How far should a WWII (heavy) tank be able to drive without more than routine maintenance in the field?
>The 501st Heavy Panzer Battalion (sPzAbt 501) reported in May 1943:
>…Regarding the overheating engines, the HL 210 engine caused no troubles during the recent time. All occurring breakdowns resulted from the low quality of driver training. In several cases engine failures have to be put down to the missing remote engine thermometer. Five engines have reached more than 3,000 km without essential failures. A good driver is essential for the successful deployment of the Tiger, he must have a good technical training and has to keep his nerve in critical situations…[27][28]
3000km sounds impressive, but I've got 0 comparative data.
To put it in perspective, the distance between Paris and Moscow on modern roads (so not straight but actually adhering to the infrastructure currently there) is 2.846,8km according to google.
The 501st Heavy Panzer Battalion wasn't a particularly elite one (as far as heavy tank battalions go) and just seems kinda middle of the road in results/tank kills.
Does anybody have a quote of the 503rd? They destroyed nearly 4 times more tanks than the 501st so I assume they rode their tigers harder.
The T-34 intended engine life was 100 hours = 2000 km before pretty much dying. In real life it was closer to 500-700 km (30 hours).
The Sherman was 3000-5000 km before overhaul iirc.
AFAIK late war german engines were bearingless and couldn't work at max power as its original design, so it's debatable if those engines really had that service life in 1945. Same as aircraft engines.
An of course oil consumption, that was a major problem when you're petrochemical industry is collapsed.
Cold war tanks were less than 500 hours (early chieftain and T-64) as bad to 2000 hours as normal. More important than plain engine life was time required to do maintenance. Western tank are easier to maintain thanks to its modular powerpack design. That's why the T-64's engine was far worse than the very similar Chieftain engine.
what was the combat fuel consumption on these things?
>AFAIK late war german engines were bearingless
I don't think that's physically possible.
balless (slide bearings)*
They changed the rolling bearings for plain bearings.
Sorry.
Tank turrets went back to using ball bearings after a quick PzIV model that was basically the H just without them so I'd assume that they didn't just keep making the engines without them.
>PzIV H
That was the final PzIV still in production by the end of war. The same with the engine DB605 that never got ball bearings back.
Newer tanks had problem with ball bearing shortage and designs with less roller bearings.
The Schweinfurt raids permanently crippled the a critical industry for Germany when they're ramping up the production in the 43's and 44's.
>Newer tanks had problem with ball bearing shortage and designs with less roller bearings.
That's the J, but only one factory produced that one (or two, but not at once). First VOMAG, then the Ni-Werk.
>The T-34 intended engine life was 100 hours = 2000 km before pretty much dying. In real life it was closer to 500-700 km (30 hours).
Bullshit.
Bullshit what? The Aberdeen test, WWII documents of WWII tells just that. Including the 100 hours target that's equivalent to 2000-2500 km.
The V-2 engine was very bad as tank engine. The early prototypes lasted less than 10 hours, the derated BT-7M engine lasted for 100 hours at cruise speed but it's a lighter tank with less power. The V-2 was problematic above the 500hp up the 50s - 60s. That's why the T-series with that engine had worse mobility with each iteration before the T-72, only the transmission improved a little.
>Aberdeen test
The post war test with no relation to the t34 production of most of the war you mean?
The 1942-43 Aberdeen tests.
See
and ignore the first 4 words.
What the frick are you talking about moron
>How far should a WWII (heavy) tank be able to drive without more than routine maintenance in the field?
Around 40% operational availability for a unit was standard, and German field maintenance schedules were more intensive than typical for the Western powers. Tigers would be shipped back all the way to Germany for certain things -- suspect more frequent new vehicle deliveries to these specialized heavy units and higher refit priority = higher availability than non-heavy formations.
>The T-34 intended engine life was 100 hours = 2000 km before pretty much dying. In real life it was closer to 500-700 km (30 hours).
Close to 80% casualties and basically disposable. Yeah.
War winning tank btw
I've heard that the Armata's engine is a modified copy of the engine used in German Heavy Tanks of WW2
stfu lasermoron
Anon is correct
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharkiv_model_V-2
Wrong link?
Kind of.
The Germans made an experimental X-shaped (four rows of cylinders) diesel for the King Tiger, the Armata engine is also an X-shaped diesel, possibly developed from the German engine.
What's the point of the shape except for unmatched coolness factor?
Shorter length. Probably not a good idea in practice though.
Why not?
I can’t answer specifically because I don’t know the history of it, but from working on motorcycle engines I’d say it’s probably 1) it was a brand new/experimental design and 2) it was probably difficult to work on. Cramming all that engine into that small space will save space on the tank but that may then require a lot of disassembly to get to whatever part has broken down
It's more boxy shaped.
>All occurring breakdowns resulted from the low quality of driver training
Imagine receiving news that the power trains you designed were fricking imploding and having the balls to reply "skill issue." Only a nazi.
Hey moron, that's not a report by the designer but from the actual unit using them.
How is your reading comprehension this bad? It's literally part of the quote and explicitly restated below.
Post hands.
German tech of synthetic diesel fuel established in 1942.
too late for their panzers..
I remember reading Carius' book and he mentioned that the biggest issues they had was the heat exchanger, or rather, radiator, kept getting easily punctured by artillery/mortar/tank shell shrapnel causing their engines to overheat.