KV-13 (Klimenti Voroshilov)

History

Heavy tanks were favored by the Soviets and Germans during the fighting in World War II (1939-1945), and both countries made significant strides in introducing various types of heavy tanks to the battlefield. For the Soviet Union, the first-class "Joseph Stalin" IS-2 series was made possible by the battlefield experience gained with the KV-1 series tanks in the early stages of the war.

The rugged KV-1 series was introduced in 1939 and continued until 1945, with more than 5,200 prototypes produced for service.

Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, and the resulting disaster for the Soviet tank army, the Soviet Union was forced to bring various types of combat vehicles to the front. This desperation also laid the groundwork for a new heavy tank requested by Soviet Army authorities, combining the performance and combat weight of the T-34 medium tank with the armor and firepower of the KV-1. Despite its value, the KV-1 proved unreliable and its service with the Soviet Army did not play to its advantage.

The new tanks will replace the current T-34 and KV-1 production lines.

The KV-1 was the starting point for a new car that appeared from the experimental tank factory in Chelyabinsk. When designing the tank, engineers opted for cast armor wherever possible to reduce reliance on external armor and internal clearance. Sloping faces were placed around the flat superstructure, and the turret incorporated rounded edges for basic ballistic protection. Armor protection measures 120mm at the forward bow of the hull and 85mm along the forward turret face.

Although the KV-1's wheels were retained, the landing gear was pulled from the T-34 tank. The total weight brought 35 tons (short) on the scale.

Prototypes were quickly arranged, and trials had begun in May 1942. Mechanical problems arose almost immediately, and the track wheel arrangement proved prone to failure. Even the death of the original project manager did little to improve things. Engineers continued the KV-13 design under a new supervisor and began designing and building two different KV-13 prototype branches, each with an entirely new turret and only a few components carried over from the original down. The main difference between the two prototypes is the main armament installed, the first carrying a 76mm ZiS-5 series gun and the second a 122mm U-11 howitzer.

At this point, the arrival of the German "Tiger I" heavy tank (details elsewhere on this site) forced the Soviet authorities to refocus on new, modern, proprietary heavy tanks rather than general-purpose super-medium tanks.

Thus, both designs emerged in 1943 as prototypes for the later IS-1 and IS-2 heavy tanks (respectively - detailed elsewhere on this page). The idea of ??a super medium main battle tank never materialized, and efforts were made to bring more T-34 tanks online while supporting that number with more dedicated heavy tanks.

Although only three KV-13 tanks were produced, they played an invaluable role in starting the development of the classic Soviet line of heavy tanks that worked well in the 1945 Berlin advance.

As planned, the KV-13 is 6.6 meters long, 2.8 meters wide and 2.5 meters high. The crew consists of three employees. In addition to the main armament, a 7.62mm DT-29 series machine gun is mounted on a coaxial mount in the turret. It is powered by a 600-horsepower V12 liquid-cooled diesel engine mated to a mechanical drivetrain.

A torsion bar spring suspension system is attached to the fuselage. The car can reach speeds of 40 miles per hour on busy roads and has a range of up to 200 miles.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Performance

for everyone else in our database)

Armor

Not available.

Changes