Ref: TR05324
Created: 02/10/2012
BRITISH ROYAL NAVY BATTLESHIP HMS " QUEEN ELIZABETH I " 1940
Description: The Queen Elizabeth-class battleships were a class of five super-dreadnoughts of the Royal Navy commissioned in 1915-16. The lead ship was named after Elizabeth I of England. These majestic battleships were superior in firepower, protection and speed to their Royal Navy predecessors of the Iron Duke-class as well as preceding German classes such as the König-class, although the corresponding Bayern-class ships were competitive except for being 2 knots (3.7 km/h) slower. As such, they are generally considered the first fast battleships.
The Queen Elizabeths were the first battleships to be armed with 15-inch (380 mm) guns, and were described in the 1919 edition of Jane’s Fighting Ships as "the finest class of Capital Ships yet turned out." They saw much service in both world wars.
Queen Elizabeth took part in the Dardanelles Campaign of 1915 bombarding forts, but missed Jutland in 1916. She became the Admiral Beatty’s flagship when he assumed command of the Grand Fleet. In World War II she was mined by Italian frogmen and grounded in the shallow water of Alexandria Harbour in 1941. She was subsequently repaired, and served in the Far East until 1945.
Barham was lost to U-boat attack in 1941, but the others survived the war and were scrapped in the late 1940s.
Ref: TR05527
Created: 02/10/2012
GERMAN NBFZ (type 1) HEAVY TANK 1939
Description: The German Neubaufahrzeug series of tank prototypes were a first attempt to create a heavy tank for the Wehrmacht after Adolf Hitler had come to power. Multi-turreted, heavy and slow, they did not fit in with the Blitzkrieg tactics and therefore only five were made. These were primarily used for propaganda purposes, though three took part in the Battle of Norway in 1940.
Description: Widely unknown, the Russian tractor industry which later in war almost completely switched to tank production was erected with massive American assistance in the late 20s and early 30s.
The young communist state had such an urgent need for agricultural machines that many of the so-called »Tractor Zavod«s were established nationwide, among those the Chelyabinskii Traktornyi Zavod imeni Stalina (»ChTZ«).
The sons of Stalin (»Stalinez«) S-60 and S-65 produced during the late 30s were copies of the Caterpillar 60, fitted with petrol and diesel engines.
As the need for military crawlers was at least equally high as that for agricultural crawlers, the 37,626 S-65 built from 1937-1941 increasingly found their way into the Red Army arsenals.
However, with a max speed of only 7 km per hour, thousands of S-65 became victims of the German »Blitz« during that fatal summer of 1941.
Ref: TR05541
Created: 02/10/2012
SOVIET IT-1 MISSILE TANK
Description: The IT-1 was a Soviet cold war missile tank based around the hull of the T-62. The tank fired specially designed 3M7 Drakon missiles from a popup launcher. It saw very limited service between 1968 and 1970. The large deadzone around the tank created by the missiles minimum range combined with the limited amount of ammunition carried made it unpopular with the military. Additionally the 520 kg of guidance equipment needed for the missile was impractical. Eventually they were converted into recovery vehicles. A turbine powered version was also developed named the IT-1T. Development
Tests were conducted in April 1964 using two prototype IT-1 tanks. During 1964 there were 94 test firings. Prior to the end of 1964 they produced 94 controlled launchings of "Drakon". And in 1968 the vehicle was put into limited production which continued until 1970.
Ref: TR05569
Created: 02/10/2012
Japanese Ground Self Defense Force TYPE 96 WAPC "B"
Description: The Type 96 Wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier is a wheeled armored personnel carrier that entered service with Japan in 1995. Here, the upgraded version type B.