T17 Deerhound

The T17 Armoured Car, sometimes referred to the M5 medium armoured car and labelled by the British as the Deerhound, was an American armored car produced during the Second World War.

T17 Armoured Car
Place of originUnited States of America
Service history
Used byUS Army
WarsWorld War II
Production history
DesignerFord Motor Company
Designed1941–42
ManufacturerFord Motor Company
Produced1942–43
No. built250
Specifications
Mass17 short tons (15 t)
Length18.21 ft (5.55 m)
Width8.86 ft (2.70 m)
Height7.71 ft (2.35 m)
Crew5
Main
armament
37 mm Gun M6
Secondary
armament
2 x .30 in M1919 machine guns
Engine2 x Hercules JXD 6-cylinder petrol engines
90 hp (67 kW) each
Drive6x6
Operational
range
450 mi (720 km)
Maximum speed 56 mph (90 km/h)
ReferencesChristopher Foss[1] & Military Factory[2]

Design
Side view.

The T17 Armoured Car was a turreted 6x6 vehicle with a crew of five, being a driver, co-driver, gunner, loader and commander. The T17 was armed with the turret from the M3 Lee tank, armed with a 37 mm M6 tank gun as well a coaxial .30 in M1919 machine gun, whilst a second machine gun was mounted in the bow of the hull.[1][2]

History

The T17 Armoured Car was developed by the Ford Motor Company, it was one of two designs submitted to meet a 1941 Ordnance Department requirement for a medium armoured car, the other being the 4x4 Chevrolet T17E1 Armoured Car. In the early 1940s the US Army pursued a number of heavy, medium and light armoured car designs, in an effort to reduce the number of competing programs, in October 1942 Headquarters Army Ground Forces commissioned the Special Armoured Vehicle Board, better known as the Palmer Board after its head Brig. Gen. W. B. Palmer, to impose some standardisation. The Palmer Board recommended the termination of all programs except the Ford T22, which went on to become the M8 Greyhound.[1][3]

Rear view.

The British Purchasing Commission continued to show interest in the two medium designs and asked the US Army Desert Warfare Board to conduct trials of the two designs, which were completed in February 1943, the Chevrolet T17E1 design emerging as the clear winner. Despite this, the US Army authorised Ford to complete 250 vehicles as a stopgap until production of the M8 commenced. 32 T17s had been produced in 1942, the remaining 218 were completed in 1943.[1][3][4]

In US Army service the T17 was sometimes referred to as the M5 Medium Armoured Car, despite never being standardised. All vehicles had their 37 mm main guns removed and were assigned to the United States Army Military Police Corps for patrol duties on the continental United States.[3]

See also

References
  1. Christopher Foss, The encyclopedia of tanks & armoured fighting vehicles, London: Amber Books, 2002, ISBN 9781905704446.
  2. Military Factory, "T17 (Deerhound) 6x6 Armoured Car", militaryfactory.com, retrieved 19 February 2019.
  3. Steven J. Zaloga, Staghound Armored Car 1942–62, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011, ISBN 9781780962108.
  4. George Forty & Jack Livesey, The world encyclopedia of tanks and armoured fighting vehicles, London: Anness Publishing Ltd, 2006.
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