First deployment

M551 Sheridans of E Troop, 17th Cavalry, 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell in April 1972

The first Sheridans to arrive in South Vietnam did so in January 1969 and were accompanied by
their factory representatives, instructors and evaluators as the new vehicles were issued to the 3rd
Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment,[34] and the 1st Squadron of the 11th ACR.[33] By the end of
1970, there were more than 200 Sheridans in South Vietnam,[35] and they stayed in the field until
the last U.S. armored cavalry unit, the 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment prepared for re-
deployment back to the United States in April 1972.[36] By the end of its combat debut in 1972,
the Sheridan had seen extensive action in the Vietnam War, being assigned to nearly all armored
cavalry squadrons involved in that conflict. In 1969, armored cavalry units (minus the 11th ACR,
which retained its M48 tank companies) began replacing their M48 Patton tanks, which in turn
were normally transferred to the Army of South Vietnam. The opinions of crews on Vietnam-era
M551s were mixed at best and assessments from senior commanders were often negative. This
was due largely to the high loss rate of Sheridans and casualty rates among crews; landmines and
RPGs that would damage an M48 Patton tank, tended to destroy a Sheridan and either kill or
wound most of its crew.[37]

A 1969 evaluation of the vehicles found that the M551 was employed in reconnaissance, night
patrol and road clearing, accumulating 39,455 road miles and 520 combat missions, with a ready
rate of 81.3 percent. Despite vulnerability to rockets and mines, it was judged worthy of applying
modifications and equipping all cavalry squadrons with the Sheridan.[38]

First combat/first losses

In addition to the problems presented by aluminum construction, the Sheridan had a defect that
no other common armored vehicle possessed: it fired caseless 152 mm main gun rounds. These
rounds were "fixed", meaning that, unlike the artillery, the warhead was factory attached to the
propellant, and if the warhead separated from the propellant during loading, which was not
uncommon, the crewmen were instructed not to load the round. Sometimes, these unspent
propellant charges remained on the turret floor due to the emergencies at the time, and in either
case, all of the remaining serviceable 152 mm shells still remained caseless, albeit attached to
their warheads, and sleeved into a re-usable white nine-ply nylon[39] bag, which was form-fitted
to hold the propellant portion of the shell. The white/silver-colored bag had a strap attached to
the bottom, which the loader would grab and pull off prior to gently inserting the shell into the
breech. Once a mine or RPG-type weapon created the spark, smoke and fire became imminent,
and it became a matter of Standing Operating Procedure to abandon the tank immediately.[40] On
15 February 1969, just one month after the Sheridan's arrival in South Vietnam, an M551 from
the 3/4th Cavalry detonated a 25-pound pressure-triggered land mine, which ruptured its hull and
ignited the 152 mm shells, resulting in a secondary explosion that destroyed the tank.[33] In late
1969, nine Sheridans from the 4th Squadron, 12th Cavalry Regiment were fording a river near
the DMZ, when three of the M551s detonated mines, completely destroying them. In March
1971, five Sheridans from the 11th ACR were lost in one day to RPG fire; all five vehicles burst
into flames and were totally destroyed.[39] It became a common scene to observe melted Sheridan
hulls with their sunken steel turrets sitting at odd angles with their gun tubes pointing towards the
sky in various parts of the country, either awaiting final disposition, or simply forgotten.[41]

Performance

Sheridan of A Troop, 1/1st Cavalry of the Americal Division near Tam Ky in March 1970

The Sheridan had several advantages: it did not get stuck in the mud as often as the 52-ton M48
did, nor did it throw its track off as often.[42] This alone was enough to win the tank crews' favor.
The light weight and high mobility proved their worth, and the gun proved an effective anti-
personnel weapon when used with either the M657 HE shell or the M625 canister round, which
used thousands of flechettes as projectiles.

The reliability of the engine system and gun of the tank was, however, not fully up to the task. Of
74 M551 sent to Vietnam in February 1969, by May there were recorded 16 serious mechanical
faults, 41 failed shots, 140 defective ammunitions and 25 burned engines; the turret itself had
125 electric faults, several recoil system faults and instances of blown up guns. An additional
problem was that much of the carried machine-gun ammunition had to be stored outside the
turret as the internal space was extremely limited.[43]