Type 5 75 mm tank gun
The Type 5 75 mm Tank Gun was used as the main armament of the Imperial Japanese Army Type 4 Chi-To prototype medium tank. It was one of the largest tank guns to be fitted on a World War II Japanese tank.[1][2] Due to late war shortage-induced delays only two were ever mounted in a completed Type 4 Chi-To, neither of which saw combat.[2]
Use
The Type 5 75 mm Tank Gun was intended as the main armament of the Type 4 Chi-To medium tank, a planned improvement over the Imperial Army's most powerful production tank, the Type 3 Chi-Nu.[3] The first prototype Type 4 Chi-To was delivered in 1944. Though the most advanced and powerful Japanese tank to leave the drawing board, late war industrial and material shortages resulted in only two being completed.[2]
The Type 4 Chi-To was manned by a crew of five [2][4] and fielded the long-barreled 75 mm L/56.4 (4.23 m) gun. A variant of the Japanese 1943 Type 4 75mm AA Gun,[5][6] it was mounted in a large, hexagonal turret and capable of being elevated between -6.5 to +20 degrees. Its 850 metres per second (2,800 ft/s) muzzle velocity gave it an armor penetration of 75 millimeters at 1,000 meters.
Intended Type 4 Chi-To production was 25 tanks per month spread over two Mitsubishi Heavy Industries factories. Late war shortage-induced delays resulted in only 6 chassis being built by 1945 and just two of which were completed. Neither completed tanks saw any combat prior to the end of the war in the Pacific.[2][7]
References
- ^ Tomczyk, Andrzej, Japanese Armor Vol. 4, AJ Press, 2005, pp. 18-22, 30. ISBN 83-7237-167-9.
- ^ a b c d e Zaloga, Steven J. Japanese Tanks 1939–45, Osprey Publishing, 2007, p. 22. ISBN 978-1-8460-3091-8.
- ^ Tomczyk, Japanese Armor Vol. 4, pp. 3, 5.
- ^ Tomczyk, Andrzej, Japanese Armor Vol. 4, pp. 19, 20.
- ^ Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: "Tank Guns"
- ^ Tomczyk, Japanese Armor Vol. 4, pp. 19, 22, 30.
- ^ Tomczyk, Japanese Armor Vol. 4, pp. 19, 22.