M18 Hellcat
Tank Destroyer · USA
The fastest tracked vehicle on the field, with a 76 mm that hurts anything from the side. Paper-thin plate and an open turret, so HE splash reaches the crew: hit, move, never trade shots.
(the vehicle's description in the garage)
At a glance
| Nation | USA |
| Role | Tank destroyer (TD) |
| Modelled variant | M18 Hellcat (76 mm GMC M18) |
| Price | 545 credits |
| Team stock | 2 per five-player team (scales with team size) |
| Hit points | 670 |
| Main gun | 285 damage per AP shot, 4.6 s reload |
| Speed | 80.5 km/h on roads, 37.8 km/h off-road |
| View range | 230 m |
| Ability (B) | Ammo Drop |
| Garage ratings | Armour 2/10 · Firepower 5/10 · Mobility 10/10 · Spotting 7/10 |
History
The 76 mm Gun Motor Carriage M18 Hellcat was the fastest tracked armoured vehicle of the war, with a road speed of about 80 km/h. It was built light and lightly armoured, with an open-topped turret and the 76 mm gun M1, to suit the US tank destroyer doctrine of speed and ambush. About 2,500 were built.
Hellcats had one of the best kill-to-loss ratios of any US armoured vehicle. The 704th Tank Destroyer Battalion's M18s fought at Arracourt in September 1944, and the 705th's M18s helped hold Bastogne during the siege in December 1944.
In Armor Heads
Compared with the other 34 WW2 vehicles, it is bottom 5 for hull front armour (#33 of 35); bottom 5 for turret front armour (#32 of 35); top 5 for road speed (#1 of 35); top 5 for off-road speed (#2 of 35); top 5 for accuracy (#2 of 35).
Survivability
- Hit points: 670. Damage taken multiplier: 1.18 (effective HP 568).
- Open-topped: HE near misses do 1.5x splash damage and hit the crew three times as hard, so they knock crew out far more easily.
- Tracks: a hit on the running gear breaks a track 45 % of the time (the hit does no damage); the crew repairs it in 9 s.
| Zone | Real plate | Damage multiplier (lower = thicker) | Raw shell damage to destroy through this zone | AP of the other 34 vehicles that gets through |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull front | 13 mm at 64° (30 mm) | 1.03 | 345 | 34 |
| Hull side | 13 mm at 23° (14 mm) | 1.44 | 246 | 34 |
| Hull rear | 13 mm at 13° (13 mm) | 1.48 | 240 | 34 |
| Roof | open | 1.7 | 209 | 34 |
| Turret front | 25 mm at 23° (27 mm) | 1.07 | 332 | 34 |
| Turret side | 13 mm at 20° (14 mm) | 1.45 | 245 | 34 |
| Turret rear | 13 mm at 9° (13 mm) | 1.49 | 238 | 34 |
Real plate: the thickness of the real vehicle's armour there, and its slope from vertical with the line-of-sight thickness in brackets; each zone's multiplier is worked out from it (see how the numbers work). The last column counts square-on hits under 100 m.
Main gun
- Mount: turret, 360° traverse at 36°/s.
- Elevation +20° / depression -10°, at 16°/s.
- Reload: 4.6 s.
- Damage per minute (AP): 3,717.
- Accuracy: 0.06° dispersion when settled, aim time 1.76 s, move bloom 0.09.
- Gunner's sight: M76F, 5x (binoculars 6x / 10x / 15x).
| Shell | Type | Damage | Splash | Blast radius | Muzzle velocity | Penetration threshold | Rounds | Crew shock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armour Piercing | AP | 285 | 20 | 2.5 m | 792 m/s | 0.54 | 15 | - |
| High Explosive | HE | 185 | 142 | 5.8 m | 823 m/s | 0.984 | 7 | 1.02 |
| 76 mm M93 HVAP | HVAP | 214 | 10 | 2.5 m | 1036 m/s | 0.32 | bought (key 3) | - |
The penetration threshold is the lowest zone multiplier (the thickest armour) the shell still gets through: zones below it stop the shell (10 % damage for AP, 20 % for HE). See how the numbers work.
HE and the crew: every direct hit shakes the crew (slower reload and traverse, a wider aim circle) for about 1.9 s when the plate stops it and 3 s when it bursts through. It is big enough to knock crew members out of their seats even when the plate stops it.
HVAP (76 mm M93 HVAP) is bought in the garage, not issued: 3 rounds for 200 credits, at most 6 carried, from a team stock of 3 per player for the whole match (never resupplied). It gets through far thicker plate than the AP up close but loses its punch quickly with range:
| Range | AP needs | HVAP needs | AP damage | HVAP damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 m | 0.54 | 0.32 | 285 | 214 |
| 300 m | 0.54 | 0.4 | 262 | 171 |
| 500 m | 0.54 | 0.53 | 239 | 128 |
| 700 m | 0.54 | 0.64 | 228 | 107 |
Matchups (AP against the hull front, square-on, under 100 m)
- Its AP gets through the hull front of 28 of the other 34 vehicles. It is stopped by: Panther, M26 Pershing, Tiger II, IS-2, Churchill VII, Jagdpanther.
- 34 of the other 34 vehicles' AP get through its hull front. None of them is stopped by it.
- From the side, 34 of them get through its hull side; from behind, 34 get through its hull rear (every zone is in the table above).
Secondary weapons and equipment
- Roof machine gun: .50 cal (M2 Browning), the vehicle's own modelled gun on its turret, 9 rounds/s, 2.5 damage per round, overheats after 48 rounds. It elevates to 70° and can shoot down recon planes.
- Smoke: 1 salvo, each recharges in 40 s.
Mobility
- Running gear: tracks (pivot turns).
- Top speed 80.5 km/h on roads, 37.8 km/h off-road (47 %), reverse 16.1 km/h, acceleration 5.9 m/s².
- Turn rate 56°/s (33°/s at top speed). Mass 17,000 kg. Engine start 3.5 s.
Special ability (B)
Ammo Drop: a supply crate comes down by parachute just behind the tank and lands 8 s later; every tank of the team (this one too) that drives over it in the next 60 s gets 50 % of its full shell and smoke load back, once each. Ready 30 s after the round goes live, once per round; another use costs 150 credits.
Where it appears
Players can take it on all seven WW2 maps, on either team. The AI fields it on:
- Arracourt 1944, Blue (Allied side): 1x in an 8-vehicle line-up (first at position 6).
- Bastogne 1944, Blue (Allied side): 2x in an 8-vehicle line-up (first at position 2).
Where it ranks (1 = best of 35)
| Stat | Rank |
|---|---|
| Hit points | 28 |
| Effective HP | 28 |
| Hull front armour (lower multiplier = thicker) | 33 |
| Turret front armour | 32 |
| Road speed | 1 |
| Off-road speed | 2 |
| Shot damage (AP) | 14 |
| Damage per minute | 8 |
| Reload (shortest first) | 16 |
| Accuracy (smallest dispersion first) | 2 |
| Aim time (fastest first) | 25 |
| Turret / gun traverse speed | 6 |
| View range | 21 |
| AP penetration (lower threshold = goes through more) | 14 |
| Price (1 = most expensive) | 26 |
The real vehicle
| Variant | M18 Hellcat (76 mm GMC M18) |
| Length with gun | 6.65 m |
| Hull length | 5.28 m |
| Width | 2.87 m |
| Height | 2.57 m |
Sources used for the model: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M18_Hellcat (5.28 m hull, 6.65 m with gun, 2.87 m wide, 2.57 m over the AA MG); AFV Database https://afvdatabase.com/usa/m18hellcat.html (208 in, 113 in, 101 in over AAMG, tread 94.6 in, track 14.4 in with pins, ground contact 116.5 in, clearance 14.25 in, 5 dual road wheels + 4 return rollers, front sprocket, rear idler); blueprints the-blueprints.com 87757 / 75199
In-game model: 6.79 m long (gun included) × 2.9 m wide × 2.61 m high (antenna excluded), 6,010 triangles, built at true scale.
Images
Renders of the in-game model in a plain nation colour (the game paints its camouflage at runtime).
