Oh hi tanks

"daender" (daender) 12/14/2014 at 18:58 • Filed to: None

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So I did a little wiki-reading after playing too much World of Tanks. Apparently one of two surviving T30 prototype heavy tanks resides in my state at an army base that's just minutes from my apartment.

I ended up finding more tanks than that.

So let's start with the smallest tank. The M41 Walker Bulldog, essentially a light or scout tank used in the Korean War.

It's a half-improvement over the WWII Chaffee scout tank in terms of having some kind of decent firepower but these were more thirsty for fuel and ran louder, giving up part of their stealth.

Next, the M26 Pershing, a tank that was a bit late for WWII but just in time for the Korean War. Originally meant to fight Tigers, it took on T-34s and IS tanks instead. However, this tank left a lot to be desired and thus started the Patton legacy.

Another tank that saw both wars was the M4A3E8 Sherman, nicknamed the "Easy Eight" for it's smooth-riding characteristics.

These tanks were the workhorse of the American WWII efforts and continued to fight through Korea. Yes, Fury is based of this tank...

But enough about small tanks, let's get on with the point of this post. This is it, a legend of potential, a tank that could have struck fear into Nazi Tigers and Soviet IS crews.

The T29/T30/T34 series of prototypes were rolling data collectors on experimental drive-lines, armor theories, and weaponry.

Weighing in at nearly 70 tons, this monster is the king of the trio, wielding a 155mm cannon capable of going through anything in its path, the same cannon placed on the T95 Heavy Motor Carriage/Super-Heavy Tank. Each shell weighed 70 pounds and required a separate explosive charge to launch it.

Only 20 chassis were constructed, most were of the T29, 2 were T34s, and the few remaining being T30s. Sadly, these never saw action as the Main Battle Tank theory and advanced anti-tank weaponry ruled out any hopes of these monsters taking to the battlefields.

TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut > daender 12/14/2014 at 19:27

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What amuses me is that something as gigantic as this:

Could be lost and rediscovered on home soil.

daender > TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut 12/14/2014 at 19:57

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It's easy to do so when you hide them in high-clearance areas out of the eyes of both the public and other military personnel. There's a bunch of other TXX series sitting out there behind tons of fences and guards and whatnot.

Autofixation > daender 12/14/2014 at 20:46

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Fort Jackson?

daender > Autofixation 12/14/2014 at 20:49

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Yup!

heliochrome85 > daender 12/14/2014 at 22:55

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nice!

Autofixation > daender 12/14/2014 at 23:17

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Looked familiar. Myself, one of my sisters, and two of my brothers all went to basic training there and we've always taken a picture in front of one of the tanks.