Sho't Kal Dalet (Great Britain)

▄Sho't Kal Dalet

▄Sho't Kal Dalet

Britain

VI Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
9.0	9.0	9.0

Class:

PREMIUM

Medium tank

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Description

The ▄Sho't Kal Dalet is a gift rank VI British medium tank with a battle rating of 9.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.85 "Supersonic".

General info

Survivability and armour

The base survivability towards various forms of APDS and APHE/APCBC is virtually the same as that of the Centurion Mk 10 in the regular tech tree, but now you will encounter less of these munitions, with HEAT and APFSDS rounds being your primary threat now. The upper front plate and the turret "forehead" will easily bounce APDS and APCBC/APHE rounds from various 100mm and 105mm guns at beyond 500m range. APFSDS rounds however, will penetrate through your tank at any angle and at any range.

But the really interesting and unique aspect about Sho't Kal Dalet is the entire array of ERA tiles that cover the front and side of the tank. They even cover the turret "forehead", turret cheeks and most importantly, the turret ring. Apart from the ERA themselves, there is a considerable amount of air gap behind the ERA tiles and the tank skin which acts as an additional spaced armour against HEAT projectiles. This setup makes your tank immune to any HEAT, ATGM and HEAT-FS round that penetrates 400-450mm RHAe by default, easily eliminating the threat posed by 105mm DM12, 100mm 3BK17M and 3BK5 rounds (most commonly used chemical energy rounds at this BR). ATGMs and higher caliber HEAT rounds(like the 650mm penetration 120mm DM12 round from Leopard 1A1A1 L/44) will have no trouble penetrating your ERA tiles.

Protection against autocannon fire with virtually any belt is mediocre at best, with frontal protection somewhat decent but side armour is too thin for APDS belts of cannon fire from BMP-2 and Gepards.

The interior layout suffers from the same drawback as the regular Centurion, with ammunition littered throughout the fighting compartment. Any penetration in the hull at centre of mass is sure to hit the ammo rack resulting in an catastrophic explosion of the tank. The ammunition rack next to the driver can be eliminated by taking less number of rounds but doesn't help the survivability much.

The commander in Sho't Kal Dalet sits in a pretty exposed position on the turret with his head directly behind the commander's cupola, resulting in him getting knocked out pretty often by potshots when the tank is in a hull down position.

Armour	Thickness	Material
Upper front plate	127mm at construction angle of 56 degrees	Rolled Homogeneous Armour
Lower front plate	127mm at construction angle of 47 degrees	Rolled Homogeneous Armour
Turret mantlet	Varying between 154mm-178mm around the gun. Thickest at the edges of the gun mantlet	Cast Homogeneous Armour
Turret front	Varying between 230mm-240mm	Cast Homogeneous Armour
Turret sides	92mm	Cast Homogeneous Armour
Hull side	55mm	Rolled Homogeneous Armour
Rear armor(Hull)	38mm	Rolled Homogeneous Armour
Rear armor(Turret)	89mm	Cast Homogeneous Armour
Engine deck	Varying between 16mm-20mm	Rolled Homogeneous Armour
Turret roof	Varying between 38mm-55mm	Mix of Rolled Homogeneous Armour and Cast Homogeneous Armor

Notes:-

• The road wheels are made of structural steel and are 20mm worth of RHAe
• The side skirts are made of Rolled Homogeneous Armor are 6mm thick
• Each Blazer ERA provides 260mm worth of Chemical Energy protection

Mobility

When it comes to mobility, consider the Sho't Kal Dalet to be a Centurion Mk.10 on steroids. It comes with a decent 750hp Continental diesel engine with 2400 RPM. It can reverse itself at a decent -12 Km/h(2 gears) and hit speeds upto 48 Km/h(5 gears). While it's not the best as compared to Leopard 1A1A1 and Centuro, it is more than enough to get you quickly into a good firing position early in the match or switch firing positions after scoring a few kills.

Being good in the Sho't depends on how you use your mobility to your advantage. If you rush in beginning of the match, you'll get chewed up by Leopards and Centuros already waiting for you. If you camp throughout the match, you'll find yourself at the bottom of the scoreboard or worse, get bombed by enemy helicopters and aircrafts.

Knowing when to "rush" and when to "camp" is the key to utilising the Sho't's brutal firepower effectively.

Armaments

Main armament

Give the reader information about the characteristics of the main gun. Assess its effectiveness in a battle based on the reloading speed, ballistics and the power of shells. Do not forget about the flexibility of the fire, that is how quickly the cannon can be aimed at the target, open fire on it and aim at another enemy. Add a link to the main article on the gun: {{main|Name of the weapon}}. Describe in general terms the ammunition available for the main gun. Give advice on how to use them and how to fill the ammunition storage.

Additional armament

Some tanks are armed with several guns in one or more turrets. Evaluate the additional weaponry and give advice on its use. Describe the ammunition available for additional weaponry. Give advice on how to use them and how to fill the ammunition storage. If there is no additional weaponry remove this subsection.

Machine guns

Offensive and anti-aircraft machine guns not only allow you to fight some aircraft, but also are effective against lightly armoured vehicles. Evaluate machine guns and give recommendations on its use.

Usage in battles

Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Great 105mm L7 gun.
• E.R.A. grants improved protection.
• No less than three pintle-mount machine guns on the turret roof; good for warding off pesky low-flying planes.
• Good mobility.

Cons:

• Somewhat slow in comparison to other medium tanks at its rank.

History

In the late 1950s, Israel struck a deal with Great Britain to purchase a number of Centurion Mk.5 tanks as a response to Egypt’s own rearmement efforts at the time. Deliveries continued well into the 1960s, with Israel fielding more than 300 Centurion tanks prior to the Six-Day War in 1967.

Although the Centurion, or Sho’t as it was called by the Israelis, was the most modern tank in service with the IDF at the time, it wasn’t very liked among Israeli tank crews due to its low reliability in desert conditions. Therefore, the decision was made to modernize the vehicles in May 1967 by replacing the petrol engine with a more powerful and reliable Continental diesel engine. Further upgrades included the fitting of a new transmission, larger fuel tanks and other minor improvements.

In the following Middle Eastern conflicts of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, the Sho’t had proven its effectiveness in combat. However, after the devastating tank losses of the Yom Kippur War, Israeli engineers realized the importance of crew protection and work on an indigenous tank design, that would become the Merkava, began.

In the meantime, the vehicles that were already in service had to be modernized in order to prevent a repeat of the high losses of the Yom Kippur War in potential future conflicts. This modernization effort primarily focused on the addition of the Blazer ERA package to the Sho’t Kal and Magach tanks, which would reduce the effectiveness of chemical munitions fired at the vehicles.

The upgraded Sho’t Kal Dalet, as it was known, proved the effectiveness of the upgrade during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, where it fared well against ATGMs and RPGs.

The Sho’t Kal Dalet was the last mass-produced modification of the Israeli Centurion, before it was replaced by the more modern Merkava tank models. In total, Israel had purchased and used over 1,100 Centurion tanks, with some still being in limited service today as APCs, ARVs or CEVs.

- From Devblog

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• [Devblog] Sho’t Kal Dalet: Conquering the Desert