If War Thunder's M60A2 Starship Was Historically Accurate

The 105mm Gun Tank M60 was a main battle tank developed during the late 50s and fielded from the 60s to the 2000s. Though it was considered to be an all-around reliable vehicle, it did suffer from some mechanical issues. In order to give American armored units standoff capability, it was decided that some M60s should be armed with a gun/launcher system that could fire Shillelagh anti-tank missiles. This led to the M60A2 MBT, colloquially known as the Starship due to its overwhelming complexity. The M60A2 was very troublesome and not well liked, so it was quickly retired.

Check the channel "About" section for the link to the creator of my profile picture.

Songs used (in order from first to last):
Halo: CE - Perilous Journey
Halo 3: ODST - Rain (Deference for Darkness)

Sources:
AD-A141 935 M60 Series Update System Assessment
ADA012906 Correction of the Hang-Out-of-Battery (HOB) Problem on the M60A2 Tank
M60 Patton in Action by Jim Mesko
M551 Sheridan by Steven Zaloga
Patton by R.P. Hunnicutt
Inside the Chieftain’s Hatch - M60A2

Reddit: /u/spookston

#tanks #tankhistory #warthunder

[grundlewizard]

You forgot to include that historically, the starship could activate its hyperspace engine, because it's a starship.

[johnfrancisterne]

Imagine spawning in a Starship and immediately getting fucked by all the mechanical issues at once

[drrocketman]

"Suspension components fail"
Can confirm. The M60 series AVLB we operated in the National Guard had problems with the wheel bearings overheating and failing, sometimes resulting in the road wheels snapping off, with other suspension damage as well.
The suspension was weak on the ~55 ton M60 and the AVLB tips the scales at 65 tons, putting further strain on the drivetrain and suspension.

[highadmiralbittenfield]

You forgot to add that, historically, it was so cool that the enemy surrendered immediately in awe of its space aesthetics.

[Watch-Mun]

I’ve gotta say, the Starship is a very unique vehicle with the US Army inventory. It’s one of the only gun-missile tanks deployed in operational service in the United States (alongside the M551 Sheridan), was the first M60 variant to use a laser rangefinder, and has probably one of the coolest turret designs I’ve ever seen.

[cboetigphone]

Needs to be placed in its timeframe. My perspective was as a M60A1 platoon leader/Scout platoon leader during the time M60A2s were fielded. The night vision for 1975-79 was very advanced when everyone else had IR lamps. The tank did not last long enough to get thermal upgrades. The 50 Cal M85 was very good if properly maintained. It required more care than an M2 (I have been the operator of both). The main problem with the M60 was that the electronics of the time were not up to the reliability standards of the solid state stuff that started to come in during the 80s. Recoil and road vibration played havoc with LRUs (Line Replaceable Units or black boxes) for the gun and missile systems. I went into TOW Cobras after my tank days and the TOW system had the same issues but in Aviation we had a much better technical maintenance support than the tank battalions had. The Gun Launcher was ahead of its time. If it had 90s electronics and thermals it would have been much better.

[YukarisGearReviews]

Sheridan: "Ooh! Ooh! I've seen this one before!"
Abrams: "What do you mean you've seen this one before? It's brand new."

[MadManchou]

When adding a line such as "as it was rapidly removed from service", it would be an improvement if you could provide the actual timeframe as well (probably even better with a comparison to a closely related vehicle, such as, in this case, the "normal" M60)

[Silverraptorvideos]

The starship is one of my favorite tanks conceptually. But even I am aware of its multitude of flaws that got it removed from service after a year and a half. So when I saw this video, my immediate thought was, "You can cover all its problems in 2 and a half minutes?" Bravo.

[richwalter]

Ok, not a gamer but I do have 63C experience on the M60A2 from '77-81. (C.4/64 Armor/E 703rd Maint (DS/GS) Aschaffenburg)

Portrayal here is accurate.

Engine issues due to poor air cleaner blower motors coupled to vehicle charging system. Basically engine starved for air and air filters were not up to the task of filtering fine particulate . And you had to have the ACBM's working for the vehicle charging circuits to work.

Two PTO /hydraulic driven Closed Breach Scavenge System fans/pumps driven off the transmission were supposed to aid the gun system clear the bore. System could work with one fan set but had to be "circle X'd" by the company commander or the Bn. XO depending on unit. Regardless, this was unreliable. Most of the time, crews went to MOPP4 or over rode their hatch interrupts and ran with the hatches open in order to breathe.

Turret layout sucked. Too low profile. Escpecially if you were over 5ft 6. Most of the interior volume was ate up by the other half of the CBSS and giant sized turret electronic boxes.

The gunners image intensifier tube for night sights was a fancy light bulb that cost $62000 to replace and was a throw away item at depot level. You had to dismantle the turret to replace it.

Commanders turret /weapons station had its own traverse motor and driveline. Along with non eye safe laser and mechanized M85/M85A1 .50 mount. This station also had space claim issues that literally impacted the gunner in the lower back and ribcage if utilized. (CDRs step mount). Thankfully it had an emergency manual back up system because Normal Mode usually didn't work.

152 conventional rounds were the bane of both the CBSS and the front suspension. They were just too much for that breach and recuperator system. When firing HEP or HEAT, it could crack the 4 front torsion bars if you fired more than 2 rounds back to back quickly. Also when using conventional rounds, the vehicle had a tendency to lift back to the second roadwheel, straining the rest of the trailing suspension. [ I need to add here that the 551 & 551A1 Sheridans, using the same basic cannon /launcher system had the same lifting and suspension issues, but they lifted as far as the 3 road wheel set. On a 5 per side roadwheel suspension ]

Turret hydraulics constantly leaked due to lowest bidder getting the hydraulic components contracts.

Concepts used were far ahead of their time, or put mildly, were the worst examples of the bleeding edge tech at the time.

[pogchamp]

More historically accurate? Today's gonna be a good day

[MASherman]

As problem ridden of vehicle as it is, I still find the turret very cool! Low profile turrets, while having flaws, are an interesting concept. The Starships certainly was a lesson that the Army learned from.

[NeoDorito]

I love how most of the time when he lists out issues it's typically followed by a "This is fixed with this upgrade/program, " but not here.

[RamboDrogado]

To every tank that exist, spookston say twice "it's cramped"

[Hayden-ppdy]

If Spookston was historically accurate

[jiggler-]

my father commanded both the m60 and the abrams (He was in around the time they phased out the m60 for the abrams) and he went on several rants about how terrible the m85 was.

[dragnuv]

it would be pretty fun if the next april fools event would be "Historically Accurate Tanks"

[friedwaldderlebendige]

it would have been very funny if you included something like "the starships crews suffer a stat reduction due to poor morale because they hated the thing"

[hazegrayunderway]

“Increased repair costs”

Oh god pls no

[pauld]

I am going to have to rewatch the _'Inside the Chieftain's Hatch'_ episode about the "Starship" because may recollection is that it didn't look nearly as cramped as other tanks he has been in.