This is more of just a historical post showcasing Sherman’s armour and how effective it was against different threats.
Now slope modifiers of shells are definitely dodgy in Enlisted / War Thunder, so I went with proper ones found in WWII ballistic book and implemented them properly into the calculation.
Originally I made this post as a FB one but I thought it was worth sharing here as well;
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M4A2 / M4A3 Sherman have 63.5mm at 47 degrees hull armour
So up to what range could German tanks penetrate this version of the Sherman reliably?
Since tanks don’t always perfectly have their armour facing the shooter and a driver who sees a threat is going to position the tank in a way that maximises his survival. Taking this into consideration, I’m adding 33 degrees horizontal angling to the equation to serve as the “Reliable Penetration” criteria and also because it brings the compound angle to overall 55 degrees which is easy to work with.
The following distances will represent a scenario where a penetration is more or less guaranteed even if the Sherman is angled perfectly and beyond these distances, if the Sherman is angled, penetration will not occur.
I’m also including “unreliable penetration possible” which will represent a scenario where the tanks armour is perfectly facing the shooter leaving the tank completely unanagled and the most vulnerable against the threat.
Panzer III M
50mm KwK39 L/60 (AP, 2.06kg shell at 835m/s)
Unreliable Pen: Penetration not possible
Reliable Pen: Penetration not possible
Panzer IV F.2
75mm KwK40 L/43 (APCBC, 6.8kg at 740m/s)
Unreliable Pen: Up to 600 meters
Reliable Pen: Up to 50 meters
Panzer IV H
75mm KwK40 L/48 (APCBC, 6.8kg at 770m/s
Unreliable Pen: Up to 800 meters
Reliable Pen: Up to 250 meters
Panther A
75mm KwK42 L/70 (APCBC, 6.8kg at 935m/s)
Unreliable Pen: Up to 1950 meters
Reliable Pen: Up to 1400 meters
Tiger I E
88mm KwK36 L/56 (APCBC, 10.2kg at 773m/s)
Unreliable Pen: Up to 2100 meters
Reliable Pen: Up to 1250 meters
Tiger II H
88mm KwK43 L/71 (APCBC, 10.2kg at 1000m/s)
Unreliable Pen: Up to 5000 meters
Reliable Pen: Up to 4000 meters
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Clearly I’m doing something right
since 75mm Pak40 AT gun (792m/s) is said to be able to penetrate M4 Sherman up to 1000 meters.