Tanks, Warships and Warplanes that should never have been built ATL edition

mowque

Banned
  1. American Rhode Island class of ships- Not all failures have to break under the stress of war. For some weapons, even peace time is a harsh burden. This is best shown in the light cruiser Rhode Island class of warships that America put out in 1906. Made in response to the First Atlantic War, they were supposed to provide light and quick response time, for a good price. The Rhode Island class was supposed to be a commerce raider, to keep Europe at bay in any war that might occur again. In actuality, the ships were tasked to monitoring the Caribbean and Central America. In addition to these light tours of duty was the time during the Second Atlantic War, when they were forced to make long runs to Europe then fight there. The ships were hard pressed in the best of times. Purely coal fired, this put them nearly obsolete very quickly. Lightly gunned, and lightly armored, the engines failed to keep them at a high speed. Many skippers found themselves unable to run, but unable to fight as well.
    Still, bad ships are designed, why is this on the list? Because it was long used, long after it was surpassed by other ships. Useful for keeping the Caribbean and the upper 'tier of S. America” in line they were used for decades. Pictures of leaking, rusty ships steaming (literally) into harbors are found in many texts and are familiar to every historian. The amount of deaths due to these floating derelicts sinking due to normal stresses is uncountable. Also, keeping these ships in service stifled any further development.
  2. North China Dragon rifle- Again,t he drive to make self-sufficient arms, led North China down the path to a bad weapon. The Dragon rifle was one of the numerous attempts at a cheap bolt action. What they got was a unmitigated disaster. The rifle was a cheap knock-off of Russian designs (probably not the best start) that were left behind. In addition, they were made in local factories in slave like conditions but poorly trained machinists. The poor local steel and other materials lead to the guns being brittle and prone to rust. The poor matching met that often swapping parts was impossible, meaning many guns with one small bad part were left behind on battlefields. Even the bullets were under powered, and although the bullets had a surprisingly good quality, they were often too weak to do the job. Despite vast improvements in recent years, this rifle still leaves a bad taste in many historian's mouths.
  3. French “Crusher' tank- A early tank, designed after experience on the trench clogged front of the Second Atlantic War. While it was clearly a product of the time, it still can't escape being put on such a list. Over built, and over complicated, the Crusher tank was something of a landcruiser. Designed to be a moving fort on the battlefield, it just ending up being a huge money pit, and a sitting target in any situation. Using two massive engines (and even these weren't enough) to move about, it relied on 7 machine guns and two 'main' guns for firepower. The need for a huge crew was one major drawback as the Army used them in trials. The slow speed, bad shocks, and narrow treads lead to more bogdowns then one could count. The 'Crusher' program was also hindered by lack of funds, which resulted in sub-standard materials being used, which didn't help. Instruments were poor, and many parts were second hand. This wreck of a weapon died a slow and long winded death, after being promoted for many years by the Army as a new wave of land warfare.
 
Volksguard Camouflage Kit '45 - (Not a weapon but military equipment). Im wondering how many russians actually didnt suspect there was someone in that box.
 
The CSA's Old Dominion class iron clad crusier. Granted, when first introduced, it was considered a potential war winner...until the Union introduced the Constitution class iron clad crusier.

Didn't take long to recognize the superiority of rotating turrets to fixed broadsides, fore and aft batteries, as was demonstrated at Cape Hatteras and The Straights of Florida.

Perhaps the mistake wasn't so much in the construction or fielding of the ships in the first place as Old Dominion and Albemarle were incedibly effective in the CSN breakout at Hampton Roads, but the continued construction of the three unfinished ships of the class after said weaknesses were exposed was pure folly.

When Constitution was able to defeat Albemarle so quickly at Cape Hatteras and held it's own against both Old Dominion and Cumberland (sinking the former and severly dammaging the latter) before Intrepid arrived to finish the engagement at The Straights, the CSN should have shifted to development of their own rotating turrets; at that point of the war they had the time to do it, with the land war confined to the trench lines in Tennessee and Virginia, there was no need to rush Lone Star, Chesapeake and Confederacy into service.

So call them a mixed bag at best.

[EDIT: My bad. This would belong in pre-1900 weapons...:eek:]
 
The EB52 'Megafortress'.

Oh boy, where to start on this one... As if the idea of a 'Stealth B52' wasn't patently ridiculous enough, but one that featured rear-firing air-to-air missiles, an aerial mine launcher, and hitherto-unheard-of laser radar - all long after the Cold War had finished?

Like Legosim I enjoyed the series. There is a serious gap between it and reality though. If Dreamland was in really in business, the War on Terror would be over, there would be no American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan whilst Iran and North Korea would have been shown the error of their ways.
 
The Antonov A40? I mean, I could understand why they might prototype it but the SU actually out it into production. All they ever managed to do was get shot down (and I bet those luftwaffe pilots were amazed to be shooting tanks out of the air :))

OOC: seriously, this thing was prototyped but left at that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_A-40
 
The Antonov A40? I mean, I could understand why they might prototype it but the SU actually out it into production. All they ever managed to do was get shot down (and I bet those luftwaffe pilots were amazed to be shooting tanks out of the air :))

OOC: seriously, this thing was prototyped but left at that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_A-40
Speaking of Antonov's how about the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-225
which the Russkies used as a Gunship. I mean, who really needs a flying battleship cannon?
 
(OOC: I swear that you find Orks flying them in Warhammer 40,000K :D)

(OOC : Is it this one ? :D)
ork_plane2.jpg
 
Volksguard Camouflage Kit '45 - (Not a weapon but military equipment). Im wondering how many russians actually didnt suspect there was someone in that box.
:DGreat one, lol! Am I the only who got the reference? That is, if it was a reference to Metal Gear at all... still a great joke nonetheless.
 
:DGreat one, lol! Am I the only who got the reference? That is, if it was a reference to Metal Gear at all... still a great joke nonetheless.

OOC:It wasnt suppose to be a reference but i figured it out after i posted it.:D I thought people would think of it as a mail box that soldiers hid in during the battle in berlin.:D
 
Britain's Channel Rail Gun - 'Big Bertha'. Wonderful idea on paper; in times of war with France/Holland/Flanders/P&O, take half-a-dozen big-ass guns on rails, haul 'em to the South Coast and let rip on the European Coast and any fleets/armies massing there. Except, of course, in times of war with poorly-maintained rail lines and inexperienced crews, not all of the guns would make it there, and those that did would frequently destroy the stubs they were parked on to fire! There's a famous picture (which, annoyingly, I can't seem to find) of one of them, having fallen from its perch on the walls of Dover harbour, with nothing but its gun barrel visible above the waves, cutting off access to our most strategically important port. And, just to add insult to injury, the massive steam locomotives they built to haul them got lumbered with the same nicknames despite being about fifteen thousand times more useful...
 
I've read claims that the Raj Gun was actually planned for a possible war with Russia. After examining the state of roads and rail lines through western India and into Afganistan, the British felt that one massive gun would be better than a bunch of little ones. That and the Russians wouldn't have a gun nearly as big with their armies, giving them a case of big gun inferiority complex.

The gun was supposed to coincide with the building of a dual-track line through western India and into Afganistan. Confusing things further, I've also read that the dual-track line was planned first. This led to fears that Russia would consider the rail line a threat, so the British came up with the railway guns to defend the line, and railway guns needed the rail line in order to be moved up to where they could defend the rail line.

More!


The British Rail Gun, model A (The Raj Gun)- The (in)famous Raj Gun. Well loved by big gun lovers everywhere, this one is easily the largest on our list. On paper, the idea sounds very good. The British planned on making a massive railway gun, that could be transported anywhere rails could go, and bring along massive firepower. Many feel this was a response to the fact that the British wanted to bring the battleship concept to dry land. Also, India is huge place with lots of various peoples and possible enemies. Why not build a massive and transportable gun?

  1. In essence, the planners ignored many simple logistics. A simple list might just provide the answer as to why the Raj Gun (despite many romantic imagines in books everywhere) was a total failure. Indian factories weren't up to making the high quality needed for the gun, let alone making the replacement parts required. The gun itself was far to huge to be carried in one piece and had to move in many cars and took up miles and miles of track. This was at a time when both rolling stock and railway mileage was at a high premium in growing India. Also, the sheer weight of the gun destroyed rails by merely riding over it, and the often degraded railway net couldn't take the strain, even the best areas, let alone the Indian back country. The barrel could only take a few firings till it had to be replaced, which was a massive endeavor including dozens of men. Even at the tactical level, the gun was a bad idea against the type of fighting the British would encounter in India (if it had ever rebelled). Vast static targets were not going to be the main fare in such a revolt. So on many levels the Raj Gun was a total fiasco and a massive waste of money, even though it hardly got past the prototype stage.
 
You think the Maus was bad, try the Ratte! It never got anywhere near the front because no bridge in the world could support it. Of course, it could theoretically cross rivers - the operative word there being theoretically :rolleyes:

Yes, the Ratte was a really bad idea. The 280mm armament was impressive when introduced, but left it at a huge disadvantage once the soviets brought out the TG-5. The fact that the TG-5 had 50% more power and could run circles around it wasn't helping matters.

TG-5:
tg-5.jpg
 
Yes, the Ratte was a really bad idea. The 280mm armament was impressive when introduced, but left it at a huge disadvantage once the soviets brought out the TG-5. The fact that the TG-5 had 50% more power and could run circles around it wasn't helping matters.
OOC:
1000 tonne? 2x 304mm (=12") guns, 4x152mm and 4x76mm guns?
24.000 hp? 60km/h

Wow. I don't know enough Russian to figure more than that, but that's blasted impressive.

Is this real, or the figment of some crazed modeller's imagination?

Edit: BTW, why would/did the Russians use inches for their gun sizes, or is this a sign that it's fiction?
Edit2: googling "Bolshevik tank", it looks like this is real (well, as real as napkinwaffen get)
 
Last edited:
Speaking of Antonov's how about the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-225
which the Russkies used as a Gunship. I mean, who really needs a flying battleship cannon?

It would be even funnier if they used it as an aircraft carrier :p

Wow. I don't know enough Russian to figure more than that, but that's blasted impressive.

Is this real, or the figment of some crazed modeller's imagination?

It appears it was a real project but sensibly it was scrapped.
 
Top