Tank Lebedenko (also known as Tsar Tank, Bat, Bat, Mastodon or Mammoth) is a combat vehicle that was developed by Russian designer Nikolai Lebedenko in 1914-1915. Today we will get to know her better.
general characteristics
In fact, Lebedenko’s tank, whose photo looks very unusual, is not a tank in the usual sense of the word. Rather, it is a wheeled combat vehicle. In addition to Nikolai Lebedenko, N. Zhukovsky and two of his nephews A. Mikulin and B. Stechkin took part in its development. According to the results of tests conducted in 1915, the tank was declared unsuitable for use in real combat. As a result, the project was closed. Later, the built instance was dismantled for scrap. Despite the complete failure of the tank Lebedenko, he went down in history as an extremely bold and outstanding project. It is thanks to the originality of this combat vehicle that it is remembered to this day.
Idea
According to the memoirs of Nikolai Lebedenko, the creation of such an unusual design was prompted by carts, which were used in Central Asia, and thanks to the huge wheels they easily crossed the roads. Thus, from the usual tanks, in which caterpillar tracks are used for movement, the tsar tank was distinguished primarily by the presence of wheels. By design, it resembled a gun carriage, greatly increased in size.
Design
A pair of huge front spoke wheels of the Lebedenko tank, whose photo is striking in the scale of the design, had a diameter of about 9 meters. The diameter of the rear roller was much smaller - about 1.5 meters. The upper machine-gun cabin was motionless and was at a height of about 8 meters. The width of the T-shaped box body was 12 meters. At its extreme points, protruding beyond the plane of the wheels, sponsons with machine guns were installed. In addition, it was assumed the possibility of installing guns. Under the bottom of the hull, it was planned to install an additional machine-gun turret. The design speed of the car was 17 km / h.
Confession
Surprisingly, with all the complexity, unusualness and enormous dimensions of the machine, the designer Lebedenko managed to convince the higher authorities of its suitability for use in a real battle. The tank was approved by a number of government bodies, but it received the main rating on January 8, 1915 during an audience with Nikolai II. The designer presented the emperor with a reduced clockwork model of his tank, made of wood, with an engine based on a gramophone spring. According to the recollections of the courtiers, the emperor, along with the engineer, "crawled along the floor like small children, driving a toy all over the room." A wooden tank briskly drove along the carpet and without any problems crossed piles of several thick books. As a result, the emperor, impressed by the machine, ordered the financing of the project to begin. 210 thousand rubles were allocated for the creation of the Lebedenko tank.
Project implementation
The design bureau developing Tsar Tank Lebedenko worked in Moscow on Sadovo-Kudrinskaya Street. Construction details were produced at a plant located in Khamovniki. Work under the patronage of the emperor himself progressed quickly. Soon the car was ready in metal. Since the end of spring 1915, it was secretly begun to be collected in the forest near the Orudyevo station, in the north of Dmitrov.
Test
On August 27, 1915, the tank was completely ready and passed its first tests. Thanks to the use of huge wheels, the device had a high cross - it broke birch trees on its way like matches. However, due to the small size and improper distribution of the mass of the machine, the rear roller is almost immediately bogged down in soft ground. Large wheels, even despite the use of a very powerful propulsion system for those times, could not pull it out. By the way, on the Lebedenko tank of the development of 1914-1915. there were two captured Maybach motors. Each of them developed a capacity of 240 horsepower, which significantly exceeded the power of the power plants of Russian tanks of that time. These engines were removed from a crippled enemy airship.
In addition, tests revealed a significant vulnerability of the machine, which would subsequently appear obvious. The weakest link in the design was the wheels, which in the case of enemy shelling with HE shells quickly became worthless.
As a result of far from the most successful tests, the project was closed in September 1915. The official reason for this was the negative conclusion of the High Commission. Despite the closure of the project, Stechkin and Mikulin continued to develop it and tried to create a new engine for the tank. However, their efforts did not lead to anything, as well as attempts to move the tank stuck in the ground from its place and withdraw it from the test area.
Until 1917, the Lebedenko tank stood at the test site under guard, until due to political problems that had begun it was not forgotten. Another seven years, a huge fighting vehicle rusted in the forest. In 1923, it was dismantled for scrap.
Project Evaluation
In general, the fate of the Lebedenko tank of the development of 1914-1915 is similar to the fate of almost all the prototypes that were developed at that time. Due to the lack of well-established canons in the design of such machines, as well as any of their concepts, they all ended up being very prosaic. In part, this can explain the paradoxical situation when a very ambitious and promising project is approved in high instances, but in fact it remains only a pile of metal.
Already on the first test, the incredible vulnerability of the tank was revealed - a regular volley of shrapnel aimed at the spokes of the wheels put the car out of order. At the same time, due to the colossal size of the tank and the low speed of its movement, it was an excellent target. The dimensions of the machine predetermined its low passability. The covert transfer of tanks to the front line was unlikely.
Psychological weapon
Using the Lebedenko tank, whether it was built in series, could only be used as a psychological weapon. Definitely, the vast majority of soldiers of those times could see a similar car except in a nightmare. Military history shows that it is definitely not worth writing off such mechanisms of intimidation. During the Second World War, for example, Soviet soldiers very successfully forced the enemy to retreat, "dressing" simple tractors in wooden frames, shaped like tanks. However, serial production of such machines in those days was unlikely in itself. The main reason for this was the shortage of powerful motors. And it is unlikely that the country would have mastered such production.
Project result
The final “defeat” of the project was due to the fact that the creation and construction of the Lebedenko tank had virtually no effect on the domestic (and even more so the world) tank building. The combat vehicle was another dead end attempt in the development of the industry, which at that time made its way into the world mainly through trial and error.
The only positive result from this project was the experience acquired by young designers Mikulin and Stechkin. When it was found out that the capacity of the tank’s power plant was insufficient, they developed a new engine, called AMBS-1. This engine implemented advanced solutions for that time, for example, direct injection of fuel into cylinders. Both designers later became outstanding specialists in the field of aircraft power plants and members of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Interesting Facts
A lot of interesting facts are connected with an outstanding machine. Here are just the main ones:
- In addition to other nicknames, Nikolai Lebedenko’s tank was called the Bat or Bat. The fact is that when carrying the rear wheel, the car really looked like a bat, which sleeps upside down on a tree branch or cave wall.
- The wooden model, which the designer Lebedenko made to demonstrate his achievements to the emperor, Nikolai II left to himself. The further fate of the model is unknown.
- There is a legend about the conspiracy, the main link of which was the Tsar Tank. According to her, the obviously disastrous idea of the machine was intensely lobbied by senior officials acting in the interests of England and serving in the General Staff of Russia. In accordance with this version, these same ranks put an end to the project of the "all-terrain vehicle Porokhovschikov", the drawings of which subsequently came to British engineers and formed the basis of the first English tanks. The external similarity of the same "all-terrain vehicle" with tanks of the Mk I series speaks in favor of the last hypothesis. Nevertheless, these judgments do not have documentary evidence, moreover, the caterpillar mover of the English cars is very different from the similar element of the failed Russian car.
- The forest in which the tests took place, and then the Tsar Tank simply rusted, among the locals received the name "Tank Forest".
- The history of the development of the Lebedenko tank, the characteristics of which we are considering today, was described in the artistic and historical novel "Talent (Life of Berezhkov)", filmed in 1956 by Alexander Beck. The picture tells about the life and work of A. A. Mikulin, which is represented under the pseudonym Alexei Berezhkov.
- The designers of the IG-227 Hailfire missile tank, which was featured in Star Wars II, were inspired by the Tsar Tank Lebedenko. The photo of the cinema apparatus really resembles a Russian tank of the early 20th century. A fantastic tank differs only in that it does not have a rear roller, and large wheels are at an angle to each other.
Specifications
Finally, we note the main tactical and technical parameters of the Lebedenko tank of the development of 1914-1915:
- Crew - 15 people.
- The number of produced copies is 1.
- Weight - 60 tons (the project planned 20 tons less).
- Length - 17.8 m.
- Width - 12 m.
- Height - 9 m.
- Armor type - steel rolled;
- The thickness of the armor: forehead, side and feed of the hull - 10 mm / city (planned 7); the bottom, the side of the tower and the roof of the hull - 8 mm / city (planned 5).
- Type of gun - caponier.
- The caliber of the gun is 76.2 mm.
- Gun ammunition - 60 shells.
- The sights are optical.
- The machine gun model is Maxim.
- Machine gun caliber - 7.92 mm.
- Machine gun ammunition - up to 10 thousand shells.
- Type of motor - high-breasted aircraft carburetor, Maybach brand.
- The number of motors in the power plant - 2 pcs.
- Motor power - 240 hp at a torque of 2500 rpm;
- The speed of the car on the highway is 17 km / h.
- Rough terrain speed - 10 km / h.
- Cruising on the highway - about 60 km.
- Cruising on rough terrain - about 40 km.
- The type of suspension is stiff.
- Wheel formula - 3 * 2.
- The specific power of the tank is 8.3 liters. s / t (according to the project - 12.5).