Guides
Armoured vehicle that blows things up.
The Concept of the tank first arised back all the way in World War I, where the Allies had to find a way to bypass the otherwise impregnable german trench system, this is where the concept of a tank took shift, the British designed the Mark I to combat this, this was a huge success, when Germans first saw this weapon, they ran from there positions in fear of this awesome new war machine. The first tanks in history had no revolving turret, they were basically giant boxes with there guns mounted on the front or sides of the machine. The first tanks had alot of problems, the armor was a terrible case of spalling, where razor sharp flakes would bounce around the inside, this could be done when you shot with a pistol at the armor of these tanks, the engine was really underpowered, making it so slow that you can be a case of motion sickness.
A tank has to have a Large calibre gun or it can't be really called a tank can it, the first tanks had high explosive guns that weren't so effective in tank on tank combat. The most popular and well known anti-tank guns built into tanks today are the Rheinmatall 120mm Smoothbore gun, and the Sprut Anti-tank gun, a tank consists of a co-axial gun, a FN MAG, and an optional AA gun on top of the chassis. Notabe Tank guns that many historians talk about are the notorious 88mm weapon systems, developed back in WWII, the Rheinmatall 120mm smoothbore gun, the 120mm Rifled gun, the famous 17 pounder Anti-Tank gun, and the notorious (least to germany's early tanks) the F-34 76.2mm Tank gun.
Armor is a the key to a Tanks survival, Its one of the many features that separate the Cars from the Tanks, a tank is a fortress no doubt you have heard, but when out on the battlefields, you have to depend on your shell, or armour in this case to get you through the battle in one peice. There are different types of armor, the most well known however is the RHA, or Rolled Hom. Armor which acts as sort of a base build that many other systems build and compare there systems to, it is also a testing module for future tank guns. Tank armor takes alot of influences back in the day, as you take a general look at tanks today, they all utilize sloped armour, this technique was developed by the Russians back in world war II, it was a simple idea, but a very effective and influential design that countered every tank the Germans had, another technique is the cages armour with protects tanks from shaped charges, or Rocket Propelled Grenades, another technique developed in WWII, this technique was used by the Russians to counter the Panzerfaust (Tank Fist) Rockets that could decimate T-34's at 20m.
Mobility is another key to survival, the faster it goes depends on the engine, todays tanks such as the M1 Abrams doesn't have such a problem with mobility, the Leopard 2 also, Mobility is important for manuverability, if one cannot move his tank out of the way of incoming shells, then he will be going home in a body bag. Without a decent engine, tanks cannot move to outflank there opponent, in WWII, many countries had different doctrines, the US army used one mainstream tank that had great mobility and was reliable, the M4 Sherman in other words, and the M10 Wolverine TD, the US TD used highly mobile tanks to try and flank there opponents, which a doctrine that didn't work too well until the introduction of the M18 Hellcat. The Germans had no need for fast tanks, since they were dug-in for defence most of the time, so they relied heavily on Heavily armed and armoured tanks, the Russians used heavy tanks to breakthrough defensive lines, using tanks such as the IS-2 to destroy TD's, and bunkers whilst the fast and mobile T-34 exploited the flanks of the enemy, the british relied on fast tanks in general to get them through the battle, flanking them with any tank they had.
As new weapons start to develop such as longer-range anti-tank guided missiles, the role of the tank is still being called into question, making people wonder if it really is that useful, many have considered the Stryker Mobile gun system as the replacement, but that has been overturned due to the war in Iraq, Weapons such as the Javelin rocket, which shot up into the air and landed on the top armor of the tank, with system such as that, the role of the tank has sort of diminished in the upcoming years, newer and newer weapon systems are coming out of the demon hole ot counter the threats of Tanks, Hellfire missile on AH-64 Apache Helicopters, and Super Cobra Attack Helicopters, and TOW Missile Systems, easily counter the threats of Tank attacks, many engineers begin to wonder if the tank is really that useful on the battlefield anymore, in the upcoming years, we yet to find out.
There are 5 types of tanks, Light tanks are meant to be fast tanks that recon the path ahead for the Heavy Tanks or Medium tanks to head through, they usually are armed with a light tank gun and fitted with very light armor, this role has been consumed by the M3 Bradley in the US Army, notable light tanks are the FV101 Scorpion, and the M3 Stuart Tank. Medium Tanks are meant to be the balanced type of tank, a good balance between Armament, Armour, and Mobility, notable medium tanks are T-34, Panther Tank, and the M4 Sherman. Heavy Tanks are the scariest thing to have a tank crew go up against, mainly cause it trades off Mobility for a better armament, and armor, these tanks suffer however due to the fact that they will not be able to go on the offensive very effectively, so use in the defense role will maximize its effectivness, notable tanks are the KV-1 Tank, the Iosif Stalin Tank, the Tiger Tanks, and the Churchill Tank. The Main Battle Tank was an attempt to try and combine the Medium and Heavy Class Tanks together in one class, every MBT out there has the mobility of a Medium tank but the armament and armor of a Heavy Tank, popular examples are the famous T-72, M60 Patton, Challenger series of Tanks, the Leopard Tank Series, and the M1A1-2 Abrams Tank. The Super-Heavy Tank were ment to be a break through tank, however these tanks took mobility out of the picture so this rendered this class of tank useless, but it did have alot of armor, ranging from a minimum of 100mm, to almost 300mm sloped, and it have a naval gun, or a very large calibre weapon on board the tank, a few were built, but for those that were, the T-28 Super Heavy Tank, the Panzer Maus, and the Tortoise Heavy Tank, the Landkruezer 1000 Ratte., and the Landkruezer 1500 Monster.
Fun Notes
- In games, Tanks are considered scary units, especially in games like Warhammer and Company of Heroes.
- Tanks in Sci-Fi RTS have at least one tank with dual cannons
- The most common Modern Tanks found in games are the T-72, M1 Abrams, Panzer IV, Panther Tank, and Tiger Tank.
