Self-propelled SU-100Y - production, combat missions, successes in battles

On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, the parties predicted fighting not only on the battlefields. Of great importance was the development of the military-industrial complex, the development of which the Soviet Union attached great importance. One of the main directions of the development of the military-industrial complex was the development of self-propelled units, abbreviated to SS.

Necessity

The beginning of the Soviet-Finnish war showed a lag in the reservation and arming of Soviet equipment. There was a need in military vehicles for improved reservation. By the end of 1939, with a special decree of the Military Council of the North-Western Front, the engineers of the Leningrad Experimental Machine Building Plant were given a secret task: to design an engineering tank for increased reservation. One of the final developments of engineers was SU-100Y.

Development

At first it was planned to create a tank on the basis of an already existing T-100. The new armed vehicle was intended for the transport of sappers and explosives, for bridging and for the evacuation of damaged military equipment from the battlefield. However, in the development process, new instructions were received from the head of the ABTU RKKA D. Pavlov. The future tank should be successful in combating static defensive structures - pillboxes and bunkers. In the light of the new requirements imposed on the projected machine, the director of the Leningrad plant, N. Barykov, considered it necessary to apply to the headquarters of the North-Western Front with a request to abolish the previous decree and make a decision to create a new military machine. This request was considered and agreed upon, and already in the beginning of 1940 the drawings of the self-propelled plant were transferred to a military plant in Izhorsk.

T-100-X

The new development was listed in projects called T-100-X. The final machine was significantly different from its initial prototype. The new military machine was equipped with an armored cabin in the form of a wedge, reinforced armor and torsion engine, which was manufactured at the plant. Kirov (Leningrad). The manufacture of armored parts significantly delayed the process of creating a prototype of a self-propelled unit, so it was decided to change the shape of the felling to a simpler one. She was given the name SU-100Y. The photo of the new car is shown below.

The case of the machine was released on February 24 from the Izhorsky plant, and on March 1, 1940, the assembly of the new machine was started. On March 14, I completed my first departure for SU-100Y.

Characteristics

The self-propelled installation was intended for a crew of six people: a commander, two gunners, two loaders and a mechanic. The total weight of the machine was 64 tons. Such a solid weight was concentrated in relatively small overall dimensions: the length of the SU-100Y was 10.9 m, width - 3.4 m. Armor sheets 60 mm thick covered the forehead and sides of the self-propelled gun, the roof and fodder were protected less. The gasoline engine allowed the SU-100Y to move rather quickly along the terrain - the road speed of the car reached 32 km / h, on the ground - 12 km / h. For one refueling machine could drive about 120 km.

Armament SU-100Y

Overview of the self-propelled guns can begin with a description of its design settings. At the initial design stage it was decided that the military machine would carry a 76 mm L-11 gun. As an auxiliary weapon on the SU-100Y were installed three 7.62 DT machine-guns. A powerful, fast and well-armored machine was to become a worthy opponent on the battlefields.

Participation in hostilities

By the time of the completion of the design of the SU-100Y, the Soviet-Finnish war had already ended, and the new self-propelled gun did not take part in it. To enhance its fighting qualities, it was decided to strengthen the armament of the self-propelled unit, installing 152 mm howitzer M-10 as the main armament. But this concept was never implemented - the famous KV1 and KV2 were prepared for release, the light SU-76-M was produced, and the new self-propelled gun was out of work. In the summer of 1940, it was transferred to the Moscow Region, in Kubinka, where a museum of armored vehicles was later formed.

Unlike other combat vehicles, which for one reason or another were not sent to mass production, SU-100Y was lucky more. At the end of 1941, when the Nazi troops approached the capital of our homeland, it was decided to mobilize all armored vehicles to protect the capital. In the hardest battles near Moscow, the SU-100Y was manned in a platoon with two experienced SAUs - SU-14 and Su-14-1. But neither the crew, nor the direct participation in the battles of the information was not preserved.

At present, the only copy of this anti-tank self-propelled unit is in Kubinka. But the revival of interest in armored vehicles has given this semi-forgotten self-propelled gun a second wind. She appears in the famous computer games World of Tanks, Ground War and others. Of course, computer graphics can not convey all the features of the behavior of the SU-100Y, but it already gives a good idea of its combat characteristics.