A gun mantlet is an

armour Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or f ...

plate or shield attached to an

armoured fighting vehicle An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour, generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked. Examples of AFVs are tanks, armoured cars, ...

's gun, protecting the opening through which the weapon's barrel projects from the hull or

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * M ...

armour and, in many cases, ensuring the vulnerable

warhead A warhead is the forward section of a device that contains the explosive agent or toxic (biological, chemical, or nuclear) material that is delivered by a missile, rocket, torpedo, or bomb. Classification Types of warheads include: * Expl ...

of a loaded

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...

does not protrude past the vehicle's armour. On many tanks during

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the gun mantlet covered both the main gun and any coaxial armament, and had the thickest armour on the vehicle. However, in many late

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

and post-Cold War tank designs, the gun mantlet became one of the weaker parts of a vehicle's turret armour and thus a weakness. This was because as many mantlet designs were attached directly to the gun, it drastically increased the weight of the whole gun system and the amount of effort needed to elevate and depress it. This was an issue for gun stabilizers as they proved to be less efficient and accurate in keeping the gun steady with the added weight of the mantlet. Therefore, as seen in tanks such as the

M1 Abrams The M1 Abrams is a third-generation American main battle tank designed by Chrysler Defense (now General Dynamics Land Systems) and named for General Creighton Abrams. Conceived for modern armored ground warfare and now one of the heaviest t ...

and the

Leopard 2 The Leopard 2 is a 3rd generation main battle tank originally developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s for the West German army. The tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the West Ger ...

, the mantlet had less armour than the rest of the turret to cut down on weight and they became far smaller to minimise the area that a projectile could hit for if it did, it would very likely result in a penetration and disable the gun and damage the fighting compartment. On vehicles such as the

Chieftain A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribe The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia. Tribal societies are sometimes categorized a ...

, the mantlet is dispensed with completely.

Gallery

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-476-2051-33A, Italien, Panzer V (Panther).jpg,

Panther tank The Panther tank, officially ''Panzerkampfwagen V Panther'' (abbreviated PzKpfw V) with Sonderkraftfahrzeug, ordnance inventory designation: ''Sd.Kfz.'' 171, is a German medium tank of World War II. It was used on the Eastern Front (World War ...

mantlet File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-299-1805-10, Nordfrankreich, Panzer VI (Tiger I).jpg,

Tiger I The Tiger I () was a German heavy tank of World War II that operated beginning in 1942 in Africa and in the Soviet Union, usually in independent heavy tank battalions. It gave the German Army its first armoured fighting vehicle that mounted ...

mantlet File:Sherman Tank M4 A2 E8 (639067571).jpg,

M4 Sherman } The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most widely used medium tank by the United States and Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively cheap to produce, and available in great numbers. It ...

mantlet File:Panzermuseum Munster 2010 0383.JPG,

Comet tank The Comet tank or Tank, Cruiser, Comet I (A34) was a British cruiser tank that first saw use near the end of the Second World War, during the Western Allied invasion of Germany. The Comet was developed from the earlier Cromwell tank and mounted ...

mantlet File:Солониц Танк маска пушки.JPG, T-70 cast mantlet File:Leclerc-IMG 1709.jpg, Leclerc mantlet File:Panzermuseum Munster 2010 0757.JPG, Leopard 2A4 mantlet File:Panzermuseum Munster 2010 0414.JPG, StuG III mantlet File:Panzermuseum Munster 2010 0431.JPG, A

Jagdpanther The ''Jagdpanther'' (German: "hunting Panther"), Sd.Kfz. 173, was a tank destroyer ('' Jagdpanzer'', a self-propelled anti-tank gun) built by Germany during World War II. The ''Jagdpanther'' combined the 8.8 cm Pak 43 anti-tank gun, similar to t ...

mantlet File:ISU-122 front RB.jpg, ISU-122 mantlet

References

Vehicle armour {{Armour-stub

Gallery

See also

References