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T57 Heavy Tank

T57 Heavy Tank

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T57_58 (Stock)

AnnoT57_58.png
Totals
6100000 Price
2250 Hit Points
54.27 / 58 kgWeight
Crew
  1. Commander
Armor
203/50.8/38.1Hull Armor(front/sides/rear, mm)
127/137/50.8Turret Armor(front/sides/rear, mm)
Maneuver
810 h.p.Engine Power
35.4 km/hSpeed Limit
30 deg/secTraverse Speed
Firepower
400 Standard Shell Damage
258 mmStandard Shell Penetration
25 Time for Complete Loading
36 deg/secTurret Traverse Speed
Communication
400 mView Range
745 mSignal Range
T57 Heavy Tank
A project of a heavy tank with an oscillating turret and automatic loading. Developed from 1951. Experimental turrets for 120 mm and 155 mm guns were manufactured by 1957. However, the project was deemed unsuccessful and the development was discontinued.

The T57 Heavy Tank is a tier X heavy tank in the American tech tree. Unlike the T110E5, the T57 is armed with a 4 round auto loader. Apart from that and the slow aim time, the T57's gun is nearly the same as the T110E5's one. Its armor isn't as good as that of the T110E5, but it can bounce shots if angled correctly. The reload on this tank is really outstanding, only needing about 22 seconds to load the magazine and about a 2 second delay between shots, giving the gun amazing burst and DPM potential. Use the quick clip reload to your advantage and help your team deal massive damage to the enemy and this tank will be a force to be reckoned with.


Compatible Equipment


Compatible Consumables


Player Opinion

Pros and Cons

Pros:


  • High burst damage that is quickly output.
  • Surprisingly quick magazine reload.
  • Highest DPM of all tier 10 heavy tanks.


Cons:


  • Protection is generally poor outside of the highly angled pseudo-mantlet and upper glacis.
  • Module damage: ammo rack can be damaged through lower glacis; turret ring is very exposed and frequently gets jammed/damaged.
  • Draws more attention than anything other than WTE-100; you WILL be the focus of enemy fire if you give them the chance.


Performance

With all the right crew skills, modules and consumables, your T57 will reload the clip in about 22 seconds, which is quite impressive. The time to load between the 4 rounds held in the clip is a mere 2 seconds. The armor, while it is not stellar, is still capable and will bounce if you angle well - something that this tank seems to do a good job of. This tank has somewhat acceptable gun depression, being better than most autoloaders.

This tank is an offensive powerhouse, if somewhat fragile. When supporting a tougher tank in close-quarters combat, the opportunity to unload 1600 burst damage for free into distracted tanks can be devastating. The T57 is less effective on its own, because it can be rushed while on reload. However, if you can dictate range or corner fighting, you can trade 3- or 4-for-1. While it's not quite as good as unreturned damage, it's still quite good. If you can preserve your HP into the lategame, the T57 is one of the best finishers in the game - clipping down half-health or multiple one-shot tanks in return for only a fraction of your health can swing a tight match in your favor.

All told, the T57 is one of the best and most flexible damage-dealers in the game. If you manage to get yourself into the right positions in the battle, react appropriately and most importantly survive and don't attract too much attention, it is not unusual to dish out 5000, 6000 or more damage in a game.


Early Research

  • None required


Historical Info

The T57 was a heavy tank developed in the U.S. in the mid-50's, It was a slightly modified version of the US T43E1 prototype that further evolved into the M103 heavy tank.

Development history

T58 prototype version fitted with a 155 mm gun in oscillating turret

In October 12, 1951, a decision was made to develop a prototype of a heavy tank with an oscillating turret, a new idea at the time invented by the French AMX company, and adopted on a highly successful AMX 13 light tank, and not so successful AMX 50 series of heavy tanks. The new American tank, designated T57 (according to the American post-war terminology - "120-mm gun tank T57“), was based on the chassis of the T43 tank (a prototype that further evolved into the M103) with a brand new oscillating turret that hosted a powerful 120 mm T123E1 gun.

Oscillating turret

The oscillating turret design, lacking a conventional gun-mantlet, is in two separate parts, with an upper and lower part connected by two hinge bolts or pivots, the gun being fixed within the upper section. The horizontal movement of the gun, traversing, is conventional, but the vertical movement, elevation, is achieved through the pivoting of the entire upper section with respect to the lower section. This method of elevation has two main advantages. Firstly it allows for a smaller turret volume, as no internal space is needed for the vertical movement of the gun breech. Secondly, it allows the use of a relatively simple auto-loader fed by multiround magazines, achieving a very high rate of fire for as long as the magazines were loaded. The Automatic loader was located in the back of a massive tower, and consisted of the feeder drum with 8 rounds. The drum was loaded by a hydraulic actuator, and the commander or gunner could pick three different types of ammunition. Spent cartridges were ejected through a special hatch on the roof of the turret.

Design flaws

Main armament of the tank was 120 mm T123E1 gun with the rifled barrel, and placing such a big, powerful and heavy weapon into the oscillating turret was plagued by various problems. Handling the immense recoil of the gun, and stabilizing the heavy turrets were among the issues that were never completely resolved. The tank had the crew of 4, where the loaders' job was to reload the drum after all rounds had been fired. The tank carried a total of 10 additional rounds in the ammo rack, making a total ammo load to 18 rounds. Other issues were limited gun elevation (due to the back of the turret movement being limited by the hull), problems with ammo protection at certain angles (oscillating turret doesn't have mantlet that solves this problems on classic turrets) and the lack of protection against radiation, chemical or biological weapons, which was considered very important back in the fifties and sixties.

Fate

The development was very slow and interest in the tank started to fade. Changing priorities in favor of the development of small, aero transportable tanks led to the cancellation of the project in January 1957, before the prototype reached operational status and could be tested. No photos of the assembled prototype T57 with 1200 gun have survived.


Historical Gallery

Sources and External Links

USA
Light Tanks IT1 Cunningham IIM2 Light Tank IIT1E6-X IIT1E6-X1 IIT2 Light Tank IIT7 Combat Car IIIM22 Locust IIIM3 Stuart IIIMTLS-1G14 IVM5 Stuart VM24 Chaffee VIT21 VIT37 VIIM41 Walker Bulldog VIIT71 VIIIM41B Brazilian Bulldog VIIIT49
Medium Tanks IIT2 Medium Tank IIIM2 Medium Tank IVM3 Lee VM4A2E4 Sherman VM4A2E4 Ripper VM4 Sherman VM7 VRam II VIM4A3E8 Sherman VISherman Fury VIM4A3E2 Sherman Jumbo VIIT20 VIIT23E3 VIIIM26 Pershing VIIIT26E4 Super Pershing VIIIT26E4 Freedom VIIIT69 VIIIT95E2 IXM46 Patton IXT54E1 XM48A1 Patton
Heavy Tanks VT14 VT1 Heavy Tank VIM6 VIIT29 VIIIM6A2E1 VIIIT32 VIIIT34 IXM103 XT110E5 XT57 Heavy Tank
Tank Destroyers IIT18 IIIT82 IVM8A1 IVT40 VM10 Wolverine VT67 VIM18 Hellcat VIM36 Jackson VIIT25/2 VIIT25 AT VIIIT28 VIIIT28 Prototype IXT30 IXT95 XT110E3 XT110E4
Self-Propelled Artillery IIT57 IIIM7 Priest IIISexton I IVM37 VM41 VIM44 VIIM12 VIIIM40/M43 IXM53/M55 XT92
Heavy Tanks
USA VT14 VT1 Heavy Tank VIM6 VIIT29 VIIIM6A2E1 VIIIT32 VIIIT34 IXM103 XT110E5 XT57 Heavy Tank
UK VChurchill I VExcelsior VIChurchill VII VITOG II* VIIBlack Prince VIIICaernarvon IXConqueror XFV215b
Germany IVPz.Kpfw. B2 740 (f) IVDurchbruchswagen 2 VVK 30.01 (H) VIVK 36.01 (H) VIIPz.Kpfw. VI Tiger VIIPz.Kpfw. VI Tiger (P) VIIILöwe VIIIPz.Kpfw. Tiger II VIIIVK 45.02 (P) Ausf. A IXE-75 IXVK 45.02 (P) Ausf. B XE-100 XMaus
France IVB1 VBDR G1 B VIARL 44 VIIAMX M4 mle. 45 VIIIAMX 50 100 VIIIFCM 50 t VIIIFCM 50 t Liberté IXAMX 50 120 XAMX 50 B
USSR VChurchill III VKV-1S VKV-220 VKV-1 VIKV-2 VIKV-85 VIT-150 VIIIS VIIKV-3 VIIIIS-3 VIIIIS-6 VIIIKV-5 VIIIKV-4 IXIS-8 IXST-I XIS-4 XIS-7
China VIIIS-2 VIII110 VIII112 IXWZ-111 model 1-4 X113
Japan
Czechoslovakia
Sweden
ko:XBOX:T57 58ja:XBOX:T57 58