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Type 89 I-Go medium tank
The Type 89 medium tank I-Go (八九式中戦車 イ号, Hachikyū-shiki chū-sensha I-gō) is a medium tank used by the Imperial Japanese Army from 1932 to 1942 in combat operations of the Second Sino-Japanese War, at Khalkhin Gol against the Soviet Union, and in the Second World War. The Type 89B model was the world's first mass-produced diesel engine tank. The tank was armed with a short-barrel 57 mm cannon for knocking out pillboxes and masonry fortifications, and proved effective in campaigns in Manchuria and China, as the Chinese National Revolutionary Army had only three tank battalions to oppose them, which consisted primarily of Vickers export models, German Panzer Is, and Italian CV33 tankettes. The Type 89 was a 1920s design medium tank, built to support the infantry, and thus lacked the armor or armament of 1940s generation Allied armor; it was regarded as obsolete by the time of the 1939 battles of Khalkhin Gol, against the Soviet Union. The code designation "I-Go" comes from the katakana letter [イ] for "first" and the kanji [号] for "number". The designation is also transliterated Chi-Ro and sometimes "Yi-Go".
The Type 89 evolved from Japan's first domestic tank project initiated by the Imperial Japanese Army’s Osaka Technical Arsenal in 1925. The original plan was for two types of tanks to be created: a 10-ton light tank based on the French Renault FT tank, and a 20-ton design modeled after the Vickers medium tank. "Experimental tank No.1" a/k/a Type 87 Chi-I was completed by February 1927 and ready for field trials. However, it was 20-ton and under-powered. The weight of the initial prototype and its low speed did not impress the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office, and a new requirement was issued for a lighter tank, with a nominal 10-ton weight. The new design was modeled after the Vickers Medium C which had been bought by the Japanese Army in March 1927.
By April 1928, the new "light tank" design was finished. "Experimental tank No.2" was completed in 1929 and designated as the Type 89. Later, the Type 89 was re-classified as a "medium tank" because the weight increased to over 10 tons due to improvements. As the army's Sagami Arsenal lacked the capacity for mass production, a contract was awarded to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which built a new tank factory to specifically produce this model. Production of the Type 89 began in 1931 and it soon became the main battle tank of the Japanese Army.
Although the Type 89 was well regarded by the army, there were several small problems to be rectified, notably a gap under the mantlet on early models that allowed rifle fire to enter the turret. Work continued on improving the Type 89 after the production started, and as a result variants were developed.
The Type 89 required a crew of four (commander/gunner, loader, driver and hull gunner).
The design of the Type 89 was relatively conventional with a forward-mounted gun turret carrying the main armament, a Type 90 57 mm gun that was complemented by two Type 91 6.5 mm machine guns. One was located in the front hull and the other placed in a turret ball mount pointed towards the rear, a practice followed with most Japanese tanks. The Type 90 57 mm tank gun had a barrel length of 0.85 metres (33 in) (L14.9), an angle of fire of −15 to +20 degrees in elevation and 20 degrees in azimuth, and a muzzle velocity of 380 m/s (1,200 ft/s), and could penetrate of 20 mm of armor at 500 m (0.8 in/550 yd). During the later stages of World War II, HEAT shells were developed to provide greater penetration of enemy armor.
Rather than using soft iron armor, as on the earlier Chi-I, the designers chose to use steel plate armor developed by the Nihon Seikosho Company (JSW). The type of armor was referred to as 'Niseko steel', an abbreviation of "Nihonseikosho".
The Type 89 was driven through the rear drive sprocket and featured nine bogies, mounted in pairs on each side, with the forward bogie on an independent suspension. Five smaller return wheels were mounted along a steel girder. The Type A could only communicate with signal flags. Some vehicles were provided with two searchlights for night operations. Later the Type 94 Mk 4 Hei (1934 model) radio communication device with range of 0.97 kilometres (0.6 mi) and weight of 90 kilograms (198 lb), linked with a radio antenna of 8.99 m (29 ft 6 in) in a reverse L shape was installed.
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Type 89 I-Go medium tank AI simulator
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Type 89 I-Go medium tank
The Type 89 medium tank I-Go (八九式中戦車 イ号, Hachikyū-shiki chū-sensha I-gō) is a medium tank used by the Imperial Japanese Army from 1932 to 1942 in combat operations of the Second Sino-Japanese War, at Khalkhin Gol against the Soviet Union, and in the Second World War. The Type 89B model was the world's first mass-produced diesel engine tank. The tank was armed with a short-barrel 57 mm cannon for knocking out pillboxes and masonry fortifications, and proved effective in campaigns in Manchuria and China, as the Chinese National Revolutionary Army had only three tank battalions to oppose them, which consisted primarily of Vickers export models, German Panzer Is, and Italian CV33 tankettes. The Type 89 was a 1920s design medium tank, built to support the infantry, and thus lacked the armor or armament of 1940s generation Allied armor; it was regarded as obsolete by the time of the 1939 battles of Khalkhin Gol, against the Soviet Union. The code designation "I-Go" comes from the katakana letter [イ] for "first" and the kanji [号] for "number". The designation is also transliterated Chi-Ro and sometimes "Yi-Go".
The Type 89 evolved from Japan's first domestic tank project initiated by the Imperial Japanese Army’s Osaka Technical Arsenal in 1925. The original plan was for two types of tanks to be created: a 10-ton light tank based on the French Renault FT tank, and a 20-ton design modeled after the Vickers medium tank. "Experimental tank No.1" a/k/a Type 87 Chi-I was completed by February 1927 and ready for field trials. However, it was 20-ton and under-powered. The weight of the initial prototype and its low speed did not impress the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office, and a new requirement was issued for a lighter tank, with a nominal 10-ton weight. The new design was modeled after the Vickers Medium C which had been bought by the Japanese Army in March 1927.
By April 1928, the new "light tank" design was finished. "Experimental tank No.2" was completed in 1929 and designated as the Type 89. Later, the Type 89 was re-classified as a "medium tank" because the weight increased to over 10 tons due to improvements. As the army's Sagami Arsenal lacked the capacity for mass production, a contract was awarded to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which built a new tank factory to specifically produce this model. Production of the Type 89 began in 1931 and it soon became the main battle tank of the Japanese Army.
Although the Type 89 was well regarded by the army, there were several small problems to be rectified, notably a gap under the mantlet on early models that allowed rifle fire to enter the turret. Work continued on improving the Type 89 after the production started, and as a result variants were developed.
The Type 89 required a crew of four (commander/gunner, loader, driver and hull gunner).
The design of the Type 89 was relatively conventional with a forward-mounted gun turret carrying the main armament, a Type 90 57 mm gun that was complemented by two Type 91 6.5 mm machine guns. One was located in the front hull and the other placed in a turret ball mount pointed towards the rear, a practice followed with most Japanese tanks. The Type 90 57 mm tank gun had a barrel length of 0.85 metres (33 in) (L14.9), an angle of fire of −15 to +20 degrees in elevation and 20 degrees in azimuth, and a muzzle velocity of 380 m/s (1,200 ft/s), and could penetrate of 20 mm of armor at 500 m (0.8 in/550 yd). During the later stages of World War II, HEAT shells were developed to provide greater penetration of enemy armor.
Rather than using soft iron armor, as on the earlier Chi-I, the designers chose to use steel plate armor developed by the Nihon Seikosho Company (JSW). The type of armor was referred to as 'Niseko steel', an abbreviation of "Nihonseikosho".
The Type 89 was driven through the rear drive sprocket and featured nine bogies, mounted in pairs on each side, with the forward bogie on an independent suspension. Five smaller return wheels were mounted along a steel girder. The Type A could only communicate with signal flags. Some vehicles were provided with two searchlights for night operations. Later the Type 94 Mk 4 Hei (1934 model) radio communication device with range of 0.97 kilometres (0.6 mi) and weight of 90 kilograms (198 lb), linked with a radio antenna of 8.99 m (29 ft 6 in) in a reverse L shape was installed.