F-34 (76 mm)

Description

The F-34 was a 76.2 mm cannon designed by P. Muraviev of Vasiliy Grabin's design bureau at Factory No. 92 in Gorky. It was secretly implemented into the new T-34 (1941) without bureaucratic approval, but was so well-received that it would become the default 76.2 mm tank cannon for the USSR during WWII.

A variant, the ZiS-5, was made to better fit into the KV-1 series of tanks, and the F-96 was a redesignation of said ZiS-5 to be installed into field variants of the Matilda II.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

Ground vehicles

• T-34 (1941)
• ▄T-34
• T-34 (1st Gv.T.Br.)
• T-34 (1942)
• ␗T-34 (1943)
• T-34E
• T-34E STZ
• ▀T 34 747 (r)
• SU-76D

Naval vessels

• Pr.1124 early
• Pr.1124 late
• Pr.1124 MLRS
• MBK-161 early
• MBK-161 late

General info

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Available ammunition

Ground vehicles

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
BR-350A (MD-5 fuse)	APHEBC	87	85	77	69	62	55
BR-350B (MD-8 fuse)	APHEBC	96	94	84	74	64	56
BR-350SP	APBC	99	96	87	76	66	58
BR-354P	APCR	125	117	87	60	41	28
BP-353A	HEAT	80	80	80	80	80	80
OF-350M	HE	10	10	10	10	10	10
Sh-354T	Shrapnel	35	34	30	26	22	19

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
BR-350A (MD-5 fuse)	APHEBC	662	6.3	1.2	14	150	48°	63°	71°
BR-350B (MD-8 fuse)	APHEBC	655	6.5	0.9	14	100.1	48°	63°	71°
BR-350SP	APBC	655	6.5	-	-	-	48°	63°	71°
BR-354P	APCR	950	3.02	-	-	-	66°	70°	72°
BP-353A	HEAT	355	3.94	0.05	0.1	600	62°	69°	73°
OF-350M	HE	680	6.2	0.05	0.1	621	79°	80°	81°
Sh-354T	Shrapnel	618	6.44	1.2	14	85	62°	69°	73°

Smoke shell characteristics
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Screen radius (m)	Screen deploy time (s)	Screen hold time (s)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
D-350A	680	6.45	13	5	20	50

Naval vessels

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		100 m	1,000 m	2,000 m	3,000 m	4,000 m	5,000 m
OF-350M	HE	10	10	10	10	10	10
BR-350A	APHEBC	85	70	56	45	37	30

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
OF-350M	HE	680	6.2	0	0.1	621	79°	80°	81°
BR-350A	APHEBC	665	6.3	1.6	4	150	48°	63°	71°

Comparison with analogues

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Usage in battles

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Pros and cons

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Pros:

Cons:

History

The F-34 was a cannon first developed for the T-34 medium tank. The gun was designed by P. Muraviev of Vasiliy Grabin's design bureau at Factory No. 92 in Gorky. While the F-34 was superior to the older F-32 and L-11 from the Kirov Plant in Leningrad, the L-11 was already selected for use in the T-34 because Kirov Plant was politically connected to Marshal Grigory Kulik, then-Chief of the Main Artillery Directorate. While Kulik's close ties to Stalin kept most bureaucrats from going against him, Grabin and the director of the Kharkov Locomotive Factory (KhPZ) decided to get their foot in the door by arming the T-34 (1941) with the F-34 and issuing it to platoon and company-level tank commanders. When their praise of the F-34 reached the State Defense Committee (GKO), the gun became authorized for production as the standard-issue gun on the T-34. The gun was more than capable of penetrating German tanks during World War II until the introduction of tanks such as the Panther tank and Tiger I. However, it was not as accurate as German guns and the cramped, two-man turret reduced the rate of fire to about three rounds per minute. When the newer tanks started showing up, the T-34 was first upgraded to the T-34-57 which had a ZIS-2 57 mm gun, but the lack of a good high explosive round led to the further upgrade, the T-34-85, which was armed with an adaptation of the 85 mm anti-aircraft gun M1935 (52-K) which would arm the T-34 until the end of the war.

Along with the T-34 tanks, the F-34 gun was used on the Pr.1124 and the MBK-161 gunboats. As these river boats were developed by the Red Army instead of the Soviet Navy, they were ordered to reuse existing turrets and were first armed with the turret and 76.2 mm KT-28 gun from the T-28 multi-turreted medium tank. However, shortly before World War II began these boats with T-34 turrets which lead to the adoption of the T-34 turrets and thus the cannons from the T-34 such as the F-34. On the PR.1124 and later MBK-161 boats, the turret was modified for increased elevation for providing indirect fire support.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

• F-32 (76 mm) - Older cannon model by the same design bureau used on the KV-1E, BT-7A (F-32), and KV-IB (Germany)
• L-11 (76 mm) - Competing design used on early T-34s.
• ZIS-5 (76 mm) - F-34 variant used on the KV-1 (ZiS-5).

External links

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

China tank cannons
30 mm	ZPL02 · ZPZ02
73 mm	Type 86
76 mm	M32K1
85 mm	Type 56 · Type 63
100 mm	PTP86 · Type 59 · Type 69 · Type 69-II · ZPL04
105 mm	88B-105T · Type 83 · WMA301 · ZPL94 · ZPL98A
120 mm	122TM · PTZ89
125 mm	Type 88C · Type 99A · ZPT98
130 mm	PL59A Gai
152 mm	PL66 Gai
	Foreign:
20 mm	KwK30 (Germany)
37 mm	M6 (USA)
45 mm	20-K (USSR)
47 mm	Type 1 (Japan)
57 mm	Type 97 (Japan) · ZIS-2 (USSR)
75 mm	M2 Howitzer (USA) · M3 (USA) · M6 (USA)
76 mm	D-56T (USSR) · F-34 (USSR) · M1 (USA) · M7 (USA) · ZIS-3 (USSR)
85 mm	ZIS-S-53 (USSR)
90 mm	M3 (USA) · M41 (USA)
100 mm	D-10S (USSR)
105 mm	M68 (USA) · M68A1 (USA)
115 mm	U-5TS (USSR)
122 mm	A-19 (USSR) · D-25T (USSR)
152 mm	ML-20S (USSR)

Sweden tank cannons
20 mm	Akan m/47D · Pvlvkan m/40
37 mm	kan m/38
40 mm	akan m/70B
57 mm	Pvkan m/43
75 mm	kan m/02 · kan m/41 · kan Strv 74 · lvkan m/37 A · pvkan m/43
84 mm	kan Strv 81
90 mm	kan Ikv 91
105 mm	kan Bofors · kan Ikv · kan m/44 · kan Strv 101 · L74
120 mm	automatkanon · CTG · kan Strv 121 · kan Strv 122
150 mm	fsthaub m/02
155 mm	kan m/60
	Foreign:
35 mm	Bushmaster 3 (USA)
73 mm	2A28 (USSR)
75 mm	M3 (USA)
88 mm	KwK43 (Germany)
105 mm	L/50 (Belgium) · L7A3 (Germany)
125 mm	2A46M-1 (USSR)
155 mm	CN98 (South Korea)
	Finland
37 mm	Psv.K/36
114 mm	Psv.H/18
	Foreign:
30 mm	Bushmaster 2 Mk.44 (USA)
45 mm	20-K (USSR)
75 mm	KwK40 L48 (Germany)
76 mm	D-56TS (USSR) · F-34 (USSR) · L-10 (USSR)
77 mm	OQF Mk.II (Britain)
84 mm	20pdr OQF Mk.I (Britain)
85 mm	ZIS-S-53 (USSR)
100 mm	D-10T (USSR) · D-10T2S (USSR)
105 mm	L/50 (Belgium)
120 mm	Rh120 L/44 (Germany) · Rh120 L/55 (Germany)
125 mm	2A46 (USSR)

USSR naval cannons
20 mm	ShVAK
25 mm	2M-3
30 mm	AK-230 · 30 mm/54 AK-630 · 30 mm/54 AK-630M · BP "Plamya"
37 mm	37 mm/67 70-K · V-11
45 mm	45 mm/46 21-K · 45 mm/68 21-KM · 45 mm/89 SM-20-ZIF · 45 mm/89 SM-21-ZIF
57 mm	AK-725
75 mm	75 mm/50 Canet patt.1892
76 mm	34-K · 39-K · 76 mm/60 AK-176M · AK-726 · D-56TS · F-34 · Lender AA gun, pattern 1914/15
85 mm	85 mm/52 92-K · 85 mm/54.6 ZIS-C-53 · 90-K
100 mm	100 mm/56 B-34 · 100 mm/70 SM-5-1 · Minizini
102 mm	Pattern 1911
120 mm	120 mm/50 pattern 1905
130 mm	130 mm/55 pattern 1913 · 130 mm/58 SM-2-1 · B-13
152 mm	152 mm/57 B-38
180 mm	180 mm/57 B-1-P · 180 mm/60 B-1-K
305 mm	12-inch/52 pattern 1907 · 305 mm/54 B-50
356 mm	14-inch/52 pattern 1913 (356 mm)
	Foreign:
40 mm	2pdr QF Mk.IIc (Britain) · Skoda (Czechoslovakia)
47 mm	3 pdr QF Hotchkiss (Britain)
76 mm	76 mm/40 Ansaldo mod.1917 (Italy)
88 mm	SK C/30 (Germany)
120 mm	120 mm/50 Mk.4 Bofors M1924 (Sweden) · 120 mm/50 O.T.O. Mod.1933 (Italy)
152 mm	152/53 mm O.T.O. Mod.1929 (Italy)
320 mm	320 mm/44 Ansaldo model 1934 (Italy)