British A39 Tortoise vs American T-28, More Effective?

Which Tank Would Have Been More Effective?

  • British A39 Tortoise

    Votes: 12 70.6%
  • American T-28

    Votes: 5 29.4%

  • Total voters
    17
British A39 Tortoise vs American T-28, More Effective?

300px-IWM-MH-9865-Tortoise.jpg
305px-T-28-1.jpg


Last week I did a thread on the American T-28 Super Heavy Tank. I am now interested how it would have compared to the British A39 Tortoise. The Tortoise was designed for basically the same purpose as the T-28. Which of the two projects seems more feasible and which tank would have been more effective?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortoise_heavy_assault_tank
 
Someone's been playing World of Tanks. But on a more serious note, I'm going to say neither. They would have been a drain on production and logistics, and I'm pretty sure a 2 Centurions or Pershings would be better than either monster.
 

CalBear

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The A39 has a notable advantage in speed (12 MPH vs. 8 mph), as well in general mobility at 17 tons lower weight with an extra 100 hp on tap and two feet less width (the T-28 can reduce its full width, but only by removing the outer track set, meaning it would require double the number of rail cars to transport the same number of vehicles). The T-28 has a better gun, at least on penetration. The 105mm in the T-28 develops 3,000 FPS with a 39 pound AP shell and a fairly awesome 3,700 FPS with a 28 pound HVAP round, the QF 32 pounder in the A29 gets 2880 with a 32 pound AP shell. In practice this means the A39 can defeat a Panther's armor at 1,000 meters, the T28 can penetrate the front armor of a King Tiger at 2,000 yards with the right round and 1.500 meters with any of its AP rounds.
Both vehicles are heavily armored, the A39 carrying 225mm front armor and the T-28 carrying close to a foot (335mm) front armor (by comparison the King Tiger carried 185mm in the same location and the Jadtiger 250mm). The T-28 was actually safe against the 128mm PaK44 down to ~200 meters (the same gun could penetrate any WAllied deployed tank out to 3,500 meters).

In the end The A39 gets the slightest of nods. A better gun and armor isn't any good if you can't get to the battlefield. On the defense the T-28 would be a easy win, but they are called "assault guns" for a reason.
 
The A39 was trialled in Germany after the war and they worked quite well, except for the usual super tank issue of bridging. It proved to be a practical and reliable vehicle with adequate ground mobility. Until you want to cross a river tactically. So it has to be the A39 as we know it works in use.
 
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