Is there any special attributes distinguishing a M1-A1 in the Marine Corps from one in the US Army?

the main, noticable differences are the smoke grenade launchers and the Marine version has the deep water fording kit, 1 each... I am sure there are many other differences, but those are teh ones to look for. The DML M1A1 Marine kit is prtty dead on.

Ditto here on the smoke dischargers , they are configured different from the army version.Another thing is the "dazzler device " in front of the loaders hatch . This looks like the CITV used on the M1A2 but it is square the CITV is round I'll try to find a pic of each and post it .

TURRETTOAD -13

I've noticed that some of the USMC M1A1s in OIF still used the sprocket retaining ring. These are gone on most US Army tanks. We had these removed as the sprockets were replaced (rings weren't systematically pulled off, just not replaced when a sprocket was changed). I've still got a tank or two with them.

Hey Rob,

Don't the marines usually get ex-army vehicles that are either surplussed out from units or older Pre-positioned stuff? That is what I had been told/always thought. It would explain why so many rings were still in use if they had been put on at the beginning of the sprocket life and had not had to many "miles" put onthem before being coopted my Uncle Sam's Misguided Children.

Marines do indeed get ex-Army vehicles. Marine OIF Abrams did use the sprocket retaining rings (they call them "training wheels" :-) )

I would have to do some digging for the exact numbers, but ballpark only 180 USMC tanks came from army stocks. External detail differences include those items already mentioned, plus an external telephone for communication between the TC and supported grunts. Its on the rear plate, right side, just inboard of the tailight.

For Desert Shield/Desert Storm, the USMC borrowed early M1A1s from Army stocks that were headed for a CEGE site (Combat Equipment Group-Europe) in Italy. Some of the tanks headed that way were from my division (8th ID) and they were only about 9 months old. We had traded them in for M1A1 Heavy Commons (aka M1A1-HA) in July-August 1990.

The Marines returned the M1A1s to Army stocks and eventually drew Heavy Commons after the war. The tanks were called Heavy Commons because they had the extra depleted uranium mesh ("heavy") armor and they had been manufactured to Army and Marine requirements, thus making the tank a "common" variant.

One of the Marine requirements was the ability to attach wading/fording gear to the tank. The original M1A1 did not have this capability. The M1A1-HA did have this ability. Therefore the original tanks they borrowed were fairly useless to the Marines for their primary mission of amphibious assaults. The Marines then drew new M1A1-HAs to replace the M1A1s they used in DS/DS. I believe those older M1A1s ended up as the pre-positioned equipment at Doha, Kuwait.

There weren't any "old" Army M1A1-HAs kicking around for the Marines to be hand-me-downed. Most of the Army still had early M1A1s and they were being fielded to the units that weren't being deactivated in Germany.

The few USMC armor battalions around are probably still using the same tanks they got after the Gulf War. Didn't they lose a battalion after the war?

Hey Rob,

My understanding, and maybe you can confirm this, is that there have been no new build M1's since 1995. I was not aware of the Marine Corps getting any M1A1-HA's until 1998 or so...I am not sure of the date. I also thought all new vehicles were rebuilt older ones...ie...M1A1's rebuilt to M1A1-HA and so-on. This is why I thought the Marine M1's were pulled from ARMY stock...

I'm not sure of the exact date when they stopped M1 production. I believe it was around the time they closed the Detroit Tank Plant in Warren, MI and began remanufacturing M1s to M1A1 (and M1A2) standards in the Lima, OH plant. For all intents and purposes, the remanufactured M1A1s are a brand new tank. The tank is stripped to the hull, and new everything is added.

The current entire Marine Corps complement of tanks is less than a half a US Army heavy division worth of tanks (2 active and 2 reserve battalions according to www.usmc.mil). Website also states that the USMC borrowed 60 M1A1 tanks and received 16 on an accelerated fielding (76 total USMC M1A1s during DS/DS). The site also states that the Marines completed fielding of their reserves and MPS (Maritime Prepositioning Ship) in 1996.

I don't know if the entire complement of USMC M1A1s are new-manufactured M1A1 tanks, re-manufactured M1 tanks, or a mixture of both (my guess).

According to Jane's the Marine Corps got 221 new M1A1's, 132 from the army's stock (12th year common), 50 new from the army's Anniston Army Depot. As Sabot mentioned M1A1s were recieved from army stocks for ODS, but it is my unserstanding there are no longer any of these in the USMC inventory. I think the "training wheels" may be a west coast thing, I never saw them mounted on any tanks in Camp Lejune.

Does anyone have any good pictures of an USMC M1-A1 that points out the differences?

Sorry, we should have thought of this initially. Here is a photo of DML's new USMC M1A1: If you look at the big box with vents forward of the loader's M240 machine gun (one at top of photo), this is the Missile Countermeasures Device (MCD). US Army M1A1s do not have this device, it is just a plain circular plate called a "manhole cover" because it looks like one. US Army M1A2s have a small turret-like device called the CITV here instead. This lead to confusion by most folks to think that the USMC had M1A2s when they in fact had M1A1s with the MCD mounted.

The Marines use a different type of smoke grenade launcher. In the photo it is just forward of the "ventian blind-looking" CIPs. The Marines' launchers look like individual tubes (8 per side) and the Army uses the triangular-shaped M250 smoke grenade launcher. You can barely make them out on the right and left side of the turret in the photo (just inside of the duffle bags mounted on the turret sides).

Many thanks! You guys are great!

That kit looks very tempting to buy. I have already built an Army M1-A1 (academy) which was not very fun because I think the Academy kit really sucked!

I have bought myself the Tamiya M1-A1 120mm kit now and would like to do something fun with it. Does anybody know if there is any stowage suitable for an M1 to buy?

See this thread : Legend M1 Accessory Set. It talks about one of many sets available to load up your Abrams kit.