Russia: The wreck of a Sherman M4A2 has been excavated

A very interesting discovery took place in the waters of the Barents Sea, from which the Russians lifted the wreck of an American Sherman tank. The vehicle, which dates back to World War II, was recovered by crane and transported to shore. The American tank was located on board the wreck of the bulk carrier

ByMałgorzata Brykała

Published: July 21, 2014 - 13:22

Updated: July 22, 2023 - 07:43

Russia: The wreck of a Sherman M4A2 has been excavated

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The American tank was located on board the wreck of the bulk carrier ‘Thomas Donaldson’, which was torpedoed and sunk at a depth of 55m on 20 March 1945. People involved in the whole project also confirm that it is not the only tank in this place. Two more machines are waiting for their turn to be pulled out. Unfortunately, it is not known even approximately when more wrecks will be excavated.

No further information on the find is available at this time, but it has already been determined that this is an M4A2(76)W model with M1A2 type armament. This allows us to determine that the found wreck comes from a batch of 2915 examples produced by Fisher Tank Arsenal and Pressed Steel Car Company between April 1944 and May 1945.

The example shown had a 76mm calibre gun, cast armour and was powered by a Continental R975 petrol engine.

Shermans were rather average machines. They were far from the top of the armoured weapons of World War II. These tanks were poor at fording fords and water obstacles, and had a very wide turning radius. Another concern for Sherman crews was the distance from which they could effectively attack the enemy. For example, in the case of the Tiger I it was 500-1000m, while the German machine could fire at the Sherman from a distance of 2000m!