Tanks for the Memories
- Thread starter Idris2002
- Start date
ferrelhadley
There is no love between us anymore.
During WWII two very different types of vehicles got called "tank destroyers". The first was the US whos analysis of the Battle of France was that towed artillery was too dispersed and too slow to meet the fast flowing modern battlefield in enough numbers. So they concieved of a form of mobile anti tank guns that could be held in reserve then employed en mass against a potential break through of massed armour. Because of the sheer weight of allied armour, this was rarely needed (they did operate as designed at the Battle of the Bulge).
The Germans began with the idea of an "assault gun", a mobile artillery piece that could travel with fast moving infantry to attack strong emplacements. They started building them on Panzer III hulls as they were cheap and the lack of turret was for cost savings. Fast forward into the Eastern Front and they urgently needed a much bigger gun, but the Panzer III could not handle it so they re-purposed the idea of the turret-less assault gun to an anti tank gun. There was a lot more space in the hull than the turret for the recoil of the big new gun, it was cheaper than a tank and the low profile made it hard to spot\hit. As the war wore on, factories producing older tank types where changed to various type of assault guns to get big guns on mobile platforms, though they also built all manner of monstrous assault guns on everything up to a Tiger II hull.
The Germans almost always gave their assault guns to artillery branch and they were integrated into infantry divisions (or close to that). The US set up an entire Tank Destroyer branch, separate from the armour and artillery. Though the US ended up mostly using their TDs as assault guns while the Germans mostly used their assault guns as tank destroyers. The British just gave their US TDs to artillery branch to operate as mobile anti tank guns. They did develop a couple of vehicles in the mould of the German assault guns, strapping the brute 17 pounder onto dated Valentine hulls.
Valentine with the 17 pounder. They also gutted the inside of Sherman turrets to squeeze (just about) the 17 pounder into that turret as the Firefly. The barrel length allowed a very large powder charge to be used and gave the gun one hell of a velocity. The down side is up would set fire to the cover it was behind and blind the crews at night.
Firefly, (not a tank destroyer)
Very early Stug iii, really just an infantry support gun platform.
US M36 with a 90mm gun
And the Soviets just had to go that little bit bigger.
ISU 152 with a 152mm main gun. Had a really low rate of fire so I think it would have been mostly an assault gun, really not going to be much good at spotting falling shot on a moving target with 3 rounds a minute.
spitfire
Walty McWaltface
Great post ferrelhadley
Also reminded me of this...
Sturmtiger - Wikipedia
Sturmtiger (German: "Assault Tiger") was a World War II German assault gun built on the Tiger I chassis and armed with a 380mm rocket-propelled round.
Dieselpunk2000
Well-Known Member
The ending of 'The Mist'. That tracked cargo carrier looks pretty useful.
NoXion
Craicy the Squirrel
Did somebody mention absurdly large armoured vehicles? Because I love absurdly large armoured vehicles!
I know the military anoraks will groan and people with adenoids will tediously list off a bunch of reasons why they wouldn't work (at least with current technologies and military doctrines), but those people are absolutely no fun at all.
I know the military anoraks will groan and people with adenoids will tediously list off a bunch of reasons why they wouldn't work (at least with current technologies and military doctrines), but those people are absolutely no fun at all.
InfoBurner
Deep fried chip butty.
Unstoppable
NoXion
Craicy the Squirrel
Ah yes, tanks with more than one barrel in a turret. Another trope guaranteed to raise howls of indignation from the Walter Mitty types.
A380
How do I change this 'custom title' thing then?
Did somebody mention absurdly large armoured vehicles? Because I love absurdly large armoured vehicles!
I know the military anoraks will groan and people with adenoids will tediously list off a bunch of reasons why they wouldn't work (at least with current technologies and military doctrines), but those people are absolutely no fun at all.
You could put one of these :
On to one of these:
NoXion
Craicy the Squirrel
You could put one of these :
On to one of these:
Not sure that transporter is deep enough; I was surprised to learn how far down the mechanics of a battleship turret goes.
Although your juxtaposition of images did remind me of something else:
The scary thing is that something more or less like this was seriously proposed in the 1960s by General Atomic, and might have been built if Kennedy hadn't got cold feet. Oh, and if the partial nuclear test-ban treaty of 1963 hadn't happened.
A380
How do I change this 'custom title' thing then?
Not sure that transporter is deep enough; I was surprised to learn how far down the mechanics of a battleship turret goes.
Although your juxtaposition of images did remind me of something else:
The scary thing is that something more or less like this was seriously proposed in the 1960s by General Atomic, and might have been built if Kennedy hadn't got cold feet. Oh, and if the partial nuclear test-ban treaty of 1963 hadn't happened.
I think they needed to chuck a nuclear bomb out the back about every five seconds. Apparently the design team approached CocaCola to get subject matter expert advice on the mechanisms in soft drink can vending machines... A different, madder age.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
NoXion
Craicy the Squirrel
Yep, the idea was to literally propel the craft with nuclear explosions. Although there are designs that use a more environmentally friendly conventional booster stage, since the lure of all that thrust and Delta-V is just too tempting for engineering types.
Yes. Still could be done today if NASA had both the funding and the stones to resist the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the usual suspects, since I'm fairly sure it doesn't violate any treaties by virtue of not producing atomic explosions during normal operation. Or at all, really.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
chucked under the bus in favour of funding the vietnam war. Great choice lads.
A380
How do I change this 'custom title' thing then?
And to join the dots the Chrysler TV 8, A nuclear powered tank. God bless America.
Chrysler TV-8 - Wikipedia
I've just booked some tickets for Tiger Day at Bovington.
I'm more looking forward to seeing the Matilda rather than the Tiger 131 in action tbh - more time to take photos with that woefully underpowered engine
http://www.tankmuseum.org/whats-on/bovart53747
I'm more looking forward to seeing the Matilda rather than the Tiger 131 in action tbh - more time to take photos with that woefully underpowered engine
http://www.tankmuseum.org/whats-on/bovart53747
NoXion
Craicy the Squirrel
That joint between the hull and the tracks looks like a massive weak point. Especially since they were designed to be transported separately. Not sure either that the centre of gravity is low enough to be of use on the tacnuke-blasted battlefields of the Cold War gone hot, since the big heavy reactor appears to be mounted high up near the back.
The closest the Red Team came to producing a nuclear-powered tank was Object 27 (also known as TES-Z), a mobile nuclear reactor of 90 tons and output power 1.5 Mw. One prototype was manufactured and from 1960 rarely used. Can't find any pictures, sadly.
Although the Soviets did produce this beast:
This thing could fling nukes out of its barrel.
- Weight: 64 tons
- Wheels: 8
- Height: 18ft, 10in
- Length: 65ft, 7in
- Width: 10ft, 1in
- Chassis: T-10 Tank, heavily reinforced
- Caliber: 406mm
- Projectile Weight: Something between 470-570kg
- Rate of Fire: 1 round/5 minutes
- Muzzle Velocity: 716m/s
- Range: 25.6 km (15.9 mi)
- Top Speed: 30km/h
- Engine: 39 liter diesel V12
- Power: Something around 700-750 horsepower
spitfire
Walty McWaltface
Found it. NYPD tank search came up top 2 pics. (although it is an APC to be strictly pedantic about it)
NYPD tank at DuckDuckGo
NYPD tank at DuckDuckGo
That NYPD APC made me remember this...
ffsear
Well-Known Member
mauvais
on reddit or something
A380
How do I change this 'custom title' thing then?
Does it have 15 different tools that fold out from the barrel?
SInce certain people have corrupted this thread already, I'll just post this homemade version - got to love the crt's inside.
Embedded media from this media site is no longer available
Yes - I'm just starting to get to grips with it after 500 odd games. I love the tech tree. I'm just venturing up with my first TierV Heavy. KV1..jeez I'm sad.
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A380
How do I change this 'custom title' thing then?
Who here can honestly say that on a bad day they've never built their own tank and destroyed their town.
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