Uragano Medium Tank

CMT Mark IV Uragano
An Uragano GIII.36 with its RA Mk VI 75mm gun.
Type	Medium tank
Place of origin	Cacertian Empire
Service history
In service	1931—1950
Used by	Cacertian Imperial Army Cacertian Royal Army
Wars	Siduri War
Production history
Designer	Sarissita Railway Company
Designed	1929
Manufacturer	Crocetto Heavy Industries Alenia Industrial Gabrielli S.p.A.
Produced	1931—1945
No. built	~11,442 (all variants)
Specifications (Uragano GIII.36)
Weight	28.4 Tonnes (31.3 Short Tons; 28 Long Tons)
Length	6.32 m (20 ft 9 in)
Width	2.77 m (9 ft 1 in)
Height	2.56 m (8 ft 5 in)
Crew	5 (commander, gunner, loader, driver, radio operator)
Armor	45—75mm (1.80—3.00 in)
Main armament	75mm RA Mk VI rifled gun (87 rounds)
Secondary armament	2 × Vitali MG50 (12.7mm; coaxial and forward-mounted)
Engine	Crocetto 12-cylinder diesel engine with supercharger 400 hp (246 kW)
Power/weight	14.0 hp/tonne
Transmission	Crocetto TMN Mark II
Suspension	Horizontal volute spring
Operational range	240 km (150 mi)
Speed	48 km/h (30 mph)

The CMT Mark IV Uragano (English: Hurricane) was a Cacertian medium tank developed during the early 1930s and was used extensively by the Cacertian Imperial Army during the Siduri War in Tyran. It was the most reliable main line tank to be produced by Cacerta during the war and served as the basis for several other fighting vehicles employed by the Royal Army. The Uragano primarily saw service in the Mansuri and Quenminese fronts of the conflict.

Development

The Uragano was designed by former Royal Army Commander Demetria Marik, a pioneer of motorized tactics for the army prior to the outbreak of the Siduri War. By keeping herself privy to the details of armor development in other nations of Tyran, Demetria came to quickly understand the importance of developing an armored vehicle capable of competing with Cacerta’s contemporaries. It was designed to be able to support the Empire’s lighter tanks developed for the Army’s more mobile form of combat tactics, but also able to stand on its own as an independent armored vehicle.

The first prototype, designed by Demetria, was built by Sarissita Rail Company in Cesena in 1930. It required a crew of five with the driver and radio operator—who also served the role of forward machine gunner—seated in the front. The remaining three crew members took their positions in the turret, the commander of the tank seated below his roof hatch while the gunner was seated left of the gun breech and the loader to the right. The turret was located on the vehicle’s centerline and the engine compartment situated in the rear.

The SRC-built prototype debuted at the Anzio Proving Grounds later that same year with an audience of Royal Army chiefs of staff and army commanders. Following a successful showing, further testing was conducted on the vehicles weaponry and suspension until final approval for production was granted in 1931.

Production

The Uragano was originally planned to supplement the Empire’s lighter and more mobile tanks with appropriate anti-tank firepower and—as a result—Crocetto was the sole manufacturer when the vehicle went into production in 1931. With the start of the Siduri War in 1934, production was extended to include Alenia and Gabrielli facilities throughout the country as a result of massively successful offensives by the Inner Sphere in the first year of the conflict. An average of 330 tanks were being produced monthly at the outbreak of the war in the Siduri theater and by the end of the war in 1938 approximately 11,442 units had been produced and deployed.

Design

The CMT Mark IV Uragano was a 30 tonne, all-welded medium tank with a maximum front-armor thickness of 75mm (~3.0 in). It was 6.32 meters long without accounting for gun length, 2.56 meter high to the top of the turret, and 2.77 meters wide. The tank was ideally operated by five crew members which included the tank commander, main armament gunner, loader, driver, and radio operator who also assumed the role of forward gunner. The Mark IV possessed a 400 hp (246 kW) air-cooled 12-cylinder gasoline engine that gave the tank a top speed of 48 km/h on tracks using six rubber-lined road wheels.

The original design for the Uragano mounted the 50mm RA Mk III, but as the war progressed and the vehicles of the Common Sphere became up-armored it was later deemed insufficient at combating enemy tnaks. As a result, the main armament was later upgraded in 1936 to the 75mm RA Mk VI rifled AT gun which was capable of firing an armor-piercing shell at a muzzle velocity of 790 m/s. At a range of 2000 m, it was capable of penetrating approximately 86mm of steel armor with a 6.8 kg round.

Variants

Uragano GI.31

The original production of the Uragano that entered service with the Imperial Army in 1931. The GI.31 was seen as maneuverable for its class, but under-gunned when tank-on-tank combat became more prevalent.

Uragano GII.34

The GII.34 retains most of the same design properties of the original GI.31 with additional steel plates welded on for extra protection. It kept the same 50mm armament as the original.

Uragano GIII.36

Entering production in 1936, the GIII.36 became the main medium battle tank of Cacerta for the remainder of the war. Armed with a 75mm gun, it was capable of combatting Common Sphere tanks although post-war analysis showed that the GIII.36 was still significantly under-armored for its frontline role.