TORTOISE vs TIGER II | Experimental 32pdr APDS Armour Piercing Simulation

The Tortoise assault tank featured a 32-pounder (94mm) cannon with good armour piercing performance. Armour-Piercing Discarding-Sabot projectiles were tested on the gun, offering increased penetration, however, these did not enter service. In the end, very few Tortoises were produced as WWII ended shortly before they entered service. The 32pdr APDS has been modelled using the same geometry as Mk.3 20pdr APDS, as the only source available specifies the core diameter and weight to be equal to that of the 20pdr APDS (1.6“, ). Based on the test results shown in the source below, the model matches well with the results as 5.5“ holes on a semi-infinite plate are likely to be full penetrations on a finite 6“ plate, due to lack of support at the rear: An interesting point from these results is that in one case, a 200mm plate at 50° was penetrated at a similar velocity which caused failures elsewhere. This is likely due to this impact velocity being right on the limit of complete shattering. This could cause a shatter gap at increased velocities and is why larger calibre APDS rounds required larger cores (and also why penetrating/tilting caps were used). Amazing Thumbnail Artwork from: Jerónimo Ledesma Patiño