Posted on 03/25/2013 8:30:53 AM PDT by navysealdad
Video of tank going underwater. The vehicle was developed by a German and Argentine team of engineers, and was based on the chassis of the German Marder infantry fighting vehicle.
(Excerpt) Read more at uvideo100.com ...
I hope they are not looking for more beta testers. I’m certainly not a candidate.
I believe that Germany and Argentina have some history together. Oh say about 65 or so years ago. Just sayin’.
What could go wrong?
for sneak attacks in the Malvinas ?
It appears the exhaust is submerged, so I would have to guess that they’re keeping the accelerator on the floor the whole time? There’s no way to just stop and wait, it seems. Not sure of the point here.
The Soviets had this technology in the late 70’s/early 80’s. Plan was to breach rivers after we blew the bridges in the Fulda Gap region. Don’t know how well it worked though, guess they never tried it on a massive scale. U.S. Army had a big rubber BRA that went around the M113 APC and it could actually “swim” across bater bariers.
The Argentines have named the tank the “Belgrano”
Definitely, even longer
I have a German-made Oberndorfer Argentine Mauser made in 1905 (this is positively cherry - Argentine Crest - all German proof marks, etc.). Odd caliber - 7.65 Argentine cartridge... I don’t think this was even fired.... has a green leather shoulder strap and a silver plated bayonet with quillion.
I recall seeing pictures of Sherman M-4s on the beach on D-Day outfitted with engine snorkels...
Nice. Pricey ammo if you can find it?. You need to put some rounds down range.
The bottom could be mud instead of hard bottom. Get stuck and you would need SCUBA gear to get out.
Also that huge hatch in the front doesn’t look all that thick to me. I doubt it would even slow down a armor piercing shell.
Two sources I know of.....one is Privy Partisan ( I have a couple hundred rounds) and the other is a commercial company - NORMA.....have some of that, too.
Its not a main battle tank. Its a personell carrier with a turret. The armor is designed to stop/deflect small arms fire.
And yes, a hard bottom of known depth is still going to be required. Back pressure on the valves would be an issue, as would water intrusion into all of the bearings.
Another problem is buoyancy. I’m surprised that this thin skinned vehicle isn’t positively buoyant. Even at that, it has to be very light on the treads when full submerged.
This type of snorkelling is nothing new, but has never really caught on. There are too many things that can go badly wrong.
The Russians did this during the Cold War. Their poorly trained conscript troops would sometimes make mistakes, like deviating from the surveyed (and sometimes even prepared) path across the river. Accidents, like bogging down in the mud, getting pointed downstream by the current, hitting a hole, or vehicle failure happened with surprising frequency. Sometimes, they lucked out and an extraction vehicle could pull them out, and sometimes they died on the bottom of the river.
"Okay guys, let's load up. See this tank with a propeller in back? And the canvas skirt around it to make it float? You're gonna ride it into Omaha beach from 5 kilometers out."
"Don't worry about a thing, we got it all figured out."
1889-Belgium
1890-Turkey
1891-Argentina
The best rifle in the world at the time. The 7.65x55 cartridge is also fantastic, especially with modern powder. It and the 7x57 were actual Mauser chamberings, while the 8x75 Mauser, wasn’t a Mauser at all, but was rather a product of the 1888 Rifle Commission.
Isn’t that another snorkel in the middle of the river?
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