M4 Sherman Tanks Plucked Out of the Sea and Restored to Like New

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Jackson_Slugger

Jackson_Slugger

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A few thousand Sherman tanks of various models were sent to the USSR on Lend Lease during WWII via The Bering Strait on Liberty Ships. Some didn't make it as they were sunk by U-boats and Luftwaffe aircraft. Several have been plucked out of the sea and recovered and restored to almost pristine condition. The Sherman served in the Soviet Guards division and was said to be the first tanks into Berlin in 1945. This one is the M-4A 2(76)W. Incidentally, it's one of these tanks was used in the movie Fury made up as the final US version used, the M-4A3E8 (76mm gun). The main difference is the Soviet Shermans were diesel and the US Army only wanted gas/petrol units in Europe...


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That's really outstanding. That is the tank that won the war.

Wasn't the most powerful but the battle doesn't always go to the strongest
 
Kamele0N said:
In EU theatre they were reffered/called also "Ronsons" because they ignited so easily..
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That's only partially true as it was mainly the British and the ammo storage methods versus ours that started and promulgated that saying.

Just like the inability to engage German tanks- it wasn't the ordinance ( we had back then the M61 which could kill both)- it was McNair's pathetic tank doctrine that kept it out of issue that made the tank weaker. ( not to mention it was a medium tank never designed to directly engage heavy MBT's- then again, that's tactics, not the tank proper)
 
Kamele0N said:
In EU theatre they were reffered/called also "Ronsons" because they ignited so easily..
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Complete myth and postwar TV nonsense, no one actually knew what the Ronson slogan would be in the 1950's in 1941-45. The Shermans didn't really "ignite" anymore easily than panzers, but they had a problem with haphazardly placed ammunition stowage early in the war until they improved it with wet ammo stowage. After that the Sherman's "brewing up" after being hit was uncommon and was a fraction of that of the Pz Mk IV, Panther and Tiger overall...

I'm also going to head off the "Deathtraps" nonsense (written by a guy who wasn't an armor officer but was in a depot behind the lines) by saying that the average casualty rate of US tankers was around 3%, much lower than infantry. If you look campaign by campaign they're often in the low hundreds if not dozens. The Sherman wasn't perfect but it was the best choice out of the options for nations that had to ship their tanks everywhere whereas the Germans and Soviets could put theirs on rail flat cars from the factory. If a Sherman was hit, it was easier to get out more so than many German/Axis tanks...
 
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It's fascinating how these survive in the colder waters of the Bering Strait, if these were pulled out of the English Channel they'd be a bucket of rust...
 
There would be some off Auckland harbour too. When the Americans left here after WWII, huge trenches were dug, and filled with stuff they weren't taking back. I worked with a guy who was teenager during the war, and his family farm was taken for one of the army storage bases....he said lathes still in wrapping were tossed in, motorcycles ridden in to the trenches. In the harbour they were driving jeeps and tanks off the ships. They still left a lot of stuff....in the '70's I remember the army surplus store would give you several A4 sheets of paper....part numbers to build a complete Indian motorcycle, and many did. In the late '70's a mate of mine drove a 6x6 GMC on a site....build date 1974, built from parts in stock.
 
I had a buddy who was working at Norman Wells, the oil field in the NWT which was the source of oil for the CANOL pipeline that delivered oil to the Alaska Highway during WWII. At the end of the project, a lot of equipment was left behind in the bush. He found a 1940s pickup and disassembled it. He then made a deal with the helicopter pilots who would sling a single part back with them when returning from a run into the bush. He restored and reassembled the truck at his home in Alberta.
 
I'm amazed anything was salvageable after being in the water so long. I play a bit of War Thunder(free video game on Steam) and they strive for semi-realistic projectile and damage models. The Sherman's atleast have the sloping front armour which makes them tougher than many of the equivalent german tanks who had near vertical plates in the front of the hull and turrets...
 
Snagglefoot said:
I had a buddy who was working at Norman Wells, the oil field in the NWT which was the source of oil for the CANOL pipeline that delivered oil to the Alaska Highway during WWII. At the end of the project, a lot of equipment was left behind in the bush. He found a 1940s pickup and disassembled it. He then made a deal with the helicopter pilots who would sling a single part back with them when returning from a run into the bush. He restored and reassembled the truck at his home in Alberta.
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I wonder how much beer changed hands for THAT deal...
 
Jackson_Slugger said:
Complete myth and postwar TV nonsense, no one actually knew what the Ronson slogan would be in the 1950's in 1941-45. The Shermans didn't really "ignite" anymore easily than panzers, but they had a problem with haphazardly placed ammunition stowage early in the war until they improved it with wet ammo stowage. After that the Sherman's "brewing up" after being hit was uncommon and was a fraction of that of the Pz Mk IV, Panther and Tiger overall...

I'm also going to head off the "Deathtraps" nonsense (written by a guy who wasn't an armor officer but was in a depot behind the lines) by saying that the average casualty rate of US tankers was around 3%, much lower than infantry. If you look campaign by campaign they're often in the low hundreds if not dozens. The Sherman wasn't perfect but it was the best choice out of the options for nations that had to ship their tanks everywhere whereas the Germans and Soviets could put theirs on rail flat cars from the factory. If a Sherman was hit, it was easier to get out more so than many German/Axis tanks...
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Worst deathtrap of the war was actually the T-34. The Sherman was head and shoulders superior to it.
 
Motu said:
There would be some off Auckland harbour too. When the Americans left here after WWII, huge trenches were dug, and filled with stuff they weren't taking back. I worked with a guy who was teenager during the war, and his family farm was taken for one of the army storage bases....he said lathes still in wrapping were tossed in, motorcycles ridden in to the trenches. In the harbour they were driving jeeps and tanks off the ships. They still left a lot of stuff....in the '70's I remember the army surplus store would give you several A4 sheets of paper....part numbers to build a complete Indian motorcycle, and many did. In the late '70's a mate of mine drove a 6x6 GMC on a site....build date 1974, built from parts in stock.
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If that's the case it's a shame. I know there were some conversions of tanks like the M-3 Grant/Lee to farm tractors. Here they mainly dumped ordinance with the odd hand grenade washing up onshore up until about 15 years ago off the New England and New York coasts...
 
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Jarlaxle said:
Worst deathtrap of the war was actually the T-34. The Sherman was head and shoulders superior to it.
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If you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, pretty much anything could be a deathtrap. I have pics somewhere of Heer/SS Panther tanks that were presumably hit by napalm with the remains of dead infantry on the back somewhere near the Falaise Gap...
 
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