Editing M7 Priest (section)

== Design and development ==
During the early stages of World War II, [[United States Army|US Army]] observers realized that they would need a self-propelled artillery vehicle with sufficient firepower to support armored operations. Lessons learned with half-tracks (such as the [[T19 howitzer motor carriage]] (HMC) with a 105&nbsp;mm howitzer on the [[M3 half-track]] chassis) also showed that this vehicle would have to be armored and fully tracked. It was decided to use the [[M3 Lee]] [[chassis]] as the basis for this new vehicle design, named T32.<ref name="Bishop, p. 120">Bishop, p. 120.</ref> The pilot vehicles used the M3 chassis with an open-topped superstructure, mounting an [[M101 howitzer|M2A1]] 105&nbsp;mm [[howitzer]], with a machine-gun added after trials.

The T32 was accepted for service as the M7 in February 1942 and production began that April. The British Tank Mission had requested 2,500 to be delivered by the end of 1942 and a further 3,000 by the end of 1943, an order which was never fully completed.<ref>Icks, R. ''Hellcat, Long Tom and Priest'' AFV Profile 26. Profile Publishing</ref><ref name=CEp138/>

As the M4 Sherman tank replaced the M3, it was decided to continue production using the M4 chassis (the M4 chassis was a development of the M3). The M7 was subsequently supplanted by the [[M37 105 mm howitzer motor carriage]] (on the "light combat team" chassis that also gave the [[M24 Chaffee]] light tank).<ref name=CEp138>Chamberlain & Ellis ''British and American Tanks of World War II'' 1969 p. 138</ref>