The P.1000 Ratte - Germany's Colossal Mega Tank

it sounds like a ship it's as big as a ship but it's a tank and it will crush anything that gets in its way [Music] in the midst of world war ii hitler pushed for the creation of one of the most powerful weapons of all time a battleship on land to combat the rise of soviet armor and technology a backbone for germany's conquest to put all of europe in fear but what exactly is the land cruiser p1000 draft [Music] the development history of the p1000 originated with a strategic study of soviet heavy tanks in 1941 most notably the t-34 medium tank conducted by the krupp steelworks company the study also led to the designing of the mouse state which is still the biggest tank the german military has built to this day the officer for submarine construction director eduard grow proposed the construction of a 1 000 ton tank in june 1942 to adolf hitler known for being megalomanias he fell in love with groat's proposal and ordered the corrupt company to begin designing the p1000 in december 1942 when the first design drawings were completed the concept had been given the name rat [Music] the p1000 would have been a real battleship on land 39 meters long 14 meters width and 11 meters high the rat was supposed to weigh over 1 000 tons the operational range was to have been 190 kilometers and the hole was to carry armor up to 25 centimeters to support its weight the p1000 was designed to have three sets of tracks and two meters ground clearance vehicle was designed to be propelled by either two 24-cylinder man engines or a 20-cylinder daimler bench marine diesel engines generating between 16 000 and 17 000 horsepower giving the rat a maximum speed of 40 kilometers per hour the rat's primary weapon would have been a dual 280 millimeters naval gun turret also used on german battleships further armament was to consist of a 128 millimeters anti-tank gun of the type used in the mouse two 15 millimeters mosser auto cannons and 820 millimeters flak 38 anti-aircraft guns since the rat would have been so huge it would have been vulnerable to allied air attack [Music] but like many of these so-called miracle weapons the p1000 was extremely impractical its immense weight mean that it couldn't travel over bridges or roads therefore the engine were to have been equipped with snorkels to allow it to move through deep water without drowning the engines also the tactical positioning of the vehicle would depend solely on its own drivetrain as there were no other realistic means of moving it from one firing position to another no existing railway could bear its weight and its width was too great for tunnels the turret of the rad prototype was completed in 1943 shortly after however the project was canceled by albert speer on account of production cost and improper use before any were fully completed although this did lead to the concept of the land cruiser p1005 monster which would have been even heavier than the rat and be propelled with the 800 millimeters heavy gustav the general idea for such a big tank was summed up by heinz guderian saying that hitler's fantasies sometimes shift into the gigantic [Music] you

Channel: Simplicitas

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Keywords: ratte mega tank, mega tank, Landkreuzer P1000 Ratte, Ratte Tank, P1000, P.1000, p.1000 ratte, p 1000 ratte, ratte tank, landkreuzer p. 1000 ratte, ww2, tanks

Id: UsbaPa0fCP0

Length: 4min 30sec (270 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 12 2022