Nick Moran of World of Tanks takes a look a the interior of the Cruiser Mk. II
Video Lecture: Design and History of the M4 Sherman Tank During World War II
October 31, 2017 by 1 Comment
World of Tanks researcher Nicholas Moran recently gave a lecture on the Design & History of the M4 Sherman Tank at the New York Military Affairs Symposium. The entire presentation was recorded by C-Span. The lecture is a little over an hour with a half hour Q&A at the end. As can be expected from Nick Moran, its a quality lecture. Some of the Q&A questions are a bit goofy (why is that guy bringing up Smedley Butler?), but that’s generally how these sorts of things go.
You can view the lecture at the C-Span website here or click on the image below.
Inside the Chieftain’s Hatch: Char В1 Bis part 1
October 25, 2017 by Leave a Comment
This one is pretty cool. Nick “The Chieftain” Moran takes a look at the French Char B1 Bis. This video is part 1, which looks at the exterior of the vehicle.
Inside the Hatch: Sherman VC “Firefly” part 1
March 21, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Nicholas “The Chieftain” Moran of World of Tanks takes a look at a WWII era “Firefly” tank.
Inside the Chieftain’s Hatch: Stridsvagn 74
February 24, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Here is part 1 & 2 of the “Inside the Hatch” video looking at the Stridsvagn 74 featuring Nicholas Moran of World of Tanks.
Inside the Chieftain’s Hatch: Panther. Part 2
July 25, 2016 by Leave a Comment
In the second part of the legendary German Panther tour, Nicholas Moran talks about the features of the commander’s cupola and gunner’s position.
The Chieftain’s Hatch: Equipping the Force, Part 5
January 17, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Nicholas “The Chieftain” Moran has posted the fifth part of his series of articles on the history of US tank development during WW2. In the is post he compares and contrasts the difference in opinions between Army Ground Forces and Ordnance regarding tank development.
Excerpt:
Now that that salvo is over, let’s have a gander at the whole lot, and compare/contrast with Ordnance’s view of things.
It is interesting to compare the line just above, “The agency controlling the using arm should likewise control the actual development program”, with the position of General Barnes over at Ordnance: “For these reasons, it is necessary for the Ordnance Department to take a strong lead over the using services in the development of new equipment and then to get the help of those using services in determining where the weapon best fits into battlefield operations.”
Put simply, they are mutually exclusive propositions. In effect, you have the scientists saying “If we just let the using arms come up with the equipment needs, nothing ‘new’ or revolutionary would ever be developed”, and you have the using arms saying “Stop focusing on hypothetical wonderweapons, and put all your energy into this thing we know we need right now.”
Chieftain’s Hatch: How Suitable was T29? Pt.1
October 5, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Tank researcher Nicholas Moran has posted a new article in his “Chieftain’s Hatch” web forum. The post is a description of an Armored Board report from 1948 concerning future requirements of the heavy tank program.
Excerpt:
After the war, the US heavy tank program was in full swing. However, there was still some debate as to just what the heavy tanks would look like, or even what it is they were going to do. As a result, though it was accepted that the T28 and T29 series tanks were dead ends, they still provided some kernels for thought on the matter. Armored Board decided to put a more detailed writing down as to where the heavy tank program should go, if at all. Specifically, “to secure sufficient information on the employment of heavy tanks to form an intelligent basis on which future requirements for heavy tanks in the US Army may be determined.” The report was dated 30th June 1948.
This is a fairly long report, so I’m going to split it up into two parts. One the more philosophical outlook as to just what heavy tanks were supposed to be doing and the second, next week, will be on the practical matters relating to tanks of the T29 class in particular. Extract follows:
Background:
By current definition the term Heavy Tank includes those from 56 to 85 tons. The United States first developed a tank (Heavy Tank, M6) in this weight class in 1942; however, it failed to meet service requirements and was not produced. The German Mark VI (Tiger) appeared in 1943 followed by the Mark V (Panther) and a heavier more powerfully armed version of the Mark VI (The Royal Tiger). The Russian 50-ton KV, new in 1941, was succeeded by the Josef Stalin series in 1944. The Josef Stalin -3, a vastly improved fighting vehicle of the heavy tank class, weighs approximately 60 tons, is armed with a 122mm gun and as early as the summer of 1945 had been produced in considerable numbers.
Read the full post here.
The Chieftain’s Hatch: Armored Board talks 90mm
September 20, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Nicolas “The Chieftain” Moran has posted a new article over in his “Chieftain’s Hatch” section of the World of Tanks online forum. This article looks at minutes of a meeting that the Armored Board held on 17th May 1944 which he dug up while searching in the Archives. These particular meeting minutes deal with the 90mm armed M4 Sherman, a vehicle that only existed as a single prototype. This vehicle has been mentioned before, particularly in ‘Armored Thunderbolt” by Steven Zaloga, where he states that a Sherman tank equipped with the turret and 90mm gun of the T26 was rejected due to the fact that it would not enter production any sooner than the T26. This is confirmed in the minutes dug up by the Chieftain. It is also interesting that General Barnes (Head of Ordnance) states that the production of 90mm guns is the bottleneck in the construction of these tanks. The production of 90mm guns was completely stopped; it must be started again from the beginning.
The full article can be read here.
World of Tanks: Virtually Inside the Tanks videos
June 30, 2015 by Leave a Comment
World of Tanks has released a new website featuring a series of videos titled “virtually inside the tanks.” These videos feature WoT personalities Nick Moran (The Chieftain) and Richard Cutland (The Challenger) as they ride around inside a tank. The videos are filmed with a series of cameras, providing a rotatable panoramic view of the inside of the vehicle. This filming technique creates a very strong “fisheye” effect which is frankly a bit disorientating. That said, people may find these videos informative and they do provide some good images of the vehicle interiors, albeit a distorted one. Currently the line up of vehicles featured in this series included the Leopard 1, the Chieftain, the M4 “Fury”, the T-34 and the T-55.
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