Ford 3-Ton M1918

Ford 3-Ton
Type	Tankette / Light tank
Place of origin	United States
Specifications
Mass	3 tons
Length	14 ft (4.3 m)
Width	6 ft (1.8 m)
Height	6 ft (1.8 m)
Crew	2 (Driver and gunner)
Main armament	M1917 Marlin machine gun or M1919 Browning machine gun
Engine	Two Ford Model T engines[1] 45 hp (34 kW)
Power/weight	10.4 hp/t (7.8 kW/t)
Operational range	55 km (34 mi)
Maximum speed	12.8 km/h (8 mph)

The Ford 3-Ton M1918 was one of the first tank designs by the U.S. It was a small two-man, one-gun tank. Essentially the very first tankette, it was armed with an M1917 Marlin machine gun, later an M1919 Browning machine gun, and could reach a maximum speed of 8 mph (13 km/h). The 3-Ton had a 17-US-gallon (64 L) tank that gave it a maximum range of 34 miles (55 km).

History

Design on the 3-ton tank started in mid-1917, before which American tank forces had been largely equipped with British or French examples. The 3-Ton was a two-man tank designed so that American forces could use another tank besides the Renault FT in battle, and was designed around the FT but as a cheaper alternative. Its two Ford Model T engines were controlled by the driver, seated at the front with a gunner beside him who had control of a .30-06 (7.62×63mm) machine gun (either a M1917 Marlin machine gun or M1919 Browning machine gun) on a limited-traverse mount with approximately 550 rounds of ammunition.

The initial production run of the 3-ton was of fifteen vehicles; one of these was sent to France for testing. A contract for 15,000 of these vehicles was awarded; however, the U.S. tank corps felt it did not meet the requirements they wanted. The contract for the 15,000 tanks was ended by the Armistice, leaving only the fifteen original vehicles produced. ^[2]

The French Army evaluated the Ford 3-Ton tank and thought it inferior to the native Renault FT. However, the 3-Ton Tank was seen to have potential as a cheap, light, all-terrain artillery tractor especially for batteries of the Canon de 75 modèle 1897. One thousand five hundred 3-Ton tanks were ordered from Ford but the Armistice intervened before any were delivered and the order was cancelled.^[3]

Survivors

• There are two known survivors; one is at the U.S. Army Armor & Cavalry Collection at Fort Benning, Georgia; the other is with the Ordnance Collection at Fort Lee, Virginia.

See also

• Renault FT
• Tank Mark VIII
• Tanks of the United States
• History of the tank
• History of Ford Motor Company
• List of Ford vehicles

References

• Hogg, I.V.; Weeks, J. (1980), The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Military Vehicles

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ford 3-Ton M1918 tanks.

• Ford 3-Ton tank(1918)
• "Ford-M1918-WWI-Tank - Vehicles". Fiddlersgreen.net. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
• "Ford Model 1918 3-ton (M1918) Light Tank Combat Vehicle". Militaryfactory.com. Retrieved 18 August 2017.

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This page was last edited on 7 January 2024, at 06:46