T-35 tank: specifications, description, photo

Perhaps, everything was heard about the legendary Soviet "thirty-four". And if you ask what the T-35 tank is, most will say it's the updated thirty-fourth. But it will not be true, because the development of the 35th model went completely according to another scheme, with similar protection, but completely different firepower.

Even the picture above shows that this tank does not closely resemble the T-34. Another side view, a larger crew, completely different weapons - you can list the distinctive features indefinitely. He did not go through the whole war, like a lightly maneuverable thirty-fourth, but nevertheless took his place in the history of Soviet industry. Due to its specifications, which will be discussed below, this car can be called hard. That's what it was called - a heavy tank T-35. Below we will consider all the characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of the "Stalin monster", as it was called in the years of its release.

Project

In the early 1930s, Soviet engineers received orders for the development of a heavy tank. It should go into service by the end of 1938 for the fire support of medium-range tanks, as well as infantry calculations. The first copy was expected by September 1933, and although it was presented, but this version revealed a number of significant flaws, one of which was a non-working main gun. Subsequently, this model received the designation "heavy tank T-35-1" (lasted until 1936).

Two months later, in November, a new project is launched, taking into account the shortcomings, as well as the wishes for unification with medium T-26 and T-28 tanks. As a result, a completely new machine turned out. Tank carts, small, medium towers and other minor details were subjected to change.

Nevertheless, in 1933 the Soviet heavy tank T-35 goes into mass production. During the entire history of the creation of the gate of the Kharkov locomotive plant, 61 cars and 2 prototypes came out. The tank was completed in 1939, but despite this, every new version had some updates.

Design

The military received a heavy tank. Reinforced armor, additional weapons - everything was designed to occupy and retain positions in the enemy's territory. But at the same time declared by the designers the speed should be 28 km / h. The tank body was welded from armor, the average thickness of which was 20 mm. To strengthen the design in some places used riveting. The shells of the towers had 30 mm armor.

In the rear part was a motor. To access it, the rear of the bottom had 13 hatches. There was also a separate hatch for access to the engine compartment. During the movement, the hatch was closed with an armored cover, into which the air cleaner cover was mounted. Also near the hatch was arranged several slots for access to the air to the radiators. Next to the engine in the same compartment was a gearbox: 4 speeds forward, one back. The connection between them was with the help of the main clutch, which had ribbon brakes. He was unreliable, often broke. During the war, most of the tanks were abandoned precisely because of the breakdown of this unit.

The chassis had 8 rubberized rollers, as well as 6 supporting wheels. The driving wheels are at the rear. Front - guides. Between the guides and support are installed additional rollers, which were supposed to prevent the deflection of the tracks when climbing vertical obstacles. All the rollers were mounted in pairs on tank carts. The carts on the brackets were fixed on the sides of the tank. By the same principle attached and bulwarks. For smooth running, as well as overcoming minor obstacles, a pair of spiral springs were installed. The bulwark, as well as the rest of the armor, was made of several layers.

One of the inherent features of this tank is the presence of 5 towers. The multi-tower was not a new solution. Such options have already been used in lighter versions. But five towers were installed only on the tank T-35. Characteristics of them will be considered in more detail below.

Towers and tiers

As in a conventional tank, five towers stood in the center of the upper part of the hull, without any niches, which were on prototype models. The main tower was mounted on a hexagonal base, while blocks on its free sides were used to create a smoke screen. It was equipped with a 72-millimeter cannon - a tank version of the 1927 gun.

All five towers were located in three tiers. The main, being the highest, was the upper tier. The middle tier is a pair of individual towers, where 45-mm cannons were located. And the lower tier - a couple of towers, where there were machine guns. It is worth noting that the T-35 tank received not two machine guns (in terms of the number of towers), but much more. For example, some tanks had a machine gun over the driver's hatch, located on the left, in front.

The guns of the towers of the second tier were mounted in pair with the machine gun. Machine guns could also be installed next to the main cannon and on the hatch cover of the main tower.

Towers of the second and third tier were located opposite each other, diagonally. The cannons were on the right, in front, and on the left, behind. Machine-guns are respectively front, left, rear, right of the main tower.

We add that the ammunition amounted to 96 shells for the main, 220 for the 45-meter guns. The reserve of machine-gun bullets was more than 10,000. Thus, the heavy T-35 tank could be compared to a small fortress, the firepower of which was equal to three tanks of a lighter type.

Crew

The serial tank could be called a stretch. Each party had its own design features, the result of which was a different number of crews in different cars. But the famous song "Three tankmen" is not written about this tank. The T-35 had from 9 to 11 crew members. In some cases, one person performed several duties.

For example, let's take a crew of 10 people. Three are in the main tower, it's a commander (he's a gunner), a radio operator (he is also charging) and a machine gunner. The four of them sit in cannon towers - a gunner and a machine gunner. In machine-gun turrets there is one person. And finally, another person is a driver-mechanic.

The front and rear towers had a pairwise communication between themselves, and the main one was separated by an additional partition. It can also be noted that the design did not provide for movement inside the tank. Each tower had its own hatches for the crew. A separate hatch was also with a soldier, performing the duties of a driver-mechanic.

Electrical equipment

An interesting feature is that the railings on the top tower were not removed, as is done on submarines. The handrail had a double function. In addition to the support, they were also an antenna for a radio, powered by 12 V. In addition to the radio, the tank also had an electric telephone connection (7 subscribers) and a smoke flue system. The main tower turned on the electric drive. In this case, the designers have provided a signal that prohibits the gunner to rotate the tower, if the hatches were open.

Minuses

It was not without drawbacks. Three guns made it possible to fire round, but this entailed complicating the design, increasing the number of crew and own weight, which in turn led to problems of movement. Huge dimensions also affected the draft of the engine, which often had to work at the limit. We add here that the tank often had to manage blindly. Far left forward caterpillars significantly covered the review, and the driver's seat was in the same place as in the other tanks - in front, between them. All these details in the aggregate prevented the efficient use of the T-35 tank.

Characteristics of the armor also left much to be desired. At low speed and maneuverability, weak armor made from the tank an excellent target. The disadvantages include the design of the hatch for the driver. To open it for an exit it was possible only in the event that the left front machine-gun tower would be deployed by the weapon "left on board". Thus, if it was damaged, the driver could not leave by himself.

Modifications. Held and not taken place

In the Great Patriotic War, the T-35 tanks practically did not take part. 7 copies were lost in the battles of 1941, 6 remained in repair, and 35 were abandoned and destroyed by crews due to breakdowns. In connection with the above-mentioned disadvantages, the main field of action of these tanks was the military parades of 1933-1941.

In 1938, the KhPZ proposed rearming the T-35 with a new 76mm L-10 gun instead of a CT, but the military ministries did not accept this option, arguing that two 45-millimeter guns would suffice to fight armored objects, and the CT . And last year the tank came out with the main cannon 72 mm. It is not known what would have been by 1944 (the birth of an 85-mm cannon), maybe the T-35-85 model would have turned out. Tank T-34 received such a cannon, and the last years of the war, as well as in other battles, were exclusively T-34-85. The designation was deciphered as a T-34 with an 85 mm cannon. In fairness, it should be mentioned that one T-35 tank participated in the battles of 1945, but on the side of the Germans. One of the 35 abandoned models hit the Germans, which German engineers were able to repair.

Approximately in the same years on the basis of the T-35 begins the development of self-propelled plant - SU-14. The main difference was the tower part, while the body of the experimental machine remained unchanged. Instead of towers a self-propelled artillery installation Received one large felling, and instead of a cannon, a 203-mm howitzer of the 1931 model (known as B-4) was installed. Due to the length of the trunk, the felling shifted to the rear, which led to internal changes: the motor, together with the transmission, moved to the front. The crew of the SAU was 7 people. In 1937, work on the installation is frozen and restored only in 1940, a number of modifications are made, and the new version receives the code number SU-14-2.

In 1936 a modification of SU-14 appeared - the howitzer was replaced with a 153-millimeter gun of high power (known as BR-2). After the same modifications in 1940, it was first called SU-14-1, then - SU-14-BR-2.

Both developments were planned for work on the Mannerheim Line, but the modification (1939-1940) passed with a delay, and the army received them much later.

In 1938, the development of a new T-112 tank began. The prototype of the model was the T-28. From the T-35 it was planned to borrow the chassis, but this option remained at the draft stage.

Specifications

Some indicators in the text have already been given. Here we indicate the remaining parameters that the T-35 multi-towed tank received. The engine specifications are as follows:

• Carburettor - M7T.

• Power - 500 liters. from.

• The travel speed is 30 km / h.

• Power reserve - 200 km.

At the same time, these data were only for the march along the highway. The traffic about the country road reduced these figures by more than half. The tank weighed 50 tons, the capacity of the tanks - 900 liters, the height - 5430 mm, the width - 3200 mm, the length - 9700 mm. The ground clearance is 530 mm.

Regardless of the fact that each party had its own changes, the thickness of the armor, as well as the performance of the engine, was unchanged. The Soviet tank T-35 on the armor received the following indicators: 20 mm - feed, side, bottom, frontal part; 10 mm - covers of towers and bulwarks covering the suspension; 50 mm - front inclined sheet - the only part that had armor that meets the standards of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. In this case, the roof of the body, just a little further than this sheet, had a thickness of only 10 mm.

Currently

Of the 61 tanks released, the Red Army (Red Army) received 48 units. The other 13 went to military schools or were in repair. The tank T-35-2 (one of the prototypes) was in the museum, and the T-35-1 was written off in 1936. At the moment there are only 2 copies in the world. The tank numbered 0197-7 in 1938 went to the Kazan Tank School and did not take part in real battles. Now it is a museum exhibit and is in Kubinka (Russia), in the armored museum. He still has a native worker (!) Motor and is on the move.

The second copy is also in the museum, in Yekaterinburg. The tank was recreated according to the drawings and photographs at the restoration site of Uralelektromed JSC. The recovery period lasted almost 5 months, and the restored version almost does not differ from the original specimens of the 1930s.

Modeling

Tank T-35 (1:35 - such is its scale) is produced by the Chinese. They offer a model in three versions - an early tank (one large hatch on the main tower), a release until 1938 (two hatches and an anti-aircraft turret) and a late one - the release of 1938-1939.

The tank is made of plastic by injection molding. There are some metal parts in the set. In addition, there is a choice of functional tracks. At the same time, the model was also produced by Russia. The same scale was also in Ukrainian models, but at the moment the issue is also terminated.

In Russia, a limited number of models came out on a different scale. The T-35 tank (1:72 scale model) was attached to the magazine "Russian tanks" (No. 18). The same option can be bought from Polish manufacturers (Modelkrak).

"Star"

And finally, another Russian enterprise announced the release for amateurs and not only for everyone who wants to get into their collection a Soviet heavy tank T-35. "Star", a company that is well known to all collectors, announced in early 2016 about the imminent appearance of the model on the shelves of online stores.

Particularly noted is precisely calibrated geometry and detailed model. Initial information promises a scale of 1:35 and a total length of 28 cm. The tank will consist of 428 parts. Approximate price starts from 2000 rubles.

Conclusion

Like many powers with a developed tank industry, the Soviet Union released its land monster - the five-tower T-35 tank. But his fate repeated the same fate in other countries. Weak armor, an engine not designed for such a machine, - and the tank, having the opportunity to arrange a whole sea of fire around itself, never reached the front. And those copies that got, due to their defects did not return back.