Tortoise

GB32_Tortoise (Stock)

Totals

3500000 Price

2000 Hit Points

76.96 / 77 kgWeight

Crew

1. Commander

Armor

228.6/152.4/101.6Hull Armor(front/sides/rear, mm)

0/0/0Turret Armor(front/sides/rear, mm)

Maneuver

650 h.p.Engine Power

20 km/hSpeed Limit

20 deg/secTraverse Speed

Firepower

250 Standard Shell Damage

214 mmStandard Shell Penetration

5 Gun Loading

26 deg/secTurret Traverse Speed

Communication

390 mView Range

550 mSignal Range

AT 15

Tortoise

FV215b (183)

IX

3500000

The development of this assault tank began in 1942. The design was finalized by February 1944, and an order was placed for 25 vehicles. However, by the fall of 1947 only five tanks had been manufactured.

The Tortoise is the heaviest and last of the slow and heavily armored tank destroyers in the British line. It's a bit of a mixed step up from its predecessor, the AT 15, mainly due to its extremely accurate, fast-firing, and powerful 120mm cannon, but relatively weak armor for its tier. The Tortoise has a very large hitpoint pool (more than tier 9 heavy tanks being similar to a tier 10 tank), which it will need because it has the same 228mm thick armor as the AT 15, which while amazing at tier 7 on the AT 15A and good at tier 8, is simply not worth mentioning in tier 9 and 10 matches. Worse yet, the entire right front of the superstructure is only 170mm thick and very poorly sloped. It will not stand up to the high penetration guns you find at tier 9 and tier 10. It's not all bad news though; as of update 8.4, the Tortoise is now the placeholder of the highest damage per minute in game.

• Tortoise
• Tortoise Mk II
• Tortoise Mk I
• Tortoise Mk III

Tortoise

Stock

Tortoise Mk II Tortoise Mk I

	Level	Gun	Weight (t)	Average Penetration (mm)		Rate of Fire	Dispersion at 100 m	Aiming Time
	VIII	OQF 32-pdr AT Gun	2972	214/246/47	250/250/330	12	0.33	1.7

	Level	Engine	Weight (t)	Engine Power (h.p.)	Chance of Fire on Impact
	VIII	Rolls-Royce Meteor Mk. V	744	650	20

	Level	Suspension	Weight (t)	Load Limit	Traverse Speed (deg/s)
	VIII	Tortoise	20000	77	20

	Level	Radio	Weight (t)	Signal Range (m)
	VIII	WS No. 19 Mk. III	0	550

Tortoise Mk II

Recon

Tortoise Mk III

	Level	Gun	Weight (t)	Average Penetration (mm)		Rate of Fire	Dispersion at 100 m	Aiming Time
	IX	OQF 20-pdr AT Gun Type B Barrel	1282	226/258/42	230/230/280	13.95	0.3	1.5

	Level	Engine	Weight (t)	Engine Power (h.p.)	Chance of Fire on Impact
	VIII	Rolls-Royce Meteor Mk. V	744	650	20

	Level	Suspension	Weight (t)	Load Limit	Traverse Speed (deg/s)
	IX	Tortoise Mk. 2	20000	81	22

	Level	Radio	Weight (t)	Signal Range (m)
	VIII	WS No. 22	0	700

Tortoise Mk I

Speed

	Level	Gun	Weight (t)	Average Penetration (mm)		Rate of Fire	Dispersion at 100 m	Aiming Time
	IX	OQF 20-pdr AT Gun Type B Barrel	1282	226/258/42	230/230/280	13.95	0.3	1.5

	Level	Engine	Weight (t)	Engine Power (h.p.)	Chance of Fire on Impact
	VIII	Rolls-Royce Meteor Mk. V	744	650	20

	Level	Suspension	Weight (t)	Load Limit	Traverse Speed (deg/s)
	VIII	Tortoise	20000	77	20

	Level	Radio	Weight (t)	Signal Range (m)
	VIII	WS No. 22	0	700

Tortoise Mk III

Attack

FV215b (183)

	Level	Gun	Weight (t)	Average Penetration (mm)		Rate of Fire	Dispersion at 100 m	Aiming Time
	X	120 mm AT Gun L1A1	2850	259/326/120	400/400/515	8.45	0.31	1.7

	Level	Engine	Weight (t)	Engine Power (h.p.)	Chance of Fire on Impact
	IX	Rolls-Royce Meteor M120	744	810	20

	Level	Suspension	Weight (t)	Load Limit	Traverse Speed (deg/s)
	IX	Tortoise Mk. 2	20000	81	22

	Level	Radio	Weight (t)	Signal Range (m)
	X	SR C42	0	750

Compatible Equipment

Compatible Consumables

Player Opinion

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Top gun has the highest DPM in the game as of 8.8 (3380 DPM, 4074 with a Rammer, Vent, BiA, 5% Commander Bonus, a
• Largest HP pool out of all tier 9 tanks (2000HP)
• As with the AT 15, traverse and elevation arcs are massive and allow for angling of armor during a fight or "hull down" l
• Combined thickness of the gun mantlet and main armor comes to a whopping 508mm of armor which is virtually impenetrable.
• Great accuracy and aim time

Cons:

• Slow and low maneuverability
• Large silhouette
• Vulnerable to artillery and flanking
• Massive front weak spot on right side of front
• Loader (located in machine gun turret) often dies

Performance

The A39 Tortoise is surprisingly soft, especially in contrast to previous British TDs such as the AT 15A or AT 15 (which sports the same 228mm frontal armor values but at a lower tier), and the AT 2. It is capable of bouncing shots when angled properly, but overall you can not rely on your armor to save you like in the past. The high penetration guns you will face will mercilessly tear through even your 228mm armor, and even relatively low penetration guns should be avoided as players could potentially be loading premium ammunition that can penetrate your armor. Also, as with the AT 15, the Tortoise sports a large machine gun turret that almost all guns can penetrate, dealing damage and often injuring the loader who resides there.

This soft armor for its tier is compensated for by the very high (for a TD, and even for a heavy tank of the same tier) HP pool and amazing gun. The extreme accuracy, very high penetration, and fast reload of the 120mm ensure you are a constant threat to enemy tanks up close or afar. In close quarters even the relatively slow hull traverse of 22° is more than enough to, for a time, prevent tanks from encircling you when given ample warning thanks to the massively wide traverse angle of the gun. With good aim you can easily track tanks while dealing solid damage, and even keep them tracked if they have not yet trained in repair, or have already used their repair kit. The accuracy and power of the gun means tracking is a very viable option that you should practice frequently (though this is the case with all tanks) to trap tanks in the open for your teammates to focus down. If you can reload quickly enough, keep them tracked and watch as they helplessly melt away at the combined fire of your team.

Overall the playstyle at this point in the Brit TD line changes from assault tank, due to the "weak" armor, to support tank. Though your armor is "thinner", don't be afraid to help lead a charge. Your high rate of fire and good accuracy mean you can easily out-DPM enemy tanks, and with a team backing you up you can easily smash through, and the armor can be good enough to bounce a few frantically aimed shots.

Early Research

From the AT 15 you should have the OQF 20-pdr AT Gun Type B Barrel and can mount it right away. If you have played the heavy tank line prior to this, you may have the engine as well. You can mount the top gun without the suspension upgrade, and this should be your priority as the 20-pdr no longer cuts it against tier 9 and 10 opponents. After that you can get the suspension to allow enough weight limit to mount a full set of equipment, or you can pick up the engine. Like with the tanks before it, the Tortoise has outstanding aim time and does not need to use a valuable slot on a GLD. Your camo is poor, so it's best to use your third equipment slot for improving sight range via optics or perhaps binoculars depending on how aggressively you play.

Historical Info

A39 Tortoise British super heavy assault gun

The Tank, Heavy Assault, Tortoise (A39) was a British heavy assault tank design developed in World War II but never put into mass production. It was developed for the task of clearing heavily fortified areas and as a result favored armour protection over mobility. Although heavy, at 78 tons, and not readily transported, it was reliable and a good gun platform

Development history

In the early part of 1943 the Allied forces anticipated considerable resistance in the projected future invasion of Europe, with the enemy fighting from heavily fortified positions such as the Siegfried Line. As a result, a new class of vehicles emerged, in the shape of Assault tanks, which placed maximum armour protection at a higher priority than mobility. Initially, work was concentrated on the Excelsior tank (A33), based on the Cromwell tank. There was also a program to upgrade the armour of the Churchill tank. For similar work in the Far East, the Valiant tank (A38), based on the Valentine tank was considered although weight was specified to be as low as possible.

The Secretary of State for War and the Minister of Supply issued a Joint Memorandum in April 1943 which gave a vague specification for an Assault tank, classing it as a special purpose vehicle to operate in heavily defended areas as part of the specialist 79th Armoured Division. The Nuffield Organisation responded with 18 separate designs (AT-1 through AT-18) drafted between May 1943 and February 1944, each design larger and heavier than the last. By February 1944 design AT-16 was complete and was approved by the Tank Board who proposed that month that 25 be produced directly from the mock up stage without bothering with a prototype, to be available for operational service in September 1945. An order for 25 was placed by the War Office and work was begun. Following the end of the war the order was reduced and only 6 vehicles were built. One example was sent to Germany for trials where it was found to be mechanically reliable and a powerful and accurate gun platform, however at a weight of 80 tons and a height of 10 feet (3.0 m) it was extremely slow and proved difficult to transport.

Design features

A39 Tortoise restored into running condition

Since the Tortoise had a fixed casemate superstructure instead of a turret, it can be classified as a self-propelled gun or an assault gun and not a tank. The crew included a commander, driver, and gunner, with two loaders for the 32-pounder gun and two machine gunners. Internally it was split into three compartments, the transmission to the front, the crew in the center and the Rolls-Royce Meteor engine at the rear. The suspension consisted of four bogies on each side each of the hull. Each bogie had two pairs of wheels, with each pair linked to a transverse torsion bar. The Merritt-Brown transmission was fitted with an all speed reverse, giving approximately the same speed backwards as forwards.

The Ordnance QF 32 pounder gun design was adapted from the British 3.7 inch anti-aircraft gun. The ammunition used a separate charge and shell, the latter a 32 pound (14.5 kg) armour piercing shot (APCBC). In tests the gun was successful against a German Panther tank at nearly 1,000 yards. The 32-pdr gun was mounted in a power-assisted limited traverse mounting; rather than being mounted on the more traditional trunnions, it protruded through a large ball mount in the front of the hull, protected by 225 mm armour. To the left of it was a Besa machine gun in an armoured ball mount. A further two Besa machine guns were mounted in a turret on the top of the hull to the right.

Survivors

One of the six prototype Tortoises constructed of mild steel has been preserved at the Bovington Tank Museum in Bovington, UK. The vehicle is in running condition. A 2011 overhaul saw it running under its own power for the first time since the 1950s. It was shown to the public in June 2011 at Tankfest 2011, the Bovington museum's annual display of running vehicles.

A Tortoise, without its gun, lies on the Kirkcudbright military training area near Kirkcudbright, Scotland. Other damage to the tank and the designation of the Kirkcudbright training area as a Site of Special Scientific Interest mean that removal of the Tortoise to a museum is now unlikely.

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