Did the 'Ratte' tank have ANY useful function?

yibvp2iij0s21.jpg

Aside from being a) very good target practice and b) good at scaring Soviet peasants, the Ratte seems to have no discenerable function in WWII (and was never made).
Perhaps in scenario where the Axis achieved peace with the Soviets, and thus had less supply problems, it could have function in a scenario where the Nazis had total air supremacy?

Let's be honest Hitler would probably build the thing anyway post 1945.
 
The only useful function the Ratte has would be a mission boss in an over-the-top dieselpunk/WW2 video game. It was too slow and cumbersome to avoid air power, too big to use any existing infrastructure safely, too expensive and resource-consuming to be worth it, less alone mass-produced. It was effectively a land battleship, at a time when even regular sea battleships were rendered obsolete and vulnerable. Sure, if it fought a tank platoon or two it would probably utterly destroy them, but for the cost of one Ratte you'd be able to build a dozen Tigers, and they would be much easier to deploy and much less hideously vulnerable to a focused aerial or artillery strike.
 
Justification for a bunch of automotive and mechanical engineers, plus a couple skilled draftsmen, not being sent off as infantry replacements on the Ostfront and to instead survive the war and do productive work during the post-war rebuilding
 
The only useful function the Ratte has would be a mission boss in an over-the-top dieselpunk/WW2 video game. It was too slow and cumbersome to avoid air power, too big to use any existing infrastructure safely, too expensive and resource-consuming to be worth it, less alone mass-produced. It was effectively a land battleship, at a time when even regular sea battleships were rendered obsolete and vulnerable. Sure, if it fought a tank platoon or two it would probably utterly destroy them, but for the cost of one Ratte you'd be able to build a dozen Tigers, and they would be much easier to deploy and much less hideously vulnerable to a focused aerial or artillery strike.
I generally agree. It looks like a mission boss that soaks up bullets.

Wonder if it could be used to defend against a D-Day style landing, but again, the enemy would only do that if they had air superiority, which would make it useless.
 
It looks cooler than any ordinary 11 inch gun platform and can kill you just the same. Pretty useful for propaganda, especially if it manages to actually kill some people/blow up some tanks and the Nazis can broadcast the footage around the world. Everyone knows bigger is better, right? Maybe if they convince the Allies there are dozens of these running around that and public pressure will cause the Allies to waste resources on their own design.
 
It was effectively a land battleship, at a time when even regular sea battleships were rendered obsolete and vulnerable.
Hm. is it possible to convert it to a land aircraft carrier?

Yeah, I know, not really practical, but the Ratte as it was supposed to be wasn't either.
 
Hm. is it possible to convert it to a land aircraft carrier?

Yeah, I know, not really practical, but the Ratte as it was supposed to be wasn't either.
If you can build a Ratte big enough to land planes on, you already have airstrips that big.
 
I guess if there were a notable number of them the Allies were aware of, they might dedicate significant resources to hunting down and killing them in what everyone will later agree was a poor land-based Tirpitz analogy.
 
If Germany built one or more in peacetime--or even had one in the works, it would be a good propaganda piece. For that matter, build it out of (somewhat thick) mild steel, make sure the guns and engines work, and let the other side go nuts wasting resources trying to match it--the civilians will insist.

Or just start on the procurement--all for things with other uses--and leak the plans.

Once hostilities start, it's a good flak trap for allied bombers if air control is disputed.
 
The only semi practical uses I see is taking of the turret and using it as static coastal artillery. Or put it on a cruiser/pocket battleship.
 
Top