Landkreuzer P. 1000 "Ratte" ( German: Ratte - "Rat" ) - designation of an extra-heavy tank, the project of which was developed in Germany in 1942-1943 under the leadership of Edward Grotte . The full name of the tank stands for "land cruiser weighing 1000 tons" Rat "".
| Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte | |
|---|---|
 Comparison of the sizes of the tanks "Ratte", " Mouse ", " Tiger " and humans | |
| Type of | super heavy tank |
| A country |  Germany |
| Service History | |
| Wars and conflicts | |
| Production history | |
| Manufacturer | Krupp |
| Specifications | |
| Weight kg | 1,000,000 |
| Booking mm | 150-400 |
| Type and model of engine | 8 × Daimler-Benz MB501 ( 20-cylinder marine diesel engine) or 2 × MAN V12Z32 / 44 ( 12-cylinder marine diesel engine) |
| Speed km / h | up to 40 |
| Engine power hp | 16,000 or 17,000 |
| Cruising range, km | 500 |
| Suspension | torsion bar suspension |
| Main armament | 2 × 283 mm ship cannon SKC / 34 |
| Additional weapons | 1 × 128 mm KwK 44 L / 55 , 8 × 20 mm FlaK 38 , 2 × 15 mm MG 151/15 |
| Length mm | 35,000 |
| Width mm | 14,000 |
| Height mm | 11,000 |
| Crew (calculation), people | 36 |
It is noteworthy that in 1931 the USSR considered a project of a very similar machine, made by the same author - a 1000-ton tank TG-5 .
This tank is sometimes called the "land ship."
Content
History
On June 23, 1942, engineer Edward Grotte, who was involved in the construction of submarines at the Ministry of Arms , together with his colleague Dr. Hacker, presented to Adolf Hitler the project of the super-heavy Landkreuzer tank ( Rus. Land cruiser ) weighing about 1000 tons. After discussing the project with the Reich Minister of Arms Albert Speer , December 29, the development of the drawings was completed and the project received the symbol Ratte - "Rat". However, the insurmountable obstacle for the Rat was the lack of technology and equipment for production and the common sense of Speer, who at the beginning of 1943 closed all projects of the Land Cruisers.
Design
Tank "Rat" was supposed to have a weight of up to 1000 tons. The crew was 21–36 people. The tank was very large. The length was 35 meters , the width was 14 meters, and the height was 11 meters. Reservation of the tank reached 150-400 mm. It was also planned to build a garage in the tank, which will house two BMW R12 reconnaissance motorcycles, several storage rooms and a bathroom.
The main armament of the tank was two 283-mm ship cannons SKC / 34 , mounted in a rotating tower located in front of the hull. Regarding the location of the 128-mm KwK 44 L / 55 gun, historians do not have unity: according to one version, one 128-mm gun was installed, in addition to two 283 mm, in the main tower, according to another version, there were two more towers in the rear of the tank, in which one 128 mm gun was located. In the bow of the tank were two 15-mm machine guns MG 151/15 . Eight 20-mm FlaK 38 anti-aircraft guns were also placed on the tank.
The tank was supposed to install eight 22-cylinder marine engines Daimler-Benz MB501 , with a capacity of 2000 liters. with., or two 12-cylinder marine engines MAN V12Z32 / 44, with a capacity of 8400 liters. with. each. The cruising range of the tank was to be about 190 kilometers, and speed - up to 40 km / h, which is very unlikely.
Machine rating
In the land war, the Rat tank, having low mobility (due to its large size and relatively low specific power), would be invulnerable to flat artillery fire (except for land artillery of special power) and conventional anti-tank mines , but vulnerable to aerial bombardment and howitzer firing, since the only defense against air attacks he had anti-aircraft installations. The logistics of such a superheavy machine would be an extremely complex problem; “Rat” delivery to the battlefield could be carried out only with long preliminary engineering preparation of the area. The tank itself, due to its high visibility and the impossibility of adequate camouflage , at any stop would turn into a target for howitzer artillery, striking its weakly protected upper part. It is also worth noting that such barriers as high-rise buildings, such a tank can destroy without the use of ammunition. At the same time, as the practice of urban battles from Berlin to Ilovaisk shows, a tank, regardless of size, is very vulnerable in these conditions. It is also important that the ammunition in any tank is extremely limited, therefore, despite the Rat’s rather powerful guns, their use could hardly differ in efficiency from much lighter tanks. Tank "Rat" could be considered as one of the possible incarnations of " miracle weapons ", but its creation was not able to have a significant impact on the course of the war. As a result, not even a prototype tank was built.
See also
- Landkreuzer P. 1500 Monster
- Land Cruiser
Literature
- Kozyrev M., Kozyrev V. Unusual weapons of the Third Reich - M .: Centerpolygraph, 2007
- Katorin Yu.F. , Volkovsky N.L. ,Tarnavsky V.V. Unique and paradoxical military equipment. - SPb. : Polygon, 2003 .-- 686 p. - (Military Historical Library). - ISBN 5-59173-238-6 , UDC 623.4, LBC 68.8 K 29.
- Shpakovsky V. Tanks unique and paradoxical - M .: Polygon, 2007
Links
- Superheavy tank Ratte TTX of the tank, data on armament and crew.
- https://warspot.ru/11521-zheleznyy-kaput
- P 1000/1500 / PzKpfw IX / X (English) (unavailable link) . Achtung Panzer! . Date of treatment August 20, 2009. Archived July 3, 2009.
- P. 1000 “Ratte” (inaccessible link) . Daily Steampunk . Date of treatment December 12, 2014. Archived January 15, 2015.