Monday 9 June 2014

World of Tanks: Today in History: IS-6

On June 8th, 1944, on the orders of the People's Commissar of Heavy Production, factory #100 in Chelyabinsk and Uralmash received orders to develop blueprints and build prototypes of the IS-6 heavy tank.

This vehicle, the first in the history of domestic tank building, was built with an electromechanical transmission. The V-12U engine powered a generator, which powered electric motors, which were connected to the drive wheels through planetary final drives. The electromechanical transmission was supposed to make controlling the tank easier and increase its maneuverability.

However, trials showed that the transmission has not reached desired levels of reliability. Additionally, it required a large amount of copper, which was in deficit. An IS-6 prototype with a mechanical transmission showed that the IS-6 did not surpass the IS-2 or IS-3 in maneuverability, protection, or firepower. As a result, the tank was not adopted into mass production.

Original article available here.

2 comments:

  1. Not sure if your aware but the link to the original article goes to the Russian language site instead of the English one. I have seen this more than once. thx

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    Replies
    1. That is because the original article is in Russian, and does not appear on any English WoT website, or any other English website, for that matter.

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