M7 Priest

For the medium tank, see M7.

M7 Priest

USA | SPG | Tier III

Battle Tier

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Overview
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[Client Values; Actual values in

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Specifically, the mismatch in crew values caused by commander's 10% crew skill bonus. Outside of a crew of 1 commander only, 100% crew is a fiction. The client values, given for 100% crew, will normally be taken into battle with 110% crew skill members aside from specific functions, causing their actual performance to deviate from the expected client value. These differences are taken into account in tooltip boxes.

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47,000   Cost

25050 HP Hit Points

23/23.112.58/25.5 t Weight Limit

Crew

1. Commander
2. Gunner
3. Driver
4. Radio Operator
5. Loader
6. Loader

Mobility

400500 hp Engine Power

38.6/10 km/h Speed Limit

1820 deg/s Traverse

17.3939.75 hp/t Power/Wt Ratio

YesYes Pivot

Armor

// mm Hull Armor

Armament

{{#ifeq:|ARMOR_PIERCING|| {{#ifeq:|ARMOR_PIERCING|| HE {{#ifeq:|ARMOR_PIERCING|| {{#ifeq:|ARMOR_PIERCING|| HE Shells

166/0 166/0 Shell Cost

410//410// HP Damage

27//27// mm Penetration

| |}} | |}} 3 r/m  ▲ Standard Gun Reload Times Nominal: 20 s 50% Crew: 24.78 s 75% Crew: 21.63 s 100% Crew: 19.18 s Rammer: 17.26 s Vents: 18.76 s Both: 16.88 s Both and BiA: 16.52 s Both and Max Crew %: 15.83 s See Crew, Consumables, or Equipment for more information. | |}} | |}} 3 r/m  ▲ Standard Gun Reload Times Nominal: 20 s 50% Crew: 24.78 s 75% Crew: 21.63 s 100% Crew: 19.18 s Rammer: 17.26 s Vents: 18.76 s Both: 16.88 s Both and BiA: 16.52 s Both and Max Crew %: 15.83 s See Crew, Consumables, or Equipment for more information. Rate of Fire

| |}} | |}} 1230 ▲ Standard Gun Using Shell Type 1 (410 Damage): With wholly penetrating hits Theoretical Damage Per Minute Nominal DPM: 1230 50% Crew: 992.2 75% Crew: 1135.7 100% Crew: 1283.3 100% Crew Vents: 1312 Rammer: 1426.8 Both: 1459.6 Both and BiA: 1492.4 Both and Max Crew %: 1553.9 Advantageous Damage Per Minute First-shot DPM: 1640 50% Crew: 1402.2 75% Crew: 1545.7 100% Crew: 1693.3 100% Crew Rammer: 1836.8 Vents: 1722 Both: 1869.6 Both and BiA: 1902.4 Both and Max Crew %: 1963.9 See here, here, or here for more information. | |}} | |}} 1230 ▲ Standard Gun Using Shell Type 1 (410 Damage): With wholly penetrating hits Theoretical Damage Per Minute Nominal DPM: 1230 50% Crew: 992.2 75% Crew: 1135.7 100% Crew: 1283.3 100% Crew Vents: 1312 Rammer: 1426.8 Both: 1459.6 Both and BiA: 1492.4 Both and Max Crew %: 1553.9 Advantageous Damage Per Minute First-shot DPM: 1640 50% Crew: 1402.2 75% Crew: 1545.7 100% Crew: 1693.3 100% Crew Rammer: 1836.8 Vents: 1722 Both: 1869.6 Both and BiA: 1902.4 Both and Max Crew %: 1963.9 See here, here, or here for more information. Damage Per Minute

| |}} 0.84 m  ▲ With 50% Crew: 1.041 m With 75% Crew: 0.909 m With 100% Crew: 0.805 m With BiA: 0.788 m With BiA and Vents: 0.771 m Maximum possible: 0.739 m For more details, see Crew | |}} 0.82 m  ▲ With 50% Crew: 1.016 m With 75% Crew: 0.887 m With 100% Crew: 0.786 m With BiA: 0.769 m With BiA and Vents: 0.752 m Maximum possible: 0.721 m For more details, see Crew Accuracy

| |}} 5.5 s  ▲ With 50% Crew: 6.813 s With 75% Crew: 5.949 s With 100% Crew: 5.274 s With GLD: 4.794 s With BiA: 5.157 s With BiA and Vents: 5.045 s With both and GLD: 4.587 s Maximum possible: 4.396 s For more details, see Crew or Equipment | |}} 5.5 s  ▲ With 50% Crew: 6.813 s With 75% Crew: 5.949 s With 100% Crew: 5.274 s With GLD: 4.794 s With BiA: 5.157 s With BiA and Vents: 5.045 s With both and GLD: 4.587 s Maximum possible: 4.396 s For more details, see Crew or Equipment Aim time

1616 deg/s Gun Traverse Speed

38° Gun Arc

-5°/+45°-5°/+45° Elevation Arc

120120 rounds Ammo Capacity

General

2020 % Chance of Fire

260 m  ▲ With 50% Crew: 204.3 m With 75% Crew: 232.2 m With 100% Crew: 260 m With Recon and Situational Awareness: 273.2 m With Coated Optics: 286 m With Binocular Telescope: 325 m Maximum possible: 372.2 m For more details, see Skills or Equipment 260 m  ▲ With 50% Crew: 204.3 m With 75% Crew: 232.2 m With 100% Crew: 260 m With Recon and Situational Awareness: 273.2 m With Coated Optics: 286 m With Binocular Telescope: 325 m Maximum possible: 372.2 m For more details, see Skills or Equipment View Range

| |}} 395 m  ▲ With 50% Crew: 318.9 m With 75% Crew: 365.2 m With 100% Crew: 412 m With 100% Signal Boost: 474 m When affected by 100% Relaying: 434.5 m Maximum possible: 593 m For more details, see Skills or Equipment | |}} 745 m  ▲ With 50% Crew: 601.4 m With 75% Crew: 688.8 m With 100% Crew: 777 m With 100% Signal Boost: 894 m When affected by 100% Relaying: 819.5 m Maximum possible: 1118.4 m For more details, see Skills or Equipment Signal Range

Values are Stock - click for TopValues are Top - click for Stock

M7 Priest

III

47000

The M7 Priest is an American tier 3 self-propelled gun.

Manufactured on the suspension of the M3 and M4 tanks from April 1942 through March 1945, with a total of 4,316 vehicles produced. The M7 Priest first saw combat at El Alamein.

The Priest has good reload time for an SPG, at the cost of being somewhat inaccurate and having poor splash damage - should it miss it will not deal significant damage to close targets. Also, hitting high tier enemies will almost always ping them for a meager amount of damage, which can be frustrating at times. With the 8.6 update it has changed from Tier IV to III with the previously Tier III M37 taking its place. Due to this it is considered to many players the most overpowered Tier III artillery.

The M7 Priest marks the end of its American self-propelled gun line.

Modules / Available Equipment and Consumables

Modules

Guns

Tier	Gun	Penetration (mm)	Damage (HP)	Rate of fire (rounds/minute)	Dispersion (m/100m)	Aiming time (s)		Weight (kg)	Price ()
III	105 mm Howitzer M3	27	410	3	0.84	5.5		433	12850
IV	105 mm Howitzer M2A1	27	410	3	0.82	5.5		490	32200

Engines

Tier	Engine	Engine Power (hp)	Chance of Fire on Impact (%)		Weight (kg)	Price ()
IV	Wright Continental R-975C1	400	20		516	11000
V	Wright Continental R-975C4	460	20		550	13900
VI	Ford GAA early	500	20		708	29000

Suspensions

Tier	Suspension	Load Limit (т)	Traverse Speed (gr/sec)	Rmin		Weight (kg)	Price ()
II	VVSS T49	23.1	18	0		11000	590
III	VVSS T51	25.5	20	0		11000	1650

Radios

Tier	Radio	Signal Range (m)		Weight (kg)	Price ()
IX	SCR 506	615		110	33600
VI	SCR 508	395		100	21600
X	SCR 528	745		80	54000

Compatible Equipment

        

Compatible Consumables

                    

Player Opinion

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Very far gun range (990 meters) and very high alpha damage for a Tier III arty
• 102mm lower front plate can bounce even some Tier V guns
• Great engine power and acceptable top speed; good for relocating
• Surprisingly quick RoF for a 105mm Howitzer gives the Priest an acceptable DPM (1283)
• Can hold a very large amount of shells (69)

Cons:

• Although quick for a Tier III howitzer, the reload in general is slow; missing in a close quarters fight will cost your life
• Very sluggish traverse, you must be wary of flankers
• Armor is a lie -- 102mm is only on the lower plate, the entire superstructure is only 12mm thick
• Pretty inaccurate, even for an arty; misses are very likely to happen
• Tiny splash damage, even slightly missing yields little splash, if any

Performance

You cannot mount the upgraded gun without increasing your weight limit, so the suspension should probably be your first purchase. In fact you can't even equip a Camouflage Net without upgrading the suspension. Combined with the limited range of the stock cannon this can make the first few battles particularly hazardous. Once you get the upgraded gun, however, the range becomes excellent. The armor on the sides and rear is useless -- even the sloped upper front armor rarely bounces Tier I guns. However, perhaps this is because the Priest model used in the game was based on a unit built upon the chassis of a "Jumbo", perhaps because of a joke in the developer team related to the name of the vehicle, but the lower part of the Priest's front has an armor thickness that won't be seen again until the upgraded turret of the KV-1 Soviet heavy tank. This, coupled with a relatively high weight, makes it fairly resistant to ramming.

However, once fully upgraded it is the best Tier III hands down. With a fast reload coupled with insanely high damage you can one-shot any enemy you see. With the adjusted Tier III maps the only map it will be ineffective on is Himmelsdorf.

Early Research

• The upgraded suspension is an immediate necessity. Make it your first research project
• Research the 105 mm Howitzer M2A1 for much greater range
• Go from there

Suggested Equipment

   

Gallery

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  M7 Priest front left view

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  M7 Priest front right view

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  M7 Priest rear left view

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  M7 Priest rear right view

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  M7_Priest_001

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  M7_Priest_002

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  M7_Priest_003

• 

  M7_Priest_004

Historical Info

M7 preserved at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland

The 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7 was an American self-propelled artillery vehicle produced during World War II. It was given the official service name 105 mm Self Propelled Gun, Priest by the British Army, due to the pulpit-like machine gun ring, following on from the Bishop and the contemporary Deacon self-propelled guns.

History

Witnessing the events of the war, U.S. Army observers realized that they would need a self-propelled artillery vehicle with sufficient firepower to support armored operations. Lessons learned with half-tracks (such as the T19) also showed that this vehicle would have to be armored and fully tracked. It was decided to use the M3 Lee chassis as the basis for this new vehicle design, which was designated T32.

The M7 during the liberation of France

After reworking the M3 by providing an open-topped superstructure, mounting a 105 mm howitzer and, following trials, adding a machine gun, the T32 was accepted for service as the M7 in February 1942 and production began that April.

While the first M7s were produced for the U.S. Army, supply was soon diverted to support the Lend-Lease program. Ninety M7s were sent to the British 8th Army in North Africa, who were also the first to use it in battle during the Second Battle of El Alamein as well as their own Bishop: a 25-pounder, howitzer-armed self-propelled gun. The M7 soon proved successful and the British requested 5,500 of them: an order which was never fully completed. They did find problems with the M7 though, as the primary armament was of U.S., not British standard. This meant that the M7s had to be supplied separately, causing logistical complications. It was a problem that was only truly resolved in 1943 on arrival of the 25-pounder-armed Sexton developed by the Canadians on a similar chassis. Until that time though, the British continued to use the M7 throughout the North African Campaign, the Italian Campaign, and even a few during the early days of the Normandy Invasion. After the Sexton appeared, most British M7s were converted into "Kangaroo" armored personnel carriers.

In U.S. service, the M7 was a great success. Each U.S. armored division had three battalions of M7s, giving them unparalleled mobile artillery support.

A total of 3,490 M7s were built, and they proved to be reliable weapons, continuing to see service in the U.S. and allied armies well past World War II.

Variants

Tanks museum Brussels (Belgium)

• M7 --The first M7s produced were modified M3 Lee medium tanks. In order to maintain a low silhouette, the howitzer elevation had to be restricted to 35°. In May 1942, after only a month of production, the vehicle was altered to increase it's ammunition storage from 24 to 69 rounds. This was achieved by placing seven rounds on the left wall, five on the right, and storing the remainder under floor plates. The M7 also went through a fairly rapid shift from being based on the M3, to having more commonality with the M4 Sherman. The first major example was an adoption of the M4's three-piece housing, single piece casting, and suspension. In British service, some M7s carried a radio set, which took the place of 24 rounds of ammunition.
• M7B1 -- Completing the shift, the M7B1 was fully based on the M4A3 Sherman chassis. It was standardized in September 1943, and declared the "substitute" standard in January 1945.
• M7B2 --During the Korean War, the limited elevation of the howitzer became noticeably problematic and it was increased to 65° to increase the effective range of the howitzer. The machine gun mount also had to be raised to give a 360° firing arc.
• Defrocked Priest -- As one part of the Allied effort to capture Caen and breakout from the Normandy beaches, several M7s had their main gun removed in the field for use as armored personnel carriers and were used in Operation Goodwood. These field modified vehicles were referred to as "Defrocked Priests."
• Kangaroo -- A Canadian armored personnel carrier (APC) conversion of the M7 for use by British and Commonwealth units in northern Europe. The Kangaroo could carry 20 infantry plus a crew of two. A total of 102 were converted between October 1944 and April 1945. The name "Kangaroo" became generic for all APC conversions of armored fighting vehicles no longer suitable for combat, including Ram conversions.

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Historical Gallery

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  Howitzer Motor Carriage M7 in Korea (1951)

Sources and External Links

Sources

• [Wikipedia]

External Links

• [WWII vehicles]
• [AFV database]
• [M7 Priest Walk Arounds at Prime Portal]

USA

Self-Propelled Guns

ja:Tank:A16 M7 Priest