Turret
The rotating housing for the gun, whose armor and traverse speed decide how a vehicle fights from cover.
Also known as turreted, turretless.
A turret lets a vehicle aim without turning its hull, which keeps its front toward the enemy and its dispersion low. Its own armor is usually the thickest on the vehicle, since it is what shows over a ridge.
Turretless vehicles trade that for a bigger gun or a smaller profile. They aim within a fixed arc and turn the whole hull for anything outside it, which is slower and widens the aiming circle.
Related terms
Gun arcThe horizontal span a gun can cover without turning the hull, on vehicles that have no rotating turret.Hull downSitting behind a rise so only the turret is exposed, using gun depression to shoot over it while the hull stays protected.Turret traverseHow fast the turret rotates, in degrees per second, independent of the ground the vehicle is standing on.CupolaThe raised commander's hatch on top of a turret, often the only part of a hull down vehicle that can be hit.