Sherman Tank, Hatches- Can they be locked from the inside?

[browningautorifle]

Not necessarily, the crew just might be hamburger.

Depends on the ammo load I should think. And where you hit it with what. Most of the Syrian tanks we saw after were still sitting where they were hit years later...some are still there.

Here's an example. Hard to say what the hit really was done by, looks like editing of the beginning. This is a typical tank cooking though... There's lots to examine.

It was possible on a tank so secured to gain access by tapping on the drivers IR periscope mount cover. With a bit of patience and luck you could get the periscope lid to unlatch

That took lots of time and usually the guys would be standing there coaching you, because your keys were sitting on the seat inside...right where you left them.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[CINDERS]

Up Up & Away!........................................
Of the WWII doco's I have watched allot of infantry wished they were tankers but in reality when the tankers talked about their lot it was a pretty miserable existence when it was 110F degrees outside it was more inside the vehicle and when it was -10F it was colder still in the tank, then there is the maintaining of the thing with the tracks etc. Whilst in battle with the infantry with no exterior help as in A/T or tank killers you may have felt safe but I could think of nothing more fearful than getting into the battle with very limited view of the whole area just waiting for that 88mm AP round to come crashing through the hull to bounce around inside doing the deed on the flesh. Just like the Lee Grant whose riveted hull was more of a hazard to the crew if hit by anything which did not penetrate then the rivets were likely to break off and themselves do the stuff on the crew.

F10 he has done scads on a heap of AFV's if you think the Sheman Firefly crew was cramped have a look at the one with the Hetzer now that really is fish in a tin..........

[CINDERS]

This is what an 88mm AP round does to a Sherman please be aware that images contained in this WWII footage are a tad graphic;
https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&r...GRYHUBG81YZ1Yg

[old tanker]

RPG 7 hit, just above left hand turret rail,



RPG 7 penetration, note fragmentation marks and blast damage around the entrance hole. At that point on the turret and at that angle the 2.7 kg warhead has defeat about 150 mm of RHA.



View thru loader's hatch. The jetstream passed between the loader and the TC, over the top of the main gun, thru the pamphlet bag on the recoil shield then thru the radio.



Final score: RPG-7-1; RT-524-0. The tank crew was unhurt. M377 canister ensured the RPG team did not survive their encounter. (Pictures of the RPG team likely violate terms of service)



At ranges in excess of 100 meters or so, the rocket is slow enough that you know it is coming but too fast to do much about it except duck. That, at least, keeps the outside shrapnel from getting you. Unlike the spall from a HEP round, (HESH in the UK) the jetstream formed by a HEAT round stays compact, visualize tight stream from a water hose.

[CINDERS]

Is that an M-60 tank old tanker also was the 105mm cannister round the same type that the field pieces used were they called beehive rounds or was that what the 106 RCL fired. TIA

[old tanker]

That is an M48A3 tank, with gun, 90mm, M41.

Canister M336 was simple case shot. The M377 version had flechettes. Just a big shotgun shell, good to bout 400 meters and reliable as sin. APERS, aka "Beehive" is different round altogether. It had an option to delay the burst. The firing tables claimed that the round would burst roughly 75 meters short of the set range. The artillery had a similar projectile, but the rounds for the 105mm howitzer are little puny straight wall cases.



The TANK gun versions of the Beehive round had a time fuze that could be set from MA (muzzle action) to 4400 meters. Tank gun ammo has a larger bottle neck case and carries much more propellant. The fuze may have worked well for the artillery because their muzzle velocity was so low, but with tank guns it was notably erratic. We fired a lot of it with Master Gunner students at Fort Knox in the mid Seventies and it was obvious that the fuze was not capable of the timing accuracy needed to function as Ordnance claimed.

[old tanker]

As an aside, we could quickly tell if the guys shooting at us had fought tanks before. Amateurs, rookies, and most infantrymen shoot at the track and suspension. This would annoy us, as we would have to repair it and there are no lightweight tank parts. In retribution we would return fire with canister, white phosphorus and run over anything that was left. If they had survived previous encounters, we predominately took hits in the turret, most often directed at the TC and gunner. Knocking out the gun should be first priority.

[browningautorifle]

All of this specifically with the older RPG round...

[browningautorifle]

Depends mostly on what takes the hit, as stated the pamphlet bag won't explode but a live shell could. The blowtorch flame from the turret illustrated in the vid would be powder bags burning fiercely. Ammo cooks of course and if it all goes at once it high orders... There were ammo compartments internally to avoid this. Our Cougar tank trainer had a live rack just behind the gun, primers forward. The strike Old Tanker suffered would have detonated several of those I think. Also depends as he said on the type of ammo you're hit with. The RPGs of old aren't as fierce as the ones now. The RPG 18 for instance...improved.

[Flying10uk]

Ok thanks, Jim. Interesting information and not something that gets spoken about much.