dano6 Posted June 24, 1999 Share Posted June 24, 1999 In the vehicle list I did not see the US M4A1 76mm(W) with applied armor. It was very common in the 3rd armor div. for these tanks to have a 2 in. flat plate welded to the front of the tanks using spacers and connecting bars. The flat plate gave standoff protection due to the gaps created by the cast hull M4A1. This was effective against front hits by panzerfausts and added 2 in. to penetration by AP rounds. This mod was started sometime after Jan. 1945. Can't find an actual date in any of my references for the mod start date. Will these mods be graphically represented? What about the sandbag modifications to the shermans? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted June 24, 1999 Share Posted June 24, 1999 We do represent the M4A3(76)W with the additional armor kit. We haven't seen any direct evidence of the kit being applied to the M4A1, so that's why it wasn't on the list. If you have any, could you email it to me at feedback@bigtimesoftware.com? Thanks. It's questionable, due to the rounded nature of the M4A1 hull, whether the M4A1 would gain as much protection from the kit as the M4A3 did. Armor resists best as a unified mass, not as two separate plates. On the M4A3 the kit fits (mostly) flush with the existing glacis plate, but this would not (I imagine) be the case on the M4A1. Thus, the extra two inches of armor would - balistically speaking - probably offer only half the effective protection (i.e. maybe 1 inch worth, not 2). As for panzerfausts, an extra two inches or so of standoff would not help. The inherent standoff range of a PF is about four inches (the distance from the front of the hollow shell to the shaped charge inside). Interestingly, the optimum standoff range for a panzerfaust charge, mathematically speaking, is approximately ten inches (about 2.5 times the diameter of the charge), though it's only slightly greater than the penetration achieved from the four-inch standoff the weapon actually uses. So adding two inches to the standoff (4 + 2 extra = 6) would actually increase the penetration just slightly. You'd have to add roughly 24 inches (600 mm) extra standoff just to cut the panzerfaust's penetrative capability in half. (Note: this is why German schüerzen were reasonably effective against shaped-charge projectiles like the bazooka - the standoff range was a couple of feet, which is what's required). Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Beman Posted June 25, 1999 Share Posted June 25, 1999 That I did not know! However, what does this say about all the modern applications of spaced armor? Is it effective? (I'm thinking that most modern spaced armor isn't spaced at two feet of gap. DjB ------------------ A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing personal opinion. remove the caps letters in my address to email me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted June 25, 1999 Share Posted June 25, 1999 I'm getting out of my depth a little when it comes to modern armor. But my understanding of modern spaced armor is that often it's thicker than the 2 inches in the above example, but more importantly, the material in the "space" is often a modern ceramic or other material that is able to absorb tremendous amounts of heat. So the first layer of armor pre-detonates the incoming shaped charge, and then the ceramic layer absorbs/deflects (?) the jet of superhot gas, weakening it to the point where it cannot penetrate the second layer of armor. Or something like that! Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted June 25, 1999 Share Posted June 25, 1999 I don't know that much about this stuff, but I am pretty sure the modern armor is a laminate of layers of hardened steel and ceramics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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