Chapter 311 Car Selection

In fact, the tank chosen by Malashenko was none other than the IS1 heavy tank turret prototype equipped with an 85mm D-5T main gun in history.

This type of classic turret has been used from the original KV85 prototype tank to the IS1 and later IS2. Since the beginning of the design, the prototype turret was designed to be very wide in consideration of the need to replace the larger caliber main gun in the future. This is why Lavrinenko had the illusion of a "small KV2 turret" when he saw it.

Strictly speaking, the turret of this type, which was used by Stalin's heavy tanks in history, is not perfect. The front end of the gun shield with a physical armor thickness of only 100 mm can penetrate it from the front, not to mention the 88 gun, even the long-barreled 75 gun of the later type of the fourth tank can penetrate it from the front. Relying on this semi-arc round gun shield to expect ricochet defense, which is a probability event, is undoubtedly a very stupid and naive behavior on the battlefield full of war and extremely cruel.

But no matter what, the IS1/2 heavy tank universal turret is still a successful design that has been tested in brutal actual combat. When he thought that even the front armor of the Tiger tank, which the German army was proud of, was only 100 mm, Malashenko, who knew that there would never be an invincible tank in the world, was relieved.

"Well, although the 100 mm gun shield can't resist the Tiger, Panther and Chang 4, it is at least enough in 1941. It's enough to use future equipment at this critical moment. If I ask for too much, it will make me look a little greedy."

After changing his mind, Malashenko felt that his mind was clear in an instant. He took the lead and stepped onto the front armor plate of the car in front of him. He used his hands and feet to quickly come to the turret and opened the commander's cover. Malashenko, who had already stepped into the turret, turned around and spoke to the people who were still stunned.

"What are you still doing? Let's get to work, comrades."

After being awakened by Malashenko's words, the crowd began to disperse.

Iushkin and Kirill, who belonged to Malashenko's crew, followed Malashenko's steps and began to get on the car. Lavrinenko, who was beside him, also led his crew after hearing the sound and began to walk towards the other seven prototype tanks with different turrets.

For Lavrinenko, who had fought dozens of tank battles, it was still the first time for him to be qualified to choose his future car. Lavrinenko, who had no information to refer to and no "staff" to give advice, could only make a choice based on his own judgment.

With the continuous forward steps, the first prototype tank that appeared in front of Lavrinenko was a "square" turret tank equipped with square and almost three vertical armors.

This heavy tank has a square appearance with three vertical sides, and only a curved gun shield that can only cover one-third of the front projection area is attached to the front of the turret. It looks quite like the design style of German tanks.

The designer under Kotin, who proposed the design of this type of turret, believed that the internal space of the original Soviet tank turret was too narrow, which not only made it difficult for the combatants inside the turret to display their abilities, thus greatly weakening the man-machine fit effect and lowering the overall combat efficiency of the tank, but also severely reduced the number of ammunition carried by the first ammunition rack built into the turret, which could originally carry a lot of shells.

Based on this principle, this type of square-looking prototype turret uses vertical armor to arrange defense in all possible positions, thereby expanding the space for members inside the turret to display their abilities, and increasing the ammunition load of the first ammunition rack built into the rear of the turret.

When fully loaded, it can carry 35 rounds of 85mm fixed shells, which is equivalent to the largest ammunition load in the first ammunition rack of all eight prototype turret tanks. After the cancellation of the inclined armor defense layout, the personnel in the turret can be more spacious. The huge improvement in the human-machine efficiency of this type of prototype turret can be said to be the top of the list of all prototype vehicles.

At the same time, due to the cancellation of the inclined armor with a larger surface area and the adoption of the vertical armor layout with the highest armor distribution utilization rate, the physical armor thickness of the turret itself can be further improved while the total mass is almost the same.

The defense on the left and right sides and the back of the turret is completed by the homogeneous steel armor layout using welding technology, with a physical thickness of 80mm, which was a considerable defense in 1941.

The armor weight saved on the other three sides was concentrated on the front of the turret, which had the highest chance of being hit. The turret front armor, which was also arranged vertically, was as thick as 120 mm. With the 30 mm thick semi-arc gun shield that only covered one-third of the turret front projection area, the defense power of the thickest part of the armor reached an astonishing 150 mm. In 1941, this could only be described as abnormal.

But the principle of not having your cake and eating it too is also present in this seemingly perfect prototype turret.

The turret that completely uses 90-degree vertical armor to lay out defense not only loses the equivalent armor bonus obtained by the tilted armor, but also has a chance of ricocheting at a large angle, which is like the magical power of body protection. This means that In actual combat, this type of turret can only rely on its thick physical armor to withstand enemy firepower.

Once it is surrounded by an enemy tank, or it is ambushed to the side and suddenly fires, the completely vertical armor defense cannot expect any ricochet that can explode the character. This is hardly good news for Soviet tank soldiers who have to deal with German tanks with high mobility and love to use roundabout and flanking tactics in actual combat.

After walking around the prototype vehicle with a vertical armored turret in front of him for two full times, after much thought, Lavrinenko, who always felt that the only thing about this thing that looked like an iron bastard on the front, finally put aside his hesitation and shook his head slightly. , the result of being shot through the side armor by the Germans and killed instantly was not the fate that Lavrinenko wanted.

"Let's look at other things."

Lavrinenko, who secretly said that he was planning to compare prices, then walked towards the next prototype car, but this next prototype car appeared in front of him. It is another extreme design idea with a completely different style.