Tsar Tank

Tsar Tank
Tsar Tank
The Tsar Tank
Place of origin  Russian Empire
Service history
In service 1914-1915 (experimental)
Used by Russian Empire

The Tsar Tank (Russian: Царь-танк), also known as the Netopyr' (Нетопырь) which stands for pipistrellus (a bat, Летучая мышь) or Lebedenko Tank (танк Лебеденко), was an unusual Russian armoured vehicle developed by Nikolai Lebedenko (Николай Лебеденко), Nikolai Zhukovsky (Николай Жуковский), Boris Stechkin (Борис Стечкин), and Alexander Mikulin (Александер Микулин). The project was scrapped after initial tests deemed the vehicle to be underpowered and vulnerable to artillery fire.

It differed from modern tanks in that it did not use caterpillar tracks—rather, it used a tricycle design. The two front spoked wheels were nearly 9 metres (27 feet) in diameter; the back wheel was smaller, only 1.5 metres (5 feet) high, triple wheel, to ensure maneuverability. The upper cannon turret reached nearly 8 metres high. The hull was 12 metres wide with two more cannons in the sponsons. Additional weapons were also planned under the belly. Each wheel was powered by a 250 hp (190 kW) Sunbeam engine.[1]

The vehicle received its nickname because its model, when carried by the back wheel, resembled a bat hanging asleep.

The huge wheels were intended to cross significant obstacles. However, due to miscalculations of the weight, the back wheel was prone to be stuck in soft ground and ditches, and the front wheels were sometimes insufficient to pull it out. This led to a fiasco of tests before the high commission in August 1915. The tank remained in the location where it was tested, some 60 kilometres from Moscow until 1923 when it was finally taken apart for scrap.

Model of the Tsar tank

See also

References

  1. ^ Zaloga, Steven J; Grandsen, James (1984). Soviet Tanks and Combat Vehicles of World War Two. Arms and Armour Press. p. 27. ISBN 0-85368-606-8. 

External links

v · d · eRussian "Tsar" projects
v · d · e
British
French
German
Austrian
Italian
American
Russian
  • Tsar Tank
  • Vezdekhod
  • Mendeleev Tank*
  • Rybinsk tank*

Italics — experimental prototypes; * concept only

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