T25

T25

M4/T26

M26

T25

M4/T26

M26

USA

IV Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
6.3	6.3	6.3

Class:

Medium tank

Research:27 000

Purchase:185 000

Description

The Medium Tank T25 is a Rank IV American medium tank with a battle rating of 6.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.53 "Firestorm". The T25 is, for all intents and purposes, a prototype M26 Pershing, with nearly the same design, turret, and gun. It comes directly after the M4A3 (76) W in the American medium tank line.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Cast homogeneous armour (Front, Turret)
• Rolled homogeneous armour (Side, Rear, Roof)

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	76.2 mm (47°) Front Glacis 63.5 mm (56°) Lower Glacis	50.8 mm Front half 38.1 mm Rear half	38.1 mm (7-22°)	19.05 mm
Turret	76.2 mm (1-80°) Turret front 88.9 mm (7-80°) Gun mantlet	63.5 mm (0-31°)	63.5 mm (1-3°)	25.4 mm
Armour	Sides	Roof
Cupola	76.2 mm	25.4 mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheels, bogies, and tracks are 20 mm thick.
• Machine gun port on hull is vulnerable due to flat armour.

Mobility

Game Mode	Mobility characteristics			Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Max Speed	Weight	AoA Weight	Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	56	38.2	N/A	775	954	20.29	24.97
Realistic	50			442	500	11.57	13.09

Armaments

Main armament

90 mm M3
Capacity				Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
50				-10°/+20°	±180°
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	14.28	19.80	24.0	26.60	28.20
Realistic	14.28	16.80	20.4	22.60	24.00
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
9.75	__._	__._	7.5

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 90°
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
T33 shot	AP	189	188	163	137	115	96
M71 shell	HE	13	13	13	13	13	13
M82 shot	APCBC	165	164	150	137	125	114
M304 shot	APCR	264	260	245	226	210	191

Shell details
Ammunition	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
							0%	50%	100%
T33 shot	822	11	N/A	N/A	N/A	-1°	47°	60°	65°
M71 shell	823	11	0.1	0.5	925	+0°	79°	80°	81°
M82 shot	813	11	1.2	20	137.2	+4°	48°	63°	71°
M304 shot	1021	7.6	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	66°	70°	72°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the T25.

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
50	41 (+9)	33 (+17)	25 (+25)	17 (+33)	9 (+41)	1 (+49)	no

Machine guns

12.7 mm M2HB
Pintle mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
500 (200)				576	-10°/+60°	±180°

7.62 mm M1919A4
Coaxial mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
4,500 (250)				500	N/A	N/A

Usage in the battles

The T25 is a medium tank, but the mobility can give the impression that it is a quick heavy tank when driving it. Its top speed is on par with the Comet, but it accelerates slower. The T25 is respectably mobile and is one of the first American tanks to have neutral steering, which allows for excellent and light low-speed handling and useful in tight urban maps. The T25's saving grace is the fact that it's got the 90 mm, on par to the Tiger's 88 mm gun.

When using this tank, use it as what it is - a medium tank. It has many of the very desirable qualities for a medium tank - containing elements of a tank destroyer, a medium tank, and a heavy tank into one powerful package. Its armour is above average, being on par with a Tiger I, because of it being sloped. When angled, the tank is extremely tough, but do not expect the armour to save the T25 every time - the common IS-2 is extremely dangerous. Its hide may be thick, but once upgraded, it can keep up with things like Panthers, but don't expect to win any running races soon! Its speed is what surprises many players, as American tanks are not known for their speed. This speed can allow flanking manoeuvres and to get to positions impossible for most American tanks. This leads into its tank destroyer capability - the part that makes the T25 very effective. It has access to the famed M82 APCBC rounds, which matches Russian tanks on post-penetration effect, owing to the round's massive 137 grams of explosive filler. And for good measure, it has the same penetration as a Tiger 1's 88mm APCBC rounds. It even has access to very powerful APCR rounds for it's BR, but the T25 will not usually need 260 mm of penetration. Its various qualities make it a jack of all trades, with its only weakness being mobility and thin side armour. The T25 gives a glimpse of American medium tank gameplay after the Sherman series.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Powerful 90 mm gun, same gun mounted on the M26 and the M36 GMC
• Has a gun stabilizer
• Mounts a .50 cal machine gun on top for anti-aircraft defence
• It's a middle ground between the M26 and the M4A3 (76) W
• Lower profile than the M4 Sherman tanks
• Much more manoeuvrable and faster than the M26 Pershing
• Can immediately research the M82 shell upon purchase
• Has neutral steering
• Similar play style to that of the M26 Pershing
• .50 cal AA machine gun that can rotate a full 360 degree

Cons:

• 90mm cannon is notorious for having a longer reload time than its competitors
• Armour is woefully inadequate at its rank
• Slow, can't keep up with T-34 and Panthers
• Stock shell is bad

History

T20 series

After the M4 Sherman was adopted as the United State military's standard tank, work began on a new tank design to be the successor of the M4 Sherman. U.S. Ordnance Department got to work in spring of 1942, which would lead up to the T20 tank designs. The T20, along with its variants like the T22 and T23, were all marginal improvements over the M4 Sherman with a more powerful 76 mm gun, a rear transmission design, and having a much lower profile. While the Ordnance Dept. tinkered around with these designs with various components, the Armored Board rejected the few designs offered to them for being maintenance extensive, as well as not seeing a need to replace their abundant and well-suited M4 Shermans on the field. While the tanks were rejected, they did provide some technical upgrades to the current Sherman designs. An example of this is the horizontal-volute suspension system (HVSS)that eventually became the suspension of the "E8" Shermans such as the M4A3E8. Another example is the T23 turret, which would become the main turret on Shermans mounting the 76 mm cannon on the "E6" program.

Though the Armored Board rejected the tanks for immediate combat use, the Ordnance Dept. continued their development. The T20s were not completely disregarded, as one of the models, the T23, was seen as promising enough that an initial order of 250 tanks was placed in May 1943. As tests continued, the order was modified. 50 of the tanks were to be adapted to use a 90 mm gun as its main armament. Forty of them were to be simple T23 upgrades with the new turret, but ten were to also have additional armour on the hull. These two 90 mm tanks asked are designated the T25 and T26 respectively.

Development of the T25

The first T25 was made by adding a 90 mm gun turret onto the T23. This converted T23 first arrived at Aberdeen Proving Ground on 21 January 1944, and a second one arrived at Fort Knox on 29 April. Both models had a horizontal-volute suspension system with 23-inch tracks. This original T25 was roughly 3 tons heavier than the T23 and carried the 90 mm gun T7, the prototype of the 90 mm M3. Other changes from the T23 consists of a narrower and longer driver hatch to adapt to the gun mantlet of the new turret, as well as smaller changes in the interior for increased ammo storage. The transmission was still that of the T23 with the electric transmission with a Ford GAN engine.

Another variant of the T25 was developed by the Ordnance Dept when they discovered that the electric drive on the T25 and T26 added too much weight to the overall design. This variation changed the transmission on the two tanks to a Torqmatic transmission design, essentially an improved T20's transmission design, as well as torsion bar suspension. These variants were designated with an "E1" name to T25E1 and T26E1. It was decided that the "E1" tanks were to be the standard production model with them to go along with the orders. Production and deliveries of the T25E1 and T26E1 were carried out between February to May 1944. The T25E1 and T26E1 participated in a series of tests at Aberdeen Proving Grounds and Fort Knox to determine their combat suitability and design flaws. Testing for the E1 tanks lasted from their arrival in February to summer of 1944.

Rejection and fate

By summer of 1944, Operation Overlord commenced and battle reports coming in from the troops are taken in for any suggestions on future tank development. The troops in Normandy were running into anti-tank defences able to destroy their M4 Shermans with ease, and now they called for a tank with more powerful armament and increased armour. This new perspective caused an unfortunate setback for the T25 in comparison to its up-armoured brother T26. As such, priority on the T25 declined as priority work went into the T26 and into fixing its faults. Only 42 tanks, 2 T25 and 40 T25E1s, were produced between January and May of 1944.

The T25 and T25E1 tanks continued on in the Armored Board and Ordnance Dept. as test pieces for other projects. The T25 in Armored Board stayed in testing until the 28th of September, 1944, before their focus also switched to the T26 series. The Ordnance Dept. converted a T25E1 tank into a T26E3 variant to test for various modifications that would go onto the redesigning of the T26E1 into the T26E3. The T25E1 was also tested with various of guns like a 90 mm gun T14. There was also a proposal to mount a 105 mm T5E1 gun, but this never passed the concept drawing stages.

The T26 and T26E1 models, now the main focus of the Ordnance Dept. and Armored Board, had the defects found from field testing fixed by late 1944. This polished variant was designated the T26E3. This tank, with an order of 250 already made since January of 1944, went on into production that November, with 40 tanks delivered by the end of the year. The T26E3, in a bid for further testing, was sent to Europe for combat evaluation on the field against German armour. The T26E3 would provide sterling service against German heavy tanks like the Panther and Tiger I. The T26E3 tank was then finally accepted and standardized on March 1945 in Army Ground Forces as the M26 Pershing.

In-game description

An experimental medium tank built at the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant in January of 1944. Only two of them were ever built. They were never used in combat. One of the precursors to the M26 medium tank, armed with a 90mm gun and comparable armor.

Media

Skins and camouflages for the T25 series from live.warthunder.com.

Read also

[Devblog] T25 Medium Tank and Panzerwerfer 42 Auf.Sf - with developer's answers

Sources

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.