Is there any way for Super-heavy tanks to be used in combat with a POD after 1914?
AHC: Super-heavy Tanks used in Combat
- Thread starter Midnight-Blue766
- Start date
Hoist40
Banned
Depends on what you call a superheavy? Some say 75 tons or more.
If you consider 70 tons to be enough then the US T29 and T30 were on order at the end of the war so if the war ends later or if the US gets a earlier or bigger Tiger scare they might have deployed some. For example if the Germans get some of their Tiger I's in the battle of Kasserine and the Americans jump on the idea that they need to respond with heavy tanks.
The US in the OTL preferred two 30 ton tank to one 60 ton tank so you need something to change this. It did happen later in 1944 when the US started to run into lots of Panthers and Tigers but except for a few Pershing's the US did not have time to respond with heavier tanks. Make the Tiger scare happen earlier and you might get something close to a superheavy in action.
If you consider 70 tons to be enough then the US T29 and T30 were on order at the end of the war so if the war ends later or if the US gets a earlier or bigger Tiger scare they might have deployed some. For example if the Germans get some of their Tiger I's in the battle of Kasserine and the Americans jump on the idea that they need to respond with heavy tanks.
The US in the OTL preferred two 30 ton tank to one 60 ton tank so you need something to change this. It did happen later in 1944 when the US started to run into lots of Panthers and Tigers but except for a few Pershing's the US did not have time to respond with heavier tanks. Make the Tiger scare happen earlier and you might get something close to a superheavy in action.
Tamandaré
Banned
What about a PoD further back? No Combustion engines, trench war still happens, someone needs a tank-style vehicle, they make big steam-tanks with ginormous engines instead? Since no combustion engines = no airplanes (at least what I got from reading Santos Dumont's book), then we could see the British making bigger and bigger tanks for trench fighting.
Not as nuts as the 1500 ton Monster, the beast that was supposed to carry a copy of the 800mm Schwerer Gustav cannon as the main armament. It was supposed to be powered by FOUR U-Boat engines.
Considering the Nazis' propensity for insanely monumental architecture, tanks, and other equally impossible stuff one really has to wonder how much of their ideology was founded on a truly massive level of overcompensation.
1) do you mean INTERNAL combustion egines, because steam engines certainly require fuel.
2) there have been successful steam aircraft. The most famous being the Besler.
Super heavy tanks need super powerful engines. Steam is probably going to rquire a smaller tank.
Steam engines do not have to be huge. Car size ones are well understood.
The A39 Tortoise was probably as big as could be actually deployed in WW2. It proved to be quite mobile cross country but bridging and deployment to the front needed careful thought.
There is a Youtube video of it in operation.
The A39 Tortoise was probably as big as could be actually deployed in WW2. It proved to be quite mobile cross country but bridging and deployment to the front needed careful thought.
There is a Youtube video of it in operation.
A single prototype Maus manages to crawl far enough from the factory when the front line moves there to actually engage a group of Russian tanks, which back away when they realize they're fighting a monster. The Maus pins the Russian tank column down until a flight of Sturmoviks arrive and reduce it to scrap metal. Therefore, super-heavy tank saw combat. OP wasn't very specific in regards to how long they should serve or fight. 
Considering that WWII has already been covered by other posters, I"ll try to find another theatre.
How about the Middle East? It was afterall the largest deployment of armour apart from WWII. It isn't extremely unlikely for some heavy armor to find it's way to f.ex Egypt or Syria. IRL they already operated T-10's, so operating either Jagdtigers or heavy Soviet armor isn't that unlikely.
IRL their heavy armor got destroyed in rather one-way encounters with Israeli medium armor, so there's IMHO no reason for that to change. MBT's will still replace heavy armor in all roles eventually.
There is a world of difference between heavy tanks and super heavy tanks. Even the IS-7 and Obyect 279 clocked out at under 70 tons.
NothingNow
Banned
Yeah, but with steam and a multiple expansion engine, you can easily get away with 300bhp for a 100ton vehicle thanks to all the fucking torque produced.
A single prototype Maus manages to crawl far enough from the factory when the front line moves there to actually engage a group of Russian tanks, which back away when they realize they're fighting a monster. The Maus pins the Russian tank column down until a flight of Sturmoviks arrive and reduce it to scrap metal. Therefore, super-heavy tank saw combat. OP wasn't very specific in regards to how long they should serve or fight.
Get Maus V2 on film Plinking IS-2s at Kummersdorf until a lucky/insane tank crew earns themselves the Hero of the Soviet Union by plowing into it from the side at top speed.