Good context. All true, the M3 was indeed kludged together in a very short time after America didn’t invest a lot into interwar tank design.
In addition, the configuration of putting the main gun in the hull was not unprecedented. The French Char B1 did the same thing, and it was considered a very capable tank, even by the Germans up against in in 1940.
If you put yourself in the mindset of a 1930s designer trying to figure out the role of a tank and assuming a kind of breakthrough role, it does make sense to put the lighter weapon meant to target more mobile targets on a traversing turret and the heavier weapon for targeting heavy defensive positions in the hull rather than trying to figure out how to fit such a large gun into a turret.
Good context. All true, the M3 was indeed kludged together in a very short time after America didn’t invest a lot into interwar tank design.
In addition, the configuration of putting the main gun in the hull was not unprecedented. The French Char B1 did the same thing, and it was considered a very capable tank, even by the Germans up against in in 1940.
If you put yourself in the mindset of a 1930s designer trying to figure out the role of a tank and assuming a kind of breakthrough role, it does make sense to put the lighter weapon meant to target more mobile targets on a traversing turret and the heavier weapon for targeting heavy defensive positions in the hull rather than trying to figure out how to fit such a large gun into a turret.