T-24
| T-24 | |
|---|---|
Medium tank T-24 |
|
| General properties | |
| crew | 5 |
| length | 5.68 m |
| width | 2.84 m |
| height | 3.04 m |
| Dimensions | 18.5 t |
| Armor and armament | |
| Armor | 20 mm |
| Main armament | 45 mm tank cannon |
| Secondary armament | DT |
| agility | |
| drive | Petrol engine M-6 200 HP (147 kW) |
| Top speed | 22.5 km / h (road) |
| Power / weight | 16.2 hp / t |
| Range | 120 km |
The T-24 was a Soviet medium multi-turn tank . It was manufactured from 1930 to 1931 by the Kharkov "Comintern" locomotive factory .
history
The first design competition for a medium tank took place at the end of 1919; the winning prototype could not be finished due to the stresses of the civil war. A second competition in 1922 brought seven new designs, but also led to the realization that the design and construction of tanks was still overwhelming the economy . So in 1923 the decision was made to at least centralize the development capacities.
The Red Army urgently needed new and modern designs, as the tank inventory in 1925 was made up of worn and partially damaged spoils of British or French origin. Therefore, at the end of 1925, it was decided to concentrate efforts primarily on light tanks - the first result of this decision was the T-16. A continuous further development of the vehicle with the designation T-18 (MS-1) was put into service with the troops in 1927.
development
Prototype T-12
With significantly lower capacities , the development of a medium tank under the designation T-12 began at the end of 1926 in the design office of the Kharkov locomotive factory No. 183 under chief designer IN Alexejenko . This was the result of experience in the design of the T-18 in conjunction with the concept of installing multiple weapons at different levels, similar to the American experimental model T1 E1 . The T-12 was to receive a 45 mm cannon or a 57 mm howitzer as main armament and three twin machine guns in two turrets one on top of the other. However, this concept had the major disadvantage that rotations of the lower large tower had to be compensated for on the smaller upper tower and the tank turned out to be very high. The tank weighed 17.2 tons, had a four-man crew and was up to 26 km / h. The thickness of the armor was between 12 and 22 millimeters. To improve off-road mobility, the T-12 had a tail skid.
In 1930, the model was extensively tested, including fire tests, which confirmed that it had good driving characteristics and high firepower. However, the chassis showed weaknesses, and the transmission and the fuel system caused problems, and the insufficient driving range was criticized. Overall, however, the verdict was positive, the tank met expectations at the time, and after the problems had been resolved, it was recommended that it be transferred to armament and production.
T-24
The errors and weaknesses have been revised and the model improved in this way was named T-24. The tail spur was omitted. The decision to build a first series of 15 T-24s had already been made in March 1930. However, the cannon or howitzer, which was intended as the original main armament, never went into production, so that initially one had to accept a pure machine-gun armament; Only in 1932 was a 45 mm cannon available and scaffolded. The mass had increased, the crew increased to five men and the armor reduced to 8.5 to 20 mm.
production
Ambitious plans to build 300 tanks were quickly discarded and only 25 complete tanks and various individual pieces (hulls, towers, chassis) were completed. On the one hand, this was due to considerable production problems in the factory, on the other hand, the leadership of the Red Army was also very impressed by the designs of the Grote tank and at the same time was considering the production of American Christie tanks . The throttled production ran slowly, while the Grote tank never got beyond the prototype stage and the Christie tanks were not produced in large numbers either.
commitment
In the Red Army, the T-24 served as a support tank, but was soon given to training units due to problems with maintenance and spare parts. Nevertheless, it was an important sample on which the designers and production facilities could gain their first valuable experience with heavier tanks.
description
The T-24 had a riveted box-shaped hull made of rolled armor sheet metal. The towers were also riveted. The construction corresponded to the then state of the art of international tank construction. In contrast to the prototype T-12, the towers were not composed of polygonal straight armor plates, but rather of larger rounded pieces, which gave the main tower a cylindrical basic shape with a straight front wall. The driver sat in the front right in the bow, a machine gunner sat in the front left in the bow; Commander, loader and gunner in the tower.
Armament
The armament of the T-24 consisted of the 45-mm cannon "TP", model 1930 ( Russian танковая пушка 45-мм обр. 1930 года ) and four 7.62- mm-MGs DT . One machine gun was installed in a spherical shutter in the front left of the hull, one coaxially to the right of the cannon in the main tower, another on the side of the main tower and the fourth was installed in the small side tower placed on the main tower.
Armor
The armoring of the tower front wall and the tub front was uniformly rolled from 20 mm armor sheet.
agility
engine
The T-24 was powered by a water-cooled eight-cylinder, four-stroke M-6 aircraft engine installed lengthways in the rear. The engine was equipped with carburettors and developed a maximum output of 300 hp. The M-6 was a license build of the Hispano-Suiza 8Fb and was manufactured at the GAS-9 plant in Alexandrowsk.
drive
The T-24 had a support roller carriage drive with vertical external suspension. Four roller carriages on each side carried two rollers. The guide rollers were attached to the bow and the drive rollers to the rear of the vehicle. The drive rollers transmitted the torque - similar to later on the T-34 - via teeth arranged in the middle of the chain links to the track. The chain was returned via four support rollers on each side.
Technical specifications
| T-12 | T-24 | |
|---|---|---|
| Battle mass (t) | 16-19.5 | 18-18.5 |
| Length (m) | 6.50 | 5.68 |
| Width (m) | 2.81 | 2.84 |
| Height (m) | 2.95 | 3.04 |
| Ground clearance (m) | - | 0.50 |
| Ground pressure (kg / cm²) | 0.45 | 0.51 |
| drive | Otto engine M-6 (200 HP) | Otto engine M-6 (300 HP) |
| Speed (km / h) | 26 (street) | 22 (street) |
| Climbing ability | 40 ° | 35 ° |
| Bank | 25 ° | |
| Exceedability (m) | 2.05 | 2.10 |
| Climbing ability (noun) | 0.74 | 0.9 |
| Fording ability | 1.5 | |
| Driving range (km) | 120 | |
| Main armament | 1 cannon 45 mm (100 shells) | 1 cannon 45 mm (89 shells) |
| Secondary armament | 3 × 2 MG 7.62 mm Fyodorov (4,000 cartridges) | 4 MG 7.62 mm DT (8,000 rounds) |
| crew | 4th | 5 |
literature
- AW Karpenko: Soviet-Russian tanks . 1905-2003. Ed .: Rudi Meier. Elbe-Dnjepr, Klitzschen 2004, ISBN 3-933395-44-5 , p. 227–228 (Russian: Обозрение отечественной бронетанковой техники (1905–1995 гг.) . Translated by Rudi Meier).
Individual evidence
- ^ Robert J. Neal: Liberty Engine. A Technical & Operational History. P. 400 , accessed July 4, 2015 (English, Google Books).