Tank with a nuclear reactor. Russia is developing a nuclear battle tank. Atomic tank in the USSR

In 1956, Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev instructed the designers to begin work on a project for a unique tank that was not afraid of an atomic explosion, radiation contamination of the crew, or chemical or biological attacks. The project received article number 279.

And such a heavy tank weighing 60 tons was designed by 1957 at SKB-2 Kirov plant Leningrad (KZL) under the leadership of the chief designer, Major General Joseph Yakovlevich Kotin. It was immediately and rightly called atomic. Moreover, the lion's share of its weight was armor, in some places reaching up to 305 millimeters. That is why the internal space for the crew was much smaller than that of heavy tanks of similar weight.

Atomic tank embodied the new tactics of waging the Third World War and a more “vegetarian” era, when human life was at least worth something. It was the concern for the crew of this armored vehicle that dictated some of the tactical and technical data of this tank. For example, if necessary, the hermetically sealed turret hatch and breech of the gun prevented even a speck of dust from entering the interior of the vehicle, not to mention radioactive gases and chemicals infection. Bacteriological danger was also excluded for tankers.

Thus, even the sides of the hull were protected by almost twice as thick armor as the German Tigers. It reached 182 mm on the 279th. The frontal armor of the hull generally had an unprecedented thickness - from 258 to 269 mm. This exceeded the parameters of even such a cyclopean German development of the Third Reich as the heaviest monster in the history of tank building, as if jokingly called by its developer Ferdinand Porsche Maus (“Mouse”). With a vehicle weight of 189 tons, its frontal armor was 200 mm. Whereas in an atomic tank it was simply covered with impenetrable 305 mm high-alloy steel. Moreover, the body of the Soviet miracle tank was shaped like a turtle shell - shoot, don’t shoot, and the shells simply slipped off it and flew on. In addition, the giant’s body was also covered with anti-cumulative shields.

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It was no coincidence that this configuration was chosen by the leading designer of SKB-2 KZL Lev Sergeevich Troyanov: after all, the tank was not just called nuclear - it was intended to conduct combat operations directly nearby nuclear explosion. Moreover, the almost flat body prevented the vehicle from tipping over even under the influence of a monstrous shock wave. The tank's armor could withstand a frontal hit from even a 90mm cumulative projectile, as well as a shot with close range armor-piercing charge from a 122-mm cannon. And not only in the forehead - the side also withstood such hits.

By the way, for such a heavyweight he had a very good speed on the highway - 55 km/h. And being invulnerable, the iron hero himself could cause a lot of trouble to the enemy: his gun had a caliber of 130 mm, and easily penetrated any armor existing at that time. True, the stock of shells gave rise to pessimistic thoughts - according to the instructions, only 24 of them were placed in the tank. In addition to the gun, the four crew members also had a heavy machine gun at their disposal.

Another feature of Project 279 was its tracks - there were four of them. In other words, a nuclear tank, in principle, could not get stuck - even in complete off-road conditions, thanks also to the low specific pressure on the ground. And he successfully overcame both the mud and deep snow, and even anti-tank hedgehogs and gouges. During the tests in 1959, in the presence of representatives of the military-industrial complex and the Ministry of Defense, the military liked everything, especially the thickness of the armor of the nuclear tank and its complete protection from everything. But the ammunition load plunged the generals into despondency. They were not impressed by the difficulty of operating the chassis, as well as the extremely low ability to maneuver.

And the project was abandoned. The tank remained manufactured in a single copy, which is today exhibited in Kubinka - in the Armored Museum. And the other two are unfinished prototypes went to the smelter.

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Another exotic development of our military engineers was the A-40 or, as it was also called, “KT” (“Tank Wings”). According to the alternate name, he could even... fly. Design "CT" (namely we're talking about about the airframe for the domestic T-60) began 75 years ago - in 1941. In order to lift the tank into the air, a glider was attached to it, which was then towed by a TB-3 heavy bomber. It was none other than Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov, who then worked in the Glider Directorate as the chief engineer at the People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry, who came up with such a non-standard solution.

It is clear that with a weight of almost eight tons (including the glider), the tank, equipped with wings, could fly behind the bomber at a speed of only 130 km/h. However, the main thing they wanted to teach him was to land in in the right place, having previously unhooked from the BT-3. It was planned that after landing, two crew members would remove all unnecessary flight “uniform” from the T-60 and be ready for combat, having at their disposal a 20 mm caliber gun and a machine gun. The T-60 was supposed to be delivered to surrounded units of the Red Army or partisans, and they also wanted to use this method of transportation for the emergency transfer of vehicles to the necessary sections of the front.

Tests of the flying tank took place in August-September 1942. Alas, due to its low speed, the glider only just stayed at a height of forty meters above the ground due to poor streamlining and its rather solid mass. There was a war going on, and at that time such projects were not appropriate. Only those developments that could become combat vehicles in the very near future were welcomed.

For this reason, the project was canceled. This happened in February 1943, when Oleg Antonov was already working in the design bureau of Alexander Sergeevich Yakovlev - his deputy. Another important point, due to which work on the A-40 was stopped, was the condition for transporting its ammunition along with the tank - this question remained open. The flying tank was also made in just one copy. But it was not the only project of our designers. There were dozens, if not hundreds, of such developments. Fortunately, our country has always had enough talented engineers.

Vitaly Karyukov

In the fifties of the last century, humanity began to actively develop a new source of energy - fission of atomic nuclei. Nuclear energy was then seen, if not as a panacea, then at least as a solution to a great many different problems. In an atmosphere of general approval and interest, they built nuclear power plants and reactors for submarines and ships were designed. Some dreamers even proposed making a nuclear reactor so compact and low-power that it could be used as a household energy source or as a power plant for cars, etc. The military also became interested in similar things. In the United States, options for creating a full-fledged tank with a nuclear power plant were seriously considered. Unfortunately or fortunately, they all remained at the level of technical proposals and drawings.

Atomic tanks began in 1954 and its appearance is associated with scientific conferences Question Mark, where promising areas of science and technology were discussed. At the third such conference, held in June 1954 in Detroit, American scientists discussed the proposed tank project with a nuclear reactor. According to the technical proposal, the TV1 combat vehicle (Track Vehicle 1 - “Tracked Vehicle-1”) was supposed to have a combat weight of about 70 tons and carry a 105-mm rifled gun. Of particular interest was the layout of the armored hull of the proposed tank. So, behind armor up to 350 millimeters thick there should have been a small-sized nuclear reactor. A volume was provided for it in the front part of the armored hull. Behind the reactor and its protection, they placed workplace driver, in the middle and rear parts of the hull there was a fighting compartment, ammunition storage, etc., as well as several power plant units.

Combat vehicle TV1 (Track Vehicle 1 – “Tracked Vehicle-1”)

The operating principle of the tank's power units is more than interesting. The fact is that the reactor for TV1 was planned to be made according to a scheme with an open gas coolant circuit. This means that the reactor had to be cooled by atmospheric air passed next to it. Next, the heated air was supposed to be supplied to a power gas turbine, which was supposed to drive the transmission and drive wheels. According to calculations carried out directly at the conference, with the given dimensions it would be possible to ensure the operation of the reactor for up to 500 hours on one refueling with nuclear fuel. However, the TV1 project was not recommended for continued development. Over 500 hours of operation, a reactor with an open cooling circuit could contaminate several tens or even hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of air. In addition, it was impossible to fit sufficient reactor protection into the internal volumes of the tank. In general, the TV1 combat vehicle turned out to be much more dangerous for friendly troops than for the enemy.

For the next Question Mark IV conference, held in 1955, the TV1 project was finalized in accordance with current capabilities and new technologies. The new nuclear tank was named R32. It was significantly different from TV1, primarily in its size. Development nuclear technology made it possible to reduce the dimensions of the machine and change its design accordingly. It was also proposed to equip the 50-ton tank with a reactor in the front part, but the armored hull with a frontal plate 120 mm thick and the turret with a 90 mm gun in the project had completely different contours and layout. In addition, it was proposed to abandon the use of a gas turbine driven by superheated atmospheric air and use new protection systems for a smaller reactor. Calculations have shown that the practically achievable range on one refueling with nuclear fuel will be approximately four thousand kilometers. Thus, at the cost of reducing operating time, it was planned to reduce the danger of the reactor for the crew.

Yet the measures taken to protect the crew, technical personnel and troops interacting with the tank were insufficient. According to the theoretical calculations of American scientists, the R32 had less radiation than its predecessor TV1, but even with the remaining level of radiation, the tank was not suitable for practical application. It would be necessary to regularly change crews and create a special infrastructure for separate maintenance of nuclear tanks.

After the R32 failed to meet the expectations of a potential customer, the American army, military interest in tanks with nuclear power plant began to gradually fade away. It is worth recognizing that for some time attempts were still made to create a new project and even bring it to the testing stage. For example, in 1959 it was designed experimental machine based on the M103 heavy tank. It was supposed to be used in future tests of a tank chassis with a nuclear reactor. Work on this project began very late, when the customer stopped seeing nuclear tanks as promising equipment for the army. Work on converting the M103 into a test bench ended with the creation of a preliminary design and preparation for the assembly of the prototype.

R32. Another American nuclear tank project

Last American project tank with nuclear power plant, which was able to advance beyond the technical proposal stage, was completed by Chrysler during its participation in the ASTRON program. The Pentagon ordered a tank intended for the army of the next decades and Chrysler specialists apparently decided to give the tank reactor another try. Besides, new tank TV8 was supposed to represent a new layout concept. The armored chassis with electric motors and, in some versions of the design, an engine or nuclear reactor was a typical tank body with tracked chassis. However, it was proposed to install a tower of an original design on it.

The large unit with a complex, streamlined, faceted shape was supposed to be made slightly longer than the chassis. Inside such an original tower it was proposed to place the workplaces of all four crew members, all weapons, incl. 90 mm gun mounted on a rigid recoilless rifle suspension system, as well as ammunition. In addition, in later versions of the project it was supposed to place a diesel engine or a small-sized nuclear reactor in the rear of the tower. In this case, the reactor or engine would provide energy to operate a generator that powers running electric motors and other systems. According to some sources, until the very closure of the TV8 project, there were disputes about the most convenient placement of the reactor: in the chassis or in the tower. Both options had their pros and cons, but installing all the units of the power plant in the chassis was more profitable, although technically more difficult.

Tank TV8

One of the variants of atomic monsters developed at one time in the USA under the Astron program.

TV8 turned out to be the most successful of all American nuclear tanks. In the second half of the fifties, a prototype of a promising armored vehicle was even built at one of the Chrysler factories. But things didn’t go beyond the layout. The revolutionary new layout of the tank, combined with its technical complexity, did not provide any advantages over existing and developing armored vehicles. The ratio of novelty, technical risks and practical returns was considered insufficient, especially in the case of using a nuclear power plant. As a result, the TV8 project was closed due to lack of prospects.

After TV8, not a single American nuclear tank project has left the technical proposal stage. As for other countries, they also considered the theoretical possibility of replacing diesel with a nuclear reactor. But outside the United States, these ideas remained only in the form of ideas and simple sentences. The main reasons for abandoning such ideas were two features of nuclear power plants. Firstly, a reactor suitable for mounting on a tank, by definition, cannot have sufficient protection. As a result, the crew and surrounding people or objects will be exposed to radiation. Secondly, in the event of damage to the power plant - and the probability of such a development of events is very high - a nuclear tank becomes a real dirty bomb. The crew's chances of surviving the accident are too low, and the survivors will become victims of acute radiation sickness.

The relatively large range on one fuel fill and the overall promise of nuclear reactors in all areas, as it seemed in the fifties, could not overcome dangerous consequences their applications. As a result, nuclear-powered tanks remained an original technical idea that arose in the wake of general “nuclear euphoria”, but did not produce any practical results.

Based on materials from sites:
http://shushpanzer-ru.livejournal.com/
http://raigap.livejournal.com/
http://armor.kiev.ua/
http://secretprojects.co.uk/

In the mid-1950s, as part of the work to create a tank applicable in nuclear war, designers from the American company Chrysler presented an unusual tank design under the designation TV-8.
The design of the TV-8 tank is modular; the lower part can be separated from the main body for easier transportation. Additionally, unlike most tanks, where the crew is located in the hull and the rotating turret is located above, the TV-8 has the entire crew, gun and machine guns, and engine all located in a massive turret. The tank was supposed to have a crew of four people, but if necessary, it could be controlled by only two people - the driver and the gunner.

At first it was assumed that there would be an electric generator in the aft part of the tower that would power two tracked engines, then they considered the option of a gas turbine engine, and finally settled on a steam engine that received heat from a small nuclear reactor installed, again, in the tower.
The Chrysler TV-8 tank was equipped with a 90 mm T208 gun with hydraulic cylinders. The ammunition was stored behind a steel bulkhead that separated it from the crew compartment. Two .30 caliber co-axial machine guns were located in the front, and on the roof was a 50 caliber machine gun, which was controlled by remote control.

The TV-8 tank was equipped with external video cameras that relayed the image to screens in the crew compartment. This was done so that the crew could see their surroundings without having to open any hatches. It was also supposed to protect the crew from the flash of a tactical nuclear explosion.
The tank's armor consisted of two layers around fighting compartment. The outer part was multi-layer armor, which was supposed to protect the inner layer by diverting the jet of cumulative shells exploding on it. The curved shape of the tower was supposed to ensure its strong rebound. The inner layer of armor was a traditional thick metal plating.

Despite its 25 tons of weight, the Chrysler TV-8 tank could float. Movement on water was to be carried out using jet water cannons.
The project to create the Chrysler TV-8 tank was never realized. Chrysler was unable to convince the US military that this unusual tank had any significant advantages over traditional combat vehicles. In 1956, the TV-8 project was canceled.

Performance characteristics of the Chrysler TV-8 tank
Combat weight: 25 tons;
Crew: 4 people;
Dimensions: length - 8.9 m; width – 3.4 m; height - 2.9 m;
Armament: 90 mm T208 gun; 0.3 caliber coaxial machine gun (coaxial), 0.5 caliber machine gun with remote control;
Engine: Chrysler V-8 steam engine powered by a nuclear reactor located in the turret

Russia to Develop Nuclear Round for T-14 Main Battle Tank

Most deadly tank Russia's third-generation T-14 main battle tank, as well as the basis for armored personnel carriers on the Armata universal chassis system, could become even more deadly in the near future.

According to unconfirmed media reports, Uralvagonzavod (Russian defense contractor and the world's largest tank manufacturer) is not only upgrading new versions of the mysterious T-14 with a new 152mm gun capable of firing nuclear weapons, but is also developing uranium tank armor.

It is not yet clear to military experts how far the Russians have progressed on this issue. That is, is the atomic sub-kiloton 152-mm projectile currently under development, or are we already talking about its possible combat use?

Using tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield is not part of the official Russian military doctrine. However, in recent years, Russia has made significant progress in the development of tactical nuclear weapons.

The current version of the T-14 is armed with a 125 mm caliber 2A82 smoothbore cannon, capable of firing powerful ammunition on effective distance up to seven kilometers and with a frequency of up to 10 shots per minute. The 152 mm 2A83 cannon will have a much lower rate of fire.

"Armata" is the first new Russian tank developed by Russia after the collapse of Soviet Union. The tank is reported to be equipped with a new active protection system, including a new generation of active armor, supposedly capable of withstanding the world's most advanced anti-tank guns and anti-tank missile systems.

In addition, as we have already indicated in another article, the T-14 will ultimately be a fully automated combat unit, equipped with an uninhabited turret and, if necessary, controlled remotely:

“The Armata universal chassis system provides a platform for more than a dozen different tracked vehicles, including self-propelled howitzer, an engineering vehicle and an armored personnel carrier. 70 percent of the tracked armored vehicles of the Russian Ground Forces are planned to be replaced with vehicles based on the Armata universal chassis system.”

True, the true combat capabilities of the T-14 are still unknown and will remain so until they are tested in real combat.

In 2016, the Russian Ministry of Defense ordered the first batch of 100 T-14s and intends to purchase up to 2,300 T-14 tanks by 2025. However, it seems that these are only the official financial and production capabilities of Russia. According to experts, from 2018 Russia can produce no more than 120 such tanks per year. Currently in Ground forces Russia has about 20 T-14 units in service. It is not yet clear whether it has started mass production tank.

We have already written about the largest tanks, guns and ships. But everything is not enough for us. It turns out that there were tanks, guns and ships even larger than the largest ones, but they did not go into production. That won't stop us from learning about them.

Nikolay Polikarpov

The most, the most, the most

Once upon a time there lived a king of Sweden, Gustav II Adolf, in the 17th century. And he ordered to build a warship, and not just a simple one, but the largest and most powerful in the Baltic - to the fear of his enemies. The shipbuilders got down to business, but the king himself wanted to indicate the dimensions of the future flagship: “Higher the stern, more luxurious carved decoration! Make the hull narrower, the masts higher and the sails bigger. The royal ship must be the fastest!"

It is dangerous to argue with kings. “Yes, Your Majesty,” said the builders. "And guns, more guns! “Yes,” said the builders.

Everyone knows the ending of this story: a huge luxurious ship named “Vaza” capsized and sank on August 10, 1628 in front of the entire city. He drowned on his first voyage, immediately upon leaving Stockholm harbor from the pier near the royal palace. “Vase” was excellent in all respects, but had only one drawback: instability.

steel rat

Something like this always happens when you want to make the “very best” combat vehicle, and the engineer follows the lead of the military man. For example, the Germans. Well, the same ones that the “Wunderwaffe” built everything, but never built. After Germany's attack on the USSR, the Soviet generals became an unpleasant surprise for Hitler's generals. heavy tanks KV.

The problem was that the guns of the German tanks did not penetrate their armor, nor did the anti-tank guns. The only one effective means against the KV were heavy anti-aircraft guns of 8.8 cm caliber, while our tanks with their 76 mm gun could easily deal with any armored enemy that was in sight.

Based on the results of studying captured KVs, the generals of the Third Reich immediately stated: “We want the same one, only with thicker armor and a larger gun.” This is how the story began in 1941 super heavy tank, called Ratte, that is, "Rat". The name echoes the name of another German tank, also created under the impression of the mighty Soviet cars, - the well-known Sd.Kfz. 205 Maus - “Mouse”. “Mouse” weighed almost 189 tons, and “Rat”, as it should be, should have been somewhat larger. The full name of this giant is Landkreuzer P. 1000 (land cruiser weighing 1000 tons).

It’s funny that one of the creators of the “Rats” project in the bowels of the Krupp concern was engineer Edward Grotte, who from the early 1930s worked in the USSR to create projects experienced tanks, and then returned home and served the Fuhrer. True, it served specifically. The fact is that he also proposed to the leadership of our country to build armored monsters, but domestic technical specialists sensibly assessed their prospects and refused to realize such sweet dreams.

Well, Hitler fell for the spotlight. The giant's sketches were presented to Hitler on June 23, 1942 and captured his imagination so much that he allowed the project to be prepared for embodiment in metal. Of course, a tank 35 m long, 14 m wide and 11 m high would carry armor with a thickness of 150 to 400 mm! Protection worthy of an ocean battleship!

The tank was also supposed to be armed according to naval standards: a ship's turret with a pair of 283-mm Shiffs Rfnobe SK C/34 naval guns weighing 48 tons each and a barrel length of about 15 m. Such guns were installed on “pocket battleships” of the Scharnhorst type. Armor-piercing projectile the gun weighed 336 kg, and the high-explosive one - 315 kg.

If such a gift hit any tank or even a concrete field fortification, it would lead to the unequivocal destruction of the target. At maximum angle elevation of the gun barrel and a full charge, the projectile flew 40 km, so the tank could fire at the enemy not only without entering the return fire zone, but generally from beyond the horizon! The SK C/34 guns made it possible to use the “Rat” even in coastal defense to fire at heavy enemy ships - the tank would talk almost on an equal footing with cruisers and battleships.

But that is not all. If some nimble enemy tank had crept close to the giant, then to repel its feeble attacks there would also have been a heavy tank in reserve. anti-tank gun KwK 44 L/55 with a caliber of 12.8 cm (an armament option with a pair of such guns was also considered). Its weaker 88-mm predecessor was armed with the famous German tank destroyers Jagdpanther and Ferdinand.

It was supposed to fight off air raids with eight 20-mm anti-aircraft guns. Flak guns 38, and against any mechanical small fry, various armored personnel carriers and infantry, if by some miracle it reaches the armored fortress - with two automatic 15-mm Mauser MG151/15 aircraft cannons.

The designers also did not forget about the retribution for all the mentioned miracles of the “gloomy German genius”: the mass was 1000 tons! Therefore, to prevent the machine from falling into the ground, the tracks had to be 3.5 m wide each (today these can be seen on huge mining excavators). The tank was supposed to be propelled by either two 24-cylinder MAN V12Z32/44 marine diesel engines for submarines with a power of 8400 hp. each, or as many as eight also marine 20-cylinder Daimler-Benz MB501 diesel engines with a power of 2000 hp, which were used on torpedo boats.

In any case, the total power of the power plant would be about 16,000 hp, which would allow the “Rat” to move at speeds of up to 40 km/h. Can you imagine a mass of 1000 tons rushing at such a speed? Here you don’t even need a gun - it will simply blow away any obstacle by inertia and not be noticed. Fuel in tanks... But in which tanks? In on-board tanks! So, there should have been enough fuel for 190 km of travel.

No bridge across the river could support the weight of the Rat. For this reason, the tank had to overcome water obstacles under its own power along the bottom, for which the designers made its hull sealable, equipped with a snorkel for supplying air from the surface and means for pumping out water. The colossus had to be controlled by a crew of 21-36 people, who would have at their disposal a bathroom, rooms for rest and storage of supplies, and even a “garage” for a pair of liaison and reconnaissance BMW R12 motorcycles.

At the end of December 1942, the project was generally ready and submitted to the Reich Minister of the Reich Ministry of Armaments and Ammunition, Albert Speer, for a decision on building a prototype. But at the beginning of 1943, he decided not to build the Rat. The reasons are clear: firstly, it is too expensive in war conditions. Secondly, combat effectiveness is extremely doubtful.

Of course, not a single anti-tank gun or even a single heavy weapon would probably cause harm to the tank, but a couple of successfully dropped armor-piercing bombs (and it is difficult to miss a sedentary target of this size) would be guaranteed to destroy it. In addition, not a single road would have survived after the “Rat” moved along it, and moving the colossus over rough terrain would require preliminary engineering preparation of its path.

crush with mass

But do you think the imagination of the designers of the Krupp concern stopped at a tank of 1000 tons? Nothing happened. Also in December 1942, an even more ambitious project for a self-propelled artillery unit weighing 1,500 tons appeared! The vehicle was called Landkreuzer P. 1500 Monster and was intended to mount an 807 mm gun from the same Krupp.

This gun itself deserves attention. Initially, it was developed in 1936 on the orders of Hitler to destroy the French fortifications of the Maginot Line, but the Wehrmacht dealt with France anyway, and the first giant Dora gun was built in 1941. At the same time, they assembled the second one, which was named in honor of the owner of the company and the president of the Adolf Hitler Foundation, Gustav von Bohlen und Halbach Krupp - “ Fat Gustav"(Schwerer Gustav). The giants were mounted on huge railway carriages, which were moved by locomotives along two parallel rail tracks at once, the length of which at the position should have been about five kilometers. 250 crew members and 2,500 additional personnel participated in servicing the giant.

It took 54 hours to prepare the selected position and assemble the gun after its units arrived by separate trains. Five trains with 106 cars were needed to deliver the disassembled cannon, personnel, ammunition and mounting equipment to the position. Anti-aircraft cover was provided by two air defense battalions.

The gun fired at a range of up to 48 km, each of its huge shells weighed more than seven tons and contained up to 700 kg of explosives. It took about 40 minutes to load a new projectile and charge, and then re-aim the gun at the target. The shell penetrated the ground to a depth of 12 m, leaving a three-meter crater on the surface, and pierced a meter of steel armor or seven meters of reinforced concrete.

Railway gun in action. 1943

In 1942, the Germans fired at Sevastopol from the Dora, firing 48 shells. Huge loads on the metal of the 32-meter barrel led to an increase in its caliber as it wore out - from the original 807 mm to the permissible 813 mm. The barrel was supposed to withstand 300 shots.

It was precisely this type of weapon that was now planned to be placed not on a railway, but on a self-propelled tracked chassis. “Monster” is the most appropriate name for such an installation: length 52 m, width 18 m and height 8 m! The installation would weigh 1,500 tons, of which about a third would be the gun itself. The shells and charges had to be transported to them by a caravan of trucks.

More than a hundred crew members were to be protected from enemy fire by 250 mm armor, and two 150 mm sFH18 howitzers and 15 mm MG 151/15 automatic cannons were intended for self-defense. The “Monster” was to be propelled by four MAN marine diesel engines for submarines, 6,500 hp. each, but even the power of 26 thousand “mechanical horses” could not accelerate this monster faster than 10-15 km/h.

As a result, Albert Speer buried this project in 1943. The reasons are the same: just one gun cost the Reich 7 million marks, so even only two of them were built on a railway carriage. Placing a “platinum” tank under a “golden” cannon would be economic suicide, and one successful flight of a bomber or attack aircraft would be enough to destroy the “Monster” if it appeared in the front zone. But, if we assume that one madman agreed to allocate funds for the construction of the monster, and another sent it into battle, then the car would not have reached the firing position.

By railway the tank could not be transported - it would not pass either in tunnels or across bridges. And even the purely theoretical assumption of moving under its own power at a speed of 15 km/h, with the inevitable destruction of the road and a continuous stream of tankers driving behind, horrified the generals.

Ice aircraft carrier

However, ideas that seemed promising at first glance were not only visited by the Germans. During the Second World War, Great Britain was somewhat isolated and faced a shortage of steel for shipbuilding. In 1942, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his friend, commander of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla of the Royal Navy, Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was also involved in the development special operations, they even discussed the use of icebergs for arranging airfields on them.

It was supposed to cut down the top of the ice mountain and land planes there to cover convoys traveling in high latitudes, and at the same time attach an engine to the iceberg, install communications equipment, arrange quarters for the crew and power from diesel power plants. The result would be a virtually unsinkable aircraft carrier. After all, in order to split such a mass of ice, the enemy would have to spend an incredible amount of bombs or torpedoes.

The iceberg itself lives in northern waters up to two years. However, as the lower part melts, it can turn over with catastrophic consequences for people, and the power of the engines must be enormous to control the movement of such a colossus.

And then, very opportunely, they remembered the proposal of the English engineer Geoffrey Pike, who served as an intelligence officer in the department of Lord Mountbatten. Back in 1940, Pike came up with an amazing composite material - paykerite. Essentially, it is a mixture of about 20% wood chips and 80% ordinary water ice.

Frozen “dirty ice” turned out to be four times stronger than usual; thanks to its low thermal conductivity, it melted slowly, was not brittle (it could even be processed by forging within certain limits), and had an explosive resistance comparable to concrete.

The idea was initially ridiculed, but Lord Mountbatten brought a cube of pikerite to the Allied conference in Quebec, Canada in 1943. The demonstration turned out to be impressive: the officer placed pikerite and a block of the same size next to it regular ice, walked away and shot both samples with a revolver. From the first hit, the water ice shattered into pieces, and from the paykerite, the bullet ricocheted without any harm to the sample, wounding one of the meeting participants. So the Americans and Canadians agreed to participate in the project.

The order to develop a preliminary design for an ice aircraft carrier was issued by the British Admiralty at the end of 1942. Geoffrey Pike envisioned building a ship 610 m long and 92 m wide from his proprietary material. Its displacement would be 1.8 million tons, and it would be capable of carrying up to two hundred aircraft. The stability of the hull would be ensured by refrigeration units with a network of refrigerant pipes laid in the sides and bottom.

Otherwise, it would be a completely traditional ship with an engine, propellers, anti-aircraft weapons and crew quarters. The project was code-named “Habakkuk”. Then it was planned to build a whole fleet of such ships, only much larger: length 1220 m, width 183 m, displacement - several million tons. These would be real giants, unsinkable giants of the ocean.

To begin with, a model of the ship was built in Canada on Patricia Lake: 18 m long, 9 m wide, and weighing a measly 1100 tons. The model was built in the summer to test the behavior of pykerite in the warm season. The small “Abakkuk” also had a wooden frame, a network of tubes for cooling the paykerite blocks of the body and an engine. 15 people managed to build it in two months.

The experiment was completed successfully, proving the fundamental feasibility of the project. But then they started counting the money. And then it turned out that pikerite ships were much more expensive than steel ones, and besides, to build even one aircraft carrier formation, almost all the forests of Canada would have to be limed into sawdust!

In addition, at the end of 1943, the metal shortage was overcome. So in December 1943, the Habakkuk project was closed, and today the only reminders of it are the wooden and iron fragments of the model at the bottom of Patricia Lake, which were found by scuba divers in the 1970s.

underground ship

"The Midgard Serpent"

However, there were projects in Germany that were even more exotic than just a colossal tank. In 1934, engineer Ritter developed a design for an underground ship! The device was called the “Midgard Serpent” - in honor of the mythological huge serpent surrounding the world of Midgard inhabited by people. It was assumed that the "Snake" would be able to move on the ground, underground and under water, but it was needed for delivery demolition charges under enemy long-term fortifications, defense lines and port facilities. The “ship” was assembled from hinged compartments 6 m long, 6.8 and 3.5 m wide and high, respectively. Depending on the task, its length could vary from 399 to 524 m by replacing or adding sections. The structure was supposed to weigh about 60,000 tons.

Did you imagine an underground “worm” the height of a two-story house and half a kilometer long? Under the ground, the “Midgard Serpent” would make its way with the help of four powerful drills, each one and a half meters in diameter, and they would be rotated by nine electric motors of 1000 hp each. The drill bits on the drill head can be changed depending on the type of soil, for which the “ship” would carry spare sets for rock, sand and medium-density soil. Forward movement would be provided by tracks with 14 electric motors with a total power of 19,800 hp.

The electric motors would be powered by four 10,000 hp diesel generators, for which it was planned to carry 960,000 liters of diesel fuel. Underwater, the “ship” would be controlled by 12 pairs of rudders and move at speeds of up to 3 km/h with the help of 12 additional engines with a capacity of 3000 “horses”. According to the project, the “Snake” could travel on the ground at a speed of 30 km/h (let’s imagine once again: a train on tracks, happily rushing across a field), underground in rocky soil - 2 km/h, and in soft soil - up to 10 km/h

The Serpent would have been operated by 30 people, who would have had an on-board electric kitchen, a recreation area with 20 beds, and repair shops. To breathe and power diesel engines, it was planned to take 580 compressed air cylinders on the road, and it would be possible to communicate with the world using a radio transmitter.

The ship, according to Ritter, would carry a thousand 250-kilogram mines and the same number of 10-kilogram mines. For self-defense on the ground, the crew would have 12 coaxial 7.92 mm machine guns. But all this seemed not enough to the designer, so he planned to amaze the imagination of the military with a special underground weapons, which was supposed to operate on certain secret principles.

The dragon Fafnir gave his name to an underground six-meter torpedo, “Thor’s Hammer” was intended to undermine particularly hard rocks, the gnome Alberich, who stores the gold of the Nibelungs, became the reconnaissance torpedo of the same name with microphones and a periscope, and the king of the miniatures, Laurin, who loved his rose garden more than anything in the world, donated its name to the rescue capsule for the “Snake” crew to exit to the surface of the earth in the event of any emergency.

Each “Snake” was supposed to cost modestly: 30 million Reichsmarks. This project was seriously considered, and following a discussion on February 28, 1935, it was returned to Ritter for revision. And after the end of World War II, adits and the remains of a certain structure that resembled this underground ship were even found in the Konigsberg area. Apparently, the Germans even tried to conduct experimental work.

Then it seemed to be a source of free energy and the dawn of a bright tomorrow for humanity, and all dangers were supposed to be countered according to the recipes of science fiction writers - with a couple of ordinary anti-radiation pills. Then in American science fiction novels one could read about honored rocket mechanics in shabby overalls, moving bars of burning blue flame with a poker in a nuclear boiler of an engine. nuclear fuel. At the same time, the USSR and the USA came up with portable nuclear reactors for transport and military equipment. Will anyone get into a car today with a miniature Chernobyl under the hood? And then it’s easy.

In June 1954, the Question Mark III conference was held in Detroit, America, dedicated to the prospects for the development of armored vehicles. There, for the first time, the concept of a tank with a nuclear power plant was proposed, which would be capable of operating for 500 hours at full turbo engine power without changing fuel. The idea was picked up by Chrysler, which in May 1955 proposed its vision of a promising tank to replace the M48, which was in service, to the US Army Armored Command (TASOM).

At first, the designers were going to equip the tank with a 300-horsepower engine with an electric generator that would power a pair of electric motors for rewinding the tracks, but in the end they decided that electric motors might not work reliably in radiation conditions, and the autonomy of the tank would be affected when moving through the glass desert. important role. For these reasons, the tankers received in their habitable tower... a small nuclear reactor, which was supposed to generate thermal energy to power a steam engine, which created torque directly for the tank's tracked propulsion. External video cameras transmitted to the tank crews everything that was happening outside on monitors, so that people did not risk going blind from the flashes of nuclear explosions.

The weight of the vehicle was supposed to be about 23 tons, the reservation was supposed to be made of rolled armor steel and equipped with an anti-cumulative shield. Armament is a 90 mm T208 gun and two 7.62 mm machine guns. TV-8 could swim: two water cannons provided it with an acceptable speed of movement through the water.