How many US Army tanks were named for Civil War generals?

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Aug 25, 2012
I was thinking about how many US army tanks were named for Civil War generals. Should we add the Grant tank which was a British tank? Should the US army have named more tanks for cavalry generals than for non cavalry generals? I also wonder if having a tank named after a general was a real honor.
 
As a retired US Army Tanker I will say No the Grant was not a US vehicle. The only 3 in the US Army inventory are the M3 Lee, M4 Sherman and the M551 Sheridan, which I classify as a light armored vehicle which could be dropped from a plane. I still remember some NG units in Florida firing them in my early years.

As far as an Honor you dam Skippy its a Big Honor. My last M1 Abrams was named "Rebel Yell" and was painted on the tube :D
 
As a retired US Army Tanker I will say No the Grant was not a US vehicle. The only 3 in the US Army inventory are the M# Lee, M4 Sherman and the M551 Sheridan, which I classify as a light armored vehicle which could be dropped from a plane. I still remember some NG units in Florida firing them in my early years.

As far as an Honor you dam Skippy its a Big Honor. My last M1 Abrams was named "Rebel Yell" and was painted on the tube :D

Are you sure no army tanks were named after Confederate generals?
 
Not as many as all the liberty ships names after Confederates in order to sell war bonds during WWII.

For Example
Also during WWII the Navy named the following Liberty ships after Confederate generals; SS E. Kirby Smith after General Edmund Kirby Smith, CSA; SS John B Gordon after Major General John B Gordon, CSA; SS A. P. Hill after Lt General A. P. Hill, CSA; SS D. H. Hill after Lt General D. H. Hill, CSA; SS Edward P. Alexander after Major General Edward Porter Alexander, CSA; SS Fitzhugh Lee after Major General Fitzhugh Lee, CSA nephew of Robert E. Lee; SS Nathan Bedford Forrest after Lt General Nathan Bedford Forrest, CSA; SS J. Johnson Pettigrew after Major General J. Johnson Pettigrew, CSA; SS James Longstreet after Lt General James Longstreet, CSA; and SS Joseph Wheeler after Lt General Joseph Wheeler, CSA. Let’s not forget the SS Jefferson Davis after the President of the Confederacy; SS Robert M. T. Hunter who was the Confederate Secretary of State; SS George Davis who was the Confederate Attorney General; and of course the USS Robert E. Lee (SSBN-601). I am sure there are more examples of the U.S. government honoring Confederate generals and government officials. For example Duncan Nathaniel Ingraham was an officer in the USN who later served in the Confederate States Navy; four ships of the USN have borne the name USS Ingraham, named in honor of Captain Duncan Ingraham; a Wickes Class, a Gleaves Class, an Allen M Sumner Class destroyer those three were during WWII and the last an Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate, launched in 1988 and decommissioned in 2014.
 
The M10 tank destroyer was also called the Jackson. I can´t think of any WW2 tanks besides the Sherman, Lee/Grant, Jackson and Stuart. I don´t think there was any real rhyme or reason to the design board´s names; they moved on to the M26 Pershing pretty quickly, and the M47 Walker and M48/M60 series Patton after the war. I never heard anyone call an M48 or M60 a ¨Patton tank.¨ They were always ¨M48a5¨ or ¨M60a3¨ in everyday conversation. Same with the M551. I never heard a soldier call it a ¨Sheridan.¨ The M1 doesn´t get called an ¨Abrams¨ often by tankers, unless the phrase is ¨M1 Abrams¨ or ¨M1a(+whatever variant number) Abrams.¨
 
As a retired US Army Tanker I will say No the Grant was not a US vehicle. The only 3 in the US Army inventory are the M3 Lee, M4 Sherman and the M551 Sheridan, which I classify as a light armored vehicle which could be dropped from a plane. I still remember some NG units in Florida firing them in my early years.

As far as an Honor you dam Skippy its a Big Honor. My last M1 Abrams was named "Rebel Yell" and was painted on the tube :D
Rebel Yell is a good bourbon too!
 
Former armor crewman here.

As stated, now long out of service and existing only as antiques
M3 Lee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3_Lee
- Note: the M3 Grant was the same tank, slightly modified for production purposes. I've read that the habit of naming US tanks after Generals was actually started by the British, after they started receiving them as Lend Lease. The fighting against German panzers in North Africa was going badly for the Commonwealth in 1942 and they needed our vehicles.
M4 Sherman series
M3/M5 Stuart
M10 Jackson (tank destroyer, hull chassis same as the M3 Lee/M4 Sherman VVSS)

M551 Sheridan (out of active service, only in use as a training vehicle visually modified to be various Russian designed Armored Fighting Vehicles) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M551_Sheridan

M8 Buford (limited production, more experimental than anything operational) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M8_Armored_Gun_System
 
Former armor crewman here.

As stated, now long out of service and existing only as antiques
M3 Lee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3_Lee
- Note: the M3 Grant was the same tank, slightly modified for production purposes. I've read that the habit of naming US tanks after Generals was actually started by the British, after they started receiving them as Lend Lease. The fighting against German panzers in North Africa was going badly for the Commonwealth in 1942 and they needed our vehicles.
M4 Sherman series
M3/M5 Stuart
M10 Jackson (tank destroyer, hull chassis same as the M3 Lee/M4 Sherman VVSS)

M551 Sheridan (out of active service, only in use as a training vehicle visually modified to be various Russian designed Armored Fighting Vehicles) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M551_Sheridan

M8 Buford (limited production, more experimental than anything operational) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M8_Armored_Gun_System
The M10 was actually nicknamed the Wolverine . The M36 was the Jackson . They made M4s , M10s and M36 Jacksons at the old Fisher Body Tank Plant not far from where I live . They also made the so-called "Jumbo Sherman" and made some parts for the M20 Hellcat tank destroyer that was assembled by Buick .
 
The M10 tank destroyer was also called the Jackson. I can´t think of any WW2 tanks besides the Sherman, Lee/Grant, Jackson and Stuart. I don´t think there was any real rhyme or reason to the design board´s names; they moved on to the M26 Pershing pretty quickly, and the M47 Walker and M48/M60 series Patton after the war. I never heard anyone call an M48 or M60 a ¨Patton tank.¨ They were always ¨M48a5¨ or ¨M60a3¨ in everyday conversation. Same with the M551. I never heard a soldier call it a ¨Sheridan.¨ The M1 doesn´t get called an ¨Abrams¨ often by tankers, unless the phrase is ¨M1 Abrams¨ or ¨M1a(+whatever variant number) Abrams.¨

I was an 11E assigned to an M113 APC as an M60 gunner during my first tour in VN. The armored cav unit I was in had both M48 and M60 tanks which we referred to simply as "48s" or "60s." The M113 was usually called an "ACAV" and the M132 flame throwing ACAV was called "Zippo." The M60 machine guns on the ACAVs were called "pigs" and the UH1 helicopters were called "Hueys," "slicks" or "hogs."
 
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