Question:
WW2 German and American tank complexity?
Stanley The dog
2013-07-04 02:48:45 UTC
what are those tiny details on ww2 tanks like those black ridges on some German tanks like on the front of the tiger, those round plate looking things on some German tanks like on the back of the VK-1602 Leopard above the engine, boxes on some tanks, or the 3 joined tubes like on some modern tanks that are mounted on the side of the turret. If you are feeling extra nice, you could go into extra detail about other parts in WW2 tanks (not modern tanks) or at least refer me to a site that does.
Five answers:
Mark F
2013-07-04 04:53:02 UTC
Well, if these are the "black ridges" you are talking about on the nose of the Tiger I they are spare track lengths, carried to replace damaged tracks in the field (and also usefully serving as de-facto additional armor protection for the nose).



http://harveyblackauthor.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/tiger-tank-017.jpg



The "round plate looking things" are the engine air intakes and air filter boxes.



I honestly don't know what you mean by "3 joined tubes on the side of the turret" unless you are referring to smoke grenade dischargers.



http://data3.primeportal.net/tanks/hans-hermann_buhling/leopard_2a6/images/leopard_2a6_06_of_73.jpg



You really should have included some example photo's since your descriptions leave a lot to be desired.



As for finding out more detail, that is as simple as typing "M4 Sherman Diagram" in Google Images.



https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=963&oq=VK-1602+Leopard+&gs_l=img.12...770.770.0.1733.1.1.0.0.0.0.49.49.1.1.0....0...1ac.1.19.img.4KvVWp3yLk4&q=VK-1602%20Leopard#hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=m4+sherman+diag&oq=m4+sherman+diag&gs_l=img.3..0.7171.11407.0.13081.15.9.0.4.4.0.106.645.8j1.9.0....0...1c.1.19.img.h2bApnAUmak&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=68f5f33c88c51bfd&biw=1920&bih=963&imgdii=_
2014-11-09 21:01:19 UTC
One of the most simple answers regarding how German tanks had inherent flaws are in looking at the track wheels. They had inboard and outboard wheels, which were a superior design, but if one of the inboard wheels or it's bearings were damaged, three wheels would have to be removed. The tracks and wheels were a weak point of all WW2 tanks, but with the German tanks it was much worse.



German tanks were not designed for serviceability. Due to the wisdom of Henry Ford and many other American industrialists, American tanks, though vastly inferior, were field serviceable. The American tank, M-60 was very similar to a cross breeding of the Russian T-34 and the German Tiger and Panther. To this day, American tanks remain field serviceable, though the turbine engines on the Abrams are serviceable only in the fact that they can be modularly replaced. The same is true of all the treaded vehicles, Most notably the M-88 tank retrieval vehicle, capable of towing 80,000 pounds. The M-88 has an incredible V-12 DOHC diesel hemi. The intake valves are as big as the palm of your hand. Hearing that engine at full throttle is only surpassed by top alcohol and nitro methane dragsters.



The Abrams has dual turbine engines. Horsepower... just 1,500, incredible torque, but really lousy fuel mileage.



The ridges on the German tanks served no purpose. They were there because it would have taken an expenditure of labor to remove them.



The Germans would have annihilated us with their advanced tanks, but for two problems. They had about 2,000 Tiger, Panther and Leopard tanks. We had over 50,000 Shermans. Their other problem. They ran out of gas.
Adam J
2013-07-04 02:58:14 UTC
It's a little hard to be quite sure what you're referring to without pictures. In regards to the 'black ridges' in some pictures what would appear to be spare tank tracks are mounted on the front armor of the tank (it wasn't unknown for tankers to put stuff on the front of tanks as extra armor.) 'Boxes' could be anything from actual boxes that contain supplies, to explosive reactive armor tiles that are placed on some modern tanks (especially Soviet/Russian designs)
?
2013-07-04 05:41:30 UTC
Those black ridges on German tanks could be the coating applied to the armor for protection against magnetic mines. Zimmerplate or something like that it was called.
Devin
2013-07-04 08:28:28 UTC
you really need pictures to understand what you are referring to. 3 joined tubes? do you mean like these:



http://www.canstockphoto.com/smoke-grenade-launchers-0784216.html



those are smoke grenade launchers. just about every semi-modern tank has them. they can be used for cover, diversion, etc. some modern tanks have flares and smoke to defeat guided missiles.



as for round plates, those aren't plates. those seem to be engine air intakes and air filter boxes.



as for boxes, pictures are needed to even guess at what you are referring to.


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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