Chapter 3006 Its Name Is T43A
Malachenko hadn't experienced such a strong and exciting visual impact for a while. I remember the last time was when he was fighting the Nazis in Berlin.
Wait, it didn't seem to be too long when he was fighting the Nazis in Berlin?
Never mind, it doesn't matter. Anyway, this not-so-big guy in front of me gives people the feeling that it is really awesome.
The main gun that was turned back by the turret and the barrel facing backwards, fixed on the engine compartment for convenient rail transportation, looks quite familiar, with a sense of "the Red Navy is full of martial virtue on land", and it can be said to be in the same vein as the 130 main gun of IS7.
Tracing back to the source, it is actually the main gun of the Red Navy B-43 100mm naval gun on the vehicle.
Of course, this is not the first time that this "take-it-as-it-is" Red Army naval gun has appeared on a tracked vehicle. Another well-known and equally powerful Red Army tank destroyer, the SU-100, used this gun a long time ago and broke into the German Zoo.
It killed all kinds of turrets and heads of zoo monsters, which was a great achievement. Of course, it also fully proved the powerful power of this "naval gun on a car" main gun.
On the other hand, the Red Army had long wanted to move the 100 gun onto tanks, and even this idea came earlier than the 100 gun on tank destroyers.
Malashenko still remembers the scene when Morozov pointed to the long-nosed T34 and said to him, "That's the last T34 tank, Cherno Alpha" when he visited the factory.
The T34-100, which had insurmountable defects, ultimately failed, but its design and development experience and exploration results were turned into technical reserves, which were preserved and eventually used in the next generation of the latest T43 tank improvement and upgrade project.
It was also because Morozov, who had never given up upgrading the firepower of his tanks and had always been obsessed with the failure of the T34-100 project, had made sufficient plans when the latest T43 tank project was established.
However, medium tanks are far from being like heavy tanks. They can take a relatively high-quality route with small quantities and high quality. They are specially equipped for elite troops and used for concentrated breakthroughs. It is not too much of a headache to have fewer numbers. Medium tanks are the absolute mainstay that must be guaranteed for every Red Army tank unit.
The medium tanks, which have extremely high production capacity requirements and are so large that just looking at the numbers is enough to shock people, must be delivered in guaranteed quantities. This is the fundamental demand that the Red Army cannot compromise or give in anyway.
Morozov had no choice but to use the 85mm main gun on the T43, which had poor performance but was at least sufficient in quantity. The production capacity of the 100mm vehicle-mounted main gun, which competed with the tank destroyer for production capacity, could not meet the minimum monthly delivery requirements of medium tanks, and was even less than half.
If you dare to use the 100mm main gun for mass production, then wait for the Red Army, no, it should be the comrades of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to come to you to discuss your ideals.
The 85mm gun T43 was finalized and put into production, but the design and improvement work of the 100mm gun version of the T43 has never stopped.
In line with the principle of "since the production capacity of artillery is not enough, I will design it first", Morozov, who was unwilling to give up any available time, led the team to take the limited 100mm sample guns for research, and went to the production workshop to continuously make plans and change the design. While waiting for the production capacity of 100 guns to increase, he did his best to change the 100mm gun version of T43 to the "strongest and best" within his ability.
Hard work pays off. Morozov thought that "there is no place to change it, and the current technical level is like this", and the T43-100 prototype was finally completed in early 1945.
At the same time, the Red Army's 100mm vehicle-mounted main gun also completed the production capacity increase. It has the ability to ensure the supply of main guns for large-scale mass-produced medium tanks without affecting the supply of main guns for tank destroyers.
So far, Kotin had thought about installing this "hot" 100mm main gun on his own car, and Morozov had also thought about installing it on his own car. In the end, Morozov finally installed it on his medium tank first and started mass production.
It was this 100mm main gun transplanted from the Red Navy with superior performance that gave the T43-100 the ability to "penetrate" the heavyweight target of the King Tiger in the initial pre-research design.
So how to "defend"? How can we withstand the fierce bombardment of the Chang 88 main gun?
The fragile main armor belt of the initial T43 was proved to be useless, at least in front of the Chang 88 and even the stronger 128.
"Penetrating once hit, penetrating every time hit" almost became a joke for the German heavy armored battalion to talk about the Red Army's new medium tanks for a period of time. After being beaten black and blue by Stalin's heavy tank, he finally got his face back on the medium tank.
Similar jokes were also passed to Morozov through the Soviet intelligence system and prisoners.
Although the design indicators proposed by the Red Army did not require the medium tank to withstand the firepower of the heavy tank, it was simply unrealistic in wartime and there was no time to do such research. But Morozov, who remained silent on the surface, continued to work on the drawings in private, secretly vowing to get back on the latest T43-100.
When the preliminary research of T43-100 started, there was no ready-made King Tiger prototype, but it was heard that the Nazis had a monster like King Tiger on the battlefield.
Based on the idea that "the guns are the same anyway", Morozov directly got an early Ferdinand captured by the Red Army in the Battle of Kursk as a research object.
The Red Army's active tank crew responsible for the prototype test operated it, repeatedly shooting at homogeneous steel targets of various angles and thicknesses, recording different shooting results one by one and then improving the design in turn.
There were even accidents during the period. Ferdinand, which was used too hard by Morozov and was used like a cow and horse, could not bear the huge workload. In a certain test, the power compartment smoked, the electric transmission system was overloaded, and the cable caught fire. Fortunately, it was discovered in time and handled properly, so no casualties were caused, but this Ferdinand, which was used as a free cow and horse, was completely useless. There was no ability to overhaul this thing, and there was no need to repair it, so it was directly scrapped.
Fortunately, at this time, there was already a ready-made King Tiger that was dragged back from the front line and reserved for the rear institute for research.
With the real King Tiger benchmark, Morozov could test more things, and the armor configuration design, which was already perfected, was finally completed.
The 120mm physical thickness of the upper front armor plate of the hull arranged at a 60-degree tilt angle, plus the 200mm physical thickness of the gun shield that protruded irregularly along the gun root, and finally supplemented by the flat oval turret that was not round but had excellent defensive configuration.
Morozov was quite satisfied with the test results. The test results of the shooting range showed that the armored box target of this configuration could not only completely withstand the King Tiger Long 88 shooting from the front, but even the Jagdtiger 128 gun that was captured later and dragged for testing could also block it.
This is considered to have fully realized the foresight that the pre-research design should have, although the final armor thickness was also obtained through continuous testing and modification during the implementation of the design. But it is true that in the "paper car-making" stage of the pre-research and design, a series of problems caused by the possible increase in weight and thickness of the armor have been considered, and enough space for enhancement has been reserved in advance, so that the final result of the mobility can be achieved after the protection is in place.
Oh, there is another thing worth mentioning.
The latest composite armor technology, which has been fully deployed and used by Malashenko after proposing the concept and assisting in the design, has also been incorporated into the latest T43-100 tank design.
In the finalized design plan, the T43-100 adopts "60 mm homogeneous steel + 40 mm rubber interlayer + 60 mm homogeneous steel + 20 mm rubber interlayer", with a total physical thickness of 180 mm.
The role of the middle layer of rubber is obvious, weakening the chemical energy metal jet; the innermost layer of rubber has a certain weakening effect, and also has a good reduction and anti-collapse effect on the metal fragments collapsing and splashing when the armor is penetrated by passive energy.
If the armor is only half-penetrated and the warhead fails to enter the vehicle, it is almost immune to all the armor fragments that are not large in number. It is a simple but very useful design, which was also first proposed by Malashenko.
The design of the turret is relatively complicated. In addition to the 200 mm physical thickness of the pure armor steel gun shield, the left and right faces of the turret have the same "sandwich" configuration composite armor design as the front of the vehicle body. The specific thickness is "120 steel + 40 rubber + 80 steel + 20 rubber" from the outside to the inside, and there is an anti-collapse lining rubber layer design like the front of the vehicle body.
The reason for adding the rubber interlayer is obvious - to resist the chemical energy armor-piercing weapons that may appear in the future.
The rapid progress of chemical energy armor-piercing weapons in the depth of armor penetration made Morozov realize that this emerging weapon category, which has achieved rapid development in a very short period of time and has a threat level to armor that even exceeds traditional kinetic energy armor-piercing projectiles, will inevitably become a strong enemy of tank vehicle protection in the future. It is undoubtedly imperative to enhance the protection against chemical energy armor-piercing weapons.
To this end, Morozov not only added the most fashionable composite armor design to the T43-100, but also incorporated a full set of external composite armor design that was assisted and technically supported by Kotin, who helped with Malashenko's matchmaking.
This full set of additional armor, which is made up of two thin steel plates sandwiched with a rubber layer and then hung on the outside of the tank like the armor plates of ancient generals, has been proven in actual combat to greatly enhance the tank's resistance to chemical energy armor-piercing weapons.
Even the T3485, which was already somewhat outdated at the end of the war, could ignore the fierce bombardment of the Panzerfaust 100 after being hung with this thing, and rushed forward and charged into the battle like a bull in a porcelain shop, bearing the Nazi anti-tank grenades.
All these mature and reliable innovative designs, coupled with Morozov's great skill in "three years of hard work" on the T43, finally created the "super medium tank" in front of Malashenko, which was parked on a flatbed and fully armed with external composite armor.
The old designer called it "T43-100" because the entire project team, including Morozov, called it that since the preliminary research of this thing began and there was no official engineering number.
Later, even after getting the engineering number, it was passed down from mouth to mouth because it was easy to pronounce. In the end, even the official equipment number after the Red Army approved and allowed the initial batch to be put into production was simply called "T43A", which means the first deeply improved sub-model of the T43 medium tank.
But Malashenko, who witnessed this scene, knew.
If it is based on his own cognition in the existing history, and follows his memory of his previous life to judge and analyze it.
Then this thing should not be called T43A, it is really a bit ahead of its time.
Although because of the use of a lot of innovative technology design, coupled with premature birth, its appearance has changed a lot from the existing history.
But there is one thing that is really "strong in classic heritage flavor" and has not changed.
What is it?
Of course it is the "five pairs of road wheels"!
To be honest, Malashenko, who is more familiar with the "five pairs of road wheels" than his mother, will never forget how much influence this thing has in the existing history until his death.
And this thing, a tank with a similar foundation and appearance, should have been named "T-54 1947" in the existing history.
Now, this thing was born two years earlier, equipped with more efficient but simple and practical protective armor than in the existing history, and is far more powerful than the earliest T54 1945 in the existing history.
The protection directly beats all kinds of T54 improved versions in the existing history two years later, four years later, and even six years later.
According to the standards of the existing history, only the deeply modified T54A can compare with the T43A in the current timeline.
Malashenko never expected that he didn't care much at the beginning because he didn't want to cause Kotin's misunderstanding and didn't want to be involved in the competition between the two people. He deliberately ignored the development of Morozov's medium tank, and in the end he actually made such a powerful "super premature car".
Although it is not as shocking as the two "heavy armored duo" IS7 and ISU-203, Malashenko helped Morozov less and late.
If Malashenko is a game cheat, then Kotin is undoubtedly the one who "cheated all the way" at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, and was so happy that he took off on the spot and rushed to complete all the achievements.
Morozov is different. He survived the most difficult first half of the game and got the cheat in the second half, and the function is not as comprehensive as Kotin's.
So Morozov can come up with this kind of thing, which has "very shocked Malashenko for a whole year".
It is a little regrettable that he didn't catch up with the Great Patriotic War, but at least he didn't miss the battlefield once, at least he caught this last train.
Well, this means that you Japanese devils will soon be able to enjoy the "IS7+T43A+BMP43+ISU203+TOS1A" limited set meal, and this does not include the secondary equipment of IS6 and ISU-152A with slightly less impact.
This is the supreme top treatment that even the Germans have not enjoyed!
Malashenko now hopes that you Japanese devils and the bunch of Kwantung Army that are causing trouble in the Northeast will not surrender as soon as they see a large number of tanks rushing over, that would be too boring.
You must, must, must, must play your "samurai spirit" to the end, I beg you, okay?