Measuring the ballistic performance of armor is based on determining the kinetic energy of a bullet at impact (E k = ½ mv 2). Because the energy of a bullet is a key factor in its penetrating capacity, velocity is used as the primary independent variable in ballistic testing.
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The cannon on a tank is vital in any battle particularly when there are other tanks on the battlefield. According to tank destroyer doctrine, only other tanks should be used to engage with tanks. This increases the need for guns that can destroy enemy tanks from a greater distance.
- Dependable body armor and tactical plate carriers provides a crucial added layer of life-saving protection. When choosing armor, it’s important your ballistic protection meets NIJ standard 0101.06. But the equipment also needs to match the level of threat you’re likely to face. Body armor comes in different levels.
- Aug 14, 2001 World War II Ballistics: Armor and Gunnery will provide both wargamers and historians many insights into the mechanics of armor penetration. It will give the wargame designer a set of tools for the design of armor combat formulas and it will help the historian to understand the problems associated with published penetration tables and armor resistance data.
For years, the Sherman tanks of the US Army were equipped with 75mm guns. These guns were relatively effective during WWII and were able to kill a German tank at 893 yards. They could take on any other tank that they encountered for most of the war.
However, in early 1944, Sherman tanks equipped with 76mm cannons arrived in the UK for testing. By late 1944 to early 1945, these tanks would be deployed in greater numbers. As the guns differed by 1mm only, many people wonder what it was that made the 76mm cannon more viable.
The primary reason why the 76mm was seen as better was its armor penetrating power. This gun is able to penetrate one inch more than its predecessor. This was important because of the new tanks which the Allies encountered toward the end of the war.
The Panzer IV and Panzer IIIs which were encountered in North Africa could fall to the 75mm gun. It was the front armor of the Tiger I that first started to cause problems for the Allies. The 75mm cannons could not penetrate this armor, though they were still able to knock out these tanks from the rear and sides.
When using high-velocity armor-piercing (HVAP) rounds, the 75mm guns were able to penetrate 4 to 4.5 inches of armor at nearly 1,100 yards. The same rounds used in the 76mm gun could penetrate 6 to 7 inches of armor. This was enough to take on the front armor of the Tiger tanks.
The 76mm gun was also able to fire shells at a higher velocity. The 75mm is often cited as barely being a cannon and closer to a howitzer in terms of barrel length. The shorter barrel lowered the overall velocity which made the shells less effective against hard targets like other tanks.
This shorter barrel was fine by commanders who saw the 75mm tanks as being infantry support vehicles, but this was not a vision shared by enemy fighters who often specifically targeted the Shermans with their tanks. The longer barrel of the 76mm cannon allowed the Allies to engage better with those enemy tanks.
The longer barrel of the 76mm cannon also provided the shells with a more powerful charge. The turret was able to handle HVAP ammo which was more effective than high explosive (HE) shells against heavy armor. The HE shells which were used by the 76mm cannon only had a larger exterior with no other differences.
The use of HVAP ammo eventually became a drawback during WWII. These shells had tungsten surrounded by a lighter aluminum. These materials became hard to find close to the end of the war leaving the shells in short supply.
As for HE shells, the explosive power of the 76mm HE shells was not as powerful as those of the 75mm. The 76mm shell had a charge of 0.86lbs while the 75mm had a charge of 1.47lbs. This made the 76mm less satisfactory for medium range tanks, which is how the Shermans were being used at the time.
This reduction in the charge was caused by the necessity for thicker shell walls. The thicker walls allowed the HE shells to be fired from high-velocity guns like the 76mm, but reduced the charge that could be housed.
The 76mm also has a heavy muzzle blast. This impacts the rate of fire as the muzzle dust cloud can take 8 to 30 seconds to clear. In combat, this time was seen as too detrimental by the tank commanders and gunners.
As a result of the drawbacks, during the war many tank commanders and crew continued to view the 75mm as being the better option of the two cannons. The replacement of a 75mm cannon for the 76mm one was not an easy process as the entire cannon turret would need to be replaced. The true viability of the 76mm cannon would only develop after WWII.
- Modern armour
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Join Britannica's Publishing Partner Program and our community of experts to gain a global audience for your work!Armour, also spelled armor, also called body armour, protective clothing with the ability to deflect or absorb the impact of projectiles or other weapons that may be used against its wearer. Until modern times, armour worn by combatants in warfare was laboriously fashioned and frequently elaborately wrought, reflecting the personal importance placed by the vulnerable soldier on its protection and also frequently the social importance of its wearer within the group. Modern technology has brought about the development of lighter protective materials that are fashioned into a variety of apparel suited to the hazards of modern warfare. With the rise of terrorism and the use of powerful personal weapons by criminals, armour is now frequently worn by police, by private nonmilitary security forces, and even by noncombatants who might be targets of attack.
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Premodern armour
Types of armour generally fall into one of three main categories: (1) armour made of leather, fabric, or mixed layers of both, sometimes reinforced by quilting or felt, (2) mail, made of interwoven rings of iron or steel, and (3) rigid armour made of metal, horn, wood, plastic, or some other similar tough and resistant material. The third category includes the plate armour that protected the knights of Europe in the Middle Ages. That armour was composed of large steel or iron plates that were linked by loosely closed rivets and by internal leathers to allow the wearer maximum freedom of movement.
Presumably, the use of armour extends back beyond historical records, when primitive warriors protected themselves with leather hides and helmets. In the 11th century bce, Chinese warriors wore armour made of five to seven layers of rhinoceros skin, and ox hides were similarly used by the Mongols in the 13th century ce. Fabric armour too has a long history, with thick, multilayered linen cuirasses (armour covering the body from neck to waist) worn by the Greek heavy infantry of the 5th century bce and quilted linen coats worn in northern India until the 19th century.
The advantage of chain mail is that it is quite flexible yet relatively impervious to slashing strokes (though a thrusting weapon can force the rings apart in spite of their riveted closure). In the form of a simple shirt, mail was worn throughout the Roman Empire and beyond most of its frontiers, and mail formed the main armour of western Europe until the 14th century. In Europe strips of mail were also worn underneath plate armour to close any gaps left between the rigid plates. Mail shirts were worn in India and Persia until the 19th century, and the Japanese used mail to a limited extent from the 14th century, though the rings in Japanese mail were arranged in a variety of ways, producing a more open construction than that found in Europe. Mail sleeves, leg harnesses, and hoods have also been worn.
Ancient Greek infantry soldiers wore plate armour consisting of a cuirass, long greaves (armour for the leg below the knee), and a deep helmet—all of bronze. The Roman legionary wore a cylindrical cuirass made of four to seven horizontal hoops of steel with openings at the front and back, where they were laced together. The cuirass was buckled to a throat piece that was in turn flanked by several vertical hoops protecting each shoulder.
Apart from helmets, armour made of large plates was probably unknown in western Europe during the Middle Ages. Mail was the main defense of the body and limbs during the 12th and 13th centuries. Mail hoods covered the head and neck, and mail leggings covered the legs. Mail, however, did not possess the rigid glancing surface of plate armour, and, as soon as the latter could be made responsive to the movements of the body by ingenious construction, it replaced mail. Thus, plate armour of steel superseded mail during the 14th century, at first by local additions to knees, elbows, and shins, until eventually the complete covering of articulated plate was evolved. A complete suit of German armour from about 1510 shows a metal suit with flexible joints covering its wearer literally from head to toe, with only a slit for the eyes and small holes for breathing in a helmet of forged metal. The armour suits of royalty and aristocrats were often elaborately gilded, etched, and embossed with fine decoration.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, improvements in hand firearms forced armourers to increase the thickness and, therefore, the weight of their products, until finally plate armour was largely abandoned in favour of increased mobility. Armour cuirasses and helmets were still used in the 17th century, but plate armour largely disappeared from infantry use in the 18th century because of its cost, its lowered effectiveness against contemporary weapons, and its weight.
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