Picture of the day

[grelmar]

Looks more like a BT7 to me.

You know, I think you're right...

BT-7:

T-46:

View attachment 51249

The front end in the animated GIF makes it look like a BT-7. The turret and antennae array make it look like a T-46.

I think they were both designed for the same turret... Anyone know for sure? The BT-7 had a number of different turret arrangements.

 

[scott585]

You know, I think you're right...

BT-7:

T-46:

View attachment 51249

The front end in the animated GIF makes it look like a BT-7. The turret and antennae array make it look like a T-46.

I think they were both designed for the same turret... Anyone know for sure? The BT-7 had a number of different turret arrangements.

the early BT7s used the turret designed for the BT5, the t-46 used a similar looking turret

 

[RRCo.]

You're right, it is a BT-7, which was very closely based on the two M1931 Christie tanks the Soviets bought "na leva" from Mr. Christie in the early 30s, after the US Army decided they didn't need a tank that would go 45 mph or run without tracks.

Mr. Christie wasn't friends with the right congressmen and generals and didn't have any "incentives" to offer them, beyond designing the best tank in the world at the time, by far.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BT-7

Take a look at what else he designed!

"A prophet is never without honor, except in his own country".

 

[Cold Warrior]

CHRISTIE WAS DEFENITELY ON THE RIGHT TRACK!
Good on the Soviets for recognizing it.
His invention may well have saved communism from annihilation.

 

[Gibbs505]

A FM-2 Wildcat crash lands aboard an U.S. escort carrier.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

"Nose is a titch low there, Ensign. By the way, Ship's Carpenter would like a word..."

 

[Kevin M.]

Just came across this one... titled "Sometimes it is good to know where you are standing"

 

[Cocked&Locked]

They were constrained at Jutland by limited elevation and an APC shell that had a deficient bursting charge and less than ideal ballistic shape. Once improvements were made, the 15 inch guns really came into their own.

bursting charge was fine, the fuse was utter crap and the shell body so poorly heat treated they broke up on armor of less then half caliber thickness without penetrating. The transition zone from the shoulder of the shell into the ogive was too hard and would fracture allowing the nose the be hammered back and shatter the body. The burst charge then exploded, essentially on contact, rather then detonating 20-40 feet after penetration. Brits didn't develop good AP shells till the late 30's. In WW2 the 14" did Stirling work against the Bismarks' armor.

 

[diopter]

U.S. WWI naval shells

U.S. had 16 inch naval guns in WWI?
http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_16-45_mk1.htm

 

[CV32]

bursting charge was fine, the fuse was utter crap and the shell body so poorly heat treated they broke up on armor of less then half caliber thickness without penetrating. The transition zone from the shoulder of the shell into the ogive was too hard and would fracture allowing the nose the be hammered back and shatter the body. The burst charge then exploded, essentially on contact, rather then detonating 20-40 feet after penetration. Brits didn't develop good AP shells till the late 30's.

Yes, I am aware of the lack of penetration and such. Norman Friedman's work covers much of this. I was generalizing. As for the bursting charge itself, I stand by my opinion that it was deficient and contributed to the problem of premature detonation/lack of penetration. Most of the older generation APC rounds had Lyddite for their explosive fill, which was considerably more shock sensitive than the later Shellite. (Not to mention that the weight of the explosive was less in those older, shorter length projectiles).

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

The USS New York, nuked at Bikini Atoll.

 

[RRCo.]

CHRISTIE WAS DEFENITELY ON THE RIGHT TRACK!
Good on the Soviets for recognizing it.
His invention may well have saved communism from annihilation.

And in that case it may have saved us from annihilation, since if the Soviets were defeated in 1941/42, the Allies would have had to make peace with the Axis or go down fighting.

 

[cornelunc]

And in that case it may have saved us from annihilation, since if the Soviets were defeated in 1941/42, the Allies would have had to make peace with the Axis or go down fighting.

The Communism was more blood thirsty than Nazi, only Stalin killed 30 milions inocent Soviet citizens. I regret the defeating of Germany.

 

[Sharps '63]

It's a safe bet that the Israelis don't ..... or any of the other Holocaust survivors.

I regret the defeating of Germany.

 

[grelmar]

The Communism was more blood thirsty than Nazi, only Stalin killed 30 milions inocent Soviet citizens. I regret the defeating of Germany.

It's a safe bet that the Israelis don't ..... or any of the other Holocaust survivors.

It's all relative to your perspective.

For many in Eastern Europe, the "cure" (getting locked up behind the Iron Curtain with all the damage that caused) was worse than the "illness" (and there is no doubt that Nazism was a vile disease).

For some, there was no victory in WWII. Just prolonged suffering, under first one, then another dictator.

On a happier note:

 

[collector67]

The Communism was more blood thirsty than Nazi, only Stalin killed 30 milions inocent Soviet citizens. I regret the defeating of Germany.

I regret that Patton wasn't granted his wish: after the fall of Germany, he wanted to go after Russia. I have read that he was ready to rearm the Wermacht to help acheive this goal.

 

[dryfire]

No wonder the Luftwaffe lost - their pilots were so distracted by the nose art !!

 

[Gibbs505]

Size comparison between the earlier American dreadnoughts and the cancelled Lexington-class battlecruisers, which would become aircraft carriers due to the Washington naval treaty.

 

[RRCo.]

The Communism was more blood thirsty than Nazi, only Stalin killed 30 milions inocent Soviet citizens. I regret the defeating of Germany.

You might want to read more about Nazi racial ideology and plans. Their stated ambition was to use the Poles and Slavs as agricultural serfs and slave labour, with no more than primary school education, for a few generations and then exterminate the remaining ones once they were no longer needed. Lenin and his followers, who if you remember, were delivered from Switzerland to Russia in 1917 in a "sealed train" compliments of the German government, along with an indeterminate quantity of gold marks for seed money, killed 20-40 million, but they weren't going to kill everyone.

Germany's little present to Russia soon came home to roost, as they always do.

 

[mikerock]