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 guns to be fitted on a World War II Japanese tank.[1][2]
Design and use[]
Type 4 Chi-To medium tank with the Type 5 75 mm tank gun.
The Type 5 Tank Gun had a caliber of 75 mm and barrel length of 4.23 m (L56.4). The long-barreled gun was mounted in a large, hexagonal turret of the tank. The gun could be elevated between -6.5 to +20 degrees. It had a muzzle velocity of 850 metres per second (2,800 ft/s) and an armor penetration of 75 millimeters at a range of 1,000 meters. The gun was a variant of the Japanese Type 4 75mm AA Gun which went into production in 1943.[3][4]
The Type 4 Chi-To medium tank, in which the gun was mounted, was the most powerful prototype produced for the Imperial Japanese Army.[5] However, the material and industrial shortages faced by Japan caused production of the Type 4 Chi-To to be delayed. Plans for mass-production by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries at a rate of 25 tanks per month at two different sites could not be realized. By 1945, a total of 6 tank chassis had been built and only two were actually completed. Therefore, neither the Type 5 75 mm Tank Gun nor the Type 4 Chi-To tank were ever mass-produced prior to the end of Second World War.[2][6]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Tomczyk, Andrzej, Japanese Armor Vol. 4, AJ Press, 2005, pp. 18-22, 30. ISBN 83-7237-167-9.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Zaloga, Steven J. Japanese Tanks 1939–45, 2007, p. 22. ISBN 978-1-8460-3091-8.
- ↑ [1] Taki's Imperial Japanese Army
- ↑ Tomczyk, Andrzej, Japanese Armor Vol. 4, pp. 19, 22, 30.
- ↑ The Type 3 Chi-Nu was the most powerful tank in regular series production for the Imperial Japanese Army during the war. Tomczyk, Andrzej, Japanese Armor Vol. 4, pp. 3, 5.
- ↑ Tomczyk, Andrzej, Japanese Armor Vol. 4, pp. 19, 22.
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