From: Ryan Gill (rmgill@mindspring.com)
Date: Mon Jan 20 2003 - 00:22:43 PST
At 1:32 AM -0500 1/20/03, Steve Grammont wrote:
>Bruce,
>
>>To those who know, why are some vehicles known as a
>>"Gun Carriage" rather than a tank?
>
>You will find that as with any new innovation, names were about as
>plentiful as the weapons themselves :-) The terms are also often country
>specific and inconsistantly used over time.
>
>The US called some lightly armored vehicles which mounted guns "Gun
>Carriages". This is not to be confused with "Gun Motor Carriages", which
>sported anything from 20mm to 90mm gun/s. And neither of these should be
Well, the M40 GMC carries a 155mm Gun. Not a howitzer.
>confused with "Howitzer Motor Carriages", which were basically armored
>vehicles with howitzers in place of guns. But these should not be
More specifically, they're armored vehicles that carry guns or
howitzers, more specifically, the designation can be applied to the
same vehicle, it just depends on which gun (or howitzer) is fitted.
ie the M40 (155mm Gun) or M43 (8in Howitzer) Both share a common
chassis.
>confused with "Self Propelled Howitzers" because, well, they decided to
>call 'em something different <g>. And of course, don't confuse the
>latter with "Self Propelled Guns" which is basically the same thing but
>with a gun instead of a Howitzer.
From the standpoint of being howitzers or guns, well, they're self propelled.
Don't forget that a Gun/Howitzer/Mortar is differentiated by it's
barrel length/range/muzzle-V. With guns being longer, farther, faster
and mortars being shortest, closest, slowest for a common caliber.
Howitzers sit in the middle.
>Then we get into the fun stuff :-) "Assault Guns", "Assault Artillery",
>"Self Propelled Artillery", "Self Propelled Howitzers", and "Self
>Propelled Guns" are often used to describe the same vehicles. Sometimes
>distinctions are attempted based on the vehicle, sometimes the weapon,
>sometimes the doctrine used, and sometimes the nation in question.
Its one of those things of what fits into what circle. Some things
are in several circles because those circles overlap.
You can call the G6 a SPH based on it's role, but it's got wheels and
not tracks. The key thing is that you don't need to tow it around
behind a prime mover. Ferrets and Saladins are armored cars, one
clearly out guns the other and is in tank class as far as armament.
pedantically yours
--
--
Ryan Gill rmgill@SPAMmindspring.com
----------------------------------------------------------
| | | -==----
| O--=- | | /_8[*]°_\
|_/|o|_\_| | _________ | /_[===]_\
/ 00DA61 \ |/---------\| __/ \---
_w/|=_[__]_= \w_ // [_] o[]\\ _oO_\ /_O|_
|: O(4) == O :| _Oo\=======/_O_ |____\ /____|
|---\________/---| [__O_______W__] |x||_\ /_||x|
|s|\ /|s| |s|/BSV 575\|s| |x|-\| |/-|x|
|s|=\______/=|s| |s|=|_____|=|s| |x|--|_____|--|x|
|s| |s| |s| |s| |x| |x|
'60 Daimler Ferret '42 Daimler Dingo '42 Humber MkIV (1/2)
----------------------------------------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Wed Apr 23 2003 - 13:25:01 PDT