Many fans of the World of Tanks online game are well acquainted with the self-propelled artillery mount of increased power called the “Object 261”. Gamers cleverly destroy enemies by controlling this art, but few of them know that this self-propelled gun never participated in any battle. Consider the history of the creation of this artillery mount.
Self-propelled guns "Object 261": how it all began
Despite a series of failures that befell the previous self-propelled guns, the Soviet leadership even after the war did not abandon the idea of putting heavy-duty guns on a self-propelled chassis . This self-propelled installation was developed by the design bureaus of the Leningrad and Chelyabinsk Kirov plants. And the base for the development of the new self-propelled guns was the IS-7 tank that the players liked. The project of this gun mount began to be developed immediately after the end of World War II and was completed in 1947. As the engine, the engineers used the M-50 marine diesel power unit with increased power, of course, first adapting it to this tank. “Object 261” was equipped with a lightly armored open cabin, which housed a very powerful M-31 cannon (152mm).
Feat of design bureau of plant No. 172
It was specially created for this project in the design bureau of the Perm plant No. 172. And the ballistics of the Br-2 artillery gun served as the base. In order to save money, the M-31 was unified with the M-51 tank gun by a whole series of parts and mechanisms. The first tests of the M-31 passed in October 1948. The designers so much modernized the Br-2 that it was quite difficult to find common elements in these two guns. The design bureau of plant No. 172 did a truly grandiose job, the new gun from its predecessor was distinguished by the presence of a horizontal wedge semi-automatic shutter, unlike the piston in the Br-2. In addition, she had a slit rather powerful muzzle brake, capable of absorbing recoil energy up to 70%. The gun barrel was supplied with a very massive breech, which ensured the necessary mass of recoil mechanisms, and also contributed to a better balancing of the swinging part.
Gun working principle
The loading of the new gun was separate-shell. The projectile was replenished thanks to the spring of the rammer, which automatically cocked during a rollback. In addition, the mechanism responsible for purging the barrel also worked in automatic mode. It used compressed air, which is in a special cylinder. The recoil brake at the gun is hydraulic, and the knurl is pneumatic, and the cylinders of these devices are rigidly connected to the barrel. As a result, due to the breech of the gun and the recoil system, the weight of the recoil was significantly increased. This, together with the muzzle brake, gave a very small recoil of the gun. The rotary and lifting mechanisms with a worm self-braking link were sector type.
M-31 - a gun that has no analogues in the world
This gun has truly unique characteristics. So, the firing range was 27800 meters (almost 28 km), and this at an initial projectile speed of 880 m / s. The M-31 gun was equipped with a TP-47A direct-fire sight, and ZIS-3 for firing from closed positions.
This is not expected
As already mentioned, the IS-7 tank (Object 715) was chosen as the navigation base for self-propelled guns with increased power. However, the proposed self-propelled draft was not approved, and as a result, it was returned to the plant for revision. In this regard, a radical revision of the layout of the gun was needed, although the commission did not have significant claims to it. These works were carried out by plant No. 172 in the first half of 1948, and on August 23, a commission of the Main Artillery Administration once again reviewed the revised draft. However, this time, “Object 261” was rejected. Once again, the designers of the plant number 172 changed the design of the gun, or rather, its machine.
Meanwhile, in the Leningrad Design Bureau ...
While the Permians once again “conjured” the cannon, almost everything was ready in the cultural capital. IS-7 was already close to conveyor production. As mentioned above, the engineers adapted the diesel unit for this tank; its power was 1050 hp According to experts, the “Object 261” was supposed to reach speeds of up to 55 km / h and have a range of up to 300 km. The gun and crew were planned to be placed in an open lightly armored cabin. This option completely excluded the participation of self-propelled guns in tank duels. But the wheelbase of the artillery installation was left heavily armored, apparently for unification with the IS-7 tank. She had armor with a thickness of 150 mm to 215 mm. “Object 261” turned out to be quite heavy: its weight was 68 tons. When the work was almost completed, the leadership of the country refused to produce IS-7 tanks. And so, despite the work done, this project was not approved, and this self-propelled guns was released only as an experimental model.
World of Tanks: Object 261
Now back to the game World of Tanks. Here, the developers attributed this artillery to the equipment of the tenth level, the maximum for this project. The description of the object says that the aforementioned Soviet self-propelled guns has an accurate gun, as well as high projectile speed and excellent dynamics, however, due to a gentle shooting path, hitting a target behind an obstacle is very difficult. The “Object 261” is being investigated on self-propelled guns 212A, the price of such a study is 273 thousand gaming experience. Like all the equipment of the tenth level in the game, this art is elite, so it does not need pumping. In the photo below you can see what the "Object 261" is.
Guide provided by game developers
The World of Tanks help section describes how to play such a setup with the greatest efficiency. Regarding the choice of position, it is necessary to take into account the low path of the projectile, therefore, where other self-propelled guns easily throw ammunition, our installation will hit the wall. Therefore, it is recommended to constantly look for new places from which it is convenient to fire, especially since acceleration and maximum speed allows her to do this. It is also said here that on city maps of this art it is better to follow a group of your tanks and shoot enemies with armor-piercing shells, in which case penetration is 360 mm, and damage is 1100 HP. If the self-propelled guns are illuminated by the enemy, it is best to immediately change the location; in this case, the rivals leave the “rushing” 261st for a “snack”. Shooting should be conducted on the strongest tanks, however, if the choice arises: finish off the IS-8 / ST-1 or inflict damage on the IS-7 / IS-4, it is better to stop on the first option. In addition, it is preferable to fire on medium tanks located in open areas than on more serious ones hiding behind obstacles. Due to the fact that this self-propelled guns is characterized by low alpha damage, it is preferable to use BB shells, which, combined with high accuracy and penetration, can cause serious damage to any tank. You can also use the anti-tank mode - this is ensured by the rather high mobility of the subject of our conversation, which is “Object 261”.
"World of Tanks" indicates a number of pluses and minuses of this artillery mount. Advantages:
- The fastest reload in the game at level 10;
- a gentle trajectory is very convenient for the destruction of opponents on opposite slopes;
- of all artillery, this self-propelled guns has the highest accuracy;
- very powerful BB shells;
- high mobility.
Disadvantages:
- small ammunition;
- small radius of expansion of fragments;
- a small angle of horizontal aiming;
- relatively small damage;
- a gentle trajectory that does not allow projectiles to be thrown over serious obstacles.