Specification Crew : 5 Engine : Ford GAV V-8 Max speed : road 32 km/h (23.60 mph) Range : 160 km (99.36 miles) Length : 6.32 m (20.75 ft) Width : 3.50 M (11.5 ft) Height : 2.77 m (9.10 ft) Main gun : 90mm Armour : 101.6 mm (4 in)

The US Army came to appreciate the need for a heavy tank very late in the war and it was only in November 1944 that the first 20 prototypes were built.The German Ardennes Offensive of December 1944 during which the inadequacies of the M4 Sherman were revealed once again prompted the US General Staff to order the immediate despatch of the M26 heavy tank to Europe.The first 20 arrived in January 1945 and were issued to combat units. The tanks main armament was the 90mm Tank Gun M3. With a muzzle velocity of 1021 m/sec (3350ft/sec) it still did not match the German 75mm of 88mm guns that armed the Panthers and Tigers.That said it had a reasonable performance against enemy armour when firing the armour-piercing , composite rigid round and its high-explosive round was excellent.The gun was mounted in a turret that had a 360 degree traverse and the crew consisted of a commander , driver , co-driver , gunner and loader.Crews found the M26 a good fighting vehicle , it was almost a match for the fearsome German Tiger in terms of firepower and surpassed it with regard to mobility and reliability.A few were sent to the UK for trails but the end of the war in Europe limited the number sent.