Concept 2: Design A-150 'Super Yamato'
“If any foreign minister begins to defend to the death a “peace conference”, you can be sure his government has already placed it's orders for new battleships and airplanes” - Joseph Stalin
Nationality: Japanese
Year of Concept: 1938, design near complete in 1941
Number built: 0, 2 planned.
Weight: 70,000 tons, approximately
Length: 263 metres
Beam: 39 metres
Speed: 30 knots (55.5kph)
Complement: Unknown. Yamato had approx 2760 crew.
Armament: 6x 510 mm (45 calibre guns), lots of 100 mm (65 calibre) guns
Background: Ah, battleships. The obsolete, but still remembered, queens of the sea. Having been around in some form since the late 1800s, to provide naval superiority to any fleet, they started to fade out in use after World War 2, after, well, aircraft and missiles started to be developed and improved on.
Now, of course, their role has been taken over by aircraft carriers, but that doesn't mean we can't take a look at what would have been a true wonder produced by Imperial Japan... two years after World War 2 ended. Must take a bit of time to bang those things together.
The battleship came about as the Age of Sail ended, because a metal ship with a flimsy little sail on the top looks ridiculous, and because the ironclad looked cooler. As any Civilization player knows, the step up from wood to iron to steel is an amazing one to undergo, and it was the same in the real world, with many innovations coming into play, from explosive and incendiary shells, to the French navy's Redoutable, which was the first battleship to use steel as it's main material.
Then there was the Dreadnaught era, named after the HMS Dreadnaught, and the two world wars.
But eh, if I wanted to ramble on, I'd fill this article full of battleship pictures and fawn over them like some sort of schoolgirl.
Why should I be afraid of it? And what was it for?
“The more evil the regime, the more ludicrous the planned and designed weapons and equipment.” - Myself. Although I can replace it with an actual quote if needs be.
Now, of course, everyone knows the Battleship Yamato, despite it's lack of actually being used in anger, only firing at American forces during Leyte Gulf in 1944, and at American forces again at Kyushu while en route to Okinawa where she was sunk during Operation Ten-Go while on a suicide mission that involved beaching herself and her escort ships, and blowing anything that moved to hell.
However, she had magnificently large cannons, the largest guns fitted on a warship, of which I'll avoid using that term again, since it makes me feel like I'm talking about a woman with ample assets. She was bristling with lots of shot and shell, along with her sister ship, Musashi, which would have made taking one on in head to head combat interesting to say the least, since she could throw a 1.36 ton shell over 40 kilometres.
The Japanese wished to top this, by countering the American's reply to the Yamatos with the Super Yamato, which was planned to hurl a 2 ton shell with her main armament, and a bunch of smaller shells with her secondary 100mm anti-aircraft guns, with armour so vast that Japan would not have been able to make it in single plates.
Unfortunately, in 1941, the design work went from battleships to alternate ships, like aircraft carriers, cruisers, etc, and the two Super Yamatos were never rolled out, nor were the other two Yamato class ships. The third Yamato-class, Shinano, was converted to an aircraft carrier during construction, and became the dubious honour of being the largest warship ever sunk by a submarine, 10 days after she was commissioned.
Imperial Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces on the battleship USS Missouri, after the atomic bombings, after which, the navy set fire to almost everything Yamato related, which is a shame.
In a sense, the end of the war was an end to the battleship class as well, and the name Yamato faded from memory.
If you exclude the anime, the diesel engine manufacturer, the transport company, the the toy manufacturer, the... let's just say that the name hasn't really faded from use.
There may not be many, or any, battleships serving today, but that doesn't mean that the very idea of a huge ship, crewed by thousands, blasting everything from the air, the water, and the land, isn't a majestic one, unless you're the ones being blasted.
Sources:
Wikipedia: Yamato-class battleship
Wikipedia: Design A-150 battleship
Wikipedia: Dreadnaught
Wikipedia: Battleship
Wikipedia: 40 cm (45 Type 94 naval gun)
Wikipedia: Japanese battleship Yamato
Wikipedia: Japanese battleship Musashi
Wikipedia: Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano
Wikipedia: Operation Ten-Go
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Ship 1: The Torpedo Ram class
Ship 1: The Torpedo Ram class.
“Ram him! RAM!” - Jeremy Clarkson
Nationality: Multiple nations had similar plans.
Year of Production: Proposed in early/mid 1870s, USS Intrepid (2) launched 1874, HMS Polyphemus (3) launched 1881.
Number built: Minimal.
Weight: 438 tons (Intrepid), 2640 tons (Polyphemus)
Length: 51 metres (Intrepid), 73 metres (Polyphemus)
Beam (width): 11 metres for both ships.
Draught (depth of water needed): 3.7 m (Intrepid), 6.25 m (Polyphemus)
Complement (crew): >1 (Intrepid), 80 (Polyphemus)
Speed: 11 knots (20kph) (Intrepid), 17.8 knots (33 kph) (Polyphemus)
Background: After the good Mr Robert Whitehead invented the torpedo in 1866, with help from Giovanni Luppis, who came up with the original, albeit different, concept, a few years before, Whitehead's son, John, and a worker called Annibale Ploech, the world's navies, beginning with the Austrian Imperial Navy, were quick to dream up many, many delicious ideas to use this new weapon.
Now, early torpedos, well, sucked if the target was actually moving, only going at a speed of 7 knots, or 13 kph, however, they were rapidly advancing in usefulness, with the gunboat Gemse being modified to fire them outside the factory where they were first being produced.
If the target wasn't moving, they'd be a safe weapon to use, fired from a great distance (600 metres), and with no shell flashes, or curses of shells landing on feet, etc, unless the ship carrying them got hit, in which case, it blew up. Although most ships that are hit in the ammo storage area usually do blow up.
Although the timeframe of this era of ship is not that long, you may, directly, or not, know of this class, as HMS Thunder Child, from War of the Worlds, by HG Wells.
Why should I be afraid of it? And what was it for?
“It was the torpedo ram, Thunder Child, steaming headlong, coming to the rescue of the threatened shipping.” - War of the Worlds, HG Wells.
The torpedo ram class is absolutely goddamn insane. Early models, charge in, with the torpedo still attached to the ship, ram the other ship, which is probably full of very unhealthy stuff being fired at you, like shells, bullets, harsh propaganda and cruel insults, before either making it's way back, or blowing it's bow off.
Ships do not operate well with the front end of the boat missing. Ever.
Thankfully, as models advanced, the strategy became less suicidal, with torpedos being able to actually be fired, with the strategy being revised to 'charge in (through the hotel defenses, using the ram), blow target to smithereens from range, run like hell'.
Despite it being impractical, it had it's merits at the time, until... well, when they were finished being built.
The only torpedo ram used in war was the fictional Thunder Child, which, to be honest, in itself is awesome.
The three Martian tripod fighting machines fire gas at the ship, which does zilch. Then they deploy the heat rays, which mortally wound Thunder Child, but she rips apart one of the machines through ramming.
Thunder Child then turns to the second tripod, and starts firing the guns, but scores no real hits, as she lines up her ram and charges. The heat ray finds her again, and blows her up, with the resulting explosion taking out the second tripod.
After Thunder Child's sacrifice, three ironclads arrive, and, although the third tripod's fate isn't revealed, the fleeing civilians are able to escape.
Unfortunately, in real life, the torpedo ram class of ship was obsolete by the advent of quick firing guns on capital ships, to, say, protect them from some crazed idiot ramming his way through the harbour defenses, and firing his torpedos at a capital ship.
Both Polyphemus and Intrepid would be broken up for scrap, Polyphemus in 1903, and Intrepid in 1892.
A variety of other torpedo rams never got off the ground, which is a shame, in a sense. It's a ship built to ram much heavier stuff, and survive. And the ship, in itself, would provide a vast amount of kinetic energy.
And ultimately, the torpedo ram class remains, somewhere in the imagination of the public, through Thunder Child, taking out what was believed to be an invincible enemy.
Mr Whitehead's invention would remain in play up to, and beyond today, a valuable addition to the submarine, and to the world's navies and air forces in general.
His epitaph reads “His fame was known by all nations hereabouts.”
Sources used -
Wikipedia : Torpedo Ram
Wikipedia: Robert Whitehead
Wikipedia: HMS Polyphemus
Wikipedia: USS Intrepid
Wikipedia: HMS Thunder Child
Navy History - Intrepid
History of USS Intrepid CV-11
Global Security - Torpedo Ram
“Ram him! RAM!” - Jeremy Clarkson
Nationality: Multiple nations had similar plans.
Year of Production: Proposed in early/mid 1870s, USS Intrepid (2) launched 1874, HMS Polyphemus (3) launched 1881.
Number built: Minimal.
Weight: 438 tons (Intrepid), 2640 tons (Polyphemus)
Length: 51 metres (Intrepid), 73 metres (Polyphemus)
Beam (width): 11 metres for both ships.
Draught (depth of water needed): 3.7 m (Intrepid), 6.25 m (Polyphemus)
Complement (crew): >1 (Intrepid), 80 (Polyphemus)
Speed: 11 knots (20kph) (Intrepid), 17.8 knots (33 kph) (Polyphemus)
Background: After the good Mr Robert Whitehead invented the torpedo in 1866, with help from Giovanni Luppis, who came up with the original, albeit different, concept, a few years before, Whitehead's son, John, and a worker called Annibale Ploech, the world's navies, beginning with the Austrian Imperial Navy, were quick to dream up many, many delicious ideas to use this new weapon.
Now, early torpedos, well, sucked if the target was actually moving, only going at a speed of 7 knots, or 13 kph, however, they were rapidly advancing in usefulness, with the gunboat Gemse being modified to fire them outside the factory where they were first being produced.
If the target wasn't moving, they'd be a safe weapon to use, fired from a great distance (600 metres), and with no shell flashes, or curses of shells landing on feet, etc, unless the ship carrying them got hit, in which case, it blew up. Although most ships that are hit in the ammo storage area usually do blow up.
Although the timeframe of this era of ship is not that long, you may, directly, or not, know of this class, as HMS Thunder Child, from War of the Worlds, by HG Wells.
Why should I be afraid of it? And what was it for?
“It was the torpedo ram, Thunder Child, steaming headlong, coming to the rescue of the threatened shipping.” - War of the Worlds, HG Wells.
The torpedo ram class is absolutely goddamn insane. Early models, charge in, with the torpedo still attached to the ship, ram the other ship, which is probably full of very unhealthy stuff being fired at you, like shells, bullets, harsh propaganda and cruel insults, before either making it's way back, or blowing it's bow off.
Ships do not operate well with the front end of the boat missing. Ever.
Thankfully, as models advanced, the strategy became less suicidal, with torpedos being able to actually be fired, with the strategy being revised to 'charge in (through the hotel defenses, using the ram), blow target to smithereens from range, run like hell'.
Despite it being impractical, it had it's merits at the time, until... well, when they were finished being built.
The only torpedo ram used in war was the fictional Thunder Child, which, to be honest, in itself is awesome.
The three Martian tripod fighting machines fire gas at the ship, which does zilch. Then they deploy the heat rays, which mortally wound Thunder Child, but she rips apart one of the machines through ramming.
Thunder Child then turns to the second tripod, and starts firing the guns, but scores no real hits, as she lines up her ram and charges. The heat ray finds her again, and blows her up, with the resulting explosion taking out the second tripod.
After Thunder Child's sacrifice, three ironclads arrive, and, although the third tripod's fate isn't revealed, the fleeing civilians are able to escape.
Unfortunately, in real life, the torpedo ram class of ship was obsolete by the advent of quick firing guns on capital ships, to, say, protect them from some crazed idiot ramming his way through the harbour defenses, and firing his torpedos at a capital ship.
Both Polyphemus and Intrepid would be broken up for scrap, Polyphemus in 1903, and Intrepid in 1892.
A variety of other torpedo rams never got off the ground, which is a shame, in a sense. It's a ship built to ram much heavier stuff, and survive. And the ship, in itself, would provide a vast amount of kinetic energy.
And ultimately, the torpedo ram class remains, somewhere in the imagination of the public, through Thunder Child, taking out what was believed to be an invincible enemy.
Mr Whitehead's invention would remain in play up to, and beyond today, a valuable addition to the submarine, and to the world's navies and air forces in general.
His epitaph reads “His fame was known by all nations hereabouts.”
Sources used -
Wikipedia : Torpedo Ram
Wikipedia: Robert Whitehead
Wikipedia: HMS Polyphemus
Wikipedia: USS Intrepid
Wikipedia: HMS Thunder Child
Navy History - Intrepid
History of USS Intrepid CV-11
Global Security - Torpedo Ram
Friday, April 15, 2011
Concept 1: Tesla's Teleforce
Prototype 1: Tesla's Teleforce
“He has perfected a method and apparatus, Dr Tesla said yesterday in an interview at the Hotel New Yorker, which will send concentrated beams of particles through the free air, of such tremendous energy that they will bring down a fleet of 10,000 enemy airplanes, at a distance of 250 miles from a defending nation's border and will cause armies of millions to drop dead in their tracks.” - New York Times, July 11, 1934.
Nationality: American
Year of concept: Mentioned in 1934 to American media.
Produced: No.
Weapon: Charged particle beams, firing at approx. 48 times speed of sound (16,333.92 metres per second).
Range: 321 to 402 km (200 to 250 miles)
Engine: Fixed position, unable to move.
Power: Requires own dedicated power plant, estimated to be large.
Background: Dr Tesla, or, Nikola Tesla, was born in 1856, in modern day Croatia, he emigrated to America a fair few years later, and had some dealings, and competition with a little known man called Thomas Edison and invented a wide variety of things, 700 or so, like alternating current, which is what most countries of the world use today.
Now, there currently wasn't any world wars going on at the moment, not even the Spanish Civil War, which was 2 years away, but one suspects that some countries were rearming, which is why this little beauty was proposed, on his 78th birthday, to the American media.
Now to actually explain a bit more about the Teleforce, which is most definitely not a death ray. At all. The good Dr Tesla said so, to quote: “I want to state explicitly that this invention of mine does not contemplate the use of any so-called "death rays." Rays being absolutely useless apart from cooking bacon using all the power in New York City.
He tried to sell England on it, and the US, and Russia was interested (to defend their border against the Japanese), but countries either refused or it never got built, which is kinda obvious, given the lack of huge giant death particle cannons currently standing guard on the coast lines, or the power shortages when it fires, if the country doesn't build the power plant for it.
It required 60,000,000 volts to fire, also. That's a fair few lightbulbs.
Why should I be afraid of it? And what was it for?
“An exception, however, he added, must be made in the case of battleships, which, he said, would be able to equip themselves with smaller plants for generating the death-beam, with enough power to destroy any airplane approaching for attack from the air.” - New York Times, July 11, 1934, again.
You... need me to explain that? Really? Alrighty.
This is a four hundred kilometre ranged death particle beam gun. Dear lord, that's... scary. For an estimate of it's range, we'll say that one is set up in London, it could hit Paris, 340 kilometres away. And it could rip apart an army that was approximately 62 kilometres further from Paris. This is the Paris Gun.
That is a nasty weapon. Darth Vader should have used the sucker on his Deathstar.
Tesla believed it would be a peace gun, since every country having it's own 400 km ranged superweapon would be kinda scary. Go and get a map, and check. There's probably some large city within any area you pick, unless it's Australia. Now, go imagine a gun that makes the speed of sound it's slave (stronger word can be substituted),, reaching 400 kilometres away in about... 25 seconds.
Oh, and it could have been constructed in a few months by his estimates.
At the moment, the US navy is experimenting with lasers. Which, presumably, could be fitted on a ship, and fired at aircraft. Only decades, generations, since Tesla's proposal, and may not be able to quite match the specifications of Teleforce, which penetrated 2 metres of armour with a third of the full charge.
Now, 6 metres (19 feet) of anything is a lot to get through.
Go imagine swift, invisible death coming towards you and a million others in under half a minute, if someone accidentally hit the fire button.
On the plus side, after you die, you'd get great television, since it could be used to broadcast TV signals. So that's reassuring.
Nikola Tesla died in a hotel room at the age of 86. an eccentric genius, or a mad scientist.
No picture of it, sorry.
Sources used:
"Beam to Kill Army at 200 Miles, Tesla's Claim On 78th Birthday:" New York Herald Tribune
Nikola Tesla: Wikipedia
Teleforce: Wikipedia
Own personal knowledge, which was even less of a help this time.
“He has perfected a method and apparatus, Dr Tesla said yesterday in an interview at the Hotel New Yorker, which will send concentrated beams of particles through the free air, of such tremendous energy that they will bring down a fleet of 10,000 enemy airplanes, at a distance of 250 miles from a defending nation's border and will cause armies of millions to drop dead in their tracks.” - New York Times, July 11, 1934.
Nationality: American
Year of concept: Mentioned in 1934 to American media.
Produced: No.
Weapon: Charged particle beams, firing at approx. 48 times speed of sound (16,333.92 metres per second).
Range: 321 to 402 km (200 to 250 miles)
Engine: Fixed position, unable to move.
Power: Requires own dedicated power plant, estimated to be large.
Background: Dr Tesla, or, Nikola Tesla, was born in 1856, in modern day Croatia, he emigrated to America a fair few years later, and had some dealings, and competition with a little known man called Thomas Edison and invented a wide variety of things, 700 or so, like alternating current, which is what most countries of the world use today.
Now, there currently wasn't any world wars going on at the moment, not even the Spanish Civil War, which was 2 years away, but one suspects that some countries were rearming, which is why this little beauty was proposed, on his 78th birthday, to the American media.
Now to actually explain a bit more about the Teleforce, which is most definitely not a death ray. At all. The good Dr Tesla said so, to quote: “I want to state explicitly that this invention of mine does not contemplate the use of any so-called "death rays." Rays being absolutely useless apart from cooking bacon using all the power in New York City.
He tried to sell England on it, and the US, and Russia was interested (to defend their border against the Japanese), but countries either refused or it never got built, which is kinda obvious, given the lack of huge giant death particle cannons currently standing guard on the coast lines, or the power shortages when it fires, if the country doesn't build the power plant for it.
It required 60,000,000 volts to fire, also. That's a fair few lightbulbs.
Why should I be afraid of it? And what was it for?
“An exception, however, he added, must be made in the case of battleships, which, he said, would be able to equip themselves with smaller plants for generating the death-beam, with enough power to destroy any airplane approaching for attack from the air.” - New York Times, July 11, 1934, again.
You... need me to explain that? Really? Alrighty.
This is a four hundred kilometre ranged death particle beam gun. Dear lord, that's... scary. For an estimate of it's range, we'll say that one is set up in London, it could hit Paris, 340 kilometres away. And it could rip apart an army that was approximately 62 kilometres further from Paris. This is the Paris Gun.
That is a nasty weapon. Darth Vader should have used the sucker on his Deathstar.
Tesla believed it would be a peace gun, since every country having it's own 400 km ranged superweapon would be kinda scary. Go and get a map, and check. There's probably some large city within any area you pick, unless it's Australia. Now, go imagine a gun that makes the speed of sound it's slave (stronger word can be substituted),, reaching 400 kilometres away in about... 25 seconds.
Oh, and it could have been constructed in a few months by his estimates.
At the moment, the US navy is experimenting with lasers. Which, presumably, could be fitted on a ship, and fired at aircraft. Only decades, generations, since Tesla's proposal, and may not be able to quite match the specifications of Teleforce, which penetrated 2 metres of armour with a third of the full charge.
Now, 6 metres (19 feet) of anything is a lot to get through.
Go imagine swift, invisible death coming towards you and a million others in under half a minute, if someone accidentally hit the fire button.
On the plus side, after you die, you'd get great television, since it could be used to broadcast TV signals. So that's reassuring.
Nikola Tesla died in a hotel room at the age of 86. an eccentric genius, or a mad scientist.
No picture of it, sorry.
Sources used:
"Beam to Kill Army at 200 Miles, Tesla's Claim On 78th Birthday:" New York Herald Tribune
Nikola Tesla: Wikipedia
Teleforce: Wikipedia
Own personal knowledge, which was even less of a help this time.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Vehicle 1: The Churchill Crocodile
Vehicle 1: The Churchill Crocodile
“There are five ways of attacking with fire. The first is to burn soldiers in their camp; the second is to burn stores; the third is to burn baggage trains, the fourth is to arsenals and magazines; the fifth is to hurl dropping fire among the enemy.” - Sun Tzu's Art of War, Chapter 12.1, The Attack By Fire.
Nationality: English.
Year of Production: 1943
Number built: 800 conversion kits produced.
Weight: 38.5 tons
Length: 7.44 m
Width: 3.25 m
Height: 2.49 m
Crew: 5
Engine: 1x Bedford petrol engine, delivering 350 hp, for a speed of 24 kph.
(Specifications based on original vehicle, Churchill MkVII tank, without trailer.)
Background: In August 1942, Operation Jubilee (Operation Rutter, Battle of Dieppe, Dieppe Raid) was launched, a Allied attack on the French port town of Dieppe.
The primary aim was to hold Dieppe, to gather intelligence from prisoners, and to see the German response, as well as blow the thing to bits as they were leaving.
Unfortunately, the raid went pretty badly, to put it mildly, with over 3500 men being wounded, killed or captured, with the vast majority of that number being Canadian. German casualties were about 500 wounded or killed.
Among some of the tanks bought ashore to assist with the raid were modified Churchills, named Churchill Okes, having Ronson flamethrowers equipped. Unfortunately, they got blown to bits in the first wave.
As a result of the failed raid on Dieppe, Allied command realized they needed a range of modified armoured vehicles, given that the 58 Churchills bought along on the raid struggled with the defenses, which is a bad thing if, say, a player in the Allied forces, like France, wanted their country liberated pretty damn quickly, through, say, an invasion. And if, Europe was known as Fortress Europe at the time.
To achieve that aim, in 1943, one of the men called in to create these vehicles was Major-General Percy Hobart, and his division, the 79th Armoured. The division was renamed the 79th (Experimental) Armoured Division Royal Engineers”, and they set to work.
Even though some of the concepts had been used before, some of their other vehicles were quite amazing, if say, you had a rifle and were trying to take one on, let's see how you'd do against a couple of these, the whole list being very much longer...
The Crab flail tank (modified Sherman), aimed at making minefields fire off early, rather then, say, blowing men or normal tanks back to England, of which one assumes that the men and tanks liked not being blown to bits. It could also be used to satisfy Earth's masochistic tendencies, one assumes. And to make bad puns like 'Epic Flail.'
The Churchill Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers, which had a mortar on it. By mortar, I mean a 290 mm mortar, which considering the main gun was a 75 mm cannon, it would be a bad idea to be bonked on the head by it's 18 kg high explosive charge. And could carry bridge sections, fascines (big bundles of wood, you put them in trenches and drive over.) and other sapper related equipment.
Why should I be afraid of it? And what was it for?
“Set Europe ablaze.” - Winston Churchill, attributed, creating the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
The Churchill Crocodile. Now, the thing about a normal tank is that it has a main cannon, for getting rid of other vehicles, like, say, another tank, and a machine gun or a few other smaller weapons, for in case infantry want to add some holes to the tank, drag you out and hurt you. Which would be bad if you're not into getting hurt.
The thing about a flame tank is that it has a flamethrower on it. Now, it's obvious that being set on fire is a bad thing. There's the saying, 'Give a man fire, keep him warm for a day, set a man on fire, keep him warm for the rest of his life.'
Now, if you're a man in the open, with a flamethrower, then you're going to take a lot of shots fairly quickly, since fire's a more terrifying weapon then a bullet is. But if you're in a heavily armoured tank, then the bullets'll be fairly ineffective.
But what if you did the stereotypical thing, and replaced the main cannon with a flamethrower?
Well, if you come across a German tank, since Italy had declared war on it's former ally and was no longer the enemy, they'd probably batten the hatches, laugh as you heat their coffee and make some fire-related quip, like “We'll see how their firepower matches against our firepower!” and blow the tank away.
And, what if you did the rational thing, replacing the machine gun, an anti-infantry weapon, with a flamethrower, which is also an anti-infantry weapon?
You end up with the Crocodile. Towing it's 6 and a half ton fuel trailer behind it, holding 1800 litres of fuel, it fires bursts of liquid flame between 110 to 135 metres away. Or fires unlit lighter fluid, lets it slosh around a bit, and then sets fire to it.
Oh, and the fire burned on water.
Despite it's short range, it forced troops to retreat and bunkers to surrender, since being burnt alive in a tiny little concrete box is a bad thing to happen.
The trailer could be dropped from inside the tank if it ran out, or was shot up, making the Crocodile a burning, flaming death tank that could take out it's peers, while using man's primal fear, fire, against him.
It stormed across the beaches of Normandy in June, 1944, with it's friends, the other Hobart's Funnies, assisting the Allied invasion of Normandy, getting the liberation of France on.
And one can only assume that France really enjoyed being liberated from the heel of the jackboot.
As for the good Major-General, his 79th being described as the decisive factor on D-Day? He went back to retirement in 1946, after being awarded the Legion of Merit, which went in well with his Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, his Distinguished Service Order, his Military Cross, and his Companion of the Order of the Bath. He died in 1957, his vehicles, in my opinion, a tribute to the ingenuity of the British engineer.
Sources used:
Timelines of World War II, 1942, 1943, 1944: Wikipedia
Churchill Crocodile: Wikipedia
Dieppe Raid: Wikipedia
Hobart's Funnies: Wikipedia
Percy Hobart: Wikipedia
Churchill Tank: Wikipedia
Sun Tzu's Art of War
Personal knowledge, or what little there is of it.
“There are five ways of attacking with fire. The first is to burn soldiers in their camp; the second is to burn stores; the third is to burn baggage trains, the fourth is to arsenals and magazines; the fifth is to hurl dropping fire among the enemy.” - Sun Tzu's Art of War, Chapter 12.1, The Attack By Fire.
Nationality: English.
Year of Production: 1943
Number built: 800 conversion kits produced.
Weight: 38.5 tons
Length: 7.44 m
Width: 3.25 m
Height: 2.49 m
Crew: 5
Engine: 1x Bedford petrol engine, delivering 350 hp, for a speed of 24 kph.
(Specifications based on original vehicle, Churchill MkVII tank, without trailer.)
Background: In August 1942, Operation Jubilee (Operation Rutter, Battle of Dieppe, Dieppe Raid) was launched, a Allied attack on the French port town of Dieppe.
The primary aim was to hold Dieppe, to gather intelligence from prisoners, and to see the German response, as well as blow the thing to bits as they were leaving.
Unfortunately, the raid went pretty badly, to put it mildly, with over 3500 men being wounded, killed or captured, with the vast majority of that number being Canadian. German casualties were about 500 wounded or killed.
Among some of the tanks bought ashore to assist with the raid were modified Churchills, named Churchill Okes, having Ronson flamethrowers equipped. Unfortunately, they got blown to bits in the first wave.
As a result of the failed raid on Dieppe, Allied command realized they needed a range of modified armoured vehicles, given that the 58 Churchills bought along on the raid struggled with the defenses, which is a bad thing if, say, a player in the Allied forces, like France, wanted their country liberated pretty damn quickly, through, say, an invasion. And if, Europe was known as Fortress Europe at the time.
To achieve that aim, in 1943, one of the men called in to create these vehicles was Major-General Percy Hobart, and his division, the 79th Armoured. The division was renamed the 79th (Experimental) Armoured Division Royal Engineers”, and they set to work.
Even though some of the concepts had been used before, some of their other vehicles were quite amazing, if say, you had a rifle and were trying to take one on, let's see how you'd do against a couple of these, the whole list being very much longer...
The Crab flail tank (modified Sherman), aimed at making minefields fire off early, rather then, say, blowing men or normal tanks back to England, of which one assumes that the men and tanks liked not being blown to bits. It could also be used to satisfy Earth's masochistic tendencies, one assumes. And to make bad puns like 'Epic Flail.'
The Churchill Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers, which had a mortar on it. By mortar, I mean a 290 mm mortar, which considering the main gun was a 75 mm cannon, it would be a bad idea to be bonked on the head by it's 18 kg high explosive charge. And could carry bridge sections, fascines (big bundles of wood, you put them in trenches and drive over.) and other sapper related equipment.
Why should I be afraid of it? And what was it for?
“Set Europe ablaze.” - Winston Churchill, attributed, creating the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
The Churchill Crocodile. Now, the thing about a normal tank is that it has a main cannon, for getting rid of other vehicles, like, say, another tank, and a machine gun or a few other smaller weapons, for in case infantry want to add some holes to the tank, drag you out and hurt you. Which would be bad if you're not into getting hurt.
The thing about a flame tank is that it has a flamethrower on it. Now, it's obvious that being set on fire is a bad thing. There's the saying, 'Give a man fire, keep him warm for a day, set a man on fire, keep him warm for the rest of his life.'
Now, if you're a man in the open, with a flamethrower, then you're going to take a lot of shots fairly quickly, since fire's a more terrifying weapon then a bullet is. But if you're in a heavily armoured tank, then the bullets'll be fairly ineffective.
But what if you did the stereotypical thing, and replaced the main cannon with a flamethrower?
Well, if you come across a German tank, since Italy had declared war on it's former ally and was no longer the enemy, they'd probably batten the hatches, laugh as you heat their coffee and make some fire-related quip, like “We'll see how their firepower matches against our firepower!” and blow the tank away.
And, what if you did the rational thing, replacing the machine gun, an anti-infantry weapon, with a flamethrower, which is also an anti-infantry weapon?
You end up with the Crocodile. Towing it's 6 and a half ton fuel trailer behind it, holding 1800 litres of fuel, it fires bursts of liquid flame between 110 to 135 metres away. Or fires unlit lighter fluid, lets it slosh around a bit, and then sets fire to it.
Oh, and the fire burned on water.
Despite it's short range, it forced troops to retreat and bunkers to surrender, since being burnt alive in a tiny little concrete box is a bad thing to happen.
The trailer could be dropped from inside the tank if it ran out, or was shot up, making the Crocodile a burning, flaming death tank that could take out it's peers, while using man's primal fear, fire, against him.
It stormed across the beaches of Normandy in June, 1944, with it's friends, the other Hobart's Funnies, assisting the Allied invasion of Normandy, getting the liberation of France on.
And one can only assume that France really enjoyed being liberated from the heel of the jackboot.
As for the good Major-General, his 79th being described as the decisive factor on D-Day? He went back to retirement in 1946, after being awarded the Legion of Merit, which went in well with his Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, his Distinguished Service Order, his Military Cross, and his Companion of the Order of the Bath. He died in 1957, his vehicles, in my opinion, a tribute to the ingenuity of the British engineer.
Sources used:
Timelines of World War II, 1942, 1943, 1944: Wikipedia
Churchill Crocodile: Wikipedia
Dieppe Raid: Wikipedia
Hobart's Funnies: Wikipedia
Percy Hobart: Wikipedia
Churchill Tank: Wikipedia
Sun Tzu's Art of War
Personal knowledge, or what little there is of it.
An introduction...
I must admit to having a curiosity about warfare, but there was always one thing that had myself curious. There have been more then a few strange, unusual and ludicrous vehicles out there which seem to have little publicity or acknowledgement.
While I cannot comment on them all, I can introduce you, the reader, to some of the more interesting ones that I've come across, be they attacking with alternative ammo, to being good in theory, but useless in practice, to just being so ridiculously over the top that you would think that they're science fiction.
I will, of course, mention some fictional vehicles, but I will label the real life and fantasy vehicles, and I will try to include as much relevant information that I can find.
While I cannot comment on them all, I can introduce you, the reader, to some of the more interesting ones that I've come across, be they attacking with alternative ammo, to being good in theory, but useless in practice, to just being so ridiculously over the top that you would think that they're science fiction.
I will, of course, mention some fictional vehicles, but I will label the real life and fantasy vehicles, and I will try to include as much relevant information that I can find.
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