Quote:
Originally Posted by DRG
If, for example, you are using it as a German Captured vehicle a 152mm round hitting ( for example ) a Lend-Lease M3 in the side there is little advantage or disadvantage to either an HE or AP round.
Either way, it would not be a good day for the crew of the M3 when a shell weighing 114 lb travelling at 1500 ft/s strikes--- HE or AP
( 5.4 megajoules = 3,982,835 Foot-pounds Force (ft lbf)
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I noted this on my website at
LINK
Basically everyone started WW2 with 0.20 to 0.30 MJ of gunpower (3.7 cm US and German Guns); and then 1940, you saw a jump to 0.70 to 1.5 MJ in the 50mm weapons (US/GER/SOV), followed by a jump in late 1941 and early 1942 to a range of 1.2 to 2.1 MJ (US 75mm, Soviet 7.62 cm, German 7.5 cm).
That had enormous implications; for many tanks had been designed years earlier with protection schemes for the prior generation of gunpower, and there just wasn't enough time to replace them (production needs).
This affected everyone's medium tank families:
US: Sherman
GER: Panzer IV
SU: T-34
UK: Cromwell
But for obvious reasons, since WW2; everyone focuses on the Sherman.