Super-heavy tank

British TOG2 (80 tons) at The Tank Museum, Bovington

Super-heavy tank, also super heavy tank, is a semi-official term for any armoured fighting vehicle in the class beyond Heavy tanks. As such, they can most easily be distinguished from lesser vehicles by their very large size and mass.

History

Programs have been initiated on several occasions with the aim of creating an invincible vehicle for penetrating enemy formations without fear of being destroyed in combat; however, only a few examples have ever been built, and there is little evidence of any super heavy tank having seen combat. Examples were designed in World War I and World War II, along with a few in the Cold War.

As time went by tanks grew in size and mass, so what was a heavy tank at one point, became the equivalent of a medium tank a few years later. This is why it is impossible to set a specific limit for mass.

World War I period

Model of the Flying Elephant design

The first super-heavy tank was designed by the Russian naval engineer Vasily Mendeleyev who worked on the project from 1911 to 1915. The tank was envisioned to be invulnerable to almost all contemporary threats but remained on paper because of its high construction cost.[1][2] Following the production of their first tanks, the British "Flying Elephant" was designed as a tank that would be resistant to artillery fire. Since mobility was more important than protection, and the tanks already developed were successful, work on the project was stopped. The German K-Wagen (Großkampfwagen) was a very heavy design carrying 4 guns and needing a crew of 27. Two of them were under construction when the war ended and both were demolished.

World War II period

During World War II all of the major combatants introduced prototypes for special roles. Adolf Hitler was a proponent of "war winning" weapons and supported projects like the 188 tonne Maus, and even larger 1,000 tonne Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte and 1,500 ton Landkreuzer P. 1500 Monster. The British & Soviets all built prototype designs similar to the Jagdtiger, and America was working on the then known T95 Gun Carriage, which was later changed to T28 Super Heavy Tank. However, most of these designs never passed the prototype stage, and only some have ever been in existence.

Cold War period

The idea of very heavy tanks saw less development after the war. Advances in armour technology allowed large tanks to stay in the approximate up to 65 ton range. Examples include Object 279 (Soviet Union) and T29 Heavy Tank (United States).

Future

Further advances in armour technology have eliminated the need for super heavy tanks since the armour of late 20th century tanks is estimated to be the equivalent of over a meter of Rolled homogeneous armour (the type of armour used before).

List of super-heavy tanks

United Kingdom
France
Nazi Germany
Japanese Empire
Soviet Union
Russian Empire
German Empire
United States

See also

References

  1. Svirin, Mikhail (2009). Танковая мощь СССР [Tank Power of the USSR] (in Russian). Moscow: Yauza, Eksmo. pp. 15–17. ISBN 978-5-699-31700-4.
  2. Kholyavsky, Gennady (1998). Энциклопедия танков [Encyclopedia of Tanks] (in Russian). Minsk: Kharvest. p. 25. ISBN 985-13-8603-0.
  3. Zaloga 1984:85
  4. KV-4 data sheet and pictures of the proposed designs

Bibliography

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, April 12, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.