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By Ketzulo
12/18/2010 - 02:41:04

Type: Military land vehicle
Rating: 0.05 (Not rated)
Tags: angled, enormous, epic, ever, existance, german, giant, heaviest, heavy, huge, in, large, maus, mouse, powerful, prototype, super, super-heavy, tank, ultimate

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Description

Panzerkampfwagen VIII ?Maus? was a German World War II superheavy tank completed in late 1944. It is the heaviest fully enclosed armoured fighting vehicle ever built. Only one complete prototype was built before the testing grounds were captured by the advancing Soviets.The main problem of the Maus development was finding an engine powerful enough for its weight that could be carried in the tank. The project was designed to reach a maximum speed of 20 kilometres per hour (12 mph) but no engine was found that could power the prototype to more than 13 kilometres per hour (8.1 mph) even under ideal conditions. Due to the huge weight it was impossible for Maus to cross most bridges, but it could ford or submerge to cross rivers.A wooden mockup of the final Maus configuration was ready in the late April 1943. It was presented to Hitler, who approved it for mass production, ordering a first series of 150. The estimated weight of the Maus was 188 tons at that time. But there is a story that concerns the main armament of the Maus being changed by Hitler. He said that the 128 mm gun looked like a ´toy gun´ when compared to the tank. As a result - the 128 mm was replaced by a 150 mm gun.As Heinz Guderian wrote in his memoirs (Guderian, Heinz (1957) [1952]. Panzer Leader (abridged) (First Ballantine Books Edition ed.). New York):?On May 1 a wooden model of the "Maus", a tank project of Porsche and Krupp, was shown to Hitler. It was intended to mount a 150 mm gun. The total weight of the tank was supposed to reach 175 tons. It should be considered that after the design changes on Hitler's instructions the tank will weigh 200 tons. The model didn't have a single machine gun for close combat, and for this reason I had to reject it. It had the same design flaw that made the Elefant unsuitable for close combat. In the end, the tank will inevitably have to wage a close combat since it operates in cooperation with the infantry. An intense debate started, and except for me, all of the present found the "Maus" magnificent. It was promising to be exactly that, a ?giant?.The complete prototype of Maus underwent trials in late 1944. It was 10.2 metres (33 ft 6 in) long, 3.71 metres (12 ft 2 in) wide and 3.63 metres (11.9 ft) tall. Weighing 200 metric tons, the Maus's main armament was a 128 mm KwK 44 gun (55 calibers long barrel) with a coaxial 75 mm gun. The 128 mm gun was powerful enough to destroy all enemy armored fighting vehicles at close or middle ranges, and even some at ranges exceeding 3500 meters.Source: World of Tanks Online