3-inch Gun M5
| 3 inch Gun M5 | |
|---|---|
M5 on carriage M6 on display at Fort Sam Houston, Texas
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| Type | Anti-tank gun |
| Place of origin | United States |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1943-1945 |
| Used by | United States |
| Wars | World War II |
| Production history | |
| Produced | December 1942-June 1943 November-December 1943 April-September 1944 |
| No. built | 2,500 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | combat: 2,210 kg (4,872 lbs) |
| Length | 7.1 m (23 ft 4 in) |
| Barrel length | 3.4 meters |
| Width | 2.2 m (7 ft 3 in) |
| Height | 1.62 m (5 ft 4 in) |
| Crew | 9 |
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| Shell | 76.2x585mm. R |
| Caliber | 3-inch (76.2 mm) |
| Breech | horizontal block |
| Recoil | hydropneumatic |
| Carriage | split trail |
| Elevation | -5° to +30° |
| Traverse | 45° |
| Rate of fire | 12 rounds per minute |
| Muzzle velocity | 792 m/s (2,600 ft/s) with AP/APCBC rounds |
| Maximum firing range | 14.7 km (9.13 mi) |
 3 inch Gun M5 on Carriage M1 [1]
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The 3 inch Gun M5 was an anti-tank gun developed in the United States during World War II. The gun combined a 3-inch (76.2 mm) barrel of the anti-aircraft gun T9 and elements of the 105 mm howitzer M2. The M5 was issued exclusively to the US Army tank destroyer battalions starting in 1943. It saw combat in the Italian Campaign and in the Northwest Europe campaign.
While the M5 outperformed earlier anti-tank guns in the US service, its effective employment was hindered by its heavy weight and ammunition-related issues. Losses suffered by towed TD battalions in the Battle of the Bulge and the existence of more mobile, better protected alternatives in the form of self-propelled tank destroyers led to gradual removal of the M5 from front line service in 1945.
In 1940, the US Army just started to receive its first antitank gun, the 37 mm Gun M3. While it fitted the request of the Infantry for light, easy to manhandle anti-tank weapon, Artillery and Ordnance foresaw a need for a more powerful gun. This led to a number of expedient designs, such as adaptations of the 75 mm M1897 or towed variants of the 75 mm M3.
Late in 1940, the Ordnance Corps started another project - an anti-tank gun based on the 3 inch anti-aircraft gun T9. The barrel of the T9 was combined with breech, recoil system and carriage, all adapted from the 105 mm howitzer M2. The pilot of the weapon, named 3 inch Gun T10, was ready by September 1941. Although the subsequent testing revealed minor problems, it was clear that the gun, eventually standardized as M5 on carriage M1, presented major performance improvement over existing designs.
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