Comments by "COL BEAUSABRE" (@colbeausabre8842) on "Most underrated US Tank? @thetankmuseum" video.

@Dreachon Liberty ships generally had one fifty ton cargo boom and a mixture of 15 and 30 ton capacity units (I would not want to risk lifting a 30 ton plus vehicle on a 30 ton capacity boom). There was no guarantee that the port of departure or arrival had cranes of that capacity or if they weren't needed for other ships. If the port of arrival had been in occupied Europe, the Germans were masters of demolitions (see how long it took to make Cherbourg operation) and dockside cranes were obvious targets. "The Germans had so thoroughly wrecked and mined the port of Cherbourg that Hitler awarded the Knight's Cross to Rear Admiral Walter Hennecke the day after he surrendered for "a feat unprecedented in the annals of coastal defense." The port was not brought into limited use until the middle of August, although the first ships were able to use the harbor in late July." A US Navy's senior salvage officer in Europe remarked "That was the one and only time I agreed with Adolph Hitler"
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@Dreachon What you don't seem to understand is that these ships were not plentiful. Even the Liberty Ships had ONE fifty ton capacity boom. That was the only one aboard that could lift an M4. let alone anything heavier
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@Dreachon Seatrain Lines had a total of FIVE ships prior to 1945. Not exactly a fleet to base your war effort on. I suggest you do some research before posting
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@Dreachon And how many of those ports were demolished by the Germans and were unusable for months
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@Dreachon Yeah ONE fifty ton boom.
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Regarding US armored division artillery in WW2. There were three self propelled light artillery battalions with twelve M7 105mm howitzers each and three tank battalions with six M4 medium tanks mounting 105mm howitzers as well as 53 M4 tanks armed with either the 75mm or 76mm gun and 17 M5 light tanks armed with 37 guns and a Mechanized Cavalry squadron with 6 M8 self propelled 75mm howitzers and 17 M5 light tanks assigned to it. While there was no organic medium artillery, virtually all armored divisions has at least one battalion of twelve155mm towed howitzers attached to it from the Corps or Army level pool of separate (non-divisional) units. The reason the US didn't have a SP 155 was opposition from an old artilleryman, LTG Leslie McNair, commanding general of Army Ground Forces (responsible for organizing and training the army that would go overseas). He felt towed weapons could do anything SP's could do and that the later was wasteful of resources and funds. By late WW2, McNair was outvoted by the men doing the fighting - the armored division commanders and MG Barnes of Ordnance was glad to provide the M41 155 SP, based on the new M24 light tank chassis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M41_Howitzer_Motor_Carriage
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