Steel Soviet Union

It all started when Kotin rushed back to his 2nd Special Tank Design Bureau in Chelyabinsk after finishing the Moscow meeting.

Although the plan to convert the M1939 85mm anti-aircraft gun into an 85mm vehicle-mounted tank gun was determined at the meeting, Kogin, who had never undertaken such a task of converting an anti-aircraft gun into a tank gun before, was like a mouse pulling a turtle. I feel a bit at a loss as to where to start.

Kejin, who was thinking hard, could not find any good and feasible main gun improvement plan. The new heavy tank design team under the entire design bureau encountered a serious design bottleneck on the main gun issue.

Specifically, the early design of the KV1 heavy tank did not take into account the possibility of replacing the main gun with a larger caliber later. The existing KV1 heavy tank turret simply cannot adapt to the expected transformation of the 85mm tank gun. The huge gun tail and more The long and narrow breech block will crowd most of the space in the turret, so that even the gunner and commander can only fight sideways.

In addition, the first ready-to-fire ammunition rack built into the turret will also become impossible to retain. The loader needs to bend down and fish the shells out of the chassis into the turret just like he did before loading shells on the T34 tank. Loading, this almost "degraded" design is simply intolerable to Kogin, who wants to build the most powerful heavy tank.

"The original KV1 heavy tank turret is completely obsolete! Don't consider continuing to use this outdated design for our new heavy tanks."

"Immediately put the design of the new turret at the highest priority. If necessary, the new turret can be temporarily put on the KV1 heavy tank chassis to verify the technical feasibility! As for the improved tank gun plan of the 85mm anti-aircraft gun, I will In addition, special manpower will be arranged to complete it. The priority task is to prepare the prototype turret according to the expected size of the 85mm tank gun and wait for it to be tested on the vehicle. "

After issuing such an order, Kogin immediately began to make plans for a new 85mm main gun.

Objectively speaking, this plan was not personally designed by the Second Special Tank Design Bureau led by Kogin. It was more like a "plagiarism" plan in the literal sense.

Kotin, who is good at engaging in "political struggle" and "class struggle", has long ago placed his own "eye spies" in the First Special Tank Design Bureau led by his rival Morozov, in order to be able to take the lead at critical moments. Time will tell whether Morozov has made new designs and improvements that are not beneficial to him.

At the Moscow New Tank Conference, it was learned that old rival Morozov had actually already started working on the T34 tank's continued improvement plan.

The shrewd Kotin soon realized that the First Special Tank Design Bureau led by Morozov was very likely to be ahead of the Second Special Tank Design Bureau led by him in the plan to improve the 85mm anti-aircraft gun into a tank gun. After all, the lead in time is clearly there.

Having made the final decision, Kotin quickly mobilized his "spy eye" in the First Special Tank Design Bureau. As expected, he learned about Morozov's many design plans for the continued improvement of the T34 tank, and at the same time obtained a copy. Draw sketches and technical outlines.

This includes not only the design of the next-generation improved T34, but also covers all the current achievements in improving the 85mm anti-aircraft gun into a tank gun.

Kotin, who had obtained Morozov's core secret files, couldn't help but be shocked. Morozov, his old enemy, had not only completed most of the design work for the 85mm anti-aircraft gun modified tank gun, but even the matching new T34 tank turret. Already taking shape on the design sketch.

This new T34 tank turret, which is enough to accommodate an 85mm tank gun, is larger than the original turret, and the physical armor thickness indicated by numbers is also a step higher than the old T34 tank turret. The physical thickness of the turret is 90mm on the front. The edge position of the semi-arc mantlet can even obtain an armor equivalent of more than 100 mm by virtue of the arc angle.

At the same time, Morozov, a "very shameless" guy in Kotin's opinion, also "copied" the design of the first ready-to-fire ammunition rack built into the turret he used on the KV1 heavy tank. The turret tail of the new T34 tank can It stores up to 16 rounds of 85mm fixed ammunition, which is stronger than the 10-round capacity turret first ammunition rack design of the KV1 heavy tank.

Ke Jin felt very annoyed when he realized that his design had been plagiarized. The natural idea that you would be in the first year of junior high school and I would be in the fifteenth year of junior high school made the last trace of plagiarism concerns in Ke Jing's heart disappear.

Kotin, who made a decisive decision, was not only determined to directly apply Morozov's existing research results on the 85mm tank gun, but even Morozov's design of the new T34 tank turret was also "used for reference."

According to Kotin's idea, his new heavy tank turret must be more powerful than Morozov's unfortunate design. The thicker turret armor physical thickness will naturally gain more armor when paired with the turret shape in Morozov's design. The powerful equivalent armor thickness will make Morozov, a "shameless plagiarism" guy, unable to even cry when his new heavy tank is unveiled.

Kejing, who called on all workers and designers in the factory to work hard, led by example. He only rested for four or five hours almost every day and always lay on his desk to draw design sketches and correct and submit plans.

With these design sketches and plans "borrowed" from Morozov's First Special Tank Design Bureau as a basis, and only needing to be slightly improved on this basis, the Kotin team made rapid progress, rushing through the night to produce a total of Eight prototype turrets with different appearances came off the production line in less than half a month.

These angular-looking new heavy tank prototype turrets have changed the "flat-headed square face" design of the previous KV1 heavy tank turret, and boldly adopted a semi-curved armored mantlet while maintaining equivalent armor defense and large jump. At the same time, it also further expands the efficiency of the internal space of the turret, allowing the new 85mm main gun to be perfectly accommodated without taking up too much space.

In addition, the 85mm main gun manufactured by the Second Special Tank Design Bureau led by Kotin basically directly adopted the design of Morozov's team and is almost identical. Strictly speaking, even the breech structure and main gun are The design of the cannon lugs and other details can be said to be exactly the same without much difference.