Panthers are also hit in the forehead without any problems.
The improved armor-piercing capability of the new gun had a significant impact on its ballistic qualities. The T26E1-1 is capable of fighting at long distances while maintaining the ability to successfully defeat almost any enemy tank, and even a beginner's skills will be enough to accurately hit the target. In case of unforeseen situations, the T26E1-1 ammunition load contains a sub-caliber projectile with a non-detachable reel tray, but it is not required to use it in practice in most cases (well, except for a duel with the "Mouse"). The T15E1 cannon's vertical guidance angles are also doing very well. Downward, the gun descends by as much as 10 °, which makes it possible to successfully use the folds of the terrain as cover.
The features described above allow the Super Pershing to be used as a sniper vehicle, because even at a distance of a kilometer from the target, it can penetrate up to 143 mm of rolled homogeneous armor at an angle of 60 ° with the M82 armor-piercing chamber projectile. The lethality of these chamber shells leaves the enemy a little chance to survive after the first successful shot.
Machine gun armament
The Super Pershing's machine gun armament is represented by the twin M1919A4 rifle and the excellent M2HB heavy machine gun:
- The coaxial 7.62-mm Browning M1919A4 machine gun on the T26E1-1 (like on most other American tanks) plays a purely auxiliary role and becomes really useful only after the loss of the tank commander, who can fire from the large-caliber Ma Deuce. Apart from its caliber and coaxial location with the cannon, this machine gun has practically no drawbacks and is an excellent rapid-fire and lethal weapon.
- The Browning M2HB large-caliber anti-aircraft machine gun is one of the best heavy machine guns in the game, and due to its location on the turret roof, it is capable of firing not only at ground targets, but also at air targets. This machine gun can serve not only as a "marker" of already destroyed enemy tanks, but is also capable of effectively fighting enemy light armored vehicles and assault aircraft. Its main drawback is the loss of control in the event of the death or transfer of the tank commander to another place.
Use in battle
Destruction of the "Royal Tiger" with the Sla.16 engine by a shot to the right sponson
Due to the combination of its characteristics, the T26E1-1 can be used both as direct support of the offensive and for organizing unexpected sniper ambushes.
In the first case, though not the best, but quite tolerable for its battle rating, booking comes to the aid of "Super Pershing". An experienced player will be able to choose the right position and impose his own battle conditions on the enemy, exposing only the most armored forehead of the tower to the enemy's sight. At the same time, the T26E1-1 gun has enough lethality to defeat most enemy tanks head-on, which makes flanking bypasses unnecessary. For the latter, by the way, "Super Pershing" often lacks speed, so the availability of acceptable armor and an excellent gun comes in handy. A rather long reload speed of the gun can become an unpleasant moment in aggressive tactics, but with the right choice of targets, this tank will not need to take an extra shot.
On the offensive, the T26E1-1 will feel best in the second ranks, but at critical moments it can even try on the role of a real heavy tank, acting at the very edge of the attack.
Another tactic for Super Pershing could be the role of a tank sniper. Its powerful 90mm cannon is capable of dealing with most enemies even at considerable distances, and good elevation angles will only help with this, reliably covering the tank in the folds of rough terrain. Having taken a comfortable position on the edge or at the topographic top of the map, the T26E1-1 will be able to cause a lot of trouble for enemies, and its frontal armor at a considerable distance can perform much better.
It is impossible to call the "Super Pershing" an unambiguously excellent tank, for this it lacks either slightly more reliable armor or mobility. Nevertheless, having its drawbacks, the tank is also not devoid of significant advantages. For players familiar with the game, the T26E1-1 can be a nice addition to the combat experience, and for beginners it will serve as an excellent example of a well-balanced machine.
Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages:
- The most powerful weapon with lethal chamber shells
- Good elevation angles
- Good gun mantlet armor
- Decent speed of tank turning and turret rotation
- The presence of an excellent anti-aircraft machine gun
Disadvantages:
- Mediocre speed and dynamics of acceleration of the car
- Slow gun reload
- Insufficiently reliable booking on the sides and in the stern of the tank
Historical reference
You can find the main history of the creation of the M26 tank in the corresponding article.
Creation of T26E4
90 mm T15 cannon
In terms of its ballistic characteristics, the 90mm M3 cannon was very similar to the German 88mm KwK 36 cannon, which was armed with the German Tiger, since both of these guns were based on heavy anti-aircraft guns. With the advent of the Germans' more powerful version of the 88mm KwK 43 tank gun, which was installed on the Royal Tiger, and its anti-tank counterpart Pak 43, the need to develop a more powerful gun, this time from the American side, became obvious. It was for this purpose that the new 90 mm T15 cannon was hastily developed and installed on a towed gun carriage for firing tests. The new gun was 73 caliber (6.57 meters) long and had a much wider and longer breech. To speed up the production of two subsequent barrels, it was decided to use the blanks already available at Watervliet Arsenal. These blanks turned out to be slightly shorter than the required length for the T15 (about 70 calibers), so the resulting guns received a separate designation T15E1. To further increase the power of the shot, in addition to lengthening the barrel, the shell case for this gun was also lengthened, due to which the muzzle velocity of the T30E16 APCR projectile from it was 1143 m / s. The T33 solid armor-piercing projectile fired from the new gun had an initial velocity of 975 m / s and was capable of penetrating the Panther's upper frontal armor plate from a distance of 2400 meters.
T26E1-1 with the T15E1 gun at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds - note the exposed springs with no housings yet and the counterweight on the rear of the turret
Second prototype T26E4 with T15E2 gun - note that on the second prototype the springs were shrouded immediately, and the counterweight on the rear side of the turret looks the same as on the T26E1-1
Pre-production T26E4 - this tank looks almost like a full-fledged production model, the new hydropneumatic balancer of the gun has been removed inside the turret, and the turret counterweight has become much less bulky
The outstanding booking of the German "Royal Tigers" and "Panthers" made the installation of such a gun on a tank highly desirable, and the most suitable candidate for this role was the heavy Pershing, which had just been launched into series. For the purpose of testing, the T15E1 cannon was installed on the first prototype T26E1 (registration number 30103292) at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds and fired there. The results of the shooting showed that it was extremely inconvenient to load such a gun with elongated ammunition in a cramped tank turret. The total length of the solid T33 projectile was 127 centimeters, so taking into account the increased breech size, it was not easy to push them into the chamber, but also simply to get them out of standard ammunition packs. To eliminate this inconvenience, the gun was redesigned for separate-case loading with composite shots. A similar system provided for charging the projectile itself into the chamber first, and then the cartridge case was sent after it. Shells and casings were stored in separate stacks, and the noses of the casings were pre-sealed. After a similar modification for separate-case loading, the gun was renamed T15E2. In March 1945, it was decided to rename all Pershing with new cannons to T26E4 and to order the construction of a limited series of 1000 such vehicles instead of an equivalent part of the order for the standard T26E3.
The first two prototypes of the rearmed Pershing were assembled at the Wellman Engineering Company and featured a pair of counterweight springs on the turret that compensated for the weight of the heavier gun barrel. Also, the new tanks differed from the usual Pershing by the installation of heavier vertical aiming drives, turret traverse, and a redesigned marching stop for the new gun. To compensate for the overweight of the turret itself, an additional counterweight was welded on its rear side, and the ammunition pads were rearranged to accommodate composite shots.
The first prototype, which was already mentioned above, after the firing at the Aberdeen Proving Ground on January 12, 1945, was sent to Europe. Ironically, this tank, originally designated T26E1 number 1 (abbreviated as T26E1-1), turned out to be not only the first prototype of the original Pershing built, but also the first prototype of its rearmed version. The T26E1-1 did not receive a new gun with a separate-case loading, and its subsequent adventures in Europe will be described below. The second prototype, the T26E4, was based on the production version of the Pershing, the T26E3, numbered 97, and was armed with a new version of the T15E2 cannon.
Already serial T26E4 on trials at Fort Knox
The design of the in-tower hydropneumatic balancer for the gun was developed and implemented in production of all serial T26E4s, so the springs on the turret remained an exclusive feature of the first two prototypes. The rearranged stowage of shells made it possible to carry up to 54 separate-case loading rounds in the tank. Apart from the changes needed to control the heavier cannon, the T119's gun mount was identical to the standard Pershing mount. The coaxial 7.62 mm machine gun remained the same, but a new M71E4 sight was installed corresponding to the ballistics of a more powerful cannon, and the turret was equipped with a hydraulic swing arm. The vertical guidance angles ranged from -10 to +20 degrees, and it was decided to abandon the implementation of the gun stabilization system. The total mass of production tanks with the new gun increased to 44 tons, while the standard T26E3 weighed 41.5 tons.
At the end of the war in Europe, the order for the T26E4 was reduced to 25 vehicles that were built on the Fisher Tank Arsenal. Tests carried out at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in January 1947 revealed problems with the speed of the separate-case reloading of the T15E2 gun. The fact is that even with separate loading, the sleeve still remained too long, and this did not particularly improve the already reduced rate of fire. With the final end of hostilities and the appearance of more successful models of unitary shells, interest in guns with separate loading and completely disappeared. In addition, the new tank turned out to be inconvenient in operation due to the too long gun, which every now and then strove to hook the ground even on minor descents, and the fortified drives and balancers coped with their task with difficulty. Based on the test results, it was concluded that the T26E4 has many disadvantages and is inferior to the T26E3 in a number of important parameters, such as rate of fire, maneuverability of fire and the ability to overcome some obstacles. Nobody began to accept a vehicle with such a verdict, so most of the T26E4 was subsequently used as target tanks. Only one T26E4 has survived to this day, which is located in Cantigny Park in Wheaton, Illinois.
Super Pershing in Europe
Already shielded, but still without additional counterweights on the turret, T26E4 at the end of March 1945
This photo clearly shows a strong preponderance of the front of the tank.
On March 15, 1945, the T26E1-1 tank, already rearmed and renamed T26E4, ended up in Europe, or rather, at the location of the 3rd Armored Division, in the recently captured German city of Cologne. Captain Elmer Gray, from the technical staff, was directly involved in the acceptance of this tank and was forced to face a number of unforeseen problems. The first problem was discovered pretty soon, when it turned out that the special telescopic sight, corresponding to the ballistics of the new weapon, was replaced by the standard M71C sight, which were installed on ordinary Pershing. At the same time, an expert on 90-mm Pershing guns, Slim Price, who was also part of the Zebra mission, personally installed a new telescopic sight on the Super Pershing at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, before leaving for Europe. Among the equipment that arrived with the tank, the desired sight was not, so Captain Gray, upon arrival in Paris, was forced to turn directly to Lieutenant McDougle, who was responsible for the new tank until it was delivered to the location of the 3rd armored vehicle. Captain Gray's response from Lieutenant McDougle did not please. It turns out that the sight was replaced with a new one during the preparation of the tank for transportation from the United States, where overly zealous workers at the dispatch point could not send the tank into the war zone with some strange and non-standard sighting device. Due to the impossibility of obtaining the necessary sight for the "Super Pershing", Slim Price had to spend some time calculating and drawing up the firing table for the new gun, taking into account the use of a standard sight.
A week earlier, Captain Gray had to solve another problem with the delivery of ammunition for the "Super Pershing" gun to the wrong "address". Unitary shells 127 centimeters long were mistakenly delivered to the 635th tank destroyer battalion. Earlier, 90-mm T8 guns on towed carriages T5E2 (another type of new weapon tested by combat during the Zebra mission) were delivered to the same battalion for testing purposes, as an anti-tank field analogue of the Pershing guns. The T8 cannons have not previously been used by the troops, which is why all this confusion occurred, but in fact they fired the same standard ammunition as the 90mm M3 cannons. The erroneous delivery was found only thanks to a call from the 635th battalion, where the artillerymen were seriously interested in why the delivered shells bulged out of the breech by as much as 30 centimeters when trying to drive them into the barrel.
At the location of the 3rd armored tank, the Super Pershing was actively preparing for the first battle. As instructed by Slim Price, the maintenance battalion equipped the tank with additional armor and makeshift steel baskets at the rear of the hull. A detailed description of the work done on this machine can be read in the memoirs of Belton Cooper, who served as a technician in that very battalion:
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The artillery and technical supply department was especially interested in testing the new tank in battles with the "Royal Tigers". We had already lost several new Pershing to German anti-tank guns with a high muzzle velocity and knew that the armor of our vehicles was still inferior to that of the German Tigers. I was instructed to develop and install additional armor protection on the new tank. Several large sheets of 38mm boiler steel were found in well-equipped German workshops. We decided to make the frontal armor multi-layered. From two sheets of boiler steel, we cut V-shaped plates to fit the wedge of the front armor. The Pershing's frontal armor plates were positioned at an angle of 38 ° to the horizontal or 52 ° to the vertical, which was considered a critical angle for ricochet. This gave zero clearance along the top edge of the sheet and about 75 mm at the bend where the frontal armor met the front of the bottom.
38 mm spaced screens on the upper armor plate of the hull The second boiler steel sheet, cut in the same way, was installed at an angle of 30 ° over the first, and the gap at the point of articulation with the bottom was already from 180 to 200 mm. Thus, the front of the tank was protected by 102 mm of the original cast frontal armor and two sheets of 38 mm boiler steel with a gap between them. We figured that, despite the relative softness of the boiler steel, the layering and lower bevel angle would allow the German shells to ricochet. The reinforced protection added about five tons of weight to the tank, and I had to use a slide rule to calculate how much this would increase the load on the front shoulder of the torsion bar and road wheels.
The gun mask after all the modifications made - you can also see homemade feed baskets above the tracks Then we cut out a piece of 80mm thick frontal armor of a padded German Panther and trimmed it down to 150 x 60cm. In the center we cut a hole for the gun barrel and two smaller ones on the sides for the coaxial machine gun and scope. We put this plate on the barrel of the cannon, pushed it up to the armored canopy and welded it tightly to the armor. Since it weighed almost 650 kg, the center of gravity of the barrel shifted 35 centimeters forward from the trunnions. The Super Pershing already had balancing springs mounted on the turret and on the mask that was originally on the tank. It was assumed that they compensate for the increased length of the barrel, but the springs could not withstand the additional load, and the barrel skewed forward. The mechanical gearbox inside the turret, which was supposed to raise and lower the barrel, could not cope with the increased weight. For balance, we cut out a pair of strangely shaped counterweights from two sheets of 38-mm boiler steel: a little more than a meter long, they had a constant width of 30 cm for the first 45 centimeters, and then expanded twice. We welded them with narrow ends to the sides of the canopy made of Panther armor, so that wide counterweights protruded back and along the sides of the tower. Thus, the heavier part was on the other side of the trunk trunnions and compensated for the heaviness of the canopy. This helped, although it was still difficult for the gunner to lift the barrel with the hand hoist. It was obvious that these counterweights were not enough and additional weight should be added to them - but how many and where? My limited knowledge of theoretical mechanics suggested that this would require complex calculations, and we did not have enough time or data. That's what Major Arrington was hinting at when he sarcastically about my slide rule. We decided to use the "poke method". After cutting several sheets of sheet steel 38 mm thick and measuring 30 x 60 cm, we hung them one at a time on the rear edge of the counterweight using clamps. Moving the weights back and forth, through trial and error, we found a balance point at which the implement could be raised and lowered by hand, and then welded the plates into place. When the gun looked forward, the tank resembled an attacking mad elephant. The long barrel resembled a trunk, massive counterweights protruding on the sides were like ears, and the holes in the gun mask for a machine gun and a sight were like eyes. We hoped the tank would make the same impression on the Germans! A counterweight was originally installed on the turret to compensate for the heaviness of the long barrel. We increased its weight - otherwise, when the tank was overcoming the slopes, even the hydraulic swing mechanism could hardly cope with aiming. We noted the presence of a similar problem with the German "Panthers": on a more or less noticeable slope, if the gun initially looked down, it took the German gunner a lot of time to turn the turret in the direction of the ridge using a manual pivoting mechanism. As a result, the weight of the Super Pershing increased by seven tons. We re-measured the underbody clearance and found that the road wheels were sagging 5 centimeters deeper than normal. Because of this, the feed of the tank rose, like the tail of a drake in the mating season. But, despite the ridiculous look, although the car must have lost a dozen kilometers per hour of speed, its 550-horsepower engine still had enough power. |
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This photo clearly shows the final view of the main tower counterweight. We tested the tank on the move and then drove it to the edge of the pit for trial shooting. After searching around, we found a suitable target: a German self-propelled gun "Yagdpanzer IV", knocked out by a single shot into the side and not burned out. We hooked it with a tractor and towed it to the opposite edge of the quarry, on the first ledge about fifteen meters below ground level, setting the self-propelled gun with its frontal part towards us. The distance to the target was about 2400 m. The T15E1 gun used standard 90 mm shells, but the separate loading sleeve was longer(here Cooper was obviously just mistaken in his memories, because the rearmed T26E1-1 used, though elongated, but still unitary ammunition) to accommodate a larger propellant charge. At first, to load the gun, two people were required, but with a certain experience, one could cope with this, albeit not without difficulty. Well, a prototype of a new tank simply cannot be flawless. Major Johnson sent several men from the 33rd Armored Regiment to serve as the crew. It so happened that we both mentored them and learned ourselves. The gunnery sergeant in charge of the shooting had adjusted the sight in advance, so that everything was ready to fire. I made sure that everyone stood on the sides of the tank or behind it, so that no one would be hit by gases escaping from the muzzle brake. Standing behind the Sherman, one could follow with a glance how its projectile flies out of the muzzle and rushes towards the target, slightly descending. The Pershing shot looked completely different. We barely noticed the first shell. It seemed as if he even lifted a little off the ground before hitting the target. It was, of course, an illusion, but the effect of the shot was amazing. When the shell hit the armor, sparks shot up into the air in a fountain of twenty meters, as if a gigantic grinding wheel had touched a self-propelled gun. And when we examined the target, my tongue was taken away. A 90-mm projectile pierced 100 millimeters of armor, then interrupted the drive shaft of the last stage of the gearbox, passed through the fighting compartment, pierced the aft bulkhead, passed the 100-mm crankshaft of the Maybach self-propelled engine, and, having pierced a 25-mm sheet of aft armor, buried itself into the ground so deep that we never found it. Although the supply officers from the Aberdeen Proving Ground assured us that the new tank gun was capable of penetrating 330 millimeters of armor from 90 meters, until now we could not believe in such overwhelming power. It became clear that we had in our hands a weapon capable of knocking the spirit out of the most powerful German tank, the Tiger. We instructed the new crew on firing the cannon and allowed each one to fire one shot. I had to explain that it is more difficult to load a cannon with special ammunition than with conventional, shorter ones, and the additional armor makes the vehicle heavier; however, the tankers would soon find out themselves. Although the tank was now additionally armored, it was not worth risking it out of stupidity. Our task was to put the vehicle into battle under optimal conditions and see what it was capable of in a collision with German armored vehicles. The crew was so happy to receive the new car that they were willing to put up with any inconvenience. I believe the tankers believed that the most powerful vehicle in the American, German and Soviet armies would increase their chances of survival. I asked Major Johnson to see to it that the crew took a closer look at the condition of the machine, especially the final drive, engine and tracks, as seven tons of excess weight could eventually lead to breakdowns. But despite this, I was sure that the tank would cope with the combat mission. |
In early April 1945, the Super Pershing finally had a chance to take a real, albeit very short, battle. Cooper describes the event as follows:
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It was on this armored dump that the first prototype of the M26 and T26E4 ended up. The Germans managed to blow up most of the bridges across the Weser. However, Battle Group B, with heavy fighting, managed to capture a bridgehead in the lower reaches of the river, crossing it in several places. The Germans in the area of the bridgeheads were destroyed or taken prisoner, and the division at a forced pace moved to Northeim. It was in these places, between Weser and Northeim, that our "Super Pershing" finally entered the battle. The German units retreating from the bridgehead left several isolated strong points on our way. One such firing point on the slope of a forested hill one and a half kilometers from us opened fire on our column. The leader of the column, Super Pershing, turned the turret and fired armor-piercing at the car on the hillside. A fountain of blinding sparks rose up, the debris flew into the sky about fifteen meters, and we heard the deafening roar of the explosion. The unknown vehicle was either a tank or a self-propelled gun, the APC would have exploded with less noise. The rest of the vehicles in our column opened fire from tank guns and machine guns, and soon the Germans withdrew from the battle. Although we did not know for sure what kind of vehicle our Super Pershing knocked out, we knew for sure that at such a distance the 76mm Sherman gun could not have knocked out either the Panther or the Tiger. Nobody wanted to check what exactly it was. The Super Pershing sniffed the gunpowder and, as far as I know, never took part in any other battle. - Belton Youngblood Cooper - Deadly Traps: The Survival of the American Armored Division in World War II |
On this, the combat use of the "Super Pershing" ended, and the rumors about its collision with the "Royal Tiger" are most likely just a myth, since there is no official confirmation of that battle. The first prototype of the M26 and T26E4 ended its long journey rather ingloriously, in a junkyard near the German city of Kassel, where it was discovered in June 1945 by Colonel George Jarrett, who made a series of memorable photographs of this unusual combat vehicle.
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Pre-production T26E4 - Redesigned counterweight can be clearly seen when viewed from behind
Review video guide tank Super Pershing World of Tanks
With update 0.7.5, the game has a new premium medium tank of the eighth level Super Pershing in World of Tanks. It arouses genuine interest in the community and it is not surprising, because it is not only an interesting technique for the game, but also a farm machine that can fill the owner's pockets with ringing silver coins. And with this, the new one is all right: he gets a lot due to the increased profitability, the shells are cheap for him, and it is spent in moderation on repairs, you will almost always remain in the black, even if you lose in a not very successful battle. And if you act correctly, get a lot of damage, and even win, silver will pour into your car like a deep river. The convenient level of battles contributes to this a lot, the ninth levels you will see on Super Pershing World of Tanks not too often and not very much.
But enough about the premium features. The first thing to understand when buying this tank is, in fact, it is not a ST. It can be compared to rather than noisy ST-shkami. Its dynamics are, well, very dreary, judge for yourself: the heaviest of the medium tanks of the eighth tier is also the owner of the crappy engine. Super Pershing drives slowly, accelerates sadly, but as soon as we squeeze the gas button, he instantly forgets that he was going somewhere and starts playing in the bunker with a cannon. Super Pershing inherited only a gun from his classmates, his gun is similar to the one that is in service with Ordinary Pershing. Average damage 220, armor penetration 170 HP. The figures are not very impressive, but since we hit the goal as often as Kirzhakov, there are more than enough of them. The accuracy and speed of aiming, of course, is not ideal, but it is enough to target the enemy's pain points. And we break through every little thing of the seventh and below level without any problems at all. However, the most significant advantage of this tank, both in terms of value and weight, is its frontal armor. 114 mm steel on the lower armor plate, 140 - on the upper one, plus 38 mm screens here and there. On the gun mask 114 mm steel and 88 - a screen. The characteristics of Super Pershing, he has so much armor that he can sacrifice it to the beggars and throw himself at passers-by. Taking into account the good inclination, even with a properly screwed case it can be a fool. On the other hand, only those who have run out of shells and have more than enough vulnerable spots on their foreheads do not penetrate us with karma. In the piggy bank of merits, you can also write down the ability to pump the crew on and the smoothness of movement, on the move this tank shoots with very decent accuracy. The combination of a medium-powered cannon and very, very durable armor allows the use of two completely different tactics in style and requirement.
Super Pershing Farm Guide and Profitability
Tactic 1: Super Pershing WOT - Support Tank. We still ride slowly and tragically, so why should we climb forward, move in the second rows, hide from artillery and do not climb forward. Standing at a medium distance or behind the broad backs of comrades in arms, we methodically make our not very large, but very valuable contribution to the damage bank. Well, or we just harm enemies, for example, knocking down caterpillars. The tactic is quite safe, since to a certain extent it insures you against getting into karma and board, and targeting vulnerable points on your forehead outside of close combat is a very difficult task. The result is a kind of harmful, annoying turret: they don't allow you to get into close combat, it shoots painfully, but at an average distance, hit it, try it. Recommended for those who have not yet had time to dash off a thousand - another fight and do not feel very confident at high levels. For this tactic, we recommend the following set of equipment: a rammer to increase dpm, enlightened optics in order to better notice enemies at a distance and enhanced aiming drives. We load the equipment in a classic way: a repair kit and a first-aid kit, and in the last slot a fire extinguisher, preferably automatic. If you believe in the incombustibility of your engine and want better dynamics, then fill the tank with hundred-octane gasoline, but at your own peril and risk, a fire extinguisher is generally still preferable.
Review video guide Super Pershing t26e4 World of Tanks
Tactic 2: Super Pershing t26e4 -. And why not, and what, what is written in the middle, we, in the end, know better. You do remember that our main opponents, most often, will be tier 7-8 tanks, and they don't need anything to break through our super-strong, super-surfing forehead, they won't break through anyway. Therefore, we play classic heavyweight - we do not stand behind, we climb into close combat, attack with our forehead, cover our skinny, lightly armored comrades. Again, our picking stick penetrates from a short distance a little more vigorously, and it is easier to target the weak points of enemy tanks close up. The main thing in this tactic is to remember that the sides and karma of the tank are paper, which means that we have no need to fly to the front line. It is necessary to move in the first line, but slowly and measuredly. The function will not allow us to roll out quickly and decisively retreat - the power has fled, and the enemy behind karma is a sure sign of an early transition to observers. However, even with the forehead, not everything is so simple, there are also vulnerabilities on it, there are a lot of them, therefore, without competent dances, turns and attentiveness, you will never pave the way to a brighter future with your armored facade. For clarity, here are some tips on behavior in close combat. First: turn the body so that the machine gun on the front end is more difficult to target, for example, like this or like this.
Video guide super pershing World of Tanks
Second: turn the tower to the right, it is more difficult to target the turret with pipes on the roof, besides, many people aim not at the ledge itself, but at the pipes, which, when fired from the side, gives an excellent chance to send the pig into milk. Third: turn the tower carefully, follow the movement of the enemy's barrel and show him exclusively a mask. Remember, the enemy will not miss the opportunity to lash your tender cheeks if you substitute them for him. With the proper use of your hands, playing as a heavy tank, you will be of more value to both the team and yourself. But personal skill in this variant requires a little more. For this tactic, the following set of additional modules is suitable: a rammer - the damage per minute is relevant to us always and everywhere, enlightened optics, we are driving in the forefront, which means that we need to be vigilant and a fan that increases the efficiency of the tank as a whole. However, if for some reason, religious or ideological, the fan does not suit you, feel free to use drives or a stabilizer. For equipment, the recommendations remain the same: first aid kit, repair kit and automatic fire extinguisher. As for the skills of the crew, first of all we download the repair, and the commander - the light bulb. Then we strongly recommend that everyone download the fighting brotherhood, it looks too good with a fan. Of the other skills, a virtuoso will be useful - in close combat we need to turn our foreheads towards the enemy, which means that the tank's turning speed will not be superfluous at all.
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