Nahuel

Medium Tank "Nahuel"
Argentine "Nahuel" tank
Type Medium tank
Place of origin  Argentina
Service history
Used by  Argentina
Production history
Designer Alfredo Baisi
Manufacturer Arsenal Esteban de Luca
No. built 12 (+ 1 wooden mock-up)
Specifications
Weight 35 tonnes
Length 6.22 m (20 ft 5 in)
Width 2.33 m (7 ft 8 in)
Height 2.952 m (9 ft 8.2 in)
Crew 5 (Commander, gunner, loader, driver, co-driver)
Armor 80 mm
Main
armament
 Krupp Model 1909 75mm gun,
Secondary
armament

1× 7.65 mm Allan machine gun and 3 x 7.65 mm Madsen machine guns

?? rounds
Engine FMA-Lorraine-Dietrich 12 Eb, 12 cylinders in W, water cooled
500 hp
Power/weight 14.3 hp / tonne
Suspension vertical volute spring
Operational
range
 250 km (on road)
Speed 25 mph (40 km/h) (on road)

The "Nahuel" D.L. 43 tank was a medium tank developed in Argentina during World War II. It was the Argentine equivalent of the M4 Sherman and the M3 Grant American medium tanks.

Design

The designer was Lt. Colonel Alfredo Baisi.[1] The word Nahuel means "jaguar" in the aboriginal language Mapudungun.[1] It was armed with a 75 mm gun (taken from the Krupp Model 1909 Field Gun used by the Argentine Army) in a rotating armored turret.[1]

Similarity

Its design is similar to that of the United States Army M4 Medium and the early versions of the M3 Grant but with sloped armor. Contrary to popular belief it was not a copy of the M4 Sherman, but the design of the M4 influenced it.[1]

Production

Only 12 tanks and one wooden mock-up were produced by the Arsenal Esteban de Luca in Buenos Aires and supplied to the Argentine Army, because of the availability of cheap surplus Sherman tanks, several of which were provided by the United Kingdom in the late 1940s.[1]

Operators

See also

Footnotes

    References

    Notes
    1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Mailer Edu. - Argentina tanks". Archived from the original on October 29, 2012. Retrieved February 24, 2008.
    Bibliography
    • (in Spanish) Sigal Fogliani, Ricardo Jorge, Nahuel DL 43 - Tanques Argentinos (desde sus orígenes hasta 1950), Editorial Dunken, Buenos Aires, 2004, ISBN 987-02-0788-X.
    • (in Spanish) Sigal Fogliani, Ricardo Jorge, Blindados Argentinos, de Uruguay y Paraguay, Ayer y Hoy Ediciones, Buenos Aires, 1997. ISBN 987-95832-7-2.
    • Ness, Leland Jane's World War II Tanks and Fighting Vehicles - The complete guide, Harper Collins Publishers, London 2002, ISBN 0-00-711228-9

    Further reading

    • Ogorkiewicz, Richard (2015). Tanks: 100 years of evolution. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1472806703. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
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