Typ 1 Chi-He
The Japanese Type 1 Chi-He was the successor to the Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tank of World War II. Designed to replace the Type 97 Chi-Ha, the Type 1 was an overall improvement over its predecessor with a more powerful main gun, powerplant, and with thicker armour.
Production history
As a response to the Type 97 Chi-Ha's poor anti-armour capabilities due to its low-velocity Type 97 57mm main gun a new series of tanks based on an improved Chi-Ha design was conceived. The first of this new series was the Type 1 Chi-Ha, which first appeared in 1941 and was introduced in 1942.
The Type 1 compared to the Type 97 was slightly longer and taller than the Type 97, the thicker angled frontal armour was welded as opposed to riveted and the Type 1 weighed 2.032 tonnes (2 tons) more than the Type 97. The Mitsubishi Type 100 diesel engine was 52kW more than the Type 97's Mitsubishi Type 97 diesel engine and was more than able to compensate for the additional weight of the Type 1. The Type 1 47mm high-velocity turret had a barrel length of 2.250m and a muzzle velocity of 810 m/sec almost doubling the penetration capability compared to the low-velocity Type 97 57mm. The gun was placed in a new two-man turret allowing space for a loader.
Japanese industry was unable to produce enough tank bodies, and only fifteen trial models and one hundred fifty-five mass production models where completed. The surplus turrets and Type 1 guns were instead used on Type 97 chassis. This new Type 97 was designated as the 'Type 97 Shinhoto ('New Turret') Chi-Ha' and 2,208 where mass-produced. The Type 1 turret was also used by Type 3 Ka-Chi Amphibious Tank.