Random Idea's of Ivan Volcof.

Happy New Year.

ivanvolcof — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 00:22:31 GMT

Well its the New Year already and I haven't posted anything in what seems like decades.
The level of turnout is mostly do to the fact that I do this at my leisure and only come here when I feel like it.
Today I felt like posting so I posted and maybe later I will post something; later meaning any span of time after this.
One could then conclude that if you expect anything (I know of no one but myself and maybe two of my friends who have ever seen this thing let alone "follow it".) you will be sorely disappointed.
Anyways Happy New Year and maybe I will get off my ass and do something, maybe.

Goodbye Typhoon!

ivanvolcof — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 21:35:51 GMT

I learned today that the world’s largest ballistic missile submarines known to us (Americans) as the typhoon class submarine, (Made famous to us by the book and Film "Red October") will all be decommissioned by 2014 and used for scrap metal.

The following is my full paper on the Typhoon submarine, Enjoy!

The Typhoon (Akula or Shark) ballistic missile submarine.

The Typhoon Submarine was the largest submarine class ever built. At the time high-tech terrors that inspired the Book and film “Red October” was truly terrors of the sea well named as “Shark”. Only six of the Sharks were ever built but they were quieter and more maneuverable than any of its Russian predecessors, it was designed to start and end a modern war within minutes. A single Typhoon could launch 192 nuclear warheads within 15 minutes annihilating any first response.

Now the reasons for permanent decommission and destruction is:

One, because the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation has said, “it became impossible to use the above-mentioned submarines for intended purposes because of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START or СНВ-III), which Russia had signed with the United States.” New Start which was signed April 8^th 2010 is the nuclear arms reduction treaty for limitations of strategic offensive arms, the Typhoon was designed as a first strike weapon thus it has had to be ether decommissioned or retooled which the Specialists of Sevmash Enterprise said would be possible (these guys made the Typhoon) to make the typhoon a freight or tanker vessel but the defense ministry said it would be far too costly to do so.

Two, because the Borei class submarine which is new, cheaper and can launch “The Liner” a sea-based ballistic missile that can penetrate any missile defense shield and can more or less more effectively end life on planet earth more effectively than the massive Typhoon ever could. The Borei II the successor to the Borei class which is expected to begin wide scale use in 2014 (see what they did thar) will be an ultra fast and silent sub that will have 20 launch tubes (that’s a lot.) basically the Borei II is the Red October only smaller with Nukes that can be launched from underwater, Joy!

Three, Typhoons are old outdated rusty subs that need serious maintenance and simply put cost more to run than the newer Borei classed submarine and as the Defense Ministry put it, “Any work to redesign the submarines would cost tens of billions of rubles. Therefore, it would be more reasonable to spend this money on building new vessels.”

Now time for History and Description of the old Typhoon class Submarine courtesy of some random military sites and Wikipedia:

“The Typhoon class was developed under Project 941 as the Russian Akula class (Акула), meaning shark. It is sometimes confused with other submarines, as Akula is the name NATO uses to designate the Russian Project 971 Shchuka-B (Щука-Б) class attack submarines. The project was developed with the objective to match the SLBM armament of Ohio class submarines, capable of carrying 192 nuclear warheads, 100 kt each (as 24 UGM-96 Trident I missiles). However, at the time, state-of-the-art Soviet SLBMs were substantially larger and heavier than their American counterparts (the R-39 is more than two times heavier than the Trident I; it remains the heaviest SLBM in service worldwide). The submarine had to be scaled accordingly.
Six Typhoon class submarines were built. Originally, the submarines were designated by hull numbers only. Names were later assigned to the four vessels retained by the Russian Navy, which were sponsored by either a city or company. The construction order for an additional vessel (hull number TK-210) was canceled and never completed. Only the first of these submarines to be constructed, the Dmitriy Donskoy, is still in active service with the Russian Navy.”

Class overview also thanks to Wikipedia:

Name: Akula (Акула) (NATO: Typhoon)

Builders: Rubin Design Bureau [Now: Sevmash Enterprise]

Type: Ballistic missile submarine

First Known Commission: December 12, 1981

Completed: 6

Last four Units still in existence: TK-208 [Dmitriy Donskoy], TK-17 [Arkhangelsk], TK-20 [Severstal], TK-210 [Red October]

Displacement: 23,200–24,500 (22,830–24,110 long tons)

Surfaced: 33,800–48,000 t (33,270–47,240 long tons)
Submerged Length: 175 m (574 ft 2 in)
- Beam: 23 m (75 ft 6 in)
- Draught: 12 m (39 ft 4 in)

Propulsion:

2 × OK-650 pressurized-water nuclear reactors, [190 MW (254,800 hp) each]
2 × VV-type steam turbines, [37 MW (49,600 hp) each]
2 shafts
7 bladed shrouded screws

Speed: 22.22 knots (41.15 km/h; 25.57 mph)

Surfaced: 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)

Submerged Endurance: 120 days submerged

Test depth: 400 m (1,300 ft)

Complement: 160

Armament:

1 × 9K38 Igla SAM
2 × 650 mm (26 in) Torpedo Tubes
RPK-7 Vodopad AShMs
Type 65K torpedoes [4 × 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes]
RPK-2 Viyuga [cruise missiles]
Type 53 torpedoes [D-19 launch system]
20 × RSM-52 [Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles]

So long Shark (Typhoon), Hello Northern Wind (Borei).

Returning

ivanvolcof — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 19:25:00 GMT

I have decided that I would like to start posting random crap no one cares about (again) starting with today.
I really enjoyed writing papers in my years of being indoctrinated by the system of American education so I shall once again dazzle the world with the useless information that could probably be found on Google or Wikipedia; Enjoy!

Moving day.

ivanvolcof — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 00:54:17 GMT

For those of you that care (none) I have been in the process of moving from Reno, NV to Bandon, OR.
This move has made it very difficult to update but I assure you plenty of updates are on the way...
I will also be writing a short story inspired by my town in the near future along with the typical WWII crap that I have been posting.
Though my focus has been WWII Russia it is not exactly what this LJ is about. It is about the things I am passionate about and that is mearly one of the things of which I am passionate about. I hope in the coming months to expand my horizons and express myself.

T-26 (Part III)

ivanvolcof — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 16:26:02 GMT

The T-26
Part III

Combat History.

The T-26 has a rich and colorful combat history, and was in major operations up until 1943 in the Western front and 1945 in the Far East. The combat history also proves that even though this small tank was out gunned and out classed and made nearly extinct, it still chugged on and has a special place in my heart.

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War was the first conflict which the T-26 participated. The Spanish Civil War started July 17^th 1936 when a military rebellion led by Francisco Franco to stop the establishment of a second Spanish republic under President Manuel Azana. The USSR came to the aid of the Socialist Republicans to help create a socialist state in Western Europe friendly to the USSR.

The first shipment of 50 T-26’s to the Spanish Republicans was delivered on October 13 1936 in the city of Caragena with 80 volunteer tank men under Krivoshein. On October 28^th Republican T-26’s met German Pz.1A (The main tank of the German military and was involved in the invasions of Poland and France.) The Pz.1 however did not have sufficient firepower when taking on the T-26 and were destroyed. On the 29^th 12 T-26s advanced 35km and inflicted significant losses to The Nationalist (The destruction of two cavalry squads, two infantry battalions, several 75mm field guns and four Italian CV-33 Tankettes at the loss of three T-26s.)

Though small victories these skirmishes showed that the T-26 was superior to anything the later to be Axis forces fielded. The USSR sent 297 1933yr T-26s to Spain of those 40% were captured by the Nationalist forces when the war ended. The tanks were so prized by the Nationalist because of their fighting prowess that a bounty of 500 Pesetas was given for a captured intact tank and were used in the Spanish military up until 1953. The Tank could only be destroyed two ways during the war, at very close range by German anti tank guns or destruction of the motor by a lucky placed gasoline bomb. The tank is still referred to as “The tank of the Spanish Civil War.”

Soviet-Japanese Border war

On July 15^th 1938 The Japanese attaché in Moscow demanded the removal of Soviet troops from the Bezymyannaya and Zaozernaya hills to the west of Lake Khasan not far from Vladivostok. The Demand was rejected. The Japanese attacked on July 29^th and were repelled however on July 31 the Soviet (infantry) forces were forced to make a retreat. The soviet (tank and artillery) forces then engaged the same area days later scoring major victories and forced the Japanese forces out of the Bezymyannaya and Zaozernaya hills area and eventually off all Soviet (claimed) territory.

In 1939 due to reports of Soviet and Mongolian activity in Japanese held Mongolia Lt. Gen. Michitaro Komatsubara was give permission to expel any Soviet and Mongolian forces in that area and a two pronged assault of the area in question was planned. The small border skirmish soon escalated into a full scale war with the Japanese hosting 80,000 troops, 180 tanks (19% [the largest number of any other type of tank] were Type 95 light tanks.), and 450 aircraft. The soviets with 57,000 troops, 500 tanks (60% of whom were T-26s) and 250 aircraft seemed to be outnumbered. On August 20^thGeorgy Zhukov (soon to be marshal of the USSR and major architect of the soviet victory in WWII had been planning a major offensive with the intention of clearing the Japanese for the Khalkhin Gol once and for all. At 5:45am Zhukov ordered what seemed at first to be a conventional frontal attack, however, he had held back two tank brigades, which in a daring and successful maneuver he ordered to advance around both flanks of the battle. Supported by motorized artillery, infantry, and tanks, the two mobile battle groups encircled the 6th Japanese Army and captured their vulnerable supply areas.

The T-26 obliterated most Japanese tanks, its firepower was sufficient enough to rip through even the larger Type 89 and Type 97 medium tanks. The 57mm gun of the Type 97 in theory should have been able to penetrate the T-26’s armor however the 45mm soviet gun typically outranged the 57mm and the tank was destroyed before it could fire a single shot. It is also interesting to note that the Type 97 was the most widely used medium tank in the Japanese arsenal up until 1945. Though the T-26 had superiority over its Japanese counterparts, it was becoming obvious that the T-26 was becoming obsolete.

Winter War

November 30^th 1939 The Soviet Union began an offensive against Finland breaking the 1932 Non-aggression pact with Finland to create a more favorable government that would be able to assist in the projected war against the West in the years to come. The Soviet Military invaded Finland with about 450,000 men or 21 Divisions and the bombing of Helsinki shortly thereafter.

On December 1^st 1939 The USSR formed the Finnish Democratic Republic in a portion of Finland which was taken a day before (Terijoki) under O.W. Kuusinen.

Light tank brigades were equipped with a wide variety of T-26 tanks from all years and models of and before 1939 design including the twin turreted tank that had little more firepower than a machinegun.

The first Finnish main defensive line, known as the Mannerheim Line was located across the Karlian Isthmus 19 to 47 miles from the former Finnish border. The T-26 was part of the main strike force during the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line on December 6^th. The Finns had few anti-tank weapons and the biggest losses of Finnish military was due to Tanks; however Finns learned that at close range they could often immobilize the tank if it were abashed in a densely forested or urban environment where the tank had little mobility and capability of avoiding abashes this suited the Finns very well since a majority of Finland was heavily forested or swampland where tanks had little mobility.

Like all wars victory was expected within a few weeks, with little casualties and like ever so often the opposite was true. The official Soviet figure, issued just after the war, listed 48,745 dead and 150,863 wounded while 1,000 aircraft, 2,300 tanks and armored cars and an enormous amount of other war materials were lost.

The Supreme Military Soviet met in April 1940, sifted through the lessons of the Finnish campaign, and recommended reforms. The role of frontline political commissars was reduced and old-fashioned ranks and forms of discipline were reintroduced. Clothing, equipment and tactics for winter operations were improved. However, not all of these reforms had been completed when the Germans started Operation Barbarossa fifteen months later. In the end, the Winter War proved that the T-26 was obsolete and its design reserve was totally depleted. The T-26's thin anti-bullet armor was easily penetrated, and its cross-country ability in the rough terrain, covered with deep snow, was mediocre because of low-powered engine. It was decided to withdraw the outdated T-26 from production in 1940 and replaced entirely in the years to come but by the time of the German Invasion the Red Army had 10,268 T-26s still in operation.

Barbarossa

At the time Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 1^st 1941 the T-26 still was the backbone of the Soviet Tank force with no other available replacement tank being produced in sufficient numbers at that time. The T-26 was planned to be replaced by the T-50(miniature T-34) by August however due to production problems by the time of the onset of the war none had yet even been produced. Though the T-26 by this time was inferior to the Panzer III and IV it was by no means useless. The T-26 still could destroy at ease the Panzer I & II which made up about 50% of the German Tank Forces at that time. In many cases when it came to tank on tank skirmishes the T-26 would win. The downfall of so many of the T-26’s was Aircraft, being out flanked by the German Blitz, and replacement part shortages. Still despite very high losses the T-26 still formed a significant part of the Armed forces in autumn 1941 when the T-34 was starting mass production and was beginning to make an impact on the war. The final time the T-26 was seen in very large numbers on the Western Front was the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942, the turning point of the Great Patriotic War. By the time of 1943 The T-26 was not only obsolete but also nearly extinct.

Soviet-Japanese War 1945

The Soviet-Japanese war was the last hurrah of the T-26 or the last military operation in which the T-26 was used. The T-26 because of its weight tended to work better in the far east than most modern tanks and since Japan had not updated its tanks since the time of the last soviet conflict in the far east, the T-26 smashed through the Japanese lines and helped bring about a quick end to the war with Japan in Manchuria.

T-26 (Part II)

ivanvolcof — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 13:33:21 GMT

The T-26
Part II

Blueprints

The following Images are from a wonderful resource for all things WWII (Armchair general) most Images can be found here: http://www.armchairgeneral.com/rkkaww2/galleries/T-26/T-26con_bp.htm

Section Image 1940

Engine section;
Combat section;
Control section;

Armored hull;
Turret;
Engine;
Transmission;
Side clutch;
Brakes;
Board gear (behind armored shield);
Running gear;

Bulkhead between Engine and Combat sections;
Armored louvre over oil radiator;
Ventilating cover;
45mm gun 20K;
Batteries;
Hinged driver protection shield;
Supporting wheels;
Suspension carriage;
Muffler.

Turret Image

45mm gun;
Front shield;
Telescopic sight;
Periscope PTK;
Racking for 5 shells;
Right sight device;
Rear machine-gun;

Radio receiver set;
Shell catcher;
Ventilating cover;
56-U322B machine-gun mount;
Eye;
Combat searchlight

T-26 Outside 1939

Armored hull;
Turret;
Gun;
Machine-gun;
Anti-aircraft machine-gun;
Gun layer’s hatch;
Commander's hatch with machine-gun ring;
Rear machine-gun;
Ventilation hatch;
Sloping hull below the turret;
Armored louvers;
Ventilating cover;

Muffler;
Gasoline & oil tank fillers access hatch;
Magneto and generator hatch;
Engine access hatch;
Toolbox;
Idler wheel;
Suspension carriage;
Supporting wheels;
Driving-wheel;
Supporting rollers;
Hinged door;
Hinged frontal cover;
Transmission hatch;

T-26 (Part I)

ivanvolcof — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 12:20:58 GMT

The T-26
Part 1

Origin

The origin of the T-26 lies with the Vickers Mk. E mod.A British light tank. The Vickers Mk.E was designed for export to less industrially advanced nations: USSR, Poland, Japan, China, among other nations.

On May 28^th 1930 the Soviet acquisition commission signed a contract to purchase 15 of the Twin turreted Vickers Mk. E light tanks. Soviet specialist were also invited to participate with the construction of the tanks as well; however from the very start the tanks were not going to be exactly replicated. The 15 British produced tanks were named V-26. On February 13^th 1931 the Revolutionary Military Council decreed that the V-26 was to enter service under the name T-26.

The first production T-26 tanks had two turrets and were similar to the original Vickers design, the only difference being rectangular ports for the DT guns rather than round ones.

The second series of the T-26 introduced in 1932 featured higher turrets with an observation port. The T-26’s built after March 1^st 1932 featured a special bonnet over the air intake to prevent precipitation and primarily snow from getting inside. The firepower of the T-26 primarily being made up of machineguns was replaced by the experimental 37mm PS-1 gun.

In March of 1932 the Red Army commissioned the 45mm 19K anti tank gun and then later that same year the 45mm 20K with a new turret for the T-26. The rate of fire was considerably improved from previous tank guns due to the introduction of the vertical sliding wedge breach block of the 45mm 20K tank gun. From 1935 onward the 45mm gun was equipped with a semi-automatic firing mechanism; however it was only semi-automatic when firing Armor Piercing ammunition, when the gun fired fragmentary rounds it was only a quarter-automatic. Also in 1935 Arc welding on all tanks was introduced improving the survivability of tanks when hit.

In 1938 the cylindrical turret was replaced with an improved conical one which featured an electronic actuated breech block which ensured the propellant initiation both by impact and electric detonation. Other improvements included better sights and two fuel tanks.

In 1939 the tank was again improved upon by introducing some slanted (sloping) armor.
Finally 1940 saw the last of the upgrades to the T-26 light tank. The upgrades included increased armor thickness, improved fuel tanks and turret rings.

T-34 (Part 2)

ivanvolcof — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 12:03:14 GMT

The T-34
Part 2

Advantages and Disadvantages of the T-34

1942 USA Evaluation

In 1942 a T-34 and KV tank were given to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds (USA) the following were the finding's of the Engineers involved:

“From the American point of view, our tanks are slow. Both our tanks can climb an incline better than any American tank. The welding of the armor plating is extremely crude and careless. The radio sets in laboratory tests turned out to be not bad. However, because of poor shielding and poor protection, after installation in the tanks the sets did not manage to establish normal communications at distances greater than 10 miles. The compactness of the radio sets and their intelligent placement in the tanks was pleasing. The machining of equipment components and parts was, with few exceptions, very poor. In particular, the Americans were troubled by the disgraceful design and extremely poor work on the transmission links on the T-34. After much torment they made new ones and replaced ours. All the tanks mechanisms demand very frequent fine-tuning.”

Conclusions, suggestions

On both tanks, quickly replace the air cleaners with models with greater capacity capable of actually cleaning the air.
The technology for tempering the armor plating should be changed. This would increase the protectiveness of the armor, either by using an equivalent thickness or, by reducing the thickness, lowering the weight and, accordingly, the use of metal.
Make the tracks thicker.
Replace the existing transmission of outdated design with the American «Final Drive, » which would significantly increase the tanks maneuverability.
Abandon the use of friction clutches.
Simplify the construction of small components, increase their reliability and decrease to the maximum extent possible the need to constantly make adjustments.
Comparing American and Russian tanks, it is clear that driving Russian tanks is much harder. A virtuosity is demanded of Russian drivers in changing gear on the move, special experience in using friction clutches, great experience as a mechanic, and the ability to keep tanks in working condition (adjustments and repairs of components, which are constantly becoming disabled). This greatly complicates the training of tankers and drivers.
Judging by samples, Russians when producing tanks pay little attention to careful machining or the finishing and technology of small parts and components, which leads to the loss of the advantage what would otherwise accrue from what on the whole are well designed tanks.
Despite the advantages of the use of diesel, the good contours of the tanks, thick armor, good and reliable armaments, the successful design of the tracks etc., Russian tanks are significantly inferior to American tanks in their simplicity of driving, maneuverability, the strength of firing (reference to muzzle velocity), speed, the reliability of mechanical construction and the ease of keeping them running.

Advantages:

Sloping Armor and Armor distribution. Sloping armor creates a higher percentage of shots to bounce off the armor without transferring much if any energy. Sloping armor also increases the space protected without adding much weight thus giving the tank greater mobility. The Armor distribution of the T-34: 45mm in the front, 45mm side, 40mm in the rear, 20mm on the top, and 15 on the bottom. Turret front armor 60mm, Turret sides 63mm, turret rear 40mm, and 16mm on the Turret’s top. This distribution in armor was a fine tuned ratio which gave the best possible protection without reducing mobility or protection to the tank.

Wide tracks. The T-34 offered very wide tracks which could easily cross most hazards including: Heavy snow, mud, and vegetation. The pins on the tracks were also pushed back in by the way the hull met the track thus there was rarely any need to re-pin the tracks of the tanks thus giving it greater mobility.

Mass production. The ability to mass produce the T-34 is what gave the Soviet Union the advantage it needed to win the war, without the ability to produce the T-34 in the vast numbers that the USSR did, it would have undoubtedly lost the war. Many of the drawbacks of the T-34 is the small parts which were poorly manufactured this was due to the fact that tens of thousands were required to build the tank in such a short period of time, it is however note worthy to state that though breakdowns of the T-34 were common available parts were always abundant due to the fact that these “poorly” manufactured parts were interchangeable in any type of Russian tank, thus you wouldn’t have a very long down time. The breakdowns though numerous for the T-34 could be very easily over come and were very short, even if the part was currently unavailable at the time of breakdown it would take less than a day to fully fix the T-34, where as if a German tank were to break down without available parts, it would need to be abandoned.

The Gun. The 76.5mm gun which first saw service in 1941 could easily penetrate any fielded tank of any nation at that time, it was only until the panther and tiger tanks introduction that the 76.5mm gun could not penetrate the armor of any tank. The gun of the T-34 was already in the process of being upgraded at that time and the new 85mm gun could penetrate the tanks the 76.5mm could not.

The Engine. A 12 Cylinder, 500 horse powered, diesel fueled, V-2 configured, Beast! Though there is much debate if diesel is better than petrol, the overall engine of the T-34 is amazing. Powerful enough to support the tanks weight and make it maneuverable it is also light enough to not hurt the weight to armor ratio. Possibly the best machined part of the tank all the love and care this monster of a tank would get is in the engine. Unlike most German tank’s engines the engine of the T-34 was designed to run all night and in the coldest of weather would not freeze up.

Disadvantages:

Defiantly the Transmission and Gearbox. The T-34 had a friction clutch system which made it needlessly difficult to drive and change gears, in many cases the radio operator of the tank had to assist the driver in changing gears. It was also common to overheat the transmission. The transmission was so poor on early T-34 models that one of the ways Germany was able to capture so many during the war was because the transmission would go out the crew would bail or be unable to move the tank and the crew was killed.

The placing of the transmission was also a slight disadvantage, slight because there was no better way to place the transmission but it reduced effectiveness all the same. In fact, it probably pays to briefly examine the particular disadvantages of a rear-mounted transmission. The rear-mounted gearbox required a substantial reduction in the size of the crew compartment to avoid increasing the tank’s overall length. The design also required a forward mounting of the turret, creating a weight imbalance. The weight imbalance became the primary restriction on increasing the thickness of the T-34’s frontal armor. The shifting of the turret forward forced the driver hatch to be mounted on the glacis plate and dramatically weaken it and created a vulnerable spot on the tank’s front armor.

It is also worthy to note that the Soviets had stolen plans for a much better “planetary” Transmission some time before November 9^th 1940 when Peoples Commissar of Defense S. K. Timoshenko sent the plans and a letter to the Defense Committee of the Sovarkom.

Reduced presence of Nickel in Armor. Nickel played a huge part in how effective a tanks armor was before composites were introduced. The reason for having Nickel in your armor was to increase the hardness of the Steel. If there were sufficient amounts of Nickel in the Armor even if it was thinner than the opponents it would resist fragmentary explosions better. Soviet Armor typically had 1.0 to 1.5% Nickel in its armor; however the British had very high nickel content (3.0 to 3.5%). Had the USSR increased the nickel in it armor, (which the USSR had no shortages of Nickel) it would have resisted rounds much better and fragments of the hull would be less likely to be sizable to injure or kill the tank crew when hit.

Poor optics, the periscopes of the T-34 were typically made of steel mirrors which made things very difficult to see. In many cases the optics were so poor that the tank had to stop to fire and all hatches had to be open if the tank was to move and fire thus reducing effectiveness of the armor.

Air filters before the Cyclone. Air filters were very poor before introduction of the Cyclone air filtration system (1943), in a number of cases when the tank gun fired the tank would be filled with breech fumes and could kill the tank crew if the air filter was not working properly or if the hatches were not open.

Poor turret manufacturing. In many cases what destroyed many T-34s was a direct hit to the turret, unlike the rest of the tanks hull, the turret was typically made from “soft steel” (lower than average nickel content or total absence.) and in the middle of the war had a single heavy steel hatch which sometimes could not be opened by the crew.

Conclusion:

It is one of the greatest tanks to ever be produced; it was a revolutionary design which out classed much of the world had to offer in tanks. It did have many disadvantages, most due to the fact that the war started when the tank was still being fine tuned and was still in the beginning of production evolution. By the end of the war the only thing which made this tank superior to others around the world was its mass production and numbers in service.

T-34

ivanvolcof — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 10:42:56 GMT

The T-34
Part 1

Brief history

The initial design for the T-34 started with the BT-Series (Bystrokhodny tank) which were basically mass produced copies of the Tanks designed by J. Walter Christie. The BT’s were the first Russian tanks to have sloping armor though it didn’t have the protection of the later T-34 It did give Russian tank designers a good place to start.

In 1937 Mikhail Llyich Koshkin (Chief Designer) and a small team at the Kharkiv Komintern Locomotive Plant or KhPZ in Kharkiv began designing the next generation of tank after the BT & T-26 series of tanks.

In 1938 the A-20 prototype was manufactured, this tank was to eventually become the T-34. It has a 45mm Main gun, two 7.62mm Machine guns, and a new prototype V-2 (V12 configuration) Diesel engine along with welded sloping armor.

In 1940 after successful field trials and more importantly the support of Joseph Stalin production of the T-34 Medium tank began.

On June 22, 1941 the Soviet Union was invaded by Germany. With rapid advances by the German Army Tank production was moved mostly to the interior of the Soviet Union: Moscow, Leningrad, Stalingrad, Omsk, and several newly created tank factories in the Urals. During the first years of the war the only modifications to the T-34 were made to stream line the production process and had little to do with the overall performance of the T-34.

In 1942 preparations were made to upgrade the existing T-34’s and to produce a new tank named the T-43, unfortunately for the cost proved to be too great to produce the T-43 so provisions were made to simply enhance the current design of the T-34. The resulting modifications to the T-34’s design created the T-34/85 variant. At first an attempt was made to install the S-53 cannon in the standard T-34 turret. It was also decided the turret of the existing T-34 was too small for two men and they could not effectively operate the weapon. A change in design would be needed. The Red Army eventually accepted the S-53 gun in January 1944, and production began in March.

The Gun and turret was not the only thing to change on the T-34. The Gearbox, air filter, and armor thickness, among other things were changed.

(It is worthy to note that Russian historians do not reference the T-34 by T-34/76 or T-34/85 but rather by the year produced due to the fact each year a new variant of the tank was created not to mention it can become more complex when factory differences are taken into account. It is estimated that over 84,000 T-34 classed tanks were manufactured from 1940 to 1945.)

Introduction to Russian Tanks

ivanvolcof — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 04:35:02 GMT

Early Russian Tanks
Russian tank designs begin as early as 1915 with two odd prototypes one being a land curser which seemed more like an armored train with tank tracks with a mounted naval gun than an actual tank. Another tank design of that era was something called the Tsar tank which is possibly the most interesting tank design and was possibly the largest tank design of its time. The construction of the tank consisted of two large wheels two machine guns. The Tsar tank almost reminds me of a old fashioned bicycle in the way it looks. The reason the Tsar tank was abandoned was simple during the trial run of the tank it got stuck in the mud and could not make it out thus the project was abandoned some time in 1916. Almost all tanks built before 1927 were prototypes and not many if any were actually built. Of course there is one of these prototypes that did in fact later become a actual design which later tanks were based off of. I speak of the T-16, an unremarkable design for a light tank it was slow thinly armored but it was the first Russian tank to pass trials. The T-16 was never granted acceptance for service and the existing tanks eventually found their way to museums in Leningrad and eventually outside of Moscow.

(Tsar tank, I forget where I stole this from.)

T-18

The first real tank to come out of Russia which did go into service was the T-18 which was based on the T-16. The tank was first produced in 1927. The hull of the tank was lengthened and was given a stronger engine than the previous T-16. Production of the tank ended in 1931. The only remarkable thing about this tank is that it was the first to be put into serial production and was the first in service tank in the Russian military.

My Thoughts

Early Russian tanks seem to be mostly of trial and error, and a lot of Entrepreneurship, (the combining ideas of other nations tanks figure out what’s good and what works) Also much of Russia’s tank designs are based on previous tank designs. Tank evolution seems to be most apparent in Russian tank design than any other; you even can find the failed missing links which later became the magnificent tank which conquered Germany and Eastern Europe.

Edits
This post is subject to massive amounts of editing.

Images all stolen from places I don't remember so if there yours speak up.

Introduction

ivanvolcof — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 14:58:15 GMT

I thought it would be nice to give a little introduction of myself.

What’s in a Name?

My writing name is of course Ivan Volcof, Ivan is a very common name and runs with my theme with the entire name and also I like the sound of it also historically Ivan has been a powerful name which some of the greatest rulers of the Russian people have had. Volcof has very special meaning for me, Volk in German (as I understand it) means Unified people; however in Russian it has a very different meaning, it means Wolf. Now next comes the word of Volk of or of the Volk now if you notice the spelling of the name it doesn’t spell Volk it’s Volc it is entirely purposeful for two reasons 1) is simply its easier to find domain and yahoo email accounts with that don’t have 40 numbers at the end of it and most importantly. 2) I am hiding what I am, a wolf in sheep’s clothing if you will. So of the people comes a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

My background

I am from a well know city in a not so well known state. I became a communist when I was 14 to basically piss off my very republican and conservative family this in large part was very successful and most of my family doesn’t mentioned political matters. I ceased being a communist my second year in college basically because as much as I reasoned that communism (pure communism) is a good thing, it will never happen and people will find a way to ruin it. About the same time I became a communist I became absolutely fascinated with Russian culture and military stuff, unlike my communist leanings of the past I still pursue all things Russia with great passion. In 2010 I made my first visit to Moscow and look forward to my next possible trip abroad.

Entrepreneurship

What I do very typically is find information about a subject, digest it and then give my spin on such things. What I will do in this journal or blog or whatever you wish to call it is combine information I have found at different sources and then give my views. To any intellectual properties or copyrights I infringe on I shall kindly ask you to go back to hell. Now a lot of the work you will find here I would not suggest using in any documentation or reports or anything which might matter to the world simply because someone could easily argue that you are infringing on there “intellectual property” which may even be correct, thus anything I place here which isn’t under private is free domain and should be considered free speech and I will not seek to make any money on any ideas listed here. To Military secrets… I have no special knowledge or Security clearance and have no sources to such knowledge thus if your governments military secrets are somehow divulged here then perhaps you should have done a better job at keeping them secret because all my stuff that you will see here is declassified or public info.

Ideas

ivanvolcof — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 03:25:32 GMT

In the up coming days, weeks, and years I hope to write and post a great many of my Idea's and also information on topics I am passionate about. One of these subjects will be Russian Military Equipment, (Past and Present).

If you (the whole -1 people) who view this Journal notice misspellings, Inaccuracy or anything you think is b/s please feel free to suggest edits.
You will also notice that a great many things will lack citation this is due to the fact no one reads this thing but me; however should this Journal become at all poopular I shall be sure to add citation when needed.

In The Begining...

ivanvolcof — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 02:00:30 GMT

In the Beginning there was lameness and one of my friends had me make a Livejournal to see her blog. Now to destroy the hearts and minds of young individuals everywhere and finally the same thing we do every night Pinky... Try to take over the world!