Type 2 Ka-Mi

Type 2 Ka-Mi Story

Development of the

Type 2 began in 1928 as the Army's attempt to convert the Type 95 Kyu-Go light tank into an amphibious vehicle by adding amphibious tanks. The concept failed, so the designers switched to pontoons to provide the necessary buoyancy, although the designers kept the main components that became the Type 2 tank.

An effective and completely new design, it was the first amphibious tank of the Imperial Japanese Army. The Army worked on this concept model for 12 years, creating many experimental designs, but none of them actually went into production, as it turned out that building a tank swimmer was not an easy task.

In 1940, the Navy took over development of the project, and within two years the Type 2 was in production. In 1942, the Type 2 was delivered to the IJN for amphibious operations on the Pacific islands, where there were no ports where troops could land for invasion - or for special missions.

Fewer than 200 were made due to complex machine requirements, most of which had to be handcrafted. The complexity of the design requires the flight engineer to be part of the crew. Nonetheless, the Type 2 tank was the most widely used amphibious tank in Japan during the war. Some of the blueprint designs are new and innovations are the crew's radio and telephone intercom systems.

Some armor rivets have been replaced with rubber gaskets to make them waterproof. Large hollow steel pontoons connect to the fore and aft decks, making the Model 2 buoyant.

The primary weapon is a 1 x 37mm gun with a rate of fire between 5 and 20 rounds per minute. The ammo for the cannon is either HP or AP bullets, each weighing 1.5 lbs. The tank is also equipped with two Type 97 7.7mm machine guns for fire fighting.

Crew protection is covered in the form of 6-13mm armor plates. Aft is a Mitsubishi air-cooled 6-cylinder diesel engine.

The tank can travel at 37 km/h (22.9 mph) over land in moderate terrain, and is seaworthy through the use of two large rear-mounted propellers, resulting in a speed of 8.7 knots (10 mph) Speed ??propels the tank.

The Type 2 could not be used for the Japanese invasion of Guadalcanal, where it could have been deployed as the tank was originally planned. After Guadalcanal, the Japanese were on the defensive and the island invasion was transferred to the Allies. The Japanese have non-mission light amphibious armored vehicles and only use the Type 2 as another infantry support vehicle.

In many cases, the Type 2 became a permanent bunker position to stop the US Marines - especially in the Mariana and Marshall Islands.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Performance

Armor

HP and AP rounds

Changes