Tank warfare - interior conditions

[RangerJoe]

WingCmdr

M60A3 or A5?

NBC is whole nother issue, and I do not believe there is any turret pressurization on any American vehicle in the '80s and possibly to this day. Look at the preparations for Desert Storm.
(I actually feel the Soviets installed it to show readiness, but in reality I would not trust over-pressurization to work on vehicles in a combat environment with armor no thicker than your average SUV door.)

My unit in Germany went from M60A3s to M1s. The NBC system was a filtration system that would filter the air and you would hook your M25 gas mask to it before the gas mask filter. No A5, A3 AS I STATED.

M25 Tank Gas Mask

The M25 / M25A1 chemical-biological masks are special masks for crews of armored vehicles. These masks protect against chemical and biological attack in the form of vapor or aerosol agents when hooked to the vehicle filtered air system or when used alone.

https://olive-drab.com/od_soldiers_gear_gasmask_m25.php

[MakeeLearn]

http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php ... le-part-1/

"The physical misery experienced by these tankers in conditions of high heat and humidity were to prove common in the Pacific theater. A post-war study of ten armored battalions by the Pacific Warfare Board concluded that carbon-monoxide buildup from gun fumes played a major role in making crewmen sick, which was a particular problem when the turret was buttoned up. Malaise, nausea, and vomiting were common, and almost every unit reported cases of men passing out in combat. The most common firing pattern contributed by rapidly building up fumes: Gunners typically fired five to ten bursts as quickly as possible—one minute or less—as targets were spotted, and firing forty rounds in ten to fifteen minutes was common."

[rsallen64]

The M60A3 did have a "supposed" pressurized NBC system with integrated gas mask hoses as RangerJoe states. Not as good as on the later M1. You hooked the mask you carried, which was different from the standard infantry mask, to the hose linked to the system. There was a nob that controlled the air flow, both amount of flow and temperature. In winter, you could blow warm air, and in summer, supposedly cool air. I say supposedly because it was never very cool and didn't make much of a difference when the inside of the tank was 120 degrees or more, but if you weren't in NBC training or full-on MOPP gear, you did indeed stick the hose down your shirt for some cooling effect.

BTW, tanks typically do not go into combat with their "doors" open. Hatches would be closed in combat. Open hatches invite shells, shrapnel, chemicals, gas, you name it. Blowers on to suck out cordite, buttoned up for combat, unbuttoned for traveling, that's SOP. The bottom line is that it can be warm and somewhat comfy in the winter because you do have heat in a tank, but the summer is pure hell.

[RangerJoe]

One advantage that the M60 did have over the M1 was a bottom hatch pee hole . . .

[Korvar]

Ok then, who was on the committee that chose Ft. Irwin as the NTC? We want names. [:D]

[RangerJoe]

I don't know but it is apparently a very good training facility.

[Korvar]

In all seriousness, it is probably a good spot - train, where feasible, so the simulations are worse than real. It also makes the future deployment brochure more sellable: "look guys, you're going where the highs are only in the high 80s to low 90s!"

[RangerJoe]

Train hard fight harder. The units sent there have needed the training since, I believe, that few units even tie the OPFOR and the rest of them lose. But they get better during the cycle and that is the important thing. Of course, they are training against the best unit.

Edit: They are also close to Vegas so the OPFOR can let off some steam . . .

[Korvar]

Like the Fighter Weapons School, Top Gun, SERE.... you're not supposed to win. At least not at first. The deck is deliberately stacked against the 'visiting team' to shake them out of the comfort zone, in more ways than one.


Edit:

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Edit: They are also close to Vegas so the OPFOR can let off some steam . . .

Haha.... so is Nellis...

[spence]

On board the USCGC Humboldt (which is one of those seaplane tender reinforcements in WitP) in 1969 I got to choose between sleeping on my back or sleeping on my stomach as I climbed into bed. Either one was hot but fortunately we were on a Northern Europe Cruise so the temps in the North Atlantic/North Sea weren't especially uncomfortable. A couple of years later I got to sail on another cruise in the Mediterranean on USCGC Chincoteague (same class of ship which got hit by a 250kg bomb in the Solomons). Pulling my mattress off my bunk and finding a spot on the 01 deck was a typical routine for me and numerous other sailors because the below deck temps were usually unbearable.

[Yaab]

Thanks for the answers. I tried to find some info on the Web, but most information dealt with Allied tank operations during the Northern Africa campaign.

[oaltinyay]

I saw the outside of a Type 97 ( Chi-ha ? IIRC ) in Yushukan,while being listed as a "medium" it was almost the same size and probably smaller than the M3. That being said, the interior which I just peered from distance was quite devoid any luxuries like an a/c or similar clima devices. I think with the 90 or so rounds stored somewhere on that thing along with the 3/4 operators inside, it was a steam bath in climates like that. This must have been detrimental against infantry rich enemies like the Chinese - keep the hatches open to keep cool and in comes a molotov or grenade...