WORST overall tank

[Figmo]

Hey, this may be old to some but just found this WW2 tank site and it gave the official designation for the Archer "Valentine 17-Pounder, Self-Propelled, "Archer" (A30)"

The site:

http://www.onwar.com/tanks

I'm off to read some more.

Figmo

[OKW-73]

Thanks Suvorov for education-
yes, my mistake cause i didnt say any specific year, but as you noticed i didnt say at any time that T-34's were actually worst tanks around, i did just say their accuracy (short barreled version) wasnt very good...instead armour was good or at least decent and was wondering Anthony Beevors opinion in his book Stalingrad cause he didnt say any details why he think T-34 was best...
But still overally i think Germany had best panzers in WW2 if we look all models like Panthers, Tigers, etc.

[Suvorov]

Germany had some exceptional tanks, but they also had some exceptional pieces of ****... if you recal in the begining of the war whermacht came to a decision that thier current Pak35/36's were unable to penetrate the armour of soviet tanks. A decision was made to begin the mass production of the Pak 38 50mm guns and rearm the III's/IV's with bigger 57/75mm guns. However that took time, and up to the point when these guns stoped being a rarity the german forces frequently resorted to using the Flak 18/36/37 88mm guns as well as a LARGE number of the soviet F-22/YBC(UVS) guns to rearm their forces. These guns got the names 7.62cm Pak 36(r) and 7.62cm Pak 39(r) that were mounted on the Marders II and III.

For a short period in time the germans took a BIG advantage (in my opinion) when the Tiger tanks that could outrange KV's and 34's came unto the battlefield. However this advantage was equaled with the T-34-85 KV-1s KV-85 and the xSU's. For a long time after that nobody really took a lead in the technological developement until the very end of the war. When germany realized their defeat was inevitable, they began contructing expensive really excessive tanks, that prooved quite useless against the mass soviet numbers. With low speed and maneuverability the soviet columns could easily outmanuever and destroy the large german freak tanks. Most of the soviet tank losses in the end of the war in fact came from the PanzerFaust's of the infantry, especially in city/fortification combat when the soviet troops were rushed into action needing to meet an extremely short deadline. But that was in the end, and quite understandable. It seems to me that the engineers in the two countries (Russia Germany) were working on almost equal mental capacity... which seems very interesting.

[Tankhead]

For me it as to be the Italian M11/39, I think this tank was design by a mad man or a sadistic one.

Gun: 37mmL40 Weight: 11 tons
MG: 2X 8mm Speed: 21 mph Crew: 3

UpHullFR: 30/10*
LowHullFR: 30/0*
HullSide: 15/6*
LowHull: 15/0*
HullRoof: 6/85*
HullRear: 15/0*
TurFr: 30/10*
GunMant: 30/20*
TurSide: 15/10*
TurRear: 15/10*
TurRoof: 6/90*

This as to be the worst bad tank designs of all time. The 37 mm gus was mounted in a corner of the hull superstructure with limited traverse, the small turret carried twinn 8 mm machineguns.

[screamer]

the arcer is a god if you know how to use it right, ive experienced this in combat mission deploy him hulldown if posseble wait for the enemy shoot a few shots and scoot

[Capt. Pixel]

Well thanks, guys and gals. This was a fun thread.

I was thinking the 'worst' might be akin to my sister and I in the old refrigerator box. Trying to tractor around and get the 'hatch' to come back to the top. Ahh the fun.

And I think the 'Bob Semple' pretty much filled the bill. You have to work with what you've got, but Oh my God.

[Commander Klank]

The worst tank is the one your in when it gets hit, catches fire and blows up!!!!!!!!!!!

Too easy:D :p



(voice of Elvis) Thank you, thank you very much....

[G_X]

How could someone say that glorious Juggernaut of a tank called the T-35 could be bad? the T-35 was never meant to compete against Panzers, though I'm sure if you just started strapping armour plates on to it, it would cut speed, but you could give it better armour than a Tiger.


I think the Bob Semple takes the cake for Worst Tank

I think two drunk Germans with nothing but a beer bottle or two between them could take that thing out...how many people fit in that thing? I'd feel cramped...

[Possum]

Hello All
The T-35 was a very good tank for what it was designed for,
Parading in Red Square! It looks very impressive, rumbling over the cobbelstones.....
I mean, It didn't even have real Armour, only rolled mild steel plates!
back to the worst tank of wwII, I'd vote for the Bob Semple, but it never saw use (except as an object lesson, and traveling road show), so I think it shouldn't count....
Instead I offer the British Vickers "Cruiser" Mk-II, In production 1939-1940. No Armour to speak of; Barely faster than a walking infantryman; A 2 lbdr with no HE ammo; Mecanically unreliable; Threw tracks if pushed, or manuvered, hard; A S.O.B. to maintain, as so many easily breakable parts where in hard to get places. AND IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE IMPROVED, "COMBAT EXPERIENCE APPLIED", VERSION!!!!!
( The Mk-I was marginally worse, but then, it had been designed and built with no combat experience, or indeed, pre-production testing, at all!)
Actually, Vickers eventually got all the problems ironed out of the Mk-I/II chassis, and the Vickers Mk-III "Cruiser" went on to be one of the most reliable and robust tank chassis in the world. With a decent ammount of armour, and eventually a 75mm gun. You may know it as the Valentine.

[G_X]

...The T-35 was meant to bust Bunkers in a World War I type scenario, It had enough armor to deflect small arms, and it was rather fast, a sporting good 30+ klicks or so, and had less ground pressure, meaning it could easily roll over soft ground better than the T-34 even.

The major downfall of the T-35 was the fact that it was unmaintainable, in the end it would have been better to have split the crews up and build smaller tanks that were more easily maintained. This compounded with the incredible difficulty of a Tank Captain trying to pilot this literal Land Battleship around by yelling orders...made it very hard to use.

I'm sure however, if anyone ever felt the overwhelming desire, most of the turrets could be automated, and all the weaponry, armor, and internals could be updated, and we may have one hell of a tank out of this behemoth. Personally, with a new engine, new armour, more armour, maybe add some Reactive's on there, replace the Drive Train and all the breakables and internals, and automate as much as possible, cutting crew size down, this would be an excellent large mobile Gun platform, possibly sporting a nice High Velocity cannon...or two.