When was the first tank made? English battle tank

At the same time, he turned to the Special Committee for Strengthening the Fleet, promising to create an all-terrain tracked armored vehicle. Porokhovshchikov did not provide any significant documents at that time, and only on January 9, 1915, after long delays at a reception with the chief of supplies of the North-Western Front, General Danilov, the inventor already had ready-made drawings and estimates for the construction of a combat vehicle called the “All-terrain vehicle.”

Apparently, Porokhovshchikov’s preliminary calculations pleased the top military leadership: in addition to high maneuverability, Porokhovshchikov also promised the vehicle’s buoyancy. The project was approved - permission to build the “All-terrain vehicle” was received on January 13, 1915, 9660 rubles 72 kopecks were allocated, and the design data were specified in special report No. 8101. The construction of the vehicle was supervised by the head of the Riga department for housing allowances for troops, military engineer Colonel Poklevsky-Kozello. February 1 in the Riga auto repair shops of the Russo-Balt plant, which were located at the Nizhny Novgorod barracks infantry regiment, 25 soldier-craftsmen and the same number of hired skilled workers began manufacturing prototype the world's first tank, developed by the famous pilot and designer Alexander Aleksandrovich Porokhovshchikov. The design of the "All-terrain vehicle" was unusual. The welded frame rested on one wide track made of rubberized fabric, stretched on four drums, and the front drum was noticeably raised above the supporting surface. The fifth drum pressed the caterpillar from above. The rear drum was the driving one; rotation was transmitted to it through a gearbox and driveshaft from a 10 hp carburetor engine. The specific pressure on the ground should have been only about 0.05 kg/sq.cm. On the sides of the caterpillar there were two columns with small wheels, which the driver controlled using a steering wheel - thus turning the entire body.

The car was equipped with a streamlined body with an air intake niche in front. Interestingly, the all-terrain vehicle’s armor was multi-layered: it consisted of a front cemented 2-mm steel sheet, a shock-absorbing pad made of hair and algae, and another steel sheet with a total thickness of 8 mm.

The design of this tank already included all the basic elements of modern combat vehicles - an armored hull, weapons in a rotating turret, an engine internal combustion, caterpillar propulsion device. The car was equipped with a streamlined body with an air intake niche in front. On a good road, the “All-terrain vehicle” had to move on the rear drum and wheels, and on loose soil rest on the caterpillar. Such a scheme, while relatively simple, had one global drawback - in fact, the “All-terrain vehicle” could only move in a straight line, since turning the guide wheels left and right could lead to their complete breakdown.

When moving on hard ground, the tank rested on these wheels and on the drive drum, and on soft ground it “lay down” on the caterpillar track. The length of the vehicle was 3.6 meters, width - 2 meters, height (without turret) - 1.5 meters, final weight was assumed to be 3.5-4.0 tons, crew - 1 man, machine gun armament, bulletproof armor. Engine power 15 kW, planetary transmission, combined wheel-tracked propulsion (one caterpillar and two steered wheels) provided maximum speed 25 km/h..

May 18, 1915 Porokhovshchikov tested his car on a track on a good road, without switching to wheels. When tested, its speed reached 25 km/h (neither the first British nor French tanks had such a speed). After minor modifications, they decided to hold an official demonstration of the “All-terrain vehicle”, which took place on July 20, 1915

Later, Porokhovshchikov improved his car, making it a wheeled-tracked vehicle: on the roads the car moved on wheels and the rear drum of the caterpillar, when it encountered an obstacle on its way - the “all-terrain vehicle” lay down on the caterpillar and “crawled” over it. This was several years ahead of tank building at that time. Porokhovshchikov made the tank's hull waterproof, as a result of which it could easily overcome water obstacles.

At the same time (in the spring of 1915) Porokhovshchikov proposed armor of his own design: “The armor is a combination of elastic and rigid layers of metal and special viscous and elastic gaskets.” The boiler iron was annealed “according to a method that is the secret of the inventor,” and as a gasket “after an enormous number of experiments,” he chose dried and pressed sea grass. The author especially emphasized the cheapness of “iron armor” and the ability to bend and weld it.

In 1916, he conducted tests in Petrograd - on December 29, 1916 he reached a speed of 40 versts per hour, which was an exceptionally high figure.

Porokhovshchikov’s most interesting development was the shape of the hull and the design of the armor: it was made multi-layered. However, in the winter of 1916, the military stopped funding the work. And tanks with spaced multi-layer armor appeared only in the early 70s of the 20th century... There is also a version that Porokhovshchikov’s drawings were used by British engineers for their developments.

The experimental vehicle continued to be tested, intermittently, until December 1915, after which a corresponding report was sent to Lieutenant General Kovalenko. In particular, it was stated that “the built copy of the All-terrain vehicle did not show all those qualities that are stipulated by report No. 8101, for example, it could not walk on loose snow about 1 foot (30 cm) deep, and no tests of running on water were done...”

Meanwhile, Porokhovshchikov’s vehicle was not considered a combat vehicle, due to the lack of armor and weapons on it, and in the documents it appeared as a “self-propelled gun” - that is, a car. According to the designer himself, the first sample of the “Russian tank” he created did indeed have a number of shortcomings, but all of them were reasons for the departure from the project. In his opinion, much better results could have been achieved if the All-Terrain Vehicle had a larger distance between the drums, a more powerful engine and a grooved track.

From further work they decided to refuse the “All-terrain vehicle”, especially since 18,090 rubles were spent during this time. The military department ordered Porokhovshchikov to return the money allocated for the construction of the vehicle to the treasury, and send the “All-terrain vehicle” itself to the State Technical University.

Andrey Chernomorsky

Russian Lugansk

The Porokhovshchikov tank can be considered not only the first Russian tank, but also the first tank in general, since its idea arose and was implemented earlier than in other countries. In addition, Porokhovshchikov largely anticipated the development of tanks in the future. And if we started the history of the tank with an English vehicle, and not with Porokhovshchikov’s tank, it is only because his tank was not used in the Russian army. Porokhovshchikov's tank was forgotten, and was remembered only many years later, when tanks were already widely used in all armies.

At the very beginning of the First World War, in August 1914, the master of the Russian-Baltic Engineering Plant in Riga, Porokhovshchikov, approached the headquarters of the Supreme High Command of the Russian Army with a proposal for an original design for a high-speed combat tracked vehicle for off-road driving. At the same time, he turned to the Special Committee for Strengthening the Fleet, promising to create an all-terrain tracked armored vehicle. Porokhovshchikov did not provide any significant documents at that time, and only on January 9, 1915, after long delays at a reception with the chief of supplies of the North-Western Front, General Danilov, the inventor already had ready-made drawings and estimates for the construction of a combat vehicle called the All-terrain vehicle.

The design of the All-terrain vehicle was unusual. The welded frame rested on one wide track made of rubberized fabric, stretched on four drums, and the front drum was noticeably raised above the supporting surface. The fifth drum pressed the caterpillar from above. The rear drum was the driving one; rotation was transmitted to it through a gearbox and driveshaft from a 10 hp carburetor engine. The specific pressure on the ground should have been only about 0.05 kg/sq.cm. On the sides of the caterpillar there were two columns with small wheels, which the driver controlled using a steering wheel - thus turning the entire body.

The car was equipped with a streamlined body with an air intake niche in front. Interestingly, the armor of the All-terrain vehicle was multi-layered: it consisted of a front cemented 2-mm steel sheet, a shock-absorbing pad made of hair and algae, and another steel sheet with a total thickness of 8 mm.
The design of this tank already included all the basic elements of modern combat vehicles - an armored hull, weapons in a rotating turret, an internal combustion engine, and a tracked propulsion system. The car was equipped with a streamlined body with an air intake niche in front. On a good road, the all-terrain vehicle had to move on the rear drum and wheels, and on loose soil rest on the caterpillar. Such a scheme, despite its relative simplicity, had one global drawback - in fact, the All-terrain vehicle could only move in a straight line, since turning the guide wheels left and right could lead to their complete breakdown.

The supporting structure of the tank was a welded frame with four hollow rotating drums, around which one wide caterpillar belt was rewound. The belt tension was adjusted using a tension device and a tension drum. The vehicle was controlled using two rotary steering wheels located at the sides. In Porokhovshchikov's tank, side clutches were used for turning for the first time - mechanisms that later began to be installed on most tanks; on some machines they have been preserved to this day.
When moving on hard ground, the tank rested on these wheels and on the drive drum, and on soft ground it “lay down” on the caterpillar track. The length of the vehicle was 3.6 meters, width - 2 meters, height (without turret) - 1.5 meters, final weight was assumed to be 3.5-4.0 tons, crew - 1 person, machine gun armament, bulletproof armor. A 15 kW engine, a planetary transmission, and a combined wheel-track propulsion unit (one track and two steered wheels) provided a maximum speed of 25 km/h.

On May 18, 1915, Porokhovshchikov tested his car on a track on a good road, without switching to wheels. When tested, its speed reached 25 km/h (neither the first British nor French tanks had such a speed). After minor modifications, they decided to hold an official demonstration of the All-terrain vehicle, which took place on July 20, 1915
Later, Porokhovshchikov improved his vehicle, making it a wheeled-tracked vehicle: on the roads the vehicle moved on wheels and the rear drum of the caterpillar, when it encountered an obstacle on its way - the all-terrain vehicle lay down on the caterpillar and “crawled” over it. This was several years ahead of tank building at that time. Porokhovshchikov made the tank's hull waterproof, as a result of which it could easily overcome water obstacles.
At the same time (in the spring of 1915) Porokhovshchikov proposed armor of his own design: “The armor is a combination of elastic and rigid layers of metal and special viscous and elastic gaskets.” The boiler iron was annealed “according to a method that is the secret of the inventor,” and as a gasket “after an enormous number of experiments,” he chose dried and pressed sea grass. The author especially emphasized the cheapness of “iron armor” and the ability to bend and weld it.
In 1916, he conducted tests in Petrograd - on December 29, 1916 he reached a speed of 40 versts per hour, which was an exceptionally high figure.
Porokhovshchikov’s most interesting development was the shape of the hull and the design of the armor: it was made multi-layered. However, in the winter of 1916, the military stopped funding the work. And tanks with spaced multi-layer armor appeared only in the early 70s of the 20th century... There is also a version that Porokhovshchikov’s drawings were used by British engineers for their developments.
The experimental vehicle continued to be tested, intermittently, until December 1915, after which a corresponding report was sent to Lieutenant General Kovalenko. In particular, it was stated that “the built copy of the All-Terrain Vehicle did not show all those qualities that are stipulated by report No. 8101, for example, it could not walk on loose snow about 1 foot (30 cm) deep, and tests of running on water were not done...”
Meanwhile, Porokhovshchikov’s vehicle was not considered a combat vehicle, due to the lack of armor and weapons on it, and in the documents it appeared as a “self-propelled gun” - that is, a car. According to the designer himself, the first sample of the “Russian tank” he created did indeed have a number of shortcomings, but all of them were reasons for the departure from the project. In his opinion, much better results could have been achieved if the ATV had a larger distance between the drums, a more powerful engine and a grooved track.
They decided to abandon further work on the All-Terrain Vehicle, especially since 18,090 rubles were spent during this time. The military department ordered Porokhovshchikov to return to the treasury the money allocated for the construction of the vehicle, and to send the All-terrain Vehicle itself to the State Technical University.

Today many people know that the first British tanks were called “tank” to maintain secrecy. A much greater veil of secrecy shrouds the tank designs that were invented even before “Little Willie” and “Big Willie” entered testing. Today we will tell you about these once top secret projects.

Boirot's machine

Although the first tanks went into battle in 1916, the idea of using vehicles on the battlefield was born immediately, as soon as the approaches to the enemy trenches were entangled with numerous rows of barbed wire. Of course, shells fired from guns would have torn it apart, but a lot of them were needed for this. And then the French engineer Louis Boirot in December 1914 proposed an unusual vehicle for this purpose, which rightfully lays claim to the title of the very first experimental tank of the First World War. It is enough to look at her photograph to understand that Monsieur Boirot had a rich imagination. It was an eight-meter frame of six support plates connected to each other by hinges. Inside it was a pyramidal structure with an 80 horsepower engine and space for two crew members. Thanks to the wheels, it slowly rolled inside this frame, and its plates pressed against the wire barriers. But its speed was only three kilometers per hour... In addition, it was almost impossible to control. And, of course, the size was great, due to which it represented good goal for artillery, which is why it was abandoned immediately after the tests carried out in February 1915.

The second model looked more compact, had an armored body, a machine gun, and could climb through trenches six feet (about two meters) wide. However, its speed turned out to be even lower than that of the first one - only one kilometer per hour, and its turning radius was 100 meters, which was completely unacceptable.

Tank "Breton-Pretot"

Having learned about the failure of tests of Boirot's machines, another Frenchman, engineer Jules Louis Breton, proposed cutting the wire with a mechanical cutter in the form of a vertical saw with a mechanical drive. The device was called "Breton-Preto" (named after the author and the manufacturer), and was mounted on a five-ton wheeled tractor, which was armored and equipped with a machine gun in the turret. During testing, this tractor got stuck in a trench from where it was barely pulled out.

Tank Obrio and Gabe

Two more French engineers, Obrio and Gabe, in the same 1915, based on the Filtz agricultural tractor, built a strange combat vehicle that looked like an armored turret with a motor in front and two large-diameter driving wheels. The turret's armament consisted of a 37-mm rapid-fire gun, and the crew consisted of two people: a driver and a commander, who also served as a gunner. The most unusual thing about the car was the propulsion system, which consisted of an electric motor powered by a cable! Yes, yes, there were no batteries or a current generator inside - when moving, the unit pulled a cable that unwound from a special drum. It is clear that fighting machine, dragging such a “tail” behind it, was completely unsuitable for the needs of the army. Why the inventors themselves did not understand this is unclear!

Tank Frota

In March 1915, engineer P. Froth from the Northern Canal company proposed building a symmetrical wheeled combat vehicle weighing 10 tons with two control posts so that it could move back and forth on the battlefield without turning around. The engine with a power of only 20 horsepower was placed in the center of the body. The crew was to consist of nine people, including four machine gunners and three assistants. The speed of the car was 3-5 kilometers per hour, but it actually could not move over rough terrain.

Hetterington's Land Cruiser

The first project for a “land cruiser” was submitted by Captain Thomas Hetterington of the Royal Naval Air Service. The thickness of its armor was 80 millimeters. Each of the three turrets housed two 102-mm guns. But there were only three wheels: two in front, with a diameter of 12 meters - driving and one rear - steering. Two diesel engines were supposed to provide the “cruiser” with a speed of up to 12 kilometers per hour. When the project was reviewed, it turned out that the weight of the vehicle could reach 1000 tons, and in addition, with a height of 14, a length of 30 and a width of 24 meters, it would be an excellent target for German artillery. Therefore, the British built a scaled-down model from... wood, and decided to stop all work on Hetterington’s “cruiser,” which they did in June 1915.

"Field Monitor" and "Trench Destroyer"

In , as you know, the Tsar Tank of Captain Lebedenko was built, which made an impression with its nine-meter-high wheels, but the Americans developed a project for a “150-ton field monitor"on wheels with a diameter of six meters, and also with two (!) steam engines.

According to the designers, it should have been equipped with two 152-mm naval guns, which were usually installed on cruisers! An entire battery of 10 Colt machine guns of the 1885 model served as auxiliary weapons. Four of them in twin installations were located in two towers, and the remaining six were supposed to fire through embrasures in the hull.

However, 150 tons seemed not enough to the Americans, and they developed a project called “Trench Destroyer” weighing 200 tons, that is, even more solid than the German super-heavy tank “Colossal”! It was assumed that this would be an armored “car” on the chassis of the Holt tractor, but longer. The armament was to consist of six 75-mm French cannons of the 1897 model, a flamethrower, and another 20 Browning machine guns with all-round fire; crew - 30 people. It is clear that they did not release it, no matter how pleasing it was to the eye!

"Skeleton Tank" and others

But they built a nine-ton “skeleton tank” that had tracked contours large size connected by pipes. Between them was a small cubic-shaped armored cabin with a turret for a 37-mm gun. The designers considered that enemy shells would fly between the tubular supports and would not hit the hull and turret, but because of large sizes its cross-country ability will be the same as that of the English “diamond” tanks. Then they built a three-wheeled tank with a steam engine, and, most amazingly, the Germans made almost exactly the same machine, similar to a tricycle. But the tank remained a tracked vehicle. The wheels, even big ones, didn’t suit him!

McPhie's Tanks

The projects of Robert Francis McPhie, a talented Canadian engineer who, however, had a grumpy and quarrelsome character, were also not accepted. Already on his first project there was a propeller, that is, the car was conceived as an amphibian! There is a propeller on another of his projects, and it was supposed to be raised and lowered in order to protect it from damage when hitting the ground. I wonder what main feature his last two vehicles had a chassis on three tracks.

In this case, the front caterpillar had to play the role of a steering device, that is, turn in different sides, as well as change the position relative to the body in the vertical plane. The designer provided a special cutter for barbed wire and a folding “nose” made of armor plates to protect the steering track and its drive wheel.

Another of his projects was a tank with four tracks, but the front two were located one behind the other. The front track had a slope of 35 degrees and was supposed to make it easier to overcome vertical obstacles, and all the rest gave low pressure on the ground of the heavy vehicle.

Time is inexorable in everything, erasing memory if people forget about something significant in their history. Okay, what about the last one? terrible war reminiscent of WWII veterans approaching their centenary, and the T-34 tank leading the parade military equipment on Victory Day. Such combat vehicles, which have covered thousands of kilometers of front-line roads in Russia and Europe, stand on pedestals in many cities of the country. Looking at them, questions often arise: is there a tank in the world, who are its creators?

This can be briefly described general idea from viewing photographs depicting the first tanks created at the beginning of the 20th century:

If we add to this that the speed of these first combat vehicles ranged from 2 to 8 km/h, and the armament consisted of 1 - 3 machine guns per armored “car”, then the picture will become even more complete. It seems, why were such unsuccessful designs used in combat? The answer to this is simple:

Even experienced soldiers, seeing the rattling metal boxes for the first time, fell into panic.
The imperfect armor of the first tanks easily withstood bullets from enemy rifles and machine guns, and the artillery was not ready to fight them due to the lack of skills in direct fire.
The main obstacles for infantry, built during trench warfare in 1916–1917 (barbed wire fences, trenches with machine gun nests), tanks overcame without much difficulty, breaking through the enemy’s long-term defenses, while the losses of the advancing troops were reduced many times over.

The advantages of using new military equipment prevailed, so the opposing countries designed, produced and used the first tanks with varying degrees of success.

Germany, Russia and other Entente

The first two countries suffered huge losses in both the First and Second Great Wars. Dividends were received by others - traders from overseas, gentlemen from Foggy Albion pitting everyone against each other, the French, who were good at staying on the sidelines.

Exhausted in the first years of the war, Germany and Russia could not afford to invest huge amounts of money, the capacity of metallurgical, machine-building, weapons factories, engineering, and labor resources in the production of new military equipment that had not yet been sufficiently tested on the battlefield. Therefore, the matter did not move beyond the development of a set of drawings and the assembly of prototypes:

Things were completely different for Russia’s “faithful” allies in the Entente:

In total, during the First World War, these states produced almost 7 thousand tanks of all types:

England – 2905 pcs.
France – 3997 pcs.

Although the very first tank in the world was created in England, the most successfully designed and closest to the modern concept of a combat vehicle was the French Renault FT-17. This is confirmed by the fact that its modifications were subsequently made in many countries, including the Soviet Union, and the last cases of use in combat dates back to 1945.

During the First World War, there was an urgent need to create armored vehicles that would have high firepower and excellent maneuverability. It was tanks that became examples of powerful weapons, excellent mobility and reliable protection. Who created the first tank in the world, and what was its design?

The very first tank in the world was created by A.A. Porokhovshchikov, who was a Russian designer and pilot. The idea to create such a machine came to him when he saw soldiers running under enemy machine-gun fire. The designer came up with the idea that it would be better to entrust the storming of enemy trenches to a combat vehicle that would be “dressed” in armor and equipped with a machine gun.

The creation of such a combat vehicle began in February 1915. The very first tank in the world was called “All-terrain vehicle”. The car went on its test run in the same year at the end of spring (in May). Structurally, the “All-terrain vehicle” had all the necessary elements that are still present in combat vehicles today (armored body, weapons in the turret, tracked propulsion, etc.).

The supporting structure of the very first tank in the world was a welded frame made with 4 rotating drums, “wound” with a caterpillar belt of a fairly large width. Using a special tension device and a tension drum, the caterpillar belt was tensioned. Two rotary steering wheels controlled the tank. When he moved on a hard surface, he had to rely on the drive drum and these wheels. When moving on soft ground, the combat vehicle seemed to “lay down” on the tape.

The “All-terrain vehicle” was 360 centimeters long, 2 meters wide, and one and a half meters high (excluding the tower). The car weighed approximately 4 tons. Porokhovshchikov’s combat vehicle passed its first tests with great success, however, for some reasons they did not develop it further. And a little later the very first experienced tank became English development, which was designed in September 1915.

Little and Big Willie

Little Willie was an armored tractor that was successfully tested in September 1915. The idea for its creation was expressed by British Colonel Swindon.

However, the armored vehicle had to be slightly modified, as a result of which the tank turned into Big Willie or the Mark I tank. It can rightfully be considered the very first tank in the world to be mass-produced. The Mark I was sent to the front line in 1916.

The Mark I was 8 meters long. It was made in the form of a steel rectangular box, which had diamond-shaped tracks on the side. This design allowed the combat vehicle to overcome difficult areas on the battlefield and move through trenches with ease.

Armor with a thickness of 10-12 millimeters served as protection against rifle and machine-gun fire. The armament of the tank itself consisted of one cannon and four machine guns. Moreover, only the “males” of Big Willie had such weapons, while the “females” were deprived of guns and had fewer machine guns.

The inside of the tank looked like a ship's wheelhouse. You could walk in it without bending over. The commander and driver of the tank were located in a separate compartment. Starting Big Willie's engine required the strength of three people to turn the crank until the engine started.

Mark I could move at a speed of 6 km/h. On rough terrain, the car moved at a much lower speed - 2-3 km/h. Even despite the low speed of movement, the tank shook terribly - this was due to the fact that the armor part was made of road wheels. There were no means of communication provided. In addition, the reliability of the tank design was too low, and the vehicles often broke down. Also considered a disadvantage of Big Willie were the narrow tracks, which quickly sank into soft ground, causing the tank to be stranded. There was no ventilation inside, which is why the soldiers had to often (even under machine gun fire) jump outside to breathe fresh air and take a break from the smell of exhaust fumes.

Despite all the shortcomings, the tank was actively used at the front - 18 such combat vehicles were used in the 1916 battle. After this, a demand came to London that such tanks be delivered to the front line in the amount of 1000 copies. Subsequently, the design of Big Willie was improved each time, and more modern model was significantly ahead in technical parameters previous.