The was an amphibious

medium tank A medium tank is a classification of tanks, particularly prevalent during World War II which represented a compromise between the mobility oriented light tanks and the armour and armament oriented heavy tanks. A medium tank's classification is ...

developed by the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

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 Type 3 Ka-Chi was based on an extensively modified

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

Type 1 Chi-He medium tank The was an improved version of the Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tanks of the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. It had a more powerful main gun, engine and thicker armor. It was the first Japanese tank to have a communication radio as standard equi ...

(it had 2 more road-wheels and two more return rollers on each side) and was a larger and more capable version of the earlier

Type 2 Ka-Mi The was the first amphibious tank of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The Type 2 Ka-Mi was based on the Imperial Japanese Army's Type 95 Ha-Go light tank with major modifications. History and development As early as 1928, the Japanese Army ...

amphibious tank.

History and development

The success of the Type 2 Ka-Mi design pleased the planners in the

Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff The was the highest organ within the Imperial Japanese Navy. In charge of planning and operations, it was headed by an Admiral headquartered in Tokyo. History Created in 1893, the Navy General Staff took over operational (as opposed to adminis ...

, and it was determined that a larger version with stronger armor and armament would be useful in future

amphibious warfare Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducte ...

operations. The Type 3 Ka-Chi prototype was completed in late 1943 and the first units entered service that same year. However, only 12 to 19 Type 3 Ka-Chi's were built from 1943 to 1945. The main priorities of the Japanese Navy were in warship and aircraft production, and lacking in any definite plans for additional amphibious operations, production of the Type 3 Ka-Chi remained a very low priority.

Design

The Type 3 Ka-Chi was based a heavily modified version of the chassis of the army's

, and thus featured considerably better armored protection and firepower than the earlier Type 2 Ka-Mi. It had smooth sides that faired into front and rear flotation pontoons made of sheet-metal. The front pontoon had a curved ' bow' shape and both pontoons could be jettisoned from inside the tank once the tank had landed. However, in practice, the pontoons were usually retained, as they provided some marginal additional protection against enemy fire. The undercarriage used the Hara system, with the addition of 2 more road-wheels and two more return rollers on each side than the Type 1 Chi-He. The hull was welded and water-proofed "with rubber seals and gaskets". The water propulsion was provided by twin-screws and it had two steering screws. The Type 3 Ka-Chi had a distinctive large snorkel behind the turret for aerating the

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

more efficiently and keeping the exhaust free of water. The main gun of Type 3 Ka-Chi was the Type 1 47 mm tank gun with barrel length of 2.250 meters (L/48), EL angle of fire by −15 to +20 degrees, AZ angle of fire of 20 degrees,

muzzle velocity Muzzle velocity is the speed of a projectile (bullet, pellet, slug, ball/shots or shell) with respect to the muzzle at the moment it leaves the end of a gun's barrel (i.e. the muzzle). Firearm muzzle velocities range from approximately to i ...

by 810 m/s and penetration of 55 mm/100 m, 40 mm/500 m, and 30 mm/1,000 m.Taki's Imperial Japanese Army: "Tank Guns"
/ref> This was the same 47 mm gun used on the army's

Type 97 Shinhoto Chi-Ha Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * T ...

. Secondary armament was a coaxial

Type 97 heavy tank machine gun The was the standard machine gun used in tanks and armored vehicles of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, a heavy machine gun by infantry forces, This weapon was not related to the Type 97 aircraft machine gun used in several Japane ...

and a hull mounted weapon of the same type. The

gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...

was designed with an extended circular

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

to keep the hatch above water. The vehicle required a crew of seven, one of whom (as with the Type 2 Ka-Mi) served as an on-board mechanic.

Service record

The Type 3 Ka-Chi was produced in very limited numbers, but proved useful due to its capability to be launched from a

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

, which enabled it to accommodate the increasingly difficult task of daytime reinforcement for isolated island garrisons located in the South Pacific and in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

. The Type 3 Ka-Chi was deployed only in the Japan homeland and did not see combat.

Notes

References

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External links