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When one thinks of battle tanks names like the American Abrams the German Panther
and the Russian T14 Armada come to mind
however in the early days of Tanks various forms and sizes were designed and tested some would
prove hugely successful and if it went to tank design even to this day but others not so much
what was the tank known as the Tsar tank why was it designed like a kid's tricycle and whatever
happened to it let's try and find out hello I'm Mike droberg Marine Corps veteran and filmmaker
and we will try to answer these questions on today's episode of Forgotten history
the Tsar tank effectively a gigantic armored tricycle with guns was an
Innovative tank designed for sure but it would ultimately end in failure
the Czar tank was also called Netopyr a Russian name for the pipistrellus a genius of bats
or lebedenko tank after its main tank designer Nikolai lebedenko other Engineers involved
in the project were Nikolai zukovsky Boris stechkin and Alexander Mikulin who all worked
on the tank in 1914 and 15. resembling something straight out of a dystopian science fiction film
the tank had three wheels instead of tracks that most people associate with tank technology
labadenko had a private laboratory on sadovo kudrinskaya Street in Moscow where he conducted
his work for the Russian military on January 15th lebedenko showed Tsar Nicholas II a wooden model
of his tank with a propulsion system made from a gramophone spring according to eyewitness accounts
Czar and the engineers played with the model of the machine that moved quickly across the carpet
effortly passing stacks of two or three volumes of the code of laws of the Russian Empire books
so our Nicholas was so impressed by the tank that he gave several hundred thousand rubles from his
own money or the people's money for that matter to help fund the project allegedly Nicholas kept
the tank model that lebedenko made out of wood but its whereabouts are now lost to history with
funding secured the development of the working prototype commenced at a plant in Khamovniki
two 240 horsepower Maybach engines which were sourced from a captured German Airship powered the
tank and were set up one engine per wheel to make the drive unit the engines allowed for a top speed
of 10 miles per hour on level ground which is pretty fast back then the front two spoke wheels
were almost 30 feet across and the third roller wheel in the back had a diameter of five feet
Lebedenko's Memoirs say that he got the idea for this machine from turkic pavozki carts which
easily drove over bumps and ditches because of their large Wheels the wheels with zhukovsky made
had a t-shaped steel beam in the middle which was then covered with wood each engine turned
a wheel which was then pushed down by a railway Carriage spring until it touched the wooden cover
of the big wheel the wheel then transferred the power from the engine to the big running wheel
by turning in the opposite direction if the engine got too hot the drive Wheels came off
which kept the engine from seizing the top of the vehicle's Hull would have had one third
of mg or light cannons most likely four Pounders the tank would also have a series of Machine Gun
Slots armed with 7.62 millimeter maximum machine guns for anti-infantry defense in addition small
mg sponsors were put on the outer sides of the hole and under the belly there was also a small
machine gun turret this would give the lebedenko a total height of about 39 feet the Czar tank
would weigh the incredible amount of 60 tons and had a crew of 10. its armor thickness is unknown
the theory behind the design of the big wheels was to enable it to transverse over rough terrain
and other large obstacles without issue and the smaller rear wheel would provide the main steering
for the tank this seemed reasonable in theory but when field tested the rear steerable roller
became stuck in the soft ground almost as soon as the test began despite the incredible power
of the main engines even they lacked the power to free the machine once it got mired down in the mud
to the small size of the rear wheels and the incorrect weight distribution of the machine
as a whole the tendency for the rear wheel to get stuck would prove to be a fatal design flaw
and led to several further failed tests in front of the high Commission in August of 1915.
the project will be canceled a month later in September of that year despite this major
setback Stechkin and Mikulin continued to work on the design by attempting to develop a new engine
called ambes for the vehicle this final push to save the project also failed as did any attempts
to extricate the stranded tank prototype when the Russian Revolution of 1917 kicked off that
finally sealed its fate and ended any further work on the Tsar tank for a Time the tank was
completely forgotten and left to rust for another six years in the forest some 37 miles from Moscow
in 1923 the tank was finally scrapped the Tsar tank was undoubtedly when the
boldest tanks designed the history of Tanks while appearing sound in theory
ultimately it was a complete failure when tested in the field replica of the Tsar tank can be seen
in the t-34 tank Museum in Moscow today so what do you think should they try a second prototype
let us know in the comments below thank you for watching forgotten history please like share
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