Scipio Posted January 26, 2003 Share Posted January 26, 2003 I just wonder, why do tanks turn so slow when they are not moving? I can't remeber from my military service that I have ever seen a tank that needed a half minute or even more for a full turn. But I'm no expert for tracked movement. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John D Salt Posted January 29, 2003 Share Posted January 29, 2003 Originally posted by Scipio: I just wonder, why do tanks turn so slow when they are not moving? I can't remeber from my military service that I have ever seen a tank that needed a half minute or even more for a full turn. But I'm no expert for tracked movement. Good question. ISTM that tracked vehicles turn too slowly in CM:BB, and anti-tank guns, too. ISTR one game where a ZiS-3 of mine spent the best part of a turn rotating half a turn to zap an enemy tank that had appeared behind it (which it duly did, the enemy tank having been shocked by a friendly close assault and standing there dumbly waiting to be blown to perdition). Strictly, many kinds of AFV should not be able to turn on the spot, but braking one track and driving the other forward should still get the thing round fairly quickly. All the best, John. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamingknives Posted January 29, 2003 Share Posted January 29, 2003 Remember that most WWII tanks can't 'neutral steer' (is it?) so they will be slower than modern tanks while turning on the spot. I've actually driven an digger with cat. tracks. It could neutral steer (run it's tracks in either direction simualtaneously to turn on the spot) but I was warned not to as that would make it throw a track. Turning was sloooooooooooooowwww. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SgtMuhammed Posted January 30, 2003 Share Posted January 30, 2003 While most WWII AFVs couldn't neutral steer (move the tracks in opposite directions) I am not so sure about pivot steer (called by other names as well) which involved holding one track still while the other drove the vehicle around. On the M113 this is accomplished by a set of large disk brakes. I don't know any exact figures but the system is simple enough to have been in widespread use during WWII. This would give a much better turn time than what we see now. As for AT guns one must remember that once a target moves out of the arc of the aiming mechanism the crew has to actually move the gun to a new heading. The exception to this being the 88 with its swivel mount. For the PAK 40 on down the crew had to pick up the ends of the carriage and turn the whole thing around. Not a fast process. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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