maxm2 Posted February 12, 2000 Share Posted February 12, 2000 I was looking at Bullethead's excellent Tank Page site (people.delphi.com/jtweller/tanks/tanks.htm) when I started wondering why some (especially older) tanks had skirts over their tread drive assemblies and most didn't. Was it too hard to get useful armor over them? Added too much weight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zamo Posted February 13, 2000 Share Posted February 13, 2000 Most of the skirted vehicles I have seen were mid to late war vehicles and many of these lost the skirts rapidly once they went into action. Alot of photos will show a tank with some of the skirts missing or bent. Take a look at any tank even today and most have bent fenders. I hope (but doubt) CM will model this "missing" skirt detail. It'd be neat if they had a pool of art for certain vehicles and a randomizor to randomly say tank "X" is missing some skirts and then load the appropriat art for that tank. Same thing with kill rings and vehicle numbers. I suppose they have considered this and either implemented it or discarded it. We shall have to wait and see... Zamo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Babra Posted February 13, 2000 Share Posted February 13, 2000 Also, for allied vehicles, sand shields were frequently removed as they tended to get clogged with mud. ------------------ Floreat Jerboa ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted February 13, 2000 Share Posted February 13, 2000 I have no idea why the Allies didn't have skirt armor on many of their tanks. The only "production" version I saw (as opposed to some field modifications) was the prototype Assault Sherman intended for street and other up close and personal combat. That sucker looked MEAN The reason why early tanks didn't have skirts is that their only use is to defend against hollow/shaped charges. These weren't introduced in large volumes until after the invasion of Russia. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullethead Posted February 13, 2000 Share Posted February 13, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>I was looking at Bullethead's excellent Tank Page site<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Thanks ------------------ -Bullethead jtweller@delphi.com WW2 AFV Photos: people.delphi.com/jtweller/tanks/tanks.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Tom Posted February 13, 2000 Share Posted February 13, 2000 Well, wearing skirts in 1940 was the fashion of the day. However, as the war progressed, Allied tankers noticed that the skirt wasn't too becoming of their AFV's, let alone very unconfortable. The Allied tankers decided that it would be fashionably irrisponsible to keep the skirts on their tanks. It is almost as important a liberating event for Allied AFV's in the 1940's as burning your Bra was for women in the 1960's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattias Posted February 13, 2000 Share Posted February 13, 2000 Hey Max, Weren’t you referring to suspension protection armour, not "schürtzen"? If this is the case Id say you are pretty much correct in your assumptions, especially considering the development of suspension systems demanding more freedom of movement, externally. In short, it is inefficient and uneconomical in relation to weight. It´s easier to just exchange a destroyed suspension arm. M. [This message has been edited by Mattias (edited 02-13-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxm2 Posted February 13, 2000 Author Share Posted February 13, 2000 Thanks for all the replies, from the informative to the humorous! And you're welcome, Bullethead...the site really is very well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted February 13, 2000 Share Posted February 13, 2000 If Maxm2 was indeed asking about armor specifically to protect the running gear, this sort of protection wasn't practical with the "newer" suspension systems. As Mattias said, developments in suspension systems required more degrees of freedom. The main reason was to prevent buildups of mud which could immobilize the vehicle. Another was that the skirts often fell off because they had to "give" if something hit them or if mud built up. The armor plates on the sides of German tanks were hung, not bolted on for these reasons. Yet another was, of course, weight. And the final reason... to totally protect the wheels from damage there would have to be a very thick and cumbersome system of armor. Too thick, in fact, to be practical taking into account all the stuff I said above. Adding 20mm of armor wouldn't do jack squat against any form of AT, but that was probably even too heavy for practical use. Uhm... and another problem was that the armor would get in the way of general maintainence and repairs. My conclusion is that they couldn't effectively protect the running gear from damage, so what was the point of going through all of downsides and NOT achieve the desired end result? Wow... now that I think about it, there are so many reasons why this didn't happen Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted February 14, 2000 Share Posted February 14, 2000 Any pics of this Assault Sherman? Will it be in CM? If not at the initial release will you but it in in a patch? ------------------ Visit my webpage! http://cm4mac.tripod.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted February 14, 2000 Share Posted February 14, 2000 I have a couple of pics of the Assault Sherman, officially known as T-14. No, it won't ever go into CM as only 2 were ever built, neither of them leaving US soil until one was shipped to Bovington Camp (Tank Museum) after the war. The whole project was at the request of the British, but it failed to impress either the Brits or the US Armies, so the project was scrapped. Having just reread the description, one of the problems cited was the skirt armor made dealing with the tracks difficult Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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