Landkreuzer P. 1500 Monster
Encyclopedia
The Landkreuzer P 1500 Monster was a German pre-prototype super-heavy tank
designed during World War II
, representing the apex of the German extreme tank designs.
tank – the Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte. Adolf Hitler
himself expressed interest in the project and go-ahead was granted. In December the same year, Krupp
designed an even larger 1,500 tonne tank – the P 1500 Monster.
In 1943, Albert Speer
, the Minister for Armaments, cancelled both projects.
artillery piece also made by Krupp – the largest artillery guns ever fired for effect. Their 7 tonne projectiles fired up to 37 km (23 mi) and were designed for use against heavily fortified targets.
The Landkreuzer P. 1500 Monster was to be 42 m (138 ft) long, weighing 1500 tonnes, with a 250 mm hull front armor, 4 MAN U-boat (submarine) diesel engines, and an operating crew of over 100 men.
The main armament was to be an 800 mm Dora/Schwerer Gustav K (E) railway gun, and with a secondary armament of two 150 mm sFH 18/1 L/30 howitzers
and multiple 15 mm MG 151/15
autocannon
s. The main armament could have been mounted without a rotating turret, making the vehicle a self-propelled gun rather than a tank. Such a configuration would have allowed the P.1500 to operate in a similar manner to the original 800mm railroad gun and Karl 600mm self-propelled mortars, launching shells without engaging the enemy with direct fire.
had highlighted significant practical problems associated with very large tanks, such as their destruction of roads, their inability to use bridges and the difficulty of strategic transportation by road or rail. The larger the tank, the bigger these problems became, to the point where they were insurmountable.
Propulsion had also proved problematic in the development of the Maus: The prototype had failed to meet its specified speed requirements which meant that even larger tanks such as the P 1500 were likely to be slow-moving and, due to its massive size, it would be a major target to Allied
aircraft.
Super-heavy tank
Super-heavy tanks are armored vehicles of very large size, generally over 75 tonnes. Programs have been initiated on several occasions with the aim of creating an invincible vehicle for penetrating enemy formations without fear of being destroyed in combat; however, only a few examples have ever...
designed during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, representing the apex of the German extreme tank designs.
Conception
On 23 June 1942 the German Ministry of Armaments proposed a 1,000 tonneTonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
tank – the Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte. Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
himself expressed interest in the project and go-ahead was granted. In December the same year, Krupp
Krupp
The Krupp family , a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th...
designed an even larger 1,500 tonne tank – the P 1500 Monster.
In 1943, Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
, the Minister for Armaments, cancelled both projects.
Purpose
This "land cruiser" was a self-propelled platform for the 800mm Schwerer GustavSchwerer Gustav
Schwerer Gustav and Dora were the names of two massive World War II German 80 cm K railway siege guns. They were developed in the late 1930s by Krupp for the express purpose of destroying heavy fortifications, specifically those in the French Maginot Line...
artillery piece also made by Krupp – the largest artillery guns ever fired for effect. Their 7 tonne projectiles fired up to 37 km (23 mi) and were designed for use against heavily fortified targets.
Specification
The main armament was to be an 800 mm Dora/Schwerer Gustav K (E) railway gun, and with a secondary armament of two 150 mm sFH 18/1 L/30 howitzers
15 cm sFH 18
The 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze 18 or sFH 18 , nicknamed Immergrün , was the basic German division-level heavy howitzer during the Second World War, serving alongside the smaller but more numerous 10.5 cm leFH 18...
and multiple 15 mm MG 151/15
MG 151 cannon
The MG 151 was a 15 mm autocannon produced by Waffenfabrik Mauser starting in 1940. It was in 1941 developed into the 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon which was widely used on many types of German Luftwaffe fighters, fighter bombers, night fighters, ground attack and even bombers as part of or as...
autocannon
Autocannon
An autocannon or automatic cannon is a rapid-fire projectile weapon firing a shell as opposed to the bullet fired by a machine gun. Autocannons often have a larger caliber than a machine gun . Usually, autocannons are smaller than a field gun or other artillery, and are mechanically loaded for a...
s. The main armament could have been mounted without a rotating turret, making the vehicle a self-propelled gun rather than a tank. Such a configuration would have allowed the P.1500 to operate in a similar manner to the original 800mm railroad gun and Karl 600mm self-propelled mortars, launching shells without engaging the enemy with direct fire.
Issues
Development of the Panzer VIII MausPanzer VIII Maus
Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus was a German World War II super-heavy tank completed in late 1944. It is the heaviest fully enclosed armoured fighting vehicle ever built. Only two hulls and one turret were completed before the testing grounds were captured by the advancing Soviet forces.These two...
had highlighted significant practical problems associated with very large tanks, such as their destruction of roads, their inability to use bridges and the difficulty of strategic transportation by road or rail. The larger the tank, the bigger these problems became, to the point where they were insurmountable.
Propulsion had also proved problematic in the development of the Maus: The prototype had failed to meet its specified speed requirements which meant that even larger tanks such as the P 1500 were likely to be slow-moving and, due to its massive size, it would be a major target to Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
aircraft.
See also
- Bagger 288Bagger 288Bagger 288 , built by the German company Krupp for the energy and mining firm Rheinbraun, is a bucket-wheel excavator or mobile strip mining machine...
, a type of bucket-wheel excavatorBucket-wheel excavatorBucket-wheel excavators are heavy equipment used in surface mining and mechanical engineering/civil engineering. The primary function of BWEs is to act as a continuous digging machine in large-scale open pit mining operations...
— the largest land vehicle ever built - Crawler-transporterCrawler-TransporterThe crawler-transporters are a pair of tracked vehicles used to transport spacecraft from NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building along the Crawlerway to Launch Complex 39. They were originally used to transport the Saturn IB and Saturn V rockets during the Apollo, Skylab and Apollo–Soyuz programs....
, the tracked vehicles of similar size, that NASANASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
used to transport their Space ShuttleSpace ShuttleThe Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
s.