The largest tanks in the world. Super heavy tank Ratte What is the oldest tank in the world

Dear tankers and site readers!

We present to your attention super heavy tank Ratte

Tank P.1000 Ratte

"Ratte"- a tank that appeared as a result of an unrealized idea of ​​the German command during the Second World War. Heavy tank« Ratte» featured in the game« World of Tanks» in the German line of tanks.

Technical characteristics of the Ratte tank

Price of this unit 12509541254126*10^79 credits. (game version 9.5.6)

Crew

• Grand Admiral
• Captain
• First mate
• 78 officers
• 1752 loaders

Pros and cons of the Ratte tank

Pros of the Ratte tank:

• Anti-God Reservation
• Equally strong armor (equal on all sides, only 5mm less in the stern)
• Stupefied Arsenal
• High fear of the tank (the enemy begins to self-destruct even before loading)

Disadvantages of the Ratte tank:

• High chance of getting tangled in guns
• Amazing "stealth" of the tank
• low mass/power ratio (because of this, you won’t even be able to leave the base at Himmelsdorf, the buildings won’t let you, and you won’t have enough strength to destroy them)
• the cost of repairs is simply amazing (if a tank is damaged, you will have to sell all the tanks, account, computer, apartment and car; if it is completely destroyed, the bailiffs will come immediately and sell you into slavery in Zimbabwe)

Ratte tank modules

Performance characteristics of the Ratte tank gun

The gun must be loaded with anything, from 1501-caliber shells to MC-1 tanks
Cost of one AP shell: 1,400,000 silver
Cost of full ammunition: 156800000000000000000*10^23 silver

Ratte tank review

After the latest patch (9.4.5), the tank stopped getting into battles together with some other tanks, it began to be thrown alone against 20-30 tanks and this is very good, since only straight-armed opponents can block this mastodon with their corpses (low thrust-to-weight ratio the only negative) and have time to take the base, usually the opponents try to kill you with conventional methods (bb, gold, land mines, but they can’t do anything more than demolish a couple of anti-aircraft guns)

Opponents you should be afraid of when playing Ratte

MS-1, loltractor, T1 Gunningham (can get into the engine ventilation holes and clog the air filter)
KoTe, panther I/II/III, leo, lynx (biological fear)

How to fight the Ratte tank?

MS-1 and his comrades: do not drive up to high slopes, otherwise they will not jump onto your engine.
cats: no way, the tank starts twitching hysterically and will eventually crush the unfortunate predator

Stalemate when playing Ratte

This is a collision with exactly the same Ratte. You simply won’t have time to reach each other before the end of the battle. Also a stalemate is the situation when two Rattes have no shells left: to destroy a Ratte tank you need to make 100,500 rams.

Ratte armor is not penetrated by guns

It is worth noting that some newcomers to the game are not afraid of the 5 insidious “stripes” above your Ratte, having become accustomed to the Isa and Mouse, and not knowing what awaits them.

By the way, it is Ratte who is depicted on the Bayanist medal

Visitors to the Moscow Kremlin can admire a real masterpiece of ancient Russian weapon art - the Tsar Cannon. It is huge, and its appearance alone could inspire terror in adversaries, but it did not find military use.

If the heaviest tank in the world were preserved today, its fate would be the same. One could look at it, walk around, be amazed at its monstrous size, and admire the destructive power of its weapons. And then conclude that this monster is completely unsuitable for performing the main task of any weapon. It is impossible to fight on such a colossus.

There are different types of tanks, and each class has clearly defined tasks. In this way they are similar to ships: where a destroyer is needed, a battleship is not suitable.

The division of tanks into weight classes is again reminiscent of the ranks of ships according to their displacement. It is very conditional, and also differs in different countries. In general terms, the picture is this: small ones (weighing up to 5 tons) were armed only with machine guns and were intended for reconnaissance and raids behind enemy lines. Light (5-15 tons) had small-caliber guns and were built as an analogue of cavalry, carrying out rapid attacks and flanking maneuvers. The mass of medium tanks reaches 40 tons, their task is to break through fortified defenses. Anything that is even bigger and stronger is heavy.

Already in 1917, the Germans began building the K-Wagen mobile fortress. It was the heaviest tank in the world, it weighed 150 tons. The German command was irritated by the positional nature of the war on the western front; they needed something that could crush the French defense lines. In fact, the K-Wagen was an artillery battery of four guns, crawling across a field at walking speed. This type of weaponry did not crown itself with laurels of glory and did not influence the outcome of the war.

The lesson of the vanquished did not benefit the victors. The French began building a similar monster before the war; their FCM-F1 machine weighed 145 tons. It was only a short distance away from achieving the title of “heaviest tank in the world.” The FCM-F1 was never used, sharing its uselessness with the Maginot Line.

All other armored heavyweights suffered from similar design flaws, negating the advantages of both thick armor and powerful weapons. They were inactive, had a small range, bridges and railway platforms could not support them.

In conditions of a constant shortage of metal, overstrain of production capacity and a catastrophic situation on all fronts, the Germans built a giant 140-ton steel “mouse” Maus E-100, as the Fuhrer ordered. They started in 1944, but never finished it - the war ended. The previously created monster Maus-VIII weighed 188 tons. It was the next heaviest tank in the world, realized in metal, and at the same time a clear example of the absurdity of totalitarian thinking. The Germans built two copies, both of which were useless.

Soviet tank builders were not tasked with increasing the weight of the vehicle. On the contrary, it was necessary to reduce it as much as possible, while providing powerful protection and equipping the tank with a weapon capable of crushing any target. The heaviest tank of the USSR - Joseph Stalin-7 - weighed only 68 tons, was armed with a 130 mm S-70 cannon and had sloped armor up to 350 mm thick. At the same time, the IS-7 could move at a speed of 60 km/h and had a low profile, improving stealth. However, the state commission rejected this masterpiece. It turned out to be too heavy for modern warfare. In the early 60s, Soviet designers were the first to realize the promise of medium-weight armored vehicles.

The American Abrams is the heaviest. Its weight exceeds 62 tons, and it has performed well in wars in the Middle East, where there is no need to cross water barriers or overcome bridges. Promising Russian models of armored vehicles are much lighter, up to 47 tons. Our designers give preference to cross-country ability and maneuverability. However, they also do not forget about firepower.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the art of war had reached a dead end. The defense became so strong that it was impossible to break through it without huge casualties. The war between two equal opponents threatened to turn into months of trench sitting, without any hope of a positive result. It was then that weapons came onto the scene that could break through any, even the strongest, defenses - tanks. Ideas about creating such machines have been in the air for a long time, but they were formalized only in the first decade of the last century, and by the beginning of the First World War they were actually implemented.

Russian hero

Almost all the leading world powers of that time began developing tanks. Russia did not stand aside either. Two machines were designed at once - one of them was created by the master of the Porokhovshchikov machine-building plant, and the second came out of the experimental laboratory of the War Ministry, the head of which was Captain N. N. Lebedenko. And if Porokhovshchikov’s tank, having undoubted advantages, still remained an ordinary vehicle, then Lebedenko’s brainchild went down in military history as the largest tank in the world.

Because of its size and original shape, the tank had several nicknames: Mammoth, Mastodon, Bat, Bat, Lebedenko's machine and, finally, the most popular one - the Tsar Tank. The dimensions of this armored monster are truly amazing:

• length 17.8 m;
• width 12 m;
• height 9 m;
• weight 60 tons.

Overall, the tank looked more like a small mobile fortress than a weapon designed to attack and break through enemy defenses. Unfortunately, a number of design flaws that were revealed during sea trials in 1915 negated all the efforts of Russian tank builders. The main ones are primarily related to the gigantic size of the machine.

1. Vulnerability. The huge wheels made an excellent target. A single successful hit on them led to the complete incapacity of this monster. First, he lost the ability to move. Secondly, it lay on the ground at such an angle that there was no need to talk about any targeted shooting from the tank.
2. Patency. Because of its immensity, the Tsar Tank was not able to go everywhere. That is, it could only be used on fairly flat and uneven terrain. Such selectivity is a big disadvantage for offensive combat equipment.
3. Stealth. One of the important tactical elements in the success of many military operations is the unnoticed entry into a position, followed by a surprise attack. Tsar Tank did not even have such qualities. The defenders would have learned about his appearance at the line of attack at the same time as the attackers. He was too big and noticeable.
4. Engine. The supertank had two of the most powerful engines (at that time) from the German company Maybach, 240 hp each. With. every. But they were not enough! In order to pull this Goliath out of a muddy rut or pull it up a steep hill, something much more powerful was required.

Therefore, Lebedenko’s car was never put into production. The king of all tanks remained in a single copy until the end of his days, which was quietly and peacefully dismantled for scrap in 1923.

Mighty Frenchman

In 1917, the French began developing a heavy tank called the CHAR 2C. Two years later (in 1919), the development was completed, but the new technology did not have the chance to take part in combat operations. France left the war. A total of 10 units of this machine were produced. Today it ranks 2nd in the ranking of “the world’s largest tank,” which, unlike its Russian counterpart, was adopted and served in the French army until 1940. Here are its characteristics:

• weight – 75 tons;
• body length – 10.27 m;
• width – 3 m;
• height – 4.09 m.

Monsters of World War II

Let's imagine the two largest tanks that fought on the fronts of World War II.

T-35

The famous Soviet tank-fortress. Neither before nor after in the USSR, and then in Russia, anything similar in size and quantity of weapons was produced. The T-35 went into production in 1934 (model T-35A). A total of 59 cars were produced. This was the first Soviet heavy tank. The detailed history of the T-35 is well shown in the following video:

Dimensions:

• combat weight of the T-35A – 50 tons;
• body length – 9.72 m;
• width – 3.2 m;
• height – 3.43 m.

TIGER II

The legendary "Royal Tiger". It is still an object of worship for fans of German military equipment of those distant times. And we must admit that this fighter has earned the honor of being called the best heavy tank of the Second World War. The Germans began producing it in 1944. A total of 489 units of this formidable weapon rolled off the assembly line. Even just looking at a photo of the “Royal Tiger”, you can feel the power and threat emanating from it. What was it like for our soldiers who repelled their attacks? Fortunately, by this time the Soviet army was already invincible, and the “armored death machines” could not make any tangible difference in the war.

External characteristics:

• combat weight of the vehicle - 70 tons;
• body length – 7.38 m;
• width – 3.75 m;
• height – 3.09 m.

Supertanks of recent history

In recent tank history it is difficult to single out any particular tank model. For various reasons, gigantomania gave way to practicality and maximum versatility, the ability to conduct a tank battle in any conditions. Here are the characteristics of the three best and largest tanks today.

Leopard 2A7 (Germany)

A universal combat vehicle, the top lines of tank ratings are firmly assigned to this German “predator”. Dimensions, weapons, chassis, protection, comfort, computerization - everything is very balanced, there are no distortions into individual blocks.

Brief characteristics:

• body length – 7.7 m;
• length with gun forward - 9.67 m;
• body width – 3.7 m;
• height – 2.79 m.

M1A2 "Abrams" (USA)

The most popular US tank. A total of 9 thousand tanks were produced (as of 2012). Much emphasis is placed on the computer component. In ratings it usually takes 2nd place after Leopard.

Brief characteristics:

• tank weight - 61.4-70 tons;
• length with gun - 9.77 m;
• body length – 7.93 m;
• width – 3.66 m;
• height – 2.44 m.

Challenger 2 (UK)

The third line in all possible classifications is given to this representative of the “British lion”. One of the most protected tanks. Adapted to work in harsh climatic conditions. The video clearly shows what a powerful weapon this “English gentleman” is.

Brief characteristics:

• tank weight - 62.5 tons;
• hull length – 8.3 m;
• length with gun forward - 11.57 m;
• hull width – 3.52 m;
• height – 2.49 m.

As you can see, several fighters are vying for the title of “the largest modern tank in the world.” And it is impossible to definitely give such a title to a certain car. They are all approximately equal. If, for example, Challenger 2 has the longest hull (8.3 m), then in width it is inferior to the same Leopard and Abrams. Perhaps someday another giant tank will appear, but we can say with confidence that this is not expected in the foreseeable future.

Reading the title of the article, the question involuntarily arises: why is such a steel giant needed? Does weight determine the need to create the heaviest tank in the world, so that it leads the ratings by a margin, praising the designers of the miracle weapon, a country capable of organizing its production, investing in it colossal funds, thoughts, and the labor of thousands of people. Of course this is not true. In fact, the weight is only incidental, even excessive, of an ideal weapon for the land theater of war.

Already the first armored vehicles that appeared on the fronts of the First World War amazed, even horrified, with their enormous dimensions and weight. As a result, they were clumsy, had low maneuverability, speed, and maneuverability, which sharply reduced their undoubted advantages:

• Protection from small arms and shell fragments.
• The ability to break through enemy defenses by passing through wire fences, overcoming trenches and trenches.
• Strong psychological pressure on enemy soldiers who lose their composure and panic at the sight of man-made iron monsters.

Most of them, based on the colossal weight of the cast iron and steel used to make them, can easily lay claim to the title of the heaviest tank. But due to their often grotesque appearance, real military-technical characteristics, non-participation in combat operations, non-serial, often experimental production, it is hardly worth considering them in this capacity.

Years passed, and by the beginning of the next war for the redivision of the world, and even more so during hostilities, the designers of leading countries, taking into account the mistakes and accumulated experience in using tanks, changed the priorities for their creation. Now they are:

Increasing the thickness of the armor, new powerful engines, and onboard weapons with considerable ammunition inevitably increased the weight of the heavy tanks being created. But having such mobile armored forts in the army, capable of literally breaking through the enemy’s defenses, opening the way for infantry, was worth a lot, literally and figuratively. Therefore, Germany, the USSR and the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition that joined it did a lot in this field.

Armored Giants

The Soviet Union, the only country participating in the war, by 1940 was armed with a heavy assault tank KV - “Kliment Voroshilov” with a combat weight of 52 tons. This is not surprising if you look at its characteristics:

A total of 204 of these heavy tanks were produced, almost all of them were lost in the battles of 1941 during the containment of Hitler's blitzkrieg.

Created in 1943, the IS-2, with a mass of 46 tons, did not claim to be the heaviest, and was later deservedly called the “Victory Tank.” Its long-barreled 122 mm cannon, reliable armor - 90 - 120 mm, high maneuverability surpassed the best examples of German weapons, including:

The TOG II super-heavy tank, which was created in France and weighs 82.3 tons, was not mass-produced before the start of the war. Great Britain also made a small contribution to the design of such armored vehicles. Only in 1944 was an order placed for the production of 25 copies of the A-39 tank with a weight reaching 89 tons, but as a result, only 5 vehicles were manufactured, and those after the end of the war.

It must be said that the French and American super-heavy tanks, according to the international classification, were actually assault self-propelled artillery units - breakthrough self-propelled guns, since they did not have a rotating turret.

The heaviest tank in the world, created during the Second World War, is the Pz.Kpfw VIII Maus with a mass of 188 tons. This armored monster did not participate in battles; by 1945, two vehicles were manufactured. An exhibition copy assembled from them can be seen in Kubinka at the Military Historical Museum of Armored Vehicles. Today, this principle of creating tanks, as well as the concept itself, have become history. A modern tank is built not by its weight, but by its unique combination of the latest technological developments - materials and systems.

"Tsar Tank"
The largest in size was the Russian Tsar Tank. Its developer Nikolai Lebedenko (in honor of him the car is also sometimes called the “Lebedenko tank” or “Lebedenko machine”), in ways unknown to us, achieved an audience with Emperor Nicholas II, which took place on January 8 (according to the new style - January 21), 1915. To the audience, the engineer brought a skillfully made wooden self-propelled model of his brainchild, which started and moved thanks to a gramophone spring. According to the recollections of the courtiers, the designer and the tsar spent several hours fiddling with this toy “like little children,” creating artificial obstacles for it from improvised means - volumes of the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire. The Tsar was so impressed by the model that Lebedenko eventually gave him that he approved the financing of the project. The design of the tank resembled a huge artillery carriage with two large front wheels. If the model was held by the back of the “carriage” with the wheels down, then it looked like a bat sleeping under the ceiling, which is why the car received the nicknames “Bat” and “Bat”.

Initially, it was clear that the project was not viable. The largest and most vulnerable element of the new tank were the huge 9-meter wheels, the supporting structure of which were spokes. They were created in such a way to increase the maneuverability of the tank, but they were easily disabled even by artillery shrapnel, not to mention high-explosive or armor-piercing shells. There were also problems with the vehicle's maneuverability. However, thanks to the royal patronage, the tank was quickly built. Already in August 1915, it was assembled at an improvised site near the city of Dmitrov, Moscow region, but due to unsatisfactory maneuverability, it remained to rust in the open air until the early 20s, until it was dismantled for scrap. As a result, thousands of rubles of public funds were wasted.

The tank's fighting compartments were housed in a hull located between its giant wheels. The armament was placed in a machine gun turret for six machine guns, built above the hull, as well as in sponsons located at its ends, protruding beyond the wheels. The sponsons could accommodate both machine gun and artillery weapons. It was envisaged that the tank's crew would be 15 people. A “carriage” was located perpendicular to the hull, the main purpose of which was to create a stop when firing. The "carriage" led the crew into the tank's fighting compartments.
The dimensions of the Tsar Tank were amazing - its length was 17.8 meters, width - 12, height - 9. It weighed 60 tons.
This vehicle became the largest and most ridiculous tank in world history.

Char 2C (FCM 2C)
This French tank became the largest and heaviest production tank in the entire history of tank building. It was created by the FCM shipbuilding company at the very end of WWII, but never took part in hostilities. According to the designers, the Char 2C was supposed to be a breakthrough tank that could effectively overcome German trenches. The French military liked this idea, and on February 21, 1918, 300 vehicles were ordered from FCM. However, while the shipbuilders were starting production, the war ended. The tank turned out to be low-tech and expensive, and the production of each unit took a lot of time. As a result, only 10 machines were manufactured until 1923. Since the French government was experiencing certain financial difficulties after WWI, and the Char 2C was very expensive, a decision was made to stop its production.

Char 2C weighed 75 tons and had a crew of 13 people. It was armed with one 75 mm cannon and 4 machine guns. The tank’s engines “ate” an average of 12.8 liters per kilometer covered by the vehicle, so a tank with a capacity of 1280 liters was enough for a maximum of 100–150 km of travel, and on rough terrain this distance was even less.
The Char 2C was in service with the French army until 1940. With the outbreak of hostilities on French territory during WWII, a battalion of these already obsolete tanks was sent to the theater of operations. On May 15, 1940, a train with the battalion's equipment got into a railway traffic jam while en route to the unloading sites near the city of Nechateau.

(German soldiers pose against the backdrop of a captured French giant tank
Char 2C No. 99 “Champagne”. Next to the tank are disassembled parts of its engine.)

Since it was not possible to unload such heavy tanks from the platforms, and German troops were approaching the station where the train was stuck, the French crews destroyed their armored vehicles and retreated. However, as it soon became clear, not all Char 2Cs were destroyed. In particular, vehicle No. 99 fell into the hands of the Germans undamaged and was tested by them at the Kummersdorf training ground. Her further fate is unknown.

K-Wagen
At the end of March 1917, the Inspectorate of Automotive Troops of Imperial Germany instructed the chief engineer of its experimental department, Joseph Vollmer, to create a tank that, according to its technical parameters, would be capable of breaking through enemy defense lines. If completed successfully and on time, this tank would become the heaviest WWII tank - its weight would reach 150 tons. Two six-cylinder gasoline engines from Daimler with a power of 650 hp each were chosen as power plants. every. The tank was supposed to be armed with 4 77 mm guns located in sponsons and 7 7.92 mm MG.08 machine guns. Of all the super-heavy tanks, the K-Wagen had the largest crew - 22 people. The length of the tank reached 12.8 meters, and if not for the Russian Tsar Tank, it would have become the longest super-heavy tank in the history of tank building. In the design documentation, the tank was called Kolossal-Wagen, Kolossal or K. It is generally accepted to use the index “K-Wagen”. Construction of these machines began in April 1918, but the rapid end of the war stopped all work. German tank builders had almost finished assembling the first copy of the tank, and for the second the armored hull and all the main components, except the engines, were ready. But the Entente troops were approaching German enterprises, and everything manufactured was destroyed by the manufacturers themselves.

FCM F1
In the early 30s, it became clear to French military officials that the FCM 2C tank was hopelessly outdated. Since French military thought believed that future wars would be of the same positional nature as WWII, it was decided in Paris that the army needed new heavy breakthrough tanks.
In February 1938, the Armaments Advisory Council, headed by General Duflo, determined the main tactical and technical characteristics of the future tank to announce a design competition. The Council put forward the following requirements for the vehicle's armament: one large-caliber cannon and one rapid-fire anti-tank gun.

In addition, the new tank had to be equipped with anti-shell armor that could withstand hits from shells from all anti-tank artillery systems known at that time. The largest French tank builders (FCM, ARL and AMX companies) took part in the competition, but only FCM was able to begin creating a prototype.
Its engineers designed a tank with two turrets, located like battleships at different levels, so that they would not interfere with each other's all-round firing. A 105 mm main caliber gun was to be installed in the rear (higher) turret. A 47-mm rapid-fire anti-tank gun is mounted in the front turret. The thickness of the frontal armor of the vehicle was 120 mm. The prototype was expected to be ready by the end of May 1940, but this was prevented by the rapid German offensive in France. The further fate of the semi-finished prototypes is unknown.

TOG II
In October 1940, the first copy of the experimental British TOG I tank was created. Its name, which stands for “The Old Gang,” hinted at the considerable age and experience of its creators. The old principles of tank building were evident in the layout and appearance of this combat vehicle, as well as in its characteristics. The TOG I had a WWI-era layout and a low speed of 5 mph (8 km/h).
The guns and machine guns, originally located in the sponsons, were eventually replaced by a turret from the Matilda II tank, mounted on the roof of the hull. Its tracks, like those of other tanks from WWII, covered the hull, and were not placed on the sides of it, like modern tanks. Since the weight of the vehicle was 64.6 tons, it is difficult to classify it as a super-heavy tank. The tank was modernized several times until 1944, but it never went into production. In 1940, in parallel with TOG I, the creation of TOG II began. It was realized in metal by the spring of 1941. This tank was made heavier than the previous model - it weighed 82.3 tons. Thanks to its long length, independent torsion bar suspension, and the fact that each track was driven by a separate electric motor, this tank had increased maneuverability. The electric motors were powered by a generator driven by a diesel power plant.

Therefore, despite its heavy weight, the tank could overcome walls 2.1 meters high and ditches 6.4 meters wide. Its negative qualities were low speed (maximum 14 km/h) and the vulnerability of the tracks, the design of which was hopelessly outdated. The tank received a specially designed turret, which housed the only 76.2 mm tank gun and a machine gun.
Subsequently, design upgrades continued, and the TOG II(R) and TOG III projects appeared, but none of them were put into mass production.

Pz.Kpfw VIII Maus
In December 1942, Ferdinand Porsche, whose company’s designers completed the project of the super-heavy tank Maus (German for “mouse”), was summoned to an audience with Hitler. A year later, on December 23, 1943, the first prototype of the tank came out of the gates of the Alkett tank-building enterprise (Almerkische Kettenfabrik GmbH), which was part of the Reichswerke state concern. It was the heaviest manufactured tank in the entire history of world tank building - its weight reached 188 tons. The frontal armor plate reached a thickness of 200 mm, and the rear armor plate – 160 mm. Despite the fact that the tank had a huge mass, during its testing it turned out that it was very maneuverable, easy to control and had high maneuverability. The tank underwent modifications, passed field tests, and its second copy was manufactured. But in the second half of 1944, Germany ran out of funds to ensure regular supplies of even serial tanks, not to mention the launch of new expensive vehicles.

In mid-April 1945, the Kummersdorf training ground was captured by Soviet troops. Both tanks, which were disabled during the battles for the training ground, were sent to the USSR. There, from two damaged vehicles, one whole one was assembled, which is still on display in the Central Museum of Armored Weapons and Equipment in Kubinka.

(Pz.Kpfw VIII Maus Porsche Type 205/1 with a Krupp turret at the Böblingen factory, April 9 or 10, 1944)

A39 Tortoise
From the beginning of 1943, the development of a new breakthrough tank began in Great Britain. The project was called Tortoise (English - “land turtle”), as it envisaged that the future tank would have thick armor, powerful weapons and would be unlikely to have high speed. As a result of design research, a number of projects for vehicles with the “AT” index appeared, which never went into production.

(Super-heavy assault self-propelled artillery unit (according to the British classification - a tank) A39 project "Tortoise")

In the end, designers and customers from the Committee for the Development of Special Equipment of the British Ministry of Supply settled on the AT-16 model, which received the official index “A39”. In February 1944, 25 units were ordered for production, which were to be produced by September 1945. However, in May 1945, fighting in Europe ended, and the committee reduced the order to 12 vehicles. In February 1946, the order was again halved, and as a result, only 5 vehicles were manufactured. The units of the sixth copy of the A39 were used as a source of spare parts. In fact, the Tortoise was not a tank, but a self-propelled gun, since the A39 did not have a turret, and the 94-mm cannon was located directly in the frontal part of the conning tower. However, according to the British classification, the self-propelled gun could not be so heavy (the weight of the A39 reached 89 tons), and it was decided to classify it as a tank.

To the left of the gun was a BESA machine gun (English version of the Czechoslovakian ZB-53), and two more such machine guns were installed in the turret on the roof of the vehicle. The self-propelled gun did not go into large production, since compared to the heavy Soviet tanks of its day (after the war, Britain considered the USSR as the main potential enemy), it was outdated both in mobility (maximum speed - 19 km/h) and in armament, although its powerful the 228 mm thick frontal armor impressed contemporaries.

Pz.Kpfw. E-100
This vehicle was created as an alternative to the Pz.Kpfw VIII Maus tank, designed by Porsche. In fact, Ferdinand Porsche took advantage of his position, being a good acquaintance of the Reich Minister of Armaments Todt and being on good terms with Hitler himself. Using his connections, Porsche contributed to the closure of the project of another super-heavy tank, the VK 7201 “Heavy Lion” (Schwere Löwe), produced by the Krupp concern. Meanwhile, another German tank designer and functionary, Heinrich Ernst Kniepkamp, ​​in defiance of Porsche, initiated the development of a whole series of tanks that were supposed to replace all types of armored tracked combat vehicles in the army, from reconnaissance tanks to super-heavy breakthrough tanks. The last one was supposed to be the E-100.

Of all the E-Series vehicles, the development of the E-100 tank has advanced the furthest. This tank was supposed to be lighter than the Maus (140 tons versus 188), and at the same time armored at the same level. It was designed in such a way that the armor plates had as few right angles as possible (unlike the Maus tank, the sides of which were almost vertical). Three turret variants for this tank were developed, the first of which was the Maus tank turret with a 128 mm gun. True, in the version for the E-100 tank, they decided to replace the 128 mm gun with a 150 mm one.

The turret was to be manufactured by the Krupp concern, and they were also to develop a method for installing the gun. This option turned out to be preferable to the other two, but neither of them was implemented in metal. If the Germans still had enough time, the E-100 would have received the most powerful gun in the entire history of the creation of super-heavy tanks. Only one copy of the chassis of this tank was created, which was tested at the Heistenbeck training ground with a dummy turret.
At the end of the war, this chassis fell into the hands of the British troops as a trophy and was later taken to Great Britain, where it was carefully studied by local engineers.

(Pz.Kpfw. E-100 tank loaded onto a transport platform with a British soldier posing on top)

T28-T95 (Turtle)
They didn’t sit idly by overseas either. In September 1943, the United States began work on its own breakthrough tank. The United States was preparing to enter the war in Europe and feared that it would not be easy to overcome the Atlantic Wall, built by the Germans on the coast, and then the Siegfried Line. But, as often happens, army functionaries realized it quite late (apparently, they forgot to take into account that creating fundamentally new tanks is a long process). It was planned to install a 105 mm T5E1 cannon as the main armament on the tank. The initial speed of its projectile, as military officials believed, was sufficient to pierce the concrete walls of bunkers. The gun was supposed to be placed in the frontal armor plate of the vehicle - this decision was reached in order to reduce the silhouette of the T-28. In fact, the new vehicle was not a tank, but a breakthrough self-propelled gun - the American military realized this over time, and the vehicle was renamed the T-95 self-propelled gun. As Americans like to do, at the same time they gave her the nickname “Turtle”. The self-propelled guns were equipped with an electric transmission designed for installation on T1E1 and T23 tanks.

Design studies and bureaucratic delays led to the fact that the decision to manufacture prototypes was made only in March 1944. But the military rejected the finished project and ordered three vehicles, the frontal armor of which was supposed to reach 305 mm, which was one and a half times higher than the previously planned 200 mm. After the changes made, the weight of the vehicle increased to 86.3 tons. To reduce the pressure on the ground and increase the maneuverability of the self-propelled gun, it was decided to make its tracks double. As a result, the new project was not ready until March 1945, when hostilities in Europe and the Pacific Front were drawing to a close. The first prototype was shipped to the Aberdeen Proving Ground when it was no longer needed, on December 21, 1945. Production of the second copy was completed on January 10, 1946. As a result of lengthy tests carried out in 1947, the American military again renamed the T95 into the T28 breakthrough tank, since, in their opinion, the self-propelled gun could not weigh that much. Almost simultaneously, they came to the conclusion that the low speed of the vehicle did not meet modern conditions of warfare. As a result, the T28 (T95) was abandoned, but perhaps American bureaucrats were simply tired of puzzling over the classification of this vehicle.

"Object 279"
It would be unfair to ignore the USSR, a country that can rightfully be called the most “tank” power of the 20th century. In the last century, Soviet enterprises produced the largest number of tanks and designed the largest number of their models. However, the country of the Soviets was not keen on super-heavy tanks. Before WWII there simply wasn’t enough money for them, and during the war there wasn’t even enough time. Thus, in the summer of 1941, the Leningrad Kirov Plant developed a project for a super-heavy tank KV-5, the weight of which would reach 100 tons, but in August German troops approached Leningrad, and work on this project was stopped.
After the end of WWII, with the advent of cumulative ammunition, it became clear to all tank designers that it was irrational to create combat vehicles heavier than 60 tons. With such a large weight, it is impossible to make them fast and maneuverable, which means that, despite the most powerful armor, they will quickly be shot down. But the specter of nuclear war loomed on the horizon, and designers began to develop vehicles that were supposed to conduct combat operations in unprecedented conditions. In 1957, an amazing tank was created at the Zh. Ya. Kotin Design Bureau of the Leningrad Kirov Plant under the leadership of L. S. Troyanov. Although it weighed only 60 tons and in terms of mass cannot claim the title of a super-heavy tank, in terms of its level of armor it does. The thickness of the walls of its cast tower along the perimeter was 305 mm. At the same time, the thickness of the frontal armor reached 269 mm, the sides - 182 mm. This thickness of armor was achieved thanks to the original shape of the hull, more like a flying saucer than a tank.

The unusual product was given the index “Object 279”. The experimental armored vehicle was armed with a 130-mm M-65 rifled cannon with a barrel blowing system. Of all the super-heavy tanks realized in metal, the caliber of the main gun of the Object 279 is the largest.
The vehicle was equipped with a complex system of non-adjustable hydropneumatic suspension and double tracks. This technical solution made it possible to reduce the pressure on the ground and increase the tank's maneuverability, but seriously worsened its maneuverability. This factor, as well as the complexity of the machine to maintain, was the reason that the project did not go beyond the creation and testing of a prototype.