Krupp Landkreuzer P.1000 Ratte (Rat)

History

The Landkreuzer P. 1000 "Ratte" (translated as "rat") was designed by the German company Krupp for super heavy tanks and originated in 1942. When the plan began, Hitler gave the sprawling enterprise an immediate blessing. The strongest tank designed for the modern battlefield. This is an ambitious undertaking, to say the least, and if completed, will undoubtedly be the largest tank ever built. Albert Speer, the German Minister of Armament and War Production of the Third Reich, saw the futility of such efforts and canceled the P. 1000 in early 1943.

Therefore, the mouse never left the drawing.

Externally, the P. 1000 would dwarf any other tank produced at the time. The sheer size will be a visual feast, with up to 11 large wheels mounted on either side of the track. The rails themselves will be nearly four feet wide. The hull was largely conventional in design and construction by 1942 standards, with flat side armor and sloping front and rear hull armor.

In some places, the armor is between 150mm and 360mm thick. The turret will also be equipped with anti-ballistic armor for maximum protection. The dimensions of the P. 1000 are impressive: 11 meters high, 14 meters wide and 35 meters long.

The total operating weight should be 1,000 tons (2,000,000 lbs).

Essentially, the P. 1000 was designed to be a large rolling battle platform, fully armed. Huge turrets will be located at the front of the hull and the main armament will be 2 x 280mm 54.5 SK C/34 guns mounted side by side, these turrets are based on the powerful naval guns - what a specially designed twin gun arrangement is required. Essentially, the turret will be a modified heavy cruiser (probably Gneisenau-class) turret with a full 360-degree turn - albeit slow to move such a heavy unit. Shooting "on the go" is not possible with this feature. Secondary armament consists of a 128mm KwK 44 L/55 anti-tank gun and 8 x 20mm Flak 38 anti-tank guns, the latter used against approaching, low-flying enemy aircraft such as the p. 1000 for many pilots is a tempting, slow-moving target.

The 128mm gun system was either housed in the main turret with the Navy's twin guns, or in a single (albeit smaller) turret attached to the rear of the hull (the exact location of the weapon was never officially determined). 2 x 15mm MG 151/15 autocannons will also be part of the P. 1000 weapon pack, resulting in an impressive combat system on the battlefield.

An estimated minimum of 20 (but a maximum of 40) personnel is required to operate the various onboard systems - a return to the large, boxy German WWI tank design A7V Sturmpanzer-Kkraftwagen, which used and used The 18-man crew was armed with a 57mm main gun and up to five 7.9mm machine guns.

To propel such a giant across the European battlefield, Krupp suggested the use of eight Daimler-Benz MB501 20-cylinder marine diesel engines with an estimated power output of 16,000 hp or four MAN V127Z32/44 24-cylinder marine diesel engines exceeding 17,000 horsepower. The former engine was used in the existing German E-boat system, while the latter featured prominently in submarine U-boat designs. All of this is questionable, despite an optimistic top speed of 25 mph envisioned. Sustained range is also concerning, though it maintains a distance of up to 120 miles.

The P. 1000 is believed to be severely limited in most aspects of its general operation - speed, range and reliability - leading many to doubt its true effectiveness in using live ammunition.

Landkreuzer P. 1000 in its current form is just another tangent to Adolf Hitler, for which he used valuable war resources and engineering power. On paper, the P. 1000 is a real threat, with enough firepower and inherent armor protection to both destroy anything on the modern battlefield and survive just about anything thrown at it. In reality, the system did little to change the fortunes of Germany's downward spiral late in the war. The sheer size of the P.1000 would severely limit its tactical utility and battlefield effectiveness, and cross-country travel would prove impossible, likely limiting the armored system to being a static, fixed defense weapon covering part of the territory.

Tanks protect the range of their guns. The weight alone will force some European roads to collapse under the mass of the wheel. Also, no bridges in Europe were able to support the passage of the P. 1000, which had to be transported by rail vehicles that were frequently attacked by Allied fighter jets - however, even rail transport wasn't really a viable means of transport for large scale Heavy vehicles - their width alone precludes this use. Furthermore, using multiple engines in a complex interconnected arrangement within the fuselage would be a maintenance nightmare for the accompanying crew, not to mention a headache in finding useful spares.

Having said that, the range of the P. 1000, if used in combat, would be severely limited by these inherent design limitations.

Although the P. 1000 project ultimately failed, the Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus ("rat") became the largest tank built during WWII, although only two prototypes reached prototypes before the end of the war. So the P. 1000 will go down in history.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Performance

for everyone else in our database)

Armor

Depends on the ammunition carrier.

Changes