Imperial Overlord

As the Tiger tank that the head of state personally ordered to develop and produce, it can be said to be the first real main battle tank in the world.

In order to make this main battle tank really form a generational difference with its opponents, the German engineers have racked their brains.

First of all, this brand-new tank uses many mature technologies, but on the basis of existing ones, these technologies have been innovated.

When designing this tank, there are many other types of tanks that are referenced, including the famous British Centurion main battle tank.

You know, the Centurion main battle tank was mass-produced in 1945, so its technical difficulty is not high. The technology of the Centurion tank has nothing to mention, its powerful place lies in its design concept - the main battle tank!

The Centurion tank was still in service in the armies of some European countries in 1981, which is enough to prove how successful this tank-dominated main battle tank concept has been in its implementation.

Therefore, the new tank chassis adopts the existing Leopard tank technology, expands the chassis of the Leopard tank, and strengthens it with some technologies on the Centurion tank.

The new tank vehicle chassis with 7 pairs of road wheels is simply the most reliable universal tracked chassis of this era.

Single-row road wheels, large hubs and an avant-garde unsupported pulley design, this tank chassis is closer in image to the T-72 main battle tank later designed by the Soviet Union.

Of course, the T-72 tank has 6 pairs of road wheels, while the new chassis of the German Tiger tank has 7 pairs of road wheels.

The low profile also has the feature of cancelling the directional machine gun, which is inherited from the Panther tank, so that this tank chassis has a strong future tank design style.

All road wheels are glued, which reduces wear and tear and also makes the tank itself run more smoothly.

When it comes to the use of rubber, we have to talk about Atlantic shipping, which has now disappeared from the war. The absence of a war between the United States and Germany has made Atlantic shipping the busiest shipping route in the world today.

Germany can freely purchase rubber without restrictions from the United States, so a large amount of rubber is transported from South America to Europe, and the total weight is staggering.

The U.S. Navy has no capital to intercept at all, so they can only watch Germany make up for the war, and at the national level, hoard more rubber.

Even, the US executives deliberately sold some rare metals such as copper to Germany to appease the German executives and delay the implementation of Germany's strategic actions against the United States as much as possible.

Therefore, Germany, which once lacked rubber, actually has no shortage of rubber resources now. Perhaps after the declaration of war on the United States, the Atlantic shipping was blocked, and Germany would worry about the consumption of rubber again.

Because of this, the German tank design now adopts the normal design ideas. After abandoning the double-row road wheels, German tank design was finally on track.

Rolls-Royce Engine Company cooperated with the German Maybach engine design team to develop a new 710-horsepower diesel engine, which finally gave Germany a brand-new tank power.

This is not the gasoline engine that is heavily equipped on the Leopard tank, but an upgraded version of the diesel engine that has been tried on the improved Leopard tank.

The new engine name is called MR-HLD230 - the initials of the two companies are written together, followed by the German abbreviation of high-performance diesel engine, 230 means the engine displacement is 23 liters.

The use of diesel engines on tanks, which started in Japan and the Soviet Union, has since become mainstream in the world and has become the preferred power system for most tanks.

Diesel engines have a lot of torque and are really good for heavy vehicles - like heavy-duty trucks, and weapons like tanks.

The Maybach engine design team incorporating Rolls-Royce technology has successfully designed a powerful engine that is enough to go down in history.

With the support of this engine, although the weight of the Tiger tank has exceeded 45 tons, its off-road maneuverability is still very powerful.

Such a powerful maneuverability comes at a price. The Tiger tank is also like a tiger in terms of fuel consumption. The designed combat radius of this tank is only about 190 kilometers.

Although this data is much better than the real Tiger tanks in history, the combat radius is still short and depressing.

Therefore, after a series of discussions, Germany imitated the structural principle of the auxiliary fuel tank of a fighter jet, and installed two fuel tanks that can be thrown away at the back of this tank.

This new design draws on the classic design on the opponent's Soviet T-34 tank, which also proves the new design concept of the German designer who draws on the strengths of others.

The new chariot has done a lot on the chassis, and it also allows this new tank to have off-road mobility far beyond this era.

And the turret that concentrated many new black technologies has also become the sharpest tusk of the Tiger tank - its appearance marks the advent of a new generation of main battle tanks.

The concept of the main battle tank is actually a general tank concept born in the future after a lot of technological progress.

After the appearance of composite armor, the protection ability of the tank has been greatly improved, so the tank can use a lighter weight to achieve the protection level of a heavy tank.

Therefore, the main battle tank came into being. With the same firepower as the heavy tank, and strong mobility, it completely replaced the heavy tank and became the absolute main force in the modern tank family.

The new turret also adopts a design concept similar to composite armor~www.wuxiaspot.com~ but this concept is very primitive-some other materials are used on the outside of the turret of the Tiger tank, and an external steel plate is hung on the outermost layer.

These external steel plates play the role of part of the composite armor, which can improve part of the protection level.

The protective design similar to composite armor has increased the armor protection thickness of the Tiger tank from 110 mm to about 150 mm.

At this point in 1941, the protection level of the 150 mm thick steel plate on the front of the Tiger tank was already perfect protection that could not be penetrated by the front.

The side of the turret of the Tiger tank, as well as the back of the turret, are designed with the same storage compartment as the Panther tank. On the one hand, the turret is counterweight, and on the other hand, the loading capacity of the tank is improved.

Crew members have welcomed this design, and they can fill these storage compartments with a variety of items to enhance the sides and rear of the tank's defenses.

Slightly different from the Leopard tank, the Tiger tank has some hanging points reserved in advance on the body and turret.