M48 Patton series in obat12

[Basileus Ioannis]

Thank you Don, Pat and Suhiir, I appreciate your consideration and all the work you all put into SPMBT; the detail level of this game far outpaces its humble SSI beginnings, and your hard work shows. I mean, while running my brief playtest just now, I had a tracked vehicle get stuck in a rice paddy...another, a wheeled vehicle, wouldn't go into mud terrain so the passengers dismounted to continue on foot. That, gentlemen, is meat and potatoes details that certainly satisfies the appetite.

Suhiir, re: obat13 USMC use of M48s, here's what I've got so far: per Hunnicutt's PATTON, pilot T48 #6 was delivered to the Marines; since pilot #5 was delivered in November 1952, that must be the earliest date #6 was delivered. A photo of pilot #6 appears in Jim Mesko's M48 Patton In Action, with small drivers hatch and cylindrical blast deflector.

A website history of the 1st Marine Tank Battalion indicated that the Marines got only enough M46 Pattons for the 1st Marine Division in Korea, but CONUS units had to wait for the M47; photos in Hunnicutt show Quantico testing M47s by February 1953, and when the 3rd Marine Division deployed to Japan in August 1953, they had M47s. 1st Marine Division left Korea for Camp Pendleton in early 1955; it is possible that the Marines only picked up enough M47s for the 2nd and 3rd Divisions and the Force level battalions, and the 1st was reconstituted in early 1955 with M48A1s, leaving its M46s in Korea, but I don't have written data to the effect. It is also a given that the 2nd Marine Division had M48A1s by the time they deployed to Beirut in July 1958. The website also listed total M48A1 acquisition at 421 tanks, 419 of which were dieselized in 1963-64.

Lacking further M48A1 deployment info, I can extrapolate based on parallel development of the M67 flamethrower tank; Hunnicutt goes into considerable detail on this, starting with the T66 prototype based on the M47 hull (the turret was scavenged from the T42 tank program, and had the pistol port on the left side of the turret which was eliminated from the M47). The sole T66 was produced under Army Chemical Corps auspices, as well as the subsequent T67 pilot based on the hull and turret of the M48 with small drivers hatch, external .50cal MG, and no track tension idler wheel; photos of this pilot undergoing tests at Aberdeen are dated November 1953. The flame gun M7-6 mounted in an M48A1 turret was standardized on 13 October 1954, and the Marines ordered 56 complete T67 tanks, 17 T7 flamethrower turrets to be fitted to redundant M48A1 hulls, and the pilot T67 was rebuilt to M48A1 standard (larger drivers hatch, M1 commanders cupola, track tension idler wheel installed) for a total of 74 flame tanks. T67 standardized as Flame Thrower Tank M67, and T7 turret standardized as Flame Thrower Tank Turret M1 on 1 June 1955.

So it can be deduced that at some time between October 1954 and June 1955, the Marines were receiving M48A1 Pattons. Since M48A1 production apparently ran until the end of 1957, the fact that 3rd Marine Division was reequipped two years later might indicate they were second hand Army tanks acquired after production to make up a shortfall in the initial procurement.

The only changes I might recommend in obat13 availability:

012/531 M47 Patton - 8/53 to 7/59 (so they don't appear during either the Korean or Vietnam wars)
007/013/532/635 M48A1 Patton - 4/55 to 11/64

The ENSURE 202 mine rollers for M48A3s weren't deployed until late in the Vietnam War; photo evidence is dated 1970, and only 27 sets were deployed. The earlier Larruping Lou, ERDL I/II and Birmingham rollers were experimental and never fielded.

John

[Basileus Ioannis]

Thanks Pat, I can see the extensive work you did in your Patch thread. I don't know how you keep up with developments in so many nations, I have difficulty with just segments of one!

Re: M60A1(RISE/Passive), per History of the Shillelagh Missile System 1958-1982 by DeLong, Barnhart and Cogle: in February 1978 DA decided to phase down the M551 and replace it with the RISE/Passive with new ammo. The swapout began with 11ACR from June 1978, 2ACR was reequipped from September, then USAREUR DIVCAV units from December 1978 through March 1979. CONUS based cav units received RISE/Passives from April 1979, completing the Sheridan swapouts in all cav units during FY80 (I found no reference to 2ID Sheridans being swapped out with RISE/Passives, so they probably received M48A5s instead).

I had thought most M60A2 battalions were reequipped with M60A1s, but production rates and known phaseout dates seem to indicate that at least some of the six battalions in USAREUR received M60A3s instead. Per History of the Shillelagh Missile System:

Reduction in force ordered by DA April 1979

1/32AR, 3AD - 5/79 (received all 54 M60A3s at once)
2/68AR, 8ID(M) - 6/79 to 8/79
2/64AR, 3ID(M) - 9/79 to 11/79
3/33AR, 3AD - 1/80 to 3/80 (had catastrophic gun breech failure July 1979)

Was originally planned to leave two battalions in USAREUR until 1987, but decision to phase out the M60A2 was made February 1980, accelerated phaseout ordered May 1980

1/37AR, 1AD - 6?/80 to 8?/80
3/64AR, 3ID(M) - 9?/80 to 11?/80

The last two above may have received 11ACR's M60A1(RISE/Passive) pending availability of M60A3(TTS) for 1/37AR, M1 for 3/64AR. Phaseout of M60A2 completed during FY81, which leaves the one battalion at Fort Hood being the last, probably during spring 1981, most likely with rebuilt M60A1(RISE/Passive).

By December 1979, M60A3(TTS) appear to have been test-fielded by 1/10CAV, 4BDE 4ID(M); after a six month evaluation, 11ACR began to be reequipped from July 1980, a mere two years after receiving M60A1(RISE/Passive). 3/8CAV, 8ID(M) was apparently next, in December. In the first five months of 1981, four regular tank battalions appear to have received the TTS, I am not sure which division but I'm leaning toward 3AD, followed by 2ACR starting in June. Three more DIVCAVs received TTS before all six tank battalions of 1AD were reequipped from February to November 1982. Four remaining battalions of 8ID(M) appear to be reequipped from December 1982 to May 1983, with 3BDE 1ID(M) aka 1ID(FWD) being one of the last USAREUR units reequipped by July 1983 (the latter per www.usarmygermany.com). TTS fielding to CONUS must have begun at this point, with 2ID in Korea receiving theirs by mid 1985. Per REFORGER 1986-1993 by Tankograd, the latest photo evidence of M60A1(RISE/Passive) use by active duty units was by 1BDE, 1ID(M) during REFORGER 86.

While this has been culled from multiple sources, some of the dates and units are educated guesses, so if you have more definitive info then please let me know, thanks

John