Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte | |
|---|---|
| General characteristics | |
| Crew | 20+ |
| Length | 35.00 m |
| Width | 14.00 m |
| Height | 11.00 m |
| Weight | 1800 tonnes |
| Armour and armament | |
| Armour | 150 - 360 mm |
| Main armament | 2 280 mm 54.5 SK C/34 |
| Secondary armament | 1 128mm KwK 44 L/55 8 20mm Flak38 2 15mm MG 151/15 |
| Mobility | |
| Power plant | 8 Daimler-Benz MB501 20-cylinder marine diesel engines or 2 MAN V12Z32/44 24-cylinder marine diesel engines 16,000 or 17,000 hp |
| Suspension | |
| Road speed | 40 kph |
| Power/weight | |
| Range | ? |
The Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte (Rat) was to have been an extremely large tank for use by Nazi Germany during World War II. It was designed in 1942 by Krupp with the approval of Adolf Hitler, but the project was canceled by Albert Speer in early 1943 and none were ever completed. At over 1800 metric tons (One million, eight hundred thousand kilograms, or 3.96 million pounds and as much as an Ognevoy class destroyer), the P-1000 would have been roughly ten times heavier than the Panzer VIII Maus, the largest tank ever actually built.
Its primary weapons would have been two 280 mm guns mounted in the same type of gun turret used in Gneisenau class warships. One such turret was supposedly built before the project was canceled and was later installed in a coastal defense battery in Norway, though credible evidence of this occurrence is strangely absent. Other guns would have included a single 128 mm gun, eight 20 mm Flak 38 anti-aircraft guns and two 15 mm Mauser MG 151/15 guns.
It would have been equipped with six 1.2 metre tracks with three tracks per side. Its power would have come from two MAN V12Z32/44 24 cylinder Diesel marine engines with 8500 hp each or eight Daimler-Benz MB501 20 cylinder Diesel marine engines with 2000 hp each to achieve the 16000 hp needed to move this tank.
An even heavier device, the P. 1500 "Monster", was in the very early stages of design when both projects were canceled. It was meant to be a self-propelled version of the Schwerer Gustav (or Dora) 800 mm siege cannon.
[edit] See also
- Super-heavy tank
- Bucket-wheel excavator - to compare to the largest land vehicles ever built - picture, weighing more than 13,000 tons (more than the battle ship Graf Spee)
[edit] External links
- German site with a scale model
- German site with data sheet
- An article about the Ratte tank
- Article about the 1000/1500 series
| German armored fighting vehicles of World War II | |
|---|---|
| Tanks | |
| Panzer I | Panzer II | Panzer III | Panzer IV | Panther | Tiger I, II | Panzer 35(t) | Panzer 38(t) | |
| Self-propelled artillery | |
| Wespe | Hummel | Grille | Panzerwerfer | sIG 33 | Wurfrahmen 40 | |
| Assault guns | |
| StuG III | StuG IV | StuH 42 | Brummbär | Sturmtiger | |
| Tank destroyers | |
| Panzerjäger I | Marder I , II , III | Hetzer | Jagdpanzer IV | Jagdpanther | Nashorn | Jagdtiger | Elefant | |
| Half-tracks | Armored cars |
| SdKfz 4 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 11 | 250 | 251 | 252 | 253 | 254 | Sdkfz 221/22/23 | Sdkfz 231/32/34/63 | ADGZ |
| Self propelled anti-aircraft | |
| Flakpanzer IV: Möbelwagen, Wirbelwind, Ostwind, Kugelblitz | Flakpanzer 38(t) | |
| Prototypes | |
| Maus | E- series | Panther II | Waffenträger | Neubaufahrzeug | |
| Proposed designs | |
| Panzer VII 'Löwe' | Panzer IX | Panzer X | Ratte | Monster | |
| German armored fighting vehicle production during World War II | |
