The best tank in the world?

World's Armed Forces Site ^ | 13 November 2002 | Maverick

[sonofatpatcher2]

What do you all think is the best tank in the world, now and before of cause.

I´m from Germany so for me it´s clear. The Leopard 2A5 ist the best tank the world has ever known. We also produced some great tanks like the Tiger or Panther, for Expert´s the Henschel Sturmtiger and the Köngistiger are the ancestors of all modern tanks and the Us and Russia have stolen our ideas.

[Kaafi]

Merkava IV.
By far, IMO.

[PsyOp]

Agreed!

BTW - a very stimulating discussion. I never tire of WWII history.

[R. Scott]

Against our Shermans, it was a superior tank…

The American Sherman was not intended to go against another tank. We had Tank Destroyers for that role. Doctrine at the time (FM18-5) called for the TD units to engage enemy armor and for our tanks to avoid enemy armor and engage only the infantry. In the role for which they were designed they were superb.
The problems we had occurred because the commanders in the field – Corp, Division, Combat Command and task force commanders – apparently never read the doctrine. TD units were pieced out to armor and artillery units and used as such. These Commanders often confused the separate role of Tanks, Tank Destroyers and Artillery. Doctrine called for the TDs to be kept together as a mobile battalion sized reserve that could race to the area of an enemy armored attack and defeat it by carefully picking their firing positions so they could attack the enemy’s flanks and utilizing mobility – fire a few rounds and change to a new position. When they were used this way they were superb. When they were required to maintain static positions directly in front of an attack they had problems.

[chilepepper]

and is a five speed (one forward, four reverse)

[VOA]

thanks for the explication of the Tank Destroyer role...

[DocRock]

Didn't Hitler also produce the Maus "super tank"? I think it was too heavy to cross any bridges and too large to fit in railway tunnels.

[R. Scott]

The tank destroyers are often ignored. The movies and press made a fuss over tankers but seemed unaware of the TD and SP artillery units.
The M10 TD seldom had difficulty taking out the best armor the Germans had.

[VOA]

for the youngsters in the forum, here's a good link about the synergistic effect of
the airborne with a tank destroyer:

http://www.517prct.org/documents/82nd_airborne_poster/82nd_airborne_poster.htm


the attached text is very legible in the .pdf file:
http://www.517prct.org/documents/82nd_airborne_poster/82d_poster.pdf

[Nowhere Man]

Petronski is correct. For it's era, the T-34 was the best. And unfortunately for thousands of Americans, the Sherman was one of the worst.

The Canadians, IIRC, called the Shermans "Ronson Burners" because when the Sherman was hit, they went up in flames pretty quickly.

[Nowhere Man]

Didn't Hitler also produce the Maus "super tank"? I think it was too heavy to cross any bridges and too large to fit in railway tunnels.

Wasn't the "Maus" a diesel/electric hybrid where they used a diesel generator to power electric motors to drive the treads? If it wasn't the Maus, I do recall the Germans having such a hybrid tank in World War II.

[Southack]

M1C1 Modular Combat Vehicle
(Proposals To Upgrade Mothballed M1 Abrams Tanks Into Active Duty Urban Infantry Support Platforms)

The M1C1 is a modified M1 (or M1A1 or M1A2) Abrams main battle tank platform. It contains nine unique improvements:
1. The 105mm M1 Cannon is replaced with the 20mm GAU-4 (or 30mm GAU-8) Cannon
2. The two M1 tank treads are replaced with four half tracks
3. The 4 man M1 tank crew is downsized to a 3 man M1C1 crew
4. Ammunition storage for 105mm shells is replaced by the integrated GAU-4
5. Two long-range anti-tank missiles (e.g. TOW, HellFire, etc.) are added to the M1C1
6. Two powerful external intercoms are added to communicate with nearby infantry
7. An incoming projectile detection system for locating enemy small arms fire is added
8. An electrically deployable, 387 inch long full body ghilli camouflage system is added
9. Infrared and laser jamming modules are added; laser detection units are added

The M1C1 is designed to be an A-10 infantry support fighter on the ground.

[PureSolace]

Tanks are useless in 21st century warfare.

anything that can go "BOOM" in all fairness can be used in any warfare. In the end people are still meatbags.

[R. Scott]

An hour later they reached the main highway running west from Vielsalm. There they found a lone soldier digging a foxhole. Armed with bazooka and rifle, unshaven and filthy, he went about his business with a stoic nonchalance. They pulled up to him and stopped. He didn't seem to care about the refugees. "If yer lookin for a safe place," he said, "just pull that vehicle behind me. I'm the 82nd Airborne. This is as far as the bastards are going."
The men on the tank destroyer hesitated. After the constant retreats of the last week, they didn't have much fight left in them. But the paratrooper's determination was infectious. "You heard the man," declared Rogers. "Let's set up for business!" Twenty minutes later, two truckloads of GIs joined their little roadblock. All through the night, men trickled in, and their defenses grew stronger. Around that single paratrooper was formed the nucleus of a major strongpoint.

The training the TD troops had was closer to that of the Airborne and Commando units than tank or artillery. Their recon platoons were nearly the equivalent of the later LRRPs, and they all were trained in all aspects of their mission. They considered themselves elite troops. There were many incidents during the African and Italy campaign where they showed that dogged determination.

[Mere]

God I needed a good laugh. Thanks and I agree with you!

Luke

[biblewonk]

I've befriended an ex tanker who was an 03 since I made that statement. I'd certainly have to rephrase it now.

[sonofatpatcher2]

Don't see the reason for "The two M1 tank treads are replaced with four half tracks." Otherwise, kind of a neat idea...

[Southack]

If you get a current 2-track tank hit in a tread (e.g. mine, RPG, IED), and lose that track, then your tank is immobilized on an active battlefield.

On the other hand, you could lose an entire half track on the M1C1 and the other three treads will still permit the tank to manuever.

[sonofatpatcher2]

That will require a lot of internal changes in the drive train, an almost complete one. IMHO too much. I can see the other modifications would be workable, but the track changes... Too much.