[Copernicus]

Originally Posted by Cross

As for hulls.

I think there were 6 hull types:

• Early Cast dry tiny hatches
• Late Cast wet large hatches
• Early Welded dry small hatches
• Late Welded wet large hatches
• Composite welded
• HVSS Wider with wider tracks

There were some welded (M4A2) and cast (M4A1) hulls with dry stowage and large hatches (in the M4A2's), if these sources are accurate:

"Starting in late 1943, the 56° glacis on the M4A2 was replaced by a single-piece plate inclined at 47° from vertical. The 56° glacis featured protruding drivers' hoods with direct vision slots on early tanks and periscopes on later vehicles, and the glacis plate was composed of several pieces welded together, which complicated production. The 47° plate was a single piece and eliminated the drivers' hoods. Larger drivers' hatches were also introduced with the 47° plate. 75mm gun M4A2s were produced with dry stowage and the 47° glacis until replaced on the factory line in May 1944 by wet stowage 76mm gun tanks."

"In late 1943, M4A1 hulls were changed to incorporate larger drivers' hatches and a thicker 2.5" (6.4cm) glacis inclined at 47° instead of 56°. About 100 M4A1s were built with the 47° glacis and dry stowage, and all of these were armed with the 75mm gun M3. Unlike earlier dry stowage tanks, the castings themselves on these vehicles were thickened over the vulnerable areas."

http://afvdb.50megs.com/usa/m4sherman.html#M4A2

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"Our Archival research has not as yet uncovered any documentation that states exactly when the large hatch, welded hull Sherman entered production, but it is thought that the M4A2(75) shown above may have been one of the first. This tank was evaluated at General Motors Proving Ground and is stated to have been Serial Number 27283 / USA 3035813 indicating November 1943 acceptance. The large hatch M4A2(75) was slated for termination, and did NOT incorporate one of the features of the "ultimate Sherman" - Wet Stowage. Consequently appliqué armor was factory installed on the sides of the hull to protect the ammo bins which remained mounted on the sponsons as on the original Sherman design."

http://the.shadock.free.fr/sherman_m...gehatches.html

Granted, that's not very many. And the M4A2's were mostly (exclusively?) USMC. And the 105mm armed versions had a stowage that was not wet, but offered other modifications that achieved the same effect, if I'm understanding it correctly.

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All of this looks to be pretty well represented in the game, by the way. Large hatches improved crew survivability by allowing for better escapes, I assume. And wet stowage greatly decreased ammunition fires (although it had little to do with wetness). From what I can tell:

Survivability 2 = Dry stowage small hatch.
Survivability 3 = Dry stowage large hatch.
Survivability 4 = Wet stowage large hatch.

Additionally, the frontal armor values:

Cast small hatch: 51mm @ 55 deg.
Cast large hatch: 64mm @ 47 deg.

Welded small hatch: 51mm @ 56 deg.
Welded large hatch: 64mm @ 47 deg.

I'm led to believe that the cast hulls offered less protection than the welded ones for the same armor values, though.

(All HVSS hulls had the large hatches, I think, except for a few post-war modified tanks. I'm not sure where the composites fit into this.)