QF 3.7 Ram

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QF 3.7 Ram
uk_ram_90mm_aa.png
QF 3.7 Ram

Description

The OQF 3.7-inch AA on Ram Mounting (QF 3.7 Ram) is a gift rank III British tank destroyer with a battle rating of 5.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced during Update 1.95 "Northern Wind" in the Operation F.R.O.S.T. event. It features a heavily modified Ram chassis with a powerful 94 mm AA cannon, playing as a British counterpart of the German VFW and the two can often face each other in the battlefield.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour

The QF 3.7 Ram consists of light armour composed of Rolled Homogeneous Armour (RHA) and structural steel.

File:ARMOR RAM.jpg
Frontal armour of the Ram SPG

The QF 3.7 Ram possesses light armour in the upper area of the turret (10 mm thickness), that might only cover your crew for small caliber machine guns.

Lying hidden in the back of the turret, its heavy 94 mm cannon it's protected by 20 mm of structural steel located lower the cannon gun. Inside it the vertical aim drive its located. If a shot goes through and detonates inside this boxy structure, it will cause damage to your crew and the vertical aiming drive. This is the most common damage the QF 3.7 Ram will get, as the enemy often shoots at the area below the 94 mm cannon.

The thicker part of the armour is located in the cannon structure, visible in the centre of the turret (60 mm thickness). But due to the structural steel armour type, its armor remains insignificant for the heavy shells it can face, making cannon breach damage a routine situation as shells with explosive filler detonate within the structure

More armour is located in the lower central area of the transmission. There, its Ram mounting provides 50.8 mm of armour thickness, thick enough that it is possible to stop awkwardly angled shots or HE shots, but won't save you from a frontal encounter. Damages through here also will damage the transmission module.

Cannon structure armuor

Due to the QF 3.7 Ram's provided armour, any cannon shell sent its way can completely cripple your ability to retaliate. However, the QF 3.7 Ram's crew helps provide a factor in the vehicle's survivability on the battlefield.

The crew

The QF 3.7 Ram is managed by a 7 man crew.

  • 1 Gunner
  • 2 Loaders
  • 2 Machine gunners
  • 1 Commander
  • 1 Driver

This gives the QF 3.7 Ram one more crew member over the VFW for an edge in crew surviability, though the trade-off is that the Ram's crew is more heavily exposed. Both loaders are the most vulnerable targets as they stand back uncovered. The driver and a machine gunner remain in the safest spot within the vehicle chassis. The gunner it well placed but often gets knocked out. High crew skills are a must to ensure higher chance of resisting explosive effects or shrapnel, while performing gun reloads and field repairs even faster to fight back against the opponents.

The best way to utilize the armour to protect the crew is to aim the gun from the front, as it provides cover to both loaders in the back. However, avoid getting hit once as the proximity of the crew members, modules, and ammo racks within each other on the QF 3.7 Ram means a single hit has a chance of crippling the vehicle's performance enough for follow-up shots to finish the QF 3.7 Ram off.

Mobility

Mobility its decent for a SPG with such gun, thanks to its light armour. 43 km/h in AB, 40 km/h in RB/SB

The QF 3.7 Ram is able to reach its maximum speed of 40 km/h (RB) in off road terrain quite easily. Not enough to do a flanking maneuvre, but enough to get a good sniping location or position early in the match.

Its reverse speed is quite poor, 5.7 km/h in arcade and 5.2 km/h in RB/SB. However, this is enough for retreating from a sniping position effectively.

Close quarters should be avoided as the condition would just make the QF 3.7 Ram vulnerable to enemy machine gun fire, as well as being quickly spotted and flanked.

Armaments

Main armament

Main article: OQF Mk.II (94 mm)

The 94 mm cannon provides very lethal penetration for all the enemy it faces. It's different from any other cannon in the British tree until battle rating 5.0, as this cannon holds a lower muzzle velocity than your usual 17pdr. Therefore some practice should be made to familiarize with the new cannon ballistics.

Ammunition
Penetration statistics
Ammunition Type of
warhead
Penetration in mm @ 0° Angle of Attack
10m 100m 500m 1000m 1500m 2000m
Shot Mk.1 APCBC 204 202 192 180 169 159
Shell Mk.1 HE 13 13 13 13 13 13
Ammo racks
Full
ammo
1st
rack empty
2nd
rack empty
3rd
rack empty
4th
rack empty
Visual
discrepancy
44 34 (+10) 23 (+21) 12 (+32) (+43) No

Left side ammo racks only : 23 shells

Usage in battles

Sniper

In RB/SB the best approach its the sniping role. Quickly finding an appropriate spot at the beginning of the match. The vehicle its tall and the gun depression it's only of -5° so keep that in mind when positioning. Covering the allies flanks, long roads, taking down enemy snipers,or keeping the enemy from capturing a point shall be your duty.

A good tactic it's to wait enemies expose their sides. Tigers and Panthers cant resist a shot and usually will be enough. The 44 shells it can carry are sufficient for prolonged sniper duties. Because of the bounciness of Soviet heavy tanks, its recommended using the same tactic. Waiting for the right moment to shot but in the meantime making sure of using the rangefinder and the gun distance control to successfully land a shot.

Having camouflage in the frontal armor serves as a bonus. Making you more hard to be seen in the woods and also covering both loaders exposed in the back that are visible at from the front of the tank.

Shooting the enemies frontal armor its possible but the risk of shots bouncing off stills high, despite the guns penetration. This will also make your position noticed and eventually MG fire, artillery and even bombs will reach your position that has been discovered.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Powerful gun
  • Capable of penetrating every enemy it can face from the front
  • Decent survivability due to high crew amount of seven
  • Decent mobility for its powerful gun
  • Depression of +80°

Cons:

  • Horizontal gun traverse limited to 90° on each side
  • Not very fast
  • Slow gun traverse
  • Weak armour, only protected against light machine guns
  • Long reload compared to its German counterpart VFW
  • Poor gun depression of -5°
  • Lower muzzle velocity than the usual 17pdr

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, 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

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

  • topic on the official game forum;
  • encyclopedia page on the tank;
  • other literature.


Britain tank destroyers
Infantry tank derivatives  Archer · Gun Carrier (3-in)
Light tank derivatives  Alecto I
M10 Achilles  Achilles · Achilles (65 Rg.)
Centurion derivatives  FV4005 · Conway
ATGM  Swingfire · Striker
Other  Tortoise · ▄M109A1
Canada  QF 3.7 Ram
South Africa  G6 · ZT3A2

Britain premium ground vehicles
Light tanks  A13 Mk I (3rd R.T.R.) · A13 Mk II 1939 · AEC Mk II · Crusader "The Saint" · Rooikat 105
Medium tanks  A.C.I · Grant I · Cromwell V (RP-3) · Sherman IC "Trzyniec" · A.C.IV · Comet I "Iron Duke IV"
  Centurion Mk.2 · ▄Strv 81 (RB 52) · Centurion Mk.5 AVRE · Centurion Mk.5/1 · ▄Sho't Kal Dalet · Centurion Action X
  Vijayanta · Khalid · Challenger DS · Challenger 2 OES
Heavy tanks  Independent · Matilda Hedgehog · Excelsior · TOG II · Churchill Crocodile · Black Prince
Tank destroyers  Alecto I · Achilles (65 Rg.) · QF 3.7 Ram