M7A1 Sherman All-Purpose Tank

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"I find your lack of origanality disturbing." This article, M7A1 Sherman All-Purpose Tank, is a rip off of a 20th and/or 21st century M4 Sherman. Please help improve the wikia by removing your poorly veiled references, AND create something original.

M7A1 Sherman Production information Manufacturer Dean-Johnson Incorporated Product line M7 Model M7A1 Class Scout tank Heavy hauler Battle tank Heavy transport Cost 3,080,000 Credits (cR) Technical specifications Length 21 ft Width 9 ft Height 10 ft Mass 116,000 lbs/58.0 tons Maximum acceleration 3 meters per second/9 ft per second Engine Power 14 cylinder electrical/diesel engine producing 1,600 hp Shielding No Armour Titanium-A Battleplate 120mm (able to stand all small-arms fire and several SPNKr Rockets) Countermeasures Smoke canisters Armament 1 120mm Armor-Piercing High Velocity Cannon 3 M2 .50 Caliber Machine guns 2 Smoke canister compartments Crew 3 Minimum crew 2 Passengers 2 (6 with add-on carriage) Usage Year introduced 2556 Role(s) Heavy mechanized battle tank Counterpart(s) M808B Scorpion Main Battle Tank Era(s) Reconstruction Era Affiliation UNSC

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The M7A1 Sherman, named after it's older counterpart during WWII, was the first all-purpose battle tank produced by the UNSC after the Human-Covenant War. It's dimensions and name are very much alike, although some of the weapons and other components differ very much. It is nearly twice as heavy as the original M4A1 Sherman, carries a bigger gun, and therefore is bigger to complement the bigger cartridge shells and fuel. To keep the famous speed factor with the Sherman line, they upgraded the original 1,500 horsepower engine in the M808B Scorpion Tank to a 1,600 horsepower, 14 cylinder electric/diesel fed engine.

Contents 1 Performance 1.1 Speed 1.2 Turret 1.3 Engine 2 Design 2.1 Cannon 2.2 Engine 2.3 Armor 2.4 Machine guns

[edit] Performance

[edit] Speed

The M7 had an improved engine from the M808B Scorpion MBT. The Scorpion carried a heavy 12 cylinder, 1,500 diesel engine that could let the heavy tank traverse basic terrain at an average of 6 feet per second. The M7, with it's 14 cylinder, 1,600 horsepower engine, could travel at speeds of up to 9 feet per second, a great battlefield advantage.

[edit] Turret

The turret on the M7 was exceptional for a tank it's size and weight- it could turn ninety degrees in approximately four seconds. The turret, carrying a nearly overpowered 120mm armor-piercing cannon, could destroy a Scorpion in just one or two shots, depending on where fired. Range was not a big problem. The gun was extremely powerful and reliable at close and medium range, but at long distance of at least 300 yards, the shell would start to fall from gravity. To fix that, the later M7A2 would carry smaller rounds, fired from a 100mm cannon. It kept basically the same amount of power, but would be able to cut through the air more precisely and have better accuracy at longer ranges, although some power was deduced from the cannon.

[edit] Engine

The engine is nearly three times as powerful as the M4 Sherman tank, and slightly more powerful than the M808B. One of the major problems engineers feared during battle was freezing situations and muddy combat zones. If mud somehow managed to get into the engine and dry on key components, the engine would shut down alltogether, to prevent any more unecessary causes. To fix this problem, the M7 would have heat generators near the engines. Anything that touched the engine would be incredibly warm, warm enough for the engineers to find and get rid of the mud. But they also had cold air generators inside the engine to keep it from overheating.

Another big drawback to the M7's engine was cold weather. At a solid temperature of 28°F or less would instantly freeze the cylinders, preventing fuel being fed to the engine, stopping the tank all together. To prevent this issue, several M7A1's were installed with more advanced heating systems, and kept the cold air systems inside the engine. The problem was that the crew would burn like toast inside the tank.

So, when the M7A2 was being developed, engineers and architects would install a warning system. Every now and then, when the engine started to freeze, a klaxon would sound, and a crew member would rush to the engine and turn on the heat systems. When it registered above at least 35°F, he would turn the heat system down slightly and return to his duty.

[edit] Design

[edit] Cannon

The 120mm cannon was a big improvement of the 75mm and later 76mm cannons on the M4 Shermans, and the 90mm guns on the Scorpions. As said before, the guns were powerful and accurate and close and medium ranges, but ranges 400 yards and farther, the tank suffered from low accuracy.

The tank's gun could completely immobilize and destroy a Scorpion in just one or two shots, depending on where the shells hit. By 2557, still in the Second UNSC-URF War, reports were coming in that the URF's stolen Scorpion tank's turrets were being blown off of the chassis by the new M7 tank.

[edit] Engine

The engine is one of the most powerful engines supplied to ground vehicles by the beginning of the Reconstruction Era, but suffered from mud, dirt, and cold weather.

The engine was also different that it wasn't all diesel fed. The reason it's acceleration is so quick is that electricity is used to start up the acceleration. Once at the desired speed, the tank would switch to diesel and would run on that for the rest of the time until it accelerated more or stopped, where all power would be cut to the engine.

[edit] Armor

The Armor, 120mm thick, was able to sustain all UNSC and URF small-arms fire, and was also able to sustain three to four SPNKr rocket strikes.

The armor of the M7 is approximately 78mm thicker than the original M4 Sherman, a big advantage. Another big advantage is being able to take four dead-on shells from ab M808B Scorpion tank on the frontal armor. If fighting against another M7A1, it could take just two rounds to the frontal shield before penetrating the armor completely and detonating the ammo storage.

[edit] Machine guns

The M7A1's three M2 .50 caliber machine guns are one of the most powerful anti-personnel weapons in UNSC service alongside the SRS99C-S2 AMB Sniper Rifle and the AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun. Each one in the M7 carries 290 rounds, a total of 670 .50 caliber shells. The tank was tested on how many kills it could get with the machine guns alone, manned by a veteran tank crew, and it was proved that the guns alone could kill 597 Marine personnel and two M12IDF Rapid Deliverance Transports.