M24 Chaffee

"*Chaffee? That's sounds a good name, for a killing machine*," - Roxy

The **M24 Chaffee** is the former tank of Mouse Island Armoured Corp bought from the United States by the late Second World War. While it was officially out of service of MIDF, the tank was later refurbished and receive minor upgrades to meet the requirement before it eventually sent to the Bright Empire.

## M24 Chaffee

### Secondary armament

1. .50 cal Browning M2HB2. 2 x .30 1919A4 Browning

## About the M24 Chaffee

The M24 Chaffee is an American light tank developed during the latter part of World War II and saw extensive service into the Korean War. Powerful and mobile, this tank served in variety of roles like scouting, support, flanking, and even frontline roles during its service.

It all started when the British Army's combat experience in the North African campaign identified several shortcomings of the M3 Stuart light tank, especially the performance of its 37mm cannon. A 75mm gun was experimentally fitted to a Howitzer Motor Carriage M8 - an M3 tank with a larger turret - and trials indicated that a 75 mm gun on the M5 light tank development of the M3 was possible. With that, the development of the M24 tanks begin with the introduction of the T7 light tank design. This prompted the Ordnance Committee to issue a specification for a new light tank, with the same powertrain as the M5A1 but armed with a 75 mm gun.

On October 15, 1943, the first pilot vehicle was delivered. The design was judged a success and a contract for 1,000 was immediately raised by the Ordnance Department. This was subsequently increased to 5,000. Production began in 1944 under the designation Light Tank M24. By the time production was stopped in August 1945, 4,731 M24s had left the assembly lines.

The Chaffee saw a more active American service during the Korean War and the French Army used it during the Indochina War and the Algerian War. Uruguay was the last country to operate an upgraded variant of the Chaffee however they were eventually retired from service. In 1972, Norway radically upgraded the Chaffee they acquired in the 1950s by replacing the 75mm gun by a French D-925 90mm gun, a new engine and an improved fire control system and labelled them NM-116. These tanks stayed in service until 1993.

As for Mouse Island, they once had 92 M24 Chaffee in their service before some of them were sold for scrapped and some were reserved following the purchase of Centurion tanks. In the end, only 34 Chaffee tanks remained and eventually retired. However, following the growing tension of the Fantasian Emergency, the Chaffee tanks would later be refurbished, received minor upgrades, and purchased by the Bright Empire. Despite being a World War II tank, the Chaffee still proved to be deadly when it comes fighting against the Basatra tanks.

## Description

### Mobility

The M24 Chaffee features the Twin Cadillac Series 44T24 engine that produces 220 Horsepower. Both of these gas turbine engines are strong enough to make the tank reaching a top speed of 57 km/h and reverse speed of 24 km/h.

### Armament

The M24 Chaffe is armed with the 75 mm gun M6 mounted on a fast-traversing turret, the same gun used on the M4A2 Sherman tank; various shell types, great penetration & damage and excellent gun depression. It is also equipped with a vertical plane stabilizer, allowing for more accurate shots on the move or shoot-n-scoot tactics.

The tanks' secondary armament comprises of the 12.7 mm M2HB heavy machine gun on the commander's cupola and two coaxial .30 M1919A4 machine gun; one on the gun mantle and the other one on the bow gunner's position.

## Trivia

* The names Chaffee comes from the US Army General Adna R. Chaffee Jr, who was nicknamed as the "Father of the Armored Force" for his role in developing the U.S. Army's tank forces.
* Due to its good mobility and speed, Mel dubbed the Chaffee tanks as 'Jerboa'.