TOG2

Heavy Tank, TOG II*
TOG II* at The Tank Museum, Bovington
Type super-heavy tank
Place of origin United Kingdom
Production history
Designed 1940[1]
Manufacturer William Foster & Co.[1]
Produced 1941[1]
Number built 1 prototype
Specifications (TOG 2*)
Weight 80 long tons (81.3 metric tons)[2]
Length 10.13 m (33 ft 3 in)[2]
Width 3.12 m (10 ft 3 in)[2]
Height 3.05 m (10 ft 0 in)[2]
Crew 6 (Commander, gunner, 2 loaders, driver, co-driver)
Armour 114 mm at the front of the turret 76 mm at the sides and front hull and 50 mm at the rear of the tank
cemented armour on 0.5 inch mild steel
Main
armament
 QF 17 pdr (76.2 mm) gun
Secondary
armament
 7.92 mm Besa machine gun
Engine Paxman-Ricardo 12-cylinder diesel-electric
600 hp (450 kW)
Power/weight 7.5
Transmission 2 electric motors
Suspension unsprung
torsion bar (TOG II*)
Operational
range
 50 mi (80 km)[2]
Speed 8.5 mph (13.7 km/h)[2]

The "Tank, Heavy, TOG II*" was a prototype British tank design produced in the early part of the Second World War in case the battlefields of northern France devolved into a morass of mud, trenches and craters as had happened during the First World War. When this did not happen the tank was deemed unnecessary and the project terminated.

A development of the TOG I design, only a single prototype was built before the project was dropped.

History

The second design to come out of the Special Vehicle Development Committee (nicknamed "The Old Gang" as it was made up of people who had worked on the original British tanks of the First World War) the TOG 2 was similar to the TOG 1 and kept many of its features. Instead of the track path arrangement of the TOG 1 which - like that of the First World War British tanks - ran up over the top of the hull and back down, the track path was lower on the return run and the doors were above the tracks. Ordered in 1940, built by Foster's of Lincoln, the prototype ran for the first time in March 1941.

The design included a 6-pounder gun and side sponsons. Initially fitted with a mockup turret with a dummy gun, in 1942 it was given a turret that was under development for the Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger tank design with the QF 17-pounder (76.2 mm) gun. The turret "in modified form" was used on the Challenger. The planned sponsons were never fitted.[3][4]

Although equipped with the same electro-mechanical drive as originally fitted to the TOG 1, the TOG 2 used twin generators and no problems were reported. It was modified to include, among other things, a change from the unsprung tracks to a torsion bar suspension and went through successful trials in May 1943. No further development occurred, although a revised version, the TOG 2 (R) was proposed. The 'R' would have been 6 ft (1.8 m) shorter, used torsion bar suspension and had no sponsons.[3]

The TOG 2 can be seen at the The Tank Museum.

See also

References

Notes
  1. 1 2 3 White p68
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tank Museum accession record
  3. 1 2 Chamberlain & Ellis (1969) p 78
  4. ↑ Chamberlain & Ellis (1969) p 79
Bibliography
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, March 28, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.