over the years this tank has received many names originally known as the t28
and t95 in more modern times it has become known as the doom turtle or zoom turtle in today's
episode we take a look at the development of America's only super heavy tank throughout history
there have been countless tanks all designed to kill but not all have been a success
what happened to the ones that never made it and why did they fail my name is ConeOfArc join me as
we journey through time uncovering failed projects and forgotten creations in cursed by design with
the US entering the second world war it was only a matter of time until an invasion of mainland
Europe would occur today we know this occurred in the form of the Italian and Normandy landings
however in 1943 D-Day had not yet come to pass and uncertainty about the German defenses would bring
with it the creation of a slow-moving monster the program began in September of 1943 with a concept
to fit the 105 millimeter T5E1 cannon to a tank with the equivalent of 8 inches of frontal armor
to move this machine it was originally planned to use the electric drive system from the T1E1 heavy
tank which was part of the m6 heavy's development due to the excellent performance of the 105
millimeter gun the Chief of Ordnance proposed that 25 of these tanks could be completed in as little
as 8 to 12 months and would be able to reduce any fortifications to rubble clearing the way
for ally forces this was met with skepticism from army ground forces who instead suggested
making three pilot tanks with a mechanical transmission instead of the electric one
at the end of a conference between the two groups in March of 1944 a decision was reached to produce
five vehicles giving the tank its first official designation as heavy tank T28 with this decision
the specifications of the tank were also increased with the armor being increased to 12 inches
in total it was estimated the tank would weigh in at a staggering 95 tons unlike the super heavies
produced in Germany this tank would be a low profile turretless machine with the gun mounted in
the hull before it was even given to a production facility though it would receive a new designation
on the 7th of February 1945 the tank was redesignated as 105mm Gun Motor Carriage T95
the reason for this change was the design of the vehicle unlike a typical heavy tank it lacked a
turret and had basically no secondary weapons aside from a roof mounted .50 cal and the four
crew members personal weapons this change was approved in march of the same year and shortly
after in may the project details were supplied to the pacific car and foundry company who had agreed
to produce the vehicles although I'll note here that in the book "Can Openers" it states that the
hull castings were manufactured by General Steel Castings Corporation unfortunately for the tank
time quickly ran out and by the time the first hull's welding was completed the war in Europe
was already basically over with the end of the war in the pacific following shortly afterwards the
order was reduced to two following this ballistic tests were performed late in 1945 these included
88 millimeter 90 millimeter and 155 millimeter projectiles as well as explosive charges of
varying size aside from the driver's hood bulge the armor performed well to move this increasingly
heavy machine the designers used a very similar power pack as the one found on the M26 Pershing
interestingly this means that the super heavy tank shared the same engine as the one used
for the Super Pershing which we talked about in a previous episode despite this immense
power the weight of the tank caused it to only be capable of a max speed of 8 miles per hour
even that was not recommended for a sustained period and in practice it would be used at an
even slower 7 miles per hour for any extended travel the top speed wasn't the only thing that
was affected by the weight of the tank in order to get the ground pressure down a second set of
removable tracks were designed this would give the tank its iconic look with four tracks also making
it one of the few vehicles to use this style even with the tracks attached though the load on each
pair of wheels was a staggering eleven thousand eight hundred and twelve pounds or nearly six
tons so this is one tank you definitely wouldn't want driving over your lawn the removable nature
of the outer tracks was a major benefit for the tank though with them attached the tank was nearly
15 feet wide which would have made transporting it quite difficult by removing them it would cut the
width down to a more manageable size of about 10 feet in the event it would need to do this during
combat missions the outer tracks could be towed behind the vehicle as a sort of tracked trailer
this process took an inexperienced crew in field conditions around 4 hours although this was later
reduced to 2 and a half hours to remove or replace the outer tracks it was estimated this time could
be reduced further if it was attached using self-aligning bolts instead of squared ones
this slow-moving heavy machine was far different than anything else in the arsenal of democracy
and didn't fit any of the existing categories due to that it was eventually decided in June
1946 to once again change the name this reverted the name back to T28 however now it would be known
as superheavy tank T28 following this name change testing at Aberdeen continued until 1947 without
much issue one of the only major failures came during a firing trial when an issue with the
muzzle break caused it to be blown off landing about 500 feet downrange other than that hiccup
the trials proceeded smoothly albeit slowly after traveling a total of 541 miles for endurance tests
the end of the project came in October of 1947 rather than be cancelled for budget reasons the
T28 had become obsolete due to the successful mounting of its main armament into a fully
traversable turret although the story of that design is best saved for another day as the life
of the super heavy is not quite over yet following its cancellation they still had a vehicle laying
around that weighed more than anything else in the inventory with the other being lost at some
point from an engine fire the remaining tank would go on to see extended use as a load test vehicle
most notably it was used in testing the ability of the us navy to land 100-ton vehicles onto a beach
ending up in a field and forgotten about in Fort Belvoir, Virginia being written off as destroyed
that is until almost three decades later when a hunter discovered it almost comically hiding in
some bushes I guess you could say this makes the T28 a 27 year hide and seek champion
it's fitting and a little ironic that one of the slowest tanks in history was developed too slow
to see combat what began as a tank to break German defenses would end as a bush-covered lost treasure
luckily being forgotten would be what saved the remaining tank
allowing it to survive and be placed on display after being restored at the soon-to-be-opened US
Army Armor and Cavalry Collection in Fort Benning, Georgia if you'd like to see some footage of the
restored vehicle I'll include a link to Sofilein's video where she shows a full tour of the vehicle
as always a massive thanks to my YouTube members who voted for this vehicle in the monthly poll
if you enjoyed the video be sure to give it a like and thank them for picking it in the comments
if you'd like to help support this series please consider becoming a member yourself or check out
my Teespring shop linked below and get yourself some tank merch and don't forget to subscribe so
you never miss an episode appearing now on your screen is a video on another American
heavy tank the Super Pershing as well as the full Cursed by Design playlist see you there