Your favourite tanks

As the title goes, what are your favourite tanks in world history?

As great innovators the Germans were in World War II, I am going to choose the Panzer IV, it changed land warfare forever, although it did receive stiff competition from the Soviet Union T-34. The Tiger comes in a close second too.

The Panzer IV was the most powerful Medium tank in terms of firepower and armour. (WWII)


Looks sexy. (Short barreled version, eventually receives a long barrel to counter Russian Tanks)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fKr...x=0&playnext=1

The Top Ten tanks (A bit too American eccentric)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfZE...D96A4E&index=4 (Panzer)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzer_IV


What are your favourite tanks?

Comet, Panther, and T-34.

Tiger would be too cumbersome in an offensive role, Shermans were dependable, but not robust, and many of the early tanks are not worth mentioning.

Swedish S Tank.
Leopard 2.

Originally Posted by KarlXII

Swedish S Tank.
Leopard 2.

That's very swedish-centric, you should have said the swedish uparmored/modified Leopard 2.

The problem of the Leopard 2 though is mostly that it's manned by liberal euroweenie beer fanatics (I know, I know, not the backroom here) but I guess it could take on the T-34 and the Panther.

My favourite Tank would be the A-10 Warthog, it has an armoured driver seat, otherwise decent all around armour, is fast, moves in three dimensions and beats most other tanks with ease. Usually beats most other tanks by outmaneuvering and hitting their weak spots (roof). It's only vulnerable to airplanes but that goes for most tanks I guess.

Otherwise the Panther seems nice in WW2 terms but with modern tanks it's hard to say, many people who know more about the armour and ammunition than I do say whoever shoots first, wins, sounds a bit like modern ammunition can penetrate modern armour like 90% of the time so it's hard to make out a favourite. The Leo 2 certainly has the looks, the challenger 2 has really kewl suspension, the Leclerc looks exotic, the Abrams is boring since you see it so often and the Russian tanks are ugly as always, yet maybe effective.

The Tiger.



It certainly had its flaws, and the choice to even produce it has - imo, wrongly - been questioned, but under the command of the best tank crews in history, the machine achieved some amazing results on the battlefield.



Also, although it is not technically a tank, the Jagdpanther was a very impressive machine.

Originally Posted by A Very Super Market

Tiger would be too cumbersome in an offensive role

How so? The Tiger's top speed was 45kmh (later electronically limited to 38kmh), which made it just as fast as the Sherman and only slightly slower than the T-34. The wide tracks dispersed much of the weight in all but the most unfavorable of conditions that bogged down most armor (thick mud). It peformed well in the offensive role at Kursk and other battles.

The Renault FT-17. My grandfather was a tank gunner in France in WWI with the American Army and beat the Hun!




Notice the signature on my grandfather's discharge papers? Cool, eh?




The Sherman. My father was a tank commander in WWII with the Canadian Army in Italy and beat the Nazis!

Tiger tank is coming first by far.

Followed closely by the Leopards and the Sherman tanks..

Then perhaps T-34

Italian tanks gets the honorable mention

You can have it in whatever color you want as long as it's orange.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTn3...eature=related

Originally Posted by Beirut

The Renault FT-17. My grandfather was a tank gunner in France in WWI with the American Army and beat the Hun!



Notice the signature on my grandfather's discharge papers? Cool, eh?


The Sherman. My father was a tank commander in WWII with the Canadian Army in Italy and beat the Nazis!

I want to see a pic of the tank you were in when you were in WWIII with the Norwegian Army and beat the Boche.

Originally Posted by Beirut

The Renault FT-17. My grandfather was a tank gunner in France in WWI with the American Army and beat the Hun!

Its successor was also quite interesting. One of my favorite French tanks.

Notice the signature on my grandfather's discharge papers? Cool, eh?

Very cool!

Originally Posted by PanzerJaeger

How so? The Tiger's top speed was 45kmh (later electronically limited to 38kmh), which made it just as fast as the Sherman and only slightly slower than the T-34. The wide tracks dispersed much of the weight in all but the most unfavorable of conditions that bogged down most armor (thick mud). It peformed well in the offensive role at Kursk and other battles.

What was the point of that speed reduction?

The StuG III G, even if it wasn't a tank. Under the given circumstances a most excellent mean to get an effective AFV in large numbers. Commanded and hanlded with great skill and with the advantages of the tactical defense it proved to be the bane of the enemy tanks. Never before and never after destroyed such a cheap mobile AFV so many other, mostly better and more expensive AFV.









A favorite is also the T-34/85

Originally Posted by Sarmatian

What was the point of that speed reduction?

Heh, from our previous discussions I'm confident you know the answer. That is why I said the Tiger was as fast as a Sherman, even though early versions were actually faster and only a few kmh slower than the T-34.

Originally Posted by PanzerJaeger

Heh, from our previous discussions I'm confident you know the answer. That is why I said the Tiger was as fast as a Sherman, even though early versions were actually faster and only a few kmh slower than the T-34.

No, I really don't. I thought 38kmh was the top speed. This is the first time I heard that's because it was electronically limited. I assume the reasons were mechanical.

T-34's top speed was around 55kmh, btw...

Originally Posted by Sarmatian

No, I really don't. I thought 38kmh was the top speed. This is the first time I heard that's because it was electronically limited. I assume the reasons were mechanical.

T-34's top speed was around 55kmh, btw...

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were being snarky.

Yes, prolonged use over time of RPMs over 2600, ie. over 38kmh on flat surfaces, overworked the engine. This was particularly straining over long distances. Even after the electronic governing, the Tiger always had a problem with long overland marches.

Initially crews were simply taught not to go over 2600 RPMs for very long. Thus, the early versions, including those encountered in North Africa, were actually faster than the Sherman - albeit in brief combat situations, not overland marching - 45kmh versus 38.5kmh, iirc.

Hi guys, I wanna play too! Here is mine!

1. Tiger 1
2. Jagdpanther
3. Jagdtiger
4. Panther G
5. KV-1

Honorary mention:

Kingtiger (tiger II)


Please note that I don't care about the finer details about the perticular tank/
tankdestroyer in question - I just go straight for cool....

- Cheers

Originally Posted by Axalon

Hi guys, I wanna play too! Here is mine!

1. Tiger 1
2. Jagdpanther
3. Jagdtiger
4. Panther G
5. KV-1

Honorary mention:

Kingtiger (tiger II)


Please note that I don't care about the finer details about the perticular tank/
tankdestroyer in question - I just go straight for cool....

I like this list. I might put the Panther in the #1 spot, but otherwise . I also agree about the cool factor. These guys are pretty darn sexy. When I think of these tanks, I tend to think of their silhouettes thanks to owning a copy of the Avalon Hill board game Panzer Blitz back in the 70s. When I see real pictures of them, they stump me for a second before my brain does the translation.

Originally Posted by Gregoshi

I like this list. I might put the Panther in the #1 spot, but otherwise . I also agree about the cool factor. These guys are pretty darn sexy. When I think of these tanks, I tend to think of their silhouettes thanks to owning a copy of the Avalon Hill board game Panzer Blitz back in the 70s. When I see real pictures of them, they stump me for a second before my brain does the translation.

To jump on the just plain cool bandwagon, for some reason the Pz. IV with all the crazy armor that they added in the later stages of the war has always struck me as pretty awesome.

Also the Hetzer was an awesome tank destroyer because it was insanely cheap, fast, and tiny. A bit too tiny for the crews perhaps, but it was the most successful AT weapon fielded by the Wehrmacht iirc.

Some cool pictures of the Pz.IV for the OP and anyone else interested...

Pz.IV in (or close to) combat...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Camo...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Interesting ones.. .

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Guderian inspecting.



Note the T-34 tracks for extra protection.



These tanks are not knocked out.

I must confess to being in love with the Panther tank. Don't worry, it is platonic.

Nice pictures of the Panzer IV there. Thanks for sharing them.

Has anyone mentioned or even remember this tank?



May not look like the "Average tank" but 100 years ago, it was a monster of a time.

"The Father of all tanks"?

Wow, what a stupid tank the Russians designed...

Well it looks very strange.



Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_tank

Originally Posted by coalition

Has anyone mentioned or even remember this tank?



May not look like the "Average tank" but 100 years ago, it was a monster of a time.

"The Father of all tanks"?

Good post and good point.

Looking forward to this book.

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/stor...9781841766898/

Originally Posted by Evil_Maniac From Mars

I must confess to being in love with the Panther tank. Don't worry, it is platonic.

Is it armour-platonic?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Sorry, I'll get my coat.

Originally Posted by Pannonian

Is it armour-platonic?

Most likely they'll never be engaged.

Originally Posted by Gregoshi

Most likely they'll never be engaged.

Surely HEAT rounds will do the job?


CBR

Originally Posted by coalition

Has anyone mentioned or even remember this tank?



May not look like the "Average tank" but 100 years ago, it was a monster of a time.

"The Father of all tanks"?

When I was a kid, my grandfather gave me an old book on the weapons and their effects on tactics in WWI. I loved these tanks, and the pictures of a fascine-carrying tank just seems so cool and ingenious.

You guys are all way too mainstream.

Behold, in all its glory:
The T-35!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-35

Yes, gentlemen and ladies, you read that right. Five turrets, one 76.2mm gun, two 45mm guns and two machine guns, each in its own turret.

Further, it was 3.5 meters tall, 10 meters long and 3.2 meters wide.

For comparison, the M1 Abrams is 2.4 meters tall, 7.9 meters long, and 3.6 wide.

The German Maus, the heaviest tank ever built, was roughly the same size.

Early Soviet tanks were always... interesting...



I'm surprised nobody's mentioned any WW2 British tanks. They may not have always been the best.. or even decent.. but they were always cool in their own quarky way.

The KV2 was a good idea in principal. Basically an assault gun with a turret. Considering it was based on the KV1, which was probably one of the best pre-war tanks in the world...well...

I understand most of its problems were (obviously) with the turret...which was too heavy, so it tended to break down quite a bit.

Still, that 152mm howitzer was not something you messed with.