Comments on: Soviet Hellcat

By: Kellomies

Kellomies — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 17:16:01 +0000

I very sincerely doubt the fuel was a major factor in the decision against ordering the thing, however much the Soviets now preferred diesels for actual combat vehicles. They just noted it as a con as usual.
Rather more important was probably that the whole “turreted tank destroyer” gig was kinda dubious even in the US military and produced a fair degree of pointless redundancy and confusion, and accordingly didn’t survive very long after the war. Hard to see why the Soviets would have found it desirable to *import* the whole mess in the form of a whole new AFV with all the associated additional logistical complexity, as opposed to just ordering more proper tanks with proven track records, established support infrastructre and a lot more versatility.

By: Kellomies

Kellomies — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 16:47:41 +0000

Eh, I dunno. Probably revealing that the two modern MBT designs that greatly emphasize agility and mobility, the Leclerc and K2, use high-spec diesel jobs with turbines only in auxiliary roles.

By: Kellomies

Kellomies — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 16:19:19 +0000

Because the big cats were totally the only threat on the battlefield you needed to worry about, right.
By this time the Soviets were already starting to field T-34/85s which not only had rather more gun than 76mm but also enough armour to not die if any random peashooter so much as looked at them funny.
As well as about twice the Hellcat’s operational range and no extra logistical complications.
While the SU-85 was about to get replaced with the SU-100, which could merrily frontally take out a Panther from well over a kilometer – have fun doing that with the 76mm. (Also, protection and logistics as above.)

No idea why you’re even mentioning the SU-76, that thing was a cheap & cheerful light assault gun for infantry support work (and very good at it too).

By: Kellomies

Kellomies — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 16:11:26 +0000

T-54 was barely in the pipeline in ’44. And when Soviet engineers discussed “comfort” what they meant wasn’t ‘creature comforts’ but whether the ergonomics of the position allowed the crew member in question to carry out his duties efficiently.

T-54 also came with an awful lot more gun and armour.

By: Kellomies

Kellomies — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 16:05:15 +0000

.__________.
Were you born that stupid or did you have to work hard for it?

By: j1gzy

j1gzy — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 10:00:16 +0000

Perhaps it is you who should pay attention or at the very least learn to read;

“Technically, it’s not even an M18 Hellcat. It was built by the Buick company in 1943 (its M1A1 gun, serial number 1272 was made by another plant, GM-Oldsmobile. This type vehicle was designated as M18 Hellcat in March 1944, so the vehicle in Kubinka is actually its earlier incarnation,” (sic)

You still have the opinion that OP was mocking the Hellcat?

By: Wide_Red_Line

Wide_Red_Line — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 09:36:04 +0000

Yes, I love Hellcat too, but most of all I love t40 (~75%, YK:))

By: Meplat

Meplat — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 09:22:14 +0000

“we don’t want it” is a much fairer decision than making up something about it’s fuel.
Akin to the nonsense the US pulled with the T34′s air filter when they tested it.

I can say the R975 is not at all fragile considering the range of versions and the power extracted from later versions, though yes the big Herc is a similarly understressed design.

By: Chad Mesiroff

Chad Mesiroff — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 09:21:41 +0000

- gunner’s space is comfortable
- loader’s space is cramped and not comfortable
- commander’s space does not allow comfortable function, because periscope is missing and the commander is exposed to small arms fire
- driver’s and his helper’s space is comfortable
- ammunition is not stowed comfortably, out of the entire set of 45 rounds, loader can easily reach only 9

This was adorable….The USSR talking about tank comfort and or smart ammo stowage LOLOL

Have you seen a T54/Any USSR tank lately?

By: Chad Mesiroff

Chad Mesiroff — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 09:19:32 +0000

Because dying is the way to win wars……