Charioteer Mk VII (Sweden)

Description

The ▄Tank Medium Gun Charioteer Mk VII is a rank Swedish medium tank with a battle rating of (AB), (RB), and (SB). It was introduced in Update "Fire and Ice". The Charioteer takes the hull of a Cromwell and replaces the turret with a larger one mounting the heavy-hitting 84 mm 20-pdr cannon, which can deal with the enemies it faces at Rank IV.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour (hull, turret)
• Cast homogeneous armour (gun mantlet, driver port joint, obturated MG port)

Notes:

• Suspension wheels and tracks are 20 mm thick.
• The area where the machine gun port would be has an additional 63 mm of armour placed on it.
• 3 internal structural plates of 5 mm thickness separate:
  • the driver compartment in two,
  • the driver compartment from the crew compartment,
  • the crew compartment from the engine bay.
• These plates have large openings at some places, as visible in X-ray mode.

"Lacking" is the term that comes to mind when thinking about the Charioteer's armour. 63.5 mm of non slopped frontal armour is not enough and the turret armour is only 30 mm thick all around. The turret ring technically can be penetrated by 12.7 mm HMG fire, but not many people will go for that. However, it's best to not get flanked by autocannon-armed tanks (SPAA, late light tanks, etc.).

With only 3 crew members inside, any APHE shot to the turret means instant elimination (RB) or entering crew replenishment mode (AB).

The few advantages of this vehicle are: internal shields (to ensure that at least one crew member survives) and its low ammo load (there are no huge ammo racks everywhere like with the Centurion). Another positive aspect is the presence of improved smoke launchers, equipped with 12 grenades shot in 2 salvos (one forward, one to the sides). They can create a smoke wall in seconds, hiding the Charioteer in an arc of about 200°. These smoke launchers are also found on later British tanks.

Mobility

Modifications and economy

Armaments

Main armament

The Charioteer Mk VII (Sweden) carries an 84 mm 20pdr gun in a lightly armoured turret protected only with 30 mm RHA box. As the gun is very consequent, the turret traverse is quite slow so one should have to preventively aim towards a corner before going around it. The high penetration power of the gun compensates the poor slewing rate. Plus, even the stock shells has as much penetration as the 76 mm QF 17pdr's APDS shell found on other Rank III tanks, this only gets better with the upgraded APDS shot, which can pierce up to 363 mm of armour at 500 m distance (or a Tiger II (H)'s UFP at point-blank range).

The tank commander has the ability to control the weapon if the gunner is knocked out, which is very unusual at the rank and might allow to aggressively trade shots, or even straight up rush some tanks in AB.

Ammunition

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the Charioteer Mk VII (Sweden)

Machine guns

Usage in battles

The Charioteer, as with most western tank destroyer, is fitted with a very powerful gun, has good mobility, but is very lightly armoured. As such, it is best to play with its mobility to evade the enemy until the opportune moment. As it uses the same hull as a Cromwell, the reverse speed is atrocious that can make any withdrawal very hard once discovered by the enemy. It is recommended that the Charioteer be used with the forward movement more often, and back up by rotating the entire vehicle before whistling away since the armour back and front is inadequate to deal with any of the tanks you face at its battle rating.

Flanking

This is a classical sniper/flanker tank: fast, a good gun but no armour. One should never engage in front line fights since most tanks at the rank use APHE and will just blast the Charioteer away. The best way to play this tank is to use range and/or speed as armour, only stopping to take a shot and speed up again. Do not worry about sniping, this cannon has been made for that: shells have a very low ballistic trajectory, and keep good penetration values even at distances. When fired at, move into safety while blasting out these smoke cannisters on the move, creating a large smoke wall for the enemy, leaving some space for your allies to manoeuvre without being noticed.

In urban maps, pre-aim before getting around corners since turret slewing rate is slow. One could also use its engine/transmission as an armour when ambushed: quick reaction shots will often "only" ignite the tank without damaging the crew too much, plus, if the shot is missed, you are already in a position to escape swiftly since frontwards speed is good. When zipping past an alley, blast a smoke screen to cover allies from enemy fire while shooting a hasty shot in the general direction of the enemy. Some enemies will turn their turret in order to protect themselves from flanking only to get shot by allied tanks. Your best weapons in close-range fights are both surprise and speed.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Good reload speed without an autoloader
• 20-pdr has access to powerful rounds - AP which can destroy Panther in a single hit and APDS with extreme muzzle velocity and even more penetration, can potentially be played in higher BR games
• Has no ammo in the turret, and commander can use the gun instead of gunner, meaning that even if intercepted, the Charioteer still has an extremely high chance of taking down enemy tanks with itself (even more likely in AB)
• Decent gun optics for the rank, but difficult to use with APDS
• Very speedy tank due to Cromwell chassis, can fill a role of a medium support tank for rushing capture points
• Arguably the best turreted tank destroyer at Rank IV, with benefits of a medium tank (can call artillery)
• Good smoke screen system with a useful spreading angle; great for retreats
• Very low risk of fire due to rear mounted transmission and no fuel tanks on the front of the tank.

Cons:

• As with all Cromwell chassis, reverse speed is awful
• Extremely vulnerable to APHE, even the angled roof top which is supposed to bounce shots will not stop it
• Only 3 crew members, easy crew knock out in RB
• Low post-penetration damage with APDS due to punctual damage
• Poor gun depression and elevation (-5­° to 10°)
• Unstable gun platform; must short-stop or slow down before firing precisely
• Very poor ammo capacity; on the co-op Tank Assault mode, this forces to stay close to repair bonuses, which can eventually backfire

History

The Finnish Army bought 38 Charioteers; 3 in 1958 and a further 35 in 1960. They were removed from frontline service in 1972 but remained in use as training vehicles until 1980^[1]. 15 were kept in storage until they were auctioned off in 2007.^[2]

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Charioteer Mk VII (Sweden) from live.warthunder.com.

Videos

See also

British variant of the same vehicle

• Charioteer Mk VII

External links

• [Wikipedia] Charioteer (tank)
• [Tanks Encyclopedia] Fv 401 Charioteer