Tuesday 26 March 2019

New Turret, Old Gun

The 85 mm gun and enlarged turret for the T-34 were developed as separate projects. I already wrote about what happens when you put the 85 mm gun in the standard hex turret, but there was also the option for the opposite: an enlarged turret with the same 76 mm F-34.

T-34 with the F-34 gun (left) and D-5 gun (right)


Production T-34
T-34 with 1600 mm turret ring and D-5 gun
T-34 with 1600 mm turret ring and F-34 gun
Combat weight
31,400 kg
32,700 kg
32,800 kg
Armament



Cannon
1 76 mm F-34
1 85 mm D-5
1 76 mm F-34
Machineguns
2 DT
2 DT
2 DT
Armour



Front
45 mm
45 mm
45 mm
Sides
45 mm
45 mm
45 mm
Rear
45 mm
45 mm
45 mm
Top
20 mm
20 mm
20 mm
Floor
20 mm
20 mm
20 mm
Turret
54 mm (cast)
54 mm (cast)
54 mm (cast)
Ammunition



Cannon rounds
97
55
106
Machinegun rounds
3599
2745
4148
Grenades
20
20
20
Crew
4
5
5
Gun elevation
30 degrees
23 degrees
20 degrees
Gun depression
-5 degrees
-5 degrees
-5 degrees
Fuel capacity
870 L
860 L
860 L
covered by armour
600 L
590 L
590 L
not covered by armour
270 L
270 L
270 L
Observation devices
10
10
10
slits in turret
2
1
1
slits in commander’s cupola
5
5
5
driver’s mirror prisms
2
2
2
MK-IV devices in the cupola
1
1
1
MK-IV devices in the turret
-
1
1


9 comments:

  1. I have two questions about T-34:

    First, gun depression. I know data that T-34 with F-34 have only -3 degree of gun depression. In this document we can see -5 degree of gun depression for T-34 with F-34. Maybe this info about -3 degree of gun depression is related T-34 with F-34 gun in early turret (pre-hexagonal turret), and maybe T-34 with hexagonal turret have bigger gun depression? In my opinion that's can be truth, because hexagonal turret have higher profile than pre-hex turret.

    Weight. My data show that early T-34 have 26 tons of weight. And that late T-34 (T-34 Model 43) have 30 tons of weight. But that's strange for me, because T-34 Model 43 have similar armour of hull to early T-34s. Why T-34 Model 43 was heavier than early tanks? New hexagonal turret was far more heavier?

    BTW, in this document, in part about T-34 with D-5T and 1600mm ring, we can se info about 5 crewmember. Maybe that's proof that some T-34-85 with D-5T have 3 man turret? (I know generalisation T-34-85 with D-5T = 2 man turret).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The gun depression of the A-34 with the L-11 was -2.5 degrees. The gun depression in production tanks tested in November-December of 1940 was already -5 degrees. The gun depression backwards in both cases was -1.5 degrees, limited by the engine deck.

      Turret weight increased by a lot, a welded low turret weighed about 1900 kg, a hex turret was 2700 kg. Other things came from reinforcing elements of the tank and adding things like stowage, heaters, etc.

      Delete
  2. I note the turret armor is listed as just 54 mm. I had thought the T-43 project, one of the projects that led to the T-34/85, had an uparmored 90 mm front/75 mm side side turret armor scheme that was carried over to T-34/85 production.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Initially the armour thickness remained the same. It was not increased until 1944 when it was noticed that there was a reserve in available weight: http://tankarchives.blogspot.com/2016/08/improved-t-34-85-armour.html

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  3. They were developed as seperate prjects. Was the turret began before the gun prject ? (for the T 43 ?) I guess just having the 3 man turret with the 76 mm gun would already have improved the combat capabilites of the T 34 consideratly (apart from 3 men, also good TC cupola, more room for extra equipment etc...

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have two questions about this document:
    1 - What does the text at the very end say, next to the signature?
    2 - Does this document have an official name?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Senior Designer of factory #183
      Chief of "520"" [signature]

      520 is the code of the design bureau that worked on the T-34 tank.

      The title is "brief characteristics of the T-34 tank with a 1600 mm turret ring". It's probably an attachment to some kind of report on the testing of the tanks, but unfortunately this is the only page I have.

      Delete
  5. was the T-34/76 with hex turret ever seen in combat or it was just a prototype ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tens of thousands of these tanks were built and saw battle, the hex turret T-34-76 was in production at several factories.

      Delete