T-34 turret traverse rate

[Drifter Man]

I have just finished some testing of different models of the T-34 and noticed something unusual about the turret traverse rate.

• T-34-76 has a fast turret - completes a 90 deg turn in about 3.5 seconds
• T-34-85 M1943, M1944 Early and OT-34-85 have a slow turret, 90 deg in 15.5 seconds.
• Then, T-34-85 M1944 Late/Latest have a super fast turret again, 3.5 seconds, like the 76.

Is the third point an oversight/mistake? Or intentional?

Edited September 5, 2021 by Drifter Man

[chuckdyke]

Here at the start of the video you see it actually traversing 3.5 seconds is certainly fast. The gunner first power traverse the turret and he follow with a final manual adjustment. 

 

Edited September 5, 2021 by chuckdyke

[Drifter Man]

Yep, it is likely that the video is showing manual operation of the turret. In the meantime I found this video - seems pretty fast from the inside. But it could be a postwar version, I see some Polish text on the inisde.

On Wikipedia:

T-34-85

• Model 1943 - This production model was built from February to March 1944 at Zavod 112, with the 85 mm D-5T gun and a new larger cast three-man turret, a commander's cupola and two dome-shaped ventilators clustered together on top of the turret.
• Model 1944 - This was a production model built from March 1944 to the end of 1944, with the simpler 85 mm ZiS-S-53 gun. The radio was moved from the hull into the turret and the commander's cupola was moved rearward. There was an improved layout and a new gunner's sight.
• Model 1945 - This was a production model built in 1944–45, with an electrically powered turret traverse motor, an enlarged commander's cupola with a one-piece hatch, squared front fenders, and the TDP (tankovoy dimoviy pribor) smoke system with electrically detonated MDSh canisters.

 

 

So it seems that what CMRT calls "Model 1944 Late" is what this wikipedia page calls Model 1945. Looks good to me now 

[MikeyD]

On later T34/85s you see that bulge/patch on the lower left turret side? That's the placement of the electric turret drive motor. You don't see that bulge on T34/85 (M1943) or T34/85 (1944 early) in the game and turret rotation speeds reflect that. (1944 late) and (1944 latest) have the turret drive and it is VERY fast.

The electric drive was just for slewing the turret around. The finer movements for aiming are still done by hand crank.

[Codreanu]

Now if we could only get working MDSh smoke canisters on the model 1945.

[Drifter Man]

12 hours ago, MikeyD said:

On later T34/85s you see that bulge/patch on the lower left turret side? That's the placement of the electric turret drive motor. You don't see that bulge on T34/85 (M1943) or T34/85 (1944 early) in the game and turret rotation speeds reflect that. (1944 late) and (1944 latest) have the turret drive and it is VERY fast.

The electric drive was just for slewing the turret around. The finer movements for aiming are still done by hand crank.

Yes I see it there now. Nice 

It is interesting that this substantial improvement over the M1944 early is not reflected by the QB price. That's what made me think it was an error.

[dbsapp]

In technical literature they say that t-34-85 could traverse tower 4,2 times in one minute.

It makes 14,2 second per turn. 

So 3,5 sec for 90 degrees sounds about right. 

 

[Drifter Man]

On 9/6/2021 at 10:13 PM, dbsapp said:

In technical literature they say that t-34-85 could traverse tower 4,2 times in one minute.

It makes 14,2 second per turn. 

So 3,5 sec for 90 degrees sounds about right. 

 

I can believe that based on the video. Faster turret even than in the Sherman.