The 37 mm gun M1 was an

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

autocannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary shells, as opposed to the smaller-caliber kinetic projectiles (bull ...

developed in the United States. It was used by the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The gun was produced in a towed variant, or mounted along with two M2 machine guns on the M2/ M3

half-track A half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with regular wheels at the front for steering and continuous tracks at the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the load. The purpose of this combination is to produce a vehicle with the cro ...

, resulting in the T28/T28E1/M15/M15A1 series of multiple gun motor carriages. In early World War II, each Army Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA) Auto-Weapons battalion was authorized a total of thirty-two 37 mm guns in its four firing batteries, plus other weapons. During World War II the 37 mm gun M1 was deployed in coast defense anti- motor torpedo boat batteries (AMTB) alongside 90 mm guns, usually four 90 mm and two 37 mm guns per battery. Some AMTB batteries consisted of four 37 mm guns, but most sources have little information on these batteries. In the later part of the war the 37 mm gun was typically replaced by the 40 mm Bofors gun M1.McGovern and Smith, p. 43

Components

Two gun units were coupled to the M5

gun director A director, also called an auxiliary predictor, is a mechanical or electronic computer that continuously calculates trigonometric firing solutions for use against a moving target, and transmits targeting data to direct the weapon firing crew. Na ...

using the M1 remote control system. The system was powered by the M5 generating unit. If the remote system was inoperative the M5 sighting system was used.

Ammunition

The M1 utilized fixed

ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

. Projectiles were fitted with a 37×223mmSR

cartridge Cartridge may refer to: Objects * Cartridge (firearms), a type of modern ammunition * ROM cartridge, a removable component in an electronic device * Cartridge (respirator), a type of filter used in respirators Other uses * Cartridge (surname), a ...

case.

Variants

*The 37 mm M9 autocannon was a derivative of the M1A2 anti-aircraft gun. It had a barrel, weighed (the barrel alone weighing 120 pounds), had a muzzle velocity of , and had a rate of fire of 150 rounds per minute. It was used on

PT boat A PT boat (short for patrol torpedo boat) was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, valued for its maneuverability and speed but hampered at the beginning of the wa ...

s around 1944 in the Pacific theater during World War II, replacing the

M4 autocannon The 37 mm Automatic Gun, M4, known as the T9 during development, was a 37 mm (1.46 in) recoil-operated autocannon designed by John Browning, Browning Arms Company. The weapon, which was built by Colt's Manufacturing Company, Colt, ...

Comparison of anti-aircraft guns

Notes

References

*Hogg, Ian. Twentieth-Century Artillery. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2000. Pg.106 * * * * TM 9-2300 standard artillery and fire control material. dated 1944 * TM 9-235 * TM 9-1235 * SNL A-29

External links

"US Army Gets A New Antiaircraft Gun", September 1940
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Popular Science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...

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FM 4-112 Coast Artillery Field Manual: Antiaircraft Artillery gunnery, Fire Control, Position Finding, and Horizontal Fire, Antiaircraft Automatic Weapons (Case I Firing)

History of the Americanization of the Bofors 40mm Automatic Antiaircraft Gun
��some references to the 37mm

��Antiaircraft.org {{WWIIUSGuns 37 mm artillery Anti-aircraft guns of the United States World War II anti-aircraft guns World War II weapons of the United States Military equipment introduced in the 1930s