Tank T-46 - that "pancake", which is lumpy

In the mid-thirties of the XX century tank designers from virtually all countries of the world believed that one of the main characteristics of this rapidly developing type of weapons should be speed. Considering combat vehicles as a kind of mechanized analogue of cavalry, strategists and tactics were held captive by certain stereotypes. Reflection of this error was some examples of technology, recognized in the future unsuccessful. An example is the Soviet T-46 tank, however, with some reservations. If it could be created in any other country, then, quite possibly, it would be recognized as a technical masterpiece. But only not in the USSR, where the Stalinist 30-s to the tanks were the highest requirements.

How to appreciate the brilliant Christie in the USSR

Wonderful American mechanical engineer John Walter Christie in the twenties invented something that has become a defining trend in tank development for decades to come. At home, however, appreciated the flight of his creative thought is not high. America was then an exceptionally peaceful country, and the government was interested in tractors rather than military crawlers. In Britain, where Christie sold his sample, too, could not understand the merits of the invention. But in the Soviet Union there were specialists who understood why such a suspension of support rollers.

It was under the guise of an agricultural machine that the undercarriage of John Christie 's design was loaded onto a steamer and delivered to Leningrad. There she quickly found use. The suspension-spring suspension had excellent characteristics and had a dual purpose, it could be equipped with both a caterpillar and a wheeled propeller.

Differences from other Soviet tanks

In the mid-thirties the main tank of the Red Army was the T-26. Constantly improved and high-speed model line BT. Military equipment is getting old quickly, and it was supposed to be replaced by a novelty called T-46. In 1935, from the gates of the assembly shop, the first sample left, differing from its predecessor by a somewhat larger tower of cylindrical shape, weight and an improved construction of the running gear, which, like the BT, could easily be turned into a wheel, removing the caterpillars. At the same time, leading rear skating rinks became leading, two of four from each side, which significantly improved the patency. The front rollers could be turned as if on a car.

The scheme is modern, but ... outdated

A brief review of the T-46 allows us to draw conclusions that the designers of the Kirov plant during the design works have not yet found the main basic layout scheme, which later became the rule for all Soviet tanks. The transmission was a front, fifteen-millimeter frontal booking, protecting the crew and mechanisms only from bullets and splinters, the engine was running on gasoline. The weight of the car exceeded 17 tons. The caliber of the gun was, at that time, quite decent, 45 mm, it was enough to hit any foreign tank of that time, including promising models. There was one more sign, indicating a lack of revolutionary design of the T-46. The photos of this tank clearly demonstrate the lack of even attempts to place the armor plates obliquely to increase the probability of a rebound when the projectile hits. On the conditions of active artillery counteraction this tank is clearly not calculated.

Thus, we can conclude that the T-46 was the embodiment of all the advanced ideas of the world tank-building of the time, and in the construction of the running gear and overtook them, but at that time in the USSR there were already much more progressive ideas.

Disadvantages and advantages

The main indicator saying that "our tanks are fast", still impressive, on the highway tank was accelerated to 80 km / h, which was due to a powerful engine (330 hp). On caterpillars, he walked at a speed of 58 km / h. Each ton of weight was carried by 19 "horses", which is quite good for many armored handsome men in the 21st century. Worse things were with reliability. Complicated and heavy transmission often failed, which combined with a small motor resource of the engine did not allow the machine to be used in long battles.

Armament was impressive. In addition to the "sorokapyatka" mentioned above, the T-46 tank was equipped with three 7, 62 mm caliber machine guns or two and one flamethrower.

The negative result is also the result

In general, the project of this tank, given the high class of the Soviet engineering school, pulled on a solid collective diploma project of a graduate of a machine engineering technical university. In its design, it would seem that everything that was known at that time from open printed sources and intelligence data about the state of the armored vehicles of the countries-likely adversaries. The T-46 was no worse than any of them, and in some ways even better, but there was no "zest" characteristic of our school. This set the sad fate of the project, it did not go to the series, only a few cars were built.

In vain, however, the efforts of engineers at the Kirov plant can not be called. Having gone through several dead ends, they became convinced of their futility and began to work in other directions, confidently gaining fame as the creators of the best tanks in the world.