A super-heavy tank or super heavy tank is any tank that is notably beyond the standard of the class heavy tank in either size or weight relative to contemporary vehicles.
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Programs have been initiated on several occasions with the aim of creating an indestructible 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 the First and Second World Wars, along with a few during the Cold War.
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 due to 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.
In the early 1920s, the French produced the 70-tonne Char 2C. The ten tanks would see limited combat during the Battle for France in 1940, but were used mostly for propaganda purposes and the French tried to pull them out of combat zones.
The pre second World War design and prototype of TOG II* was a lot heavier than any other contemporary tank used by United Kingdom and can also be considered a super-heavy tank.
During the Second World War 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.[citation needed] The British and Soviets all built prototype designs similar to the Jagdtiger, and the US was working on the project then known as T95 Gun Carriage, which was later changed to T28 Super Heavy Tank. However, not all of these designs were constructed, and most never passed the prototype stage.
Compared to other heavy tanks of the time, the Tiger II can be considered a super-heavy tank, considering that nearly all contemporary heavy tanks in service at the time were significantly lighter.[speculation?] However, during this period of the war Germany generally opted to field and design generally heavier vehicles. By late 1943, the Panzer IV tank had been significantly up-armed and up-armoured in contrast to its original role and production specifications (resulting in a considerably heavier tank), and Panthers were considered medium tanks despite being of similar mass and volume to contemporary heavy tanks of other nations involved in the conflict. As a result of the trend of generally increasing mass, by late-war German standards the Tiger II is a heavy tank. It is widely classified as a heavy tank by war historians, and nowhere near as heavy as the undisputedly super-heavy Maus.
The idea of very heavy tanks saw less development after the war, not least since the destructive force of tactical nuclear weapons would always overcome any feasible armour. The advances in armour technology allowed large tanks to stay in the approximate 65 ton range. Examples include Object 279 (Soviet Union) and T30 Heavy Tank (United States), but neither can be considered a true Super-Heavy Tank.
Further advances in armour technology have given the armour of late 20th century tanks the estimated equivalent of over a metre of rolled homogeneous armour (the primary type of armour used before the invention of composite armour, now used as a standard for comparison between different armour designs). At the same time, modern weapons development allows for any equal adversary to destroy any target detected and tracked by the wide array of different battlefield sensors now available. This means adding more armour would not increase protection to any significant degree.[citation needed] Current development is instead focused on a combination of remaining undetected, interfering with tracking, and active counter-measures to neutralize the enemy weapon systems.[citation needed]
Neither of the TOG prototypes were built the way they were designed; had the sponsons been added and the proper turret attached, their weight would have been different.
Tanks of the First World War | |
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Background: History of the tank, Tank classification, Tanks in World War I |
Tanks of the Second World War | |
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Background: History of the tank, Tank classification |
Tanks of the Cold War | |
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Background: History of the tank, Tank classification, Tanks in the Cold War |
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In service | |
Experimental, prototypes |
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Background: History of the tank, Tank classification |