M6A1

M6A1

M22

T1E1

M6A1

M22

T1E1

USA

III Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
4.7	5.0	5.0

Class:

Heavy tank

Research:26 000

Purchase:76 000

Show in game

Description

The Heavy Tank M6A1 is a Rank III American heavy tank with a battle rating of 4.7 (AB) and 5.0 (RB/SB). It was one of the first American tanks to be released with the American ground tree in Update 1.45 "Steel Generals". A rather unusual tank design mounting two cannons in the turret, however it has a durable frontal armour for the battle rating it occupies.

The M6A1 is a one of the most unique tanks in the game, with it large hull and being as tall as a Tiger I. Another interesting feature is that it is one of the most maneuverable heavy tanks in the game with a powerful Wright G-200 engine (the same engine powering the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber) with a max speed of 35 km/h, making it very mobile in a battle situation. The tank has two 12.7 mm's in the hull which can be used but cannot be angled sideways. The M6A1 is one of the first American tanks as well in the game to have the transmission at the rear of the tank.

Some thing to keep in mind is the shell arc of the secondary 37 mm cannon. Its shell will usually hit the same spot on distances up to 1400 m (~1 mile). But do not forget that the gun is offset to the left in close combat, or it will not hit the target.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

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

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	82.5 mm (5-35°) Front 101.6 mm (5-35°) Transmission	44.4 mm	44.4 mm	25.4 mm
Turret	250 mm (6-65°) Turret front 50.8 + 50.8 mm (7-62°) Gun mantlet	82.5 mm (0-12°)	82.5 mm (0-68°)	25.4 mm
Armour	Sides	Roof
Cupola	82.5 mm	25.4 mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick while tracks are 17 mm thick.
• Front armour is rounded so have variable slope angle along the surface.
• Side skirts are 25 mm Rolled Homogenous armour and will trigger fuses on any hostile APHE. If shot came at an angle, there is a high chance APHE won't be able to take out the ammo rack due to it exploding outside of tank and spreading out the damage. Any pure AP shots with enough penetration power left will not be stopped and destroy your tank, if they were aimed straight at ammo racks.

Mobility

Mobility characteristic
Weight (tons)	Add-on Armor weight (tons)	Max speed (km/h)
56.8	N/A	37 (AB)
		35 (RB/SB)
Engine power (horsepower)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	1,033	1,272
Realistic/Simulator	708	800
Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	18.19	22.39
Realistic/Simulator	12.46	14.08

Armaments

Main armament

76 mm M7
Capacity				Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
75				-10°/+30°	±180°
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	10.70	14.80	18.00	19.90	21.20
Realistic	10.70	12.60	15.30	16.92	18.0
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
7.67	6.78	6.25	5.90

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 90°
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
M62 Shell	APCBC	127	125	116	106	97	89
M42A1 Shell	HE	7	7	7	7	7	7
M79 Shot	AP	155	154	131	107	88	72

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%
M62 Shell	792	7	1.2	20	63.7	+4°	48°	63°	71°
M42A1 Shell	800	5.8	0.1	0.5	390	+0°	79°	80°	81°
M79 Shot	792	6.8	N/A	N/A	N/A	-1°	47°	60°	65°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the M6A1.

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	Visual discrepancy
75	40 (+35)	4 (+71)	1 (+74)	Yes

Additional armament

37 mm M3
Capacity				Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
202				N/A	N/A
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert Qualif.	Prior + Ace Qualif.
3.77	3.33	3.07	2.90

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 90°
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
M74B1	AP	90	89	69	50	37	27
M63 Shell	HE	2	2	2	2	2	2
M51B1/B2	APC	79	78	69	59	51	43

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%
M74B1	883	0.87	N/A	N/A	N/A	-1°	47°	60°	65°
M63 Shell	807	0.73	0.1	0.5	38	+0°	79°	80°	81°
M51B1/B2	883	0.87	N/A	N/A	N/A	+4°	48°	63°	71°

Ammo racks

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
202	85 (+12)	161 (+41)	121 (+81)	81 (+121)	41 (+161)	1 (+201)	Yes

Machine guns

12.7 mm M2HB
Pintle mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
1,000 (200)				576	-10°/+50°	±120°
Hull mount #1
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
3,000 (200)				576	-10°/+35°	±15°
Hull mount #2
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
3,000 (200)				576	-10°/+35°	±15°

Usage in the battles

The M6A1 is at first a powerful machine with a 76 mm gun able to penetrate the front of most Rank III tanks. Once, bought make sure to stay behind cover as much as possible as one good hit can knock out the 76 mm gun. Another note is that with all multi-gun tanks, the secondary gun should be fired separately to maximize efficiency of the shells. Since the tank is at Rank III, beware of IS-1s,Panthers, Tigers and Jumbos as they can all easily penetrate the weak frontal armour. Make sure to keep the rear safe as the M6A1's engine is very large for a heavy and is likely to set fire on first hit. The M6A1 is only as powerful as to how player uses it to its advantages.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Great main gun.
• Very good gun depression.
• Good power-to-weight ratio.
• Good acceleration.
• Good climb abilities.
• Secondary gun has the same shell arc as main gun.
• Very good cross country performance due to large tracks.
• Big hull increases chance of surviving after a penetrating hit.
• Surprisingly still can fire both cannons with only skeleton crew.
• Reload rate isn't generally affected when losing crew members.
• Lower portion of the hull sides are protected by additional 25.4 mm armour sheet.
• Can be independent from teammates, but works wonderfully when supported.
• First heavy tank in the US tree that can dish and take punishment equally.
• Rear mounted transmission.
• Adequate roof armour.
• Now has .50 cal AA machine gun.
• Provides a good learning curve to the Maus.

Cons:

• Slow top speed.
• Mediocre turn speed.
• Pretty large in general, will stand out in the battlefield.
• Gun mantlet is weak.
• Weak upper side armour with only ~40mm
• Ammo is stored in the lower side armour!
• Drivers and MG-port are frontal weak spots.
• Large engine and transmission mounted in the rear.
• Rear compartment of the vehicle is filled with fuel tanks that can easily set ablaze or explode altogether when shot.
• Tank cannot be angled as it exposes the cheeks.
• Flat-ish armor

History

Development

When World War II broke out, limited development in United States meant that the military possessed very few tanks and so development hastened and eventually gave them tanks such as the M3 Lee and M4 Sherman. On May 20, 1940, the US Army Ordinance Corps began to work on a 50-ton heavy tank for their army. Initially, it was going to have a multi-turret design, two turrets with the 75 mm gun and one secondary turret with a 37 mm gun with a coaxial machine gun, then one more with a 20 mm gun with coaxial. Plus, four .30 cal machine guns were to be put on ball mounts on the front glacis and rear corners of the hull. This project was approved on June 11, 1940 and moved on as the Heavy Tank T1. However at the same time, similar concepts in Europe of heavy breakthrough tanks such as the Soviet T-35 and the German Neubaufahrzeug tanks were falling out of favour due to lack of combat effectiveness and unfavourable performance for their cost, and the US did the same in October so the design was changed.

The tank now had one turret with a 3-inch (76.2 mm) gun alongside a coaxial 37 mm gun. The turret housed three crew members and was powered by an electrical traverse system. The commander's cupola was copied from the M3 Lee, featuring a hatch with it sown machine gun. Two .50 cal machine guns now protruded from the bow mount (fired by bow gunner) and two .30 cal machine guns as well (fired by driver). The entire tank held six crew members, the commander, gunner, driver, assistant driver, loader #1, and loader #2. While the construction of the vehicle was feasible, the engine was not enough to power the vehicle reliably due to heavy 57 ton weight.

In 1941 to 1942, three prototypes were constructed with different transmission, one with electrical and the rest with a torque converter. The ones with the torque converters were designated the Heavy Tank M6 and M6A1. The electrical transmission design, designated M6A2, was never approved by Ordinance, but was to be manufactured anyway. It was hoped that 115 of these tanks could be built for further testing and production started in December 1942 with design changes. The commander's cupola now featured a regular hatch rather than the machine gun one, which was removed along with one of the machine gun in the front hull. By the time the M6 were ready for production, the Army were moving forward and interest waned on these heavy tanks with the M4 Sherman's performance in the war. The M6's armour was only slightly more thicker than the Sherman's and the 3-inch gun didn't offer too much improvement over the 75 mm gun, plus it had a large profile and low ergonomics, not to mention mechanical issues.

Production and cancellation

In early 1942, the M6 production was set for 250 a month, but was cut down in September from 5,000 to a mere 100 when manufacturing focus moved to planes. By the end of 1942, the Sherman's performance in the war proved its role in the war was more adaptable than the M6 heavy tank, while remaining cheaper and lighter for transportation and supplying. This caused the M6 production to lower even more to just 40, before being shut down. Though testing with a 90 mm gun found the M6 to be a good gun mount, the poor layout of the tank restricted it, and the project was shut down before further development could be made.

In August 1944, the Ordinance Corps planned to modify some of the M6 heavy tanks with more armour and heavier armament to breach fortified areas. These were to be the M6A2E1 and weighed 77 tons with a 190 mm front armour and a 105 mm gun. Eisenhower rejected these as impractical, and cancelled it. The M6 was found to be obsolete by December 1944 with only 40 units produced and never seeing combat service. They served as a propaganda piece during the war and were all scrapped after it except one, which is put on display at Aberdeen, Maryland at the United States Army Ordinance Museum. During development, the M6 turret was modified to become the turret for the M10 Tank Destroyer.

Media

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

Read also

• Official War Thunder forum article: [Vehicle Profile] Heavy Tank M6A1

Sources

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

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

USA heavy tanks
M4 Jumbo	M4A3E2 · Cobra King · M4A3E2 (76) W
M6	M6A1 · T1E1 · T1E1 (90) · M6A2E1
T26	T26E1-1 · T26E5
T29/30/34	T29 · T30 · T34
T32	T32 · T32E1
M103	M103
Others	T14