The T-46 tank is that “pancake” that is lumpy

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

In the mid-thirties of the XX century, tank designers from almost all countries of the world believed that speed should be one of the main characteristics of this rapidly developing type of weapon. Considering combat vehicles as some kind of mechanized analogue of cavalry, strategists and tactics were captive to certain stereotypes. A reflection of this misconception was some samples of technology, later recognized as 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 not in the USSR, where the highest demands were placed on tanks in the Stalinist 30s.

How the genius Christy was appreciated in the USSR

Remarkable American mechanical engineer John W alter Christie back in the twenties invented something that became the defining trend in the development of tank-building ideas for many decades. At home, however, the flight of his creative thought was not highly appreciated. America was then an extremely peaceful country, and the government was more interested in tractors than military tracked vehicles. In Britain, where Christie sold his sample, they also could not figure it out.the merits of the invention. But in the Soviet Union there were specialists who understood why such a suspension of road wheels was needed.

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. She quickly found a use there. The inclined spring suspension had excellent performance and had a dual purpose, it could be equipped with both tracked and wheeled propulsion.

Differences from other Soviet tanks

In the mid-thirties, the main tank of the Red Army was the T-26. The high-speed model line BT was also constantly improved. Military equipment is aging quickly, and it was supposed to replace it with a new product, called the T-46. In 1935, the first sample left the gate of the assembly shop, which differed from its predecessor in a somewhat larger cylindrical turret, weight and an improved chassis design, which, like on the BT, could easily be turned into a wheeled one by removing the tracks. At the same time, the rear road wheels became the leaders, two out of four on each side, which significantly improved the cross-country ability. The front rollers could turn like a car.

The scheme is modern, but… outdated

A brief review of the T-46 allows us to conclude that the designers of the Kirov Plant during the design work have not yet found the main fundamental layout scheme, which later became the rule for all Soviet tanks. The transmission was frontfifteen-millimeter frontal armor protected the crew and mechanisms only from bullets and shrapnel, the engine ran on gasoline. The mass of the car exceeded 17 tons. The caliber of the gun was quite decent at that time, 45 mm, it was enough to hit any foreign tank of that time, including promising models. There was another sign pointing to the insufficient revolutionary design of the T-46. Photos of this tank clearly demonstrate the absence of even attempts to position the armor plates obliquely in order to increase the likelihood of a ricochet when a projectile hits. This tank is clearly not designed for active artillery countermeasures.

Thus, we can conclude that the T-46 was the embodiment of all the advanced ideas of world tank building of its time, and in the design of the chassis it overtook them, but at that time much more progressive ideas had already appeared in the USSR.

Disadvantages and advantages

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

The armament was impressive. In addition to the mentioned "forty-five", the T-46 tank was equipped with three7.62mm machine guns or two and one flamethrower.

A negative result is also a result

In general, the project of this tank, given the high class of the Soviet engineering school, was drawn to a solid collective diploma project of a graduate of a machine-building technical university. In its design, it seemed, everything was known at that time from open printed sources and intelligence data on the state of armored vehicles of countries - potential opponents. 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 never went into production, only a few cars were built.

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