Idea
In 1915, Nikolay Lebedenko, a Russian military engineer, devised a concept of constructing a machine with large wheels to navigate enemy trenches. He built a miniature model of the tank, powered by a spring motor from a toy, and presented it to Tsar Nicholas II. The Tsar was impressed with the model's ability to overcome obstacles and promptly authorized 250,000 rubles for its development, which would be equivalent to tens of millions of Euros today.
Lebedenko asked for the help of Nikolai Zhukovsky, Boris Strekinkin and Alexander Mikulin and they started to work.
In 1915, they built the first ... and also last prototype.
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Design
One of the primary mistakes in the design of the Tsar Tank was the use of a tricycle wheel configuration. This made the tank highly unstable and difficult to control, especially at higher speeds. The two front wheels were too small to support the weight of the tank, and the rear wheel was too large and made steering the tank very challenging. Additionally, the tank's enormous size made it challenging to transport and deploy in battle, limiting its effectiveness as a weapon.
The tank's massive wheels, each with a diameter of 9 meters, were mounted on a single shaft with brackets attached to the main body of the vehicle. Each wheel was powered by a 250 horsepower engine, although there is some debate over the source of these engines. Some sources suggest that they were captured German Maybach engines from a Zeppelin, while others claim they were British engines from the now-defunct Sunbeam brand. In my opinion, the most likely engines used were a variation of the Maybach MB IV engines, originally marked as Maybach HS. Despite extensive research, no information about the transmission has been found. As there are no visible mechanisms in any of the available photographs, it is assumed that the power was transmitted directly to the rim of the wheels.
The rear was supported by smaller wheels about 2 m high to ensure maneuverability.
The number and type of weapons are also not entirely clear. The tank was probably to be equipped with three cannons and several machine guns to protect against infantry.
Fixing the design problems with the Tsar Tank would require a significant overhaul of its existing structure. One potential solution would be to replace the tricycle wheel configuration with a more stable arrangement, such as a caterpillar track system. This would provide better weight distribution and improve the tank's ability to traverse difficult terrain. Additionally, reducing the overall size and weight of the tank would make it easier to transport and deploy in battle. Finally, improving the tank's steering mechanism and increasing its speed would make it a more effective weapon of war. However, it's important to note that these fixes are purely speculative, as the Tsar Tank was never updated or put into action.
Conclusion
This monster reached a speed of up to 17km / h, which was a very good performance for that time and weight of almost 60 tons. However, the problem was in the weight distribution. Most of the weight was on the front wheels, which had no problem overcoming obstacles on hard ground, but in the mud they immediately sank. The tank could no longer be pulled out and the project was finished. In 1923, due to the lack of iron it was scrapped. Today, his replica is located in a tank museum near Moscow.
Keywords
Tsar Tank, armored vehicle, tricycle wheel configuration, weight distribution, caterpillar track system, steering mechanism, speed, size reduction, transport, deployment, weapon of war, engineering, innovation, Nikolay Lebedenko, Tsar Nicholas II, Russian military engineer.
Tank
