Subdeacon Joe Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z24YQMrK9Gs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colonel Dan, SASS #24025 Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 I had Sheridans in my very first platoon as a young lieutenant. What a challenge...particularly when we fired 152mm HEAT rounds out of such a relatively light vehicle--many rupture plugs "ruptured" doing that and the turret electronics would be jarred loose also. When that happened, the missile system went down! My trusty .50 cal always worked however! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 Well, it looked cool anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colonel Dan, SASS #24025 Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 Our biggest problem was the 152mm HEAT round was too much round for that vehicle. When you fired it, the recoil was such that the front road wheels came off the ground. In fact, the HEAT round was an after thought of design. The M551 was originally designed to fire the Shillelagh missile which was infra red guided and created minimal recoil but the likes of a small naval gun off a 17 ton platform--and that weight was when it was fully combat loaded--made for quite a ride! I had to hang on to the TC hatch hand holds every time else I put my face in dire straits of potentially becoming permanently imprinted on the TC hatch. In fact, it was not abnormal for us to break the bolts off the ACAV ballistic shield that surrounded the TC after firing multiple HEAT rounds. Very manueverable though! Oh the memories of a young LT!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Mike Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 I thought it odd when the army took them away. When we airlanded into northern Iraq and needed armor, I remembered the Sheridan and thought the army might be wishing they still had them now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colonel Dan, SASS #24025 Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 The missile system was too fragile as I said and The combustible cases on the HEAT rounds too often broke apart from the explosive head rendering them useless. As you can see from the video, it was also relatively slow to put into action compared to our modern tanks. Additionally, our crews used to say that the M73 coax was the only single shot machine gun the Army ever bought! We had a lot of reliability issues with them. I still have a missile end cap (casing) in my study that I use to collect spare change! All in all, I was happy to see the Sheridan go to museums. Good video Joe....thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted June 26, 2013 Author Share Posted June 26, 2013 Hey, Col. Dan....thanks for your stories! I've said it before, the stories that get posted in response to my OPs are often better than the OP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.