Copyright 2011 by Brandon Cope
Marmon-Harrington MTLS-1GI4 medium tank
After the Dutch ordered the CTLS, they also had interest in two other designs. The CTMS was a rather conventional three-man tank armed with a 37mmm gun in a turret, About 200 were ordered but only a few (28) were delivered to the Dutch West indies. Most of the order was taken over by the US, with several being given to Latin-American forces. None saw combat. The MTLS was an improvement, using basically the same chassis but adding a fourth crewman and mounting two automatic 37mmm guns, developed by American Armament Corporation, after the Dutch failed to obtain the current American 37mm tank gun for armament.
Aside from the two 37mm guns in the turret, it mounted a .30-cal Browning coaxially and another Browning in an odd “eyeball” mount on the right side of the turret (fired by the loader). Two more Brownings were on AA mounts at the left and right rear turret corners, to be operated by commander and loader.
As with the earlier Dutch orders, Marmon-Harrington was slow in building the tanks and none were ready until after the Dutch East Indies were overrun by the Japanese. Twenty were sent to the Dutch West Indies (mainly Suriname). The remainder were taken over by the US, who may have stopped production after 125 vehicles (instead of the 200 ordered). The tank was considered quite unreliable and it it likely that those taken by the US were scrapped.
The MTLS-1GI4 has a crew of four. The driver and bow gunner sit in the body. The commander, who operates the cannons and coaxial MG, and the loader, who operates one MG, are split between the turret and body. The turret traverses hydraulically at 17 degrees per second or the commander manually traverses the turret at 1.5 degrees per second. It uses 8.3 gallons of gas per hour at routine usage.
Subassemblies: Small Tank
chassis +3, full rotation Small AFV turret [Body:T] +2, tracks +2.
Powertrain: 185-kW gas engine w/185-kW tracked
drive train and 33 gallons fuel in standard fuel tank [body];
4,000-kWs batteries.
Occupancy: 2 CS Body, 2 CS Both
Cargo: 16.5 Body. 2.5 Turret
Armor
Body: FRL 4/120, B 4/80, TU 4/40
Turret: F 4/120, RLB 4/80, T 4/40
Tracks: 4/35
Weaponry
2x37mm Medium Ground
AC [Body:F] (80 each).
2xGround LMG/Browning M-1919A4 [Body:F]
(1,000 each).
2xGround LMG/Browning M-1919A4 [Tur:F] (1,000 each).
2xGround LMG/Browning M-1919A4 [OM1-2:F] (500 each).
Statistics
Size: 16’¥9’¥9’ |
Payload: 1 ton |
Lwt: 19.3 tons |
Volume: 70 |
Maint.: 48 hours |
Price: $17,200 |
HT: 9
HP: 2,000
[Body], 300 [Turret], 800 [Each Track]
gSpeed: 30 |
gAccel: 2 |
gDecel: 20 |
gMR: 0.25 |
gSR: 4 |
GP: Very Low (4/5) |
Design Notes
Armor is riveted (p.W:MP12).
The automatic 37mm gun should be treated as the 37mm Medium Ground AC but with the ranges and Acc of the 37mm Medium TG, as well as having an APEX round with the performance of the 37mm Medium TG. Ammo comes in five-round clips.
The LMG in the right side of the turret is treated as having a front facing, but trades it's firing arc to the slight left to the slight right.