Stuart I

Stuart I

Stuart III

Stuart I

Stuart III

Britain

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.7	2.0	2.0

Class:

Light tank

Research:2 900

Purchase:700

Description

The Stuart I is a rank I British light tank with a battle rating of 1.7 (AB) and 2.0 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Starfighters".

General info

Stuart I driving in the Snow (Frozen Pass)

Survivability and armour

Being a light tank the Stuart I has fairly thin armour, it can generally protect against most machine guns but will usually not stand up against the main weapons of most enemy tanks at its BR. The inside of the tank is fairly cramped with the two turret members standing, this means that the likelihood of a crew member being hit is fairly high.

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour
• Cast homogeneous armour (lower frontal plate)

Armour	Front	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	38.1 mm (18°) Driver Port 15.8 mm (69°) Front Glacis	25.4 mm	25.4 mm	12.7 mm
Turret	38.1 mm	25.4 mm	25.4 mm	12.7 mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheels and bogies are 15 mm thick, tracks are 10 mm thick.

Stuart I Turning Demo at Slow and Fast speeds

Mobility

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	56	7	12.7	406	500	31.97	39.37
Realistic	51	6		232	262	18.27	20.63

The Stuart I can reach a speed of 49 km/h off road and up to 50 km/h on road. It can feel sluggish while turning at lower speed as it lacks neutral steer, but when moving forward the turning is much smoother and quicker. The vehicle reverses at up to 5 km/h which while somewhat slow, is still usable in most situations on the battlefield.

Armaments

Main armament

The main gun of the Stuart I is a 37 mm M5 cannon, this gun is also featured on the M2A4 and M3 Lee, On the Stuart I the M5 can use 2 round types, either M74 (AP) or M51 (APCBC) with the latter being a Tier 1 modification.

37 mm M5					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	103	-10°/+20°	±180°	Vertical	19.04	26.35	32.00	35.00	37.65	3.77	3.33	3.07	2.90
Realistic					11.90	14.00	17.00	18.80	20.00

Ammunition

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
M74 shot	AP	67	65	56	46	38	32
M51 shot	APCBC	75	72	62	51	43	35

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%
M74 shot	AP	792	0.87	N/A	N/A	N/A	47°	60°	65°
M51 shot	APCBC	792	0.87	N/A	N/A	N/A	48°	63°	71°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the Stuart I

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	Visual discrepancy
103	69 (+34)	35 (+68)	1 (+102)	No

Machine guns

Alongside the main gun the Stuart I has 2 additional 7.62 mm M1919A4 machine guns. First MG is in a coaxial mount aligned with the gun, second is mounted on the turret top in a pintle mount. Unlike it's American counterpart, the Stuart I lacks the two machine guns mounted on the hull sides. The Stuart I does also have a hull front MG but this cannot be fired.

7.62 mm M1919A4
Mount	Capacity (Belt capacity)	Rate of fire (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
Pintle	3,000 (250)	500	-10°/+70°	±60°
Coaxial	3,200 (250)	500	N/A	N/A

Usage in battles

When driving the Stuart I it is best to maintain some distance from enemy vehicles, this is advisable due to the somewhat thin armour and closely packed crew that you have to work with, if you are on a smaller map where keeping distance from enemy vehicles is not possible then it would be a good idea to use buildings and landscape features for cover and to keep your vehicle concealed.

In majority of cases you will be able to go through the frontal armour of enemy tanks (best pen is 75 mm) although some vehicles with heavily angled front armour may be able to stop your round being effective, a consistently effective tactic is to flank an enemy vehicle and fire into the side of the crew compartment, aiming near the turret to disable their ability to fire is a good way to use your first shot, thanks to the quick (at best 2.9s) reload of the Stuart I you can then put second and third shots into the enemy if needed to finish off their crew.

Another aspect worth mentioning here is the mobility of the Stuart I, while not the fastest vehicle at its BR it certainly still has competitive mobility that will allow it to reach capture points in quickly or get to a good camping or flanking position before most enemy or friendly vehicles alike.

Specific enemy vehicles that bear mentioning are any German vehicles with the 20 mm KwK/FlaK38 cannon, this gun might be small but can have up to 64 mm of pen, which is enough to go through the Stuart I at almost any point even frontally, these guns can also fire 10 rounds at 280 rounds/min before having to reload the clip, this means that they will very easily take out your crew before you have a chance to respond, as far as countering the best chance you have is to angle your frontal armour which can make it difficult for the PzGr 40 rounds to pen, but generally speaking you will not stand much of a chance against vehicles equipped with this gun if you are openly exposed to their fire.

Modules

Tier	Mobility		Protection	Firepower
I	Tracks		Parts	Horizontal Drive	M51 shot
II	Suspension	Brake System	FPE	Adjustment of Fire
III	Filters		Crew Replenishment	Elevation Mechanism
IV	Transmission	Engine		Artillery Support

An M3 Stuart attacking a BT-7

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Side mounted fixed MG's
• Good front armour
• Fast and agile
• Reliable gun with good rate of fire
• Good pen on the stock AP round

Cons:

• Crew are located close together
• Brakes are weak
• Turning can be bad at slower speeds
• No ammunition with HE filler (only solid shots)

History

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Media

Skins and camouflages for the Stuart I from live.warthunder.com.

See also

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

External links

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• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the tank;
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