Sunday 5 May 2013

100 mm gun vs Tiger II

I've gone through nearly all of the guns that fired at the Tiger II in the CAMD RF 38-11377-129 report, so here's one of the remaining ones: the BS-3 gun, equivalent to the D-10, mounted in a SU-100 tank destroyer. At this point, there isn't much commentary I can make. We have already seen how poorly the fragile armour of the Tiger II performs. The BS-3 has no difficulty with it.

"Shot #12. Target: upper front plate. Distance: 500 meters.

Penetration. The shell hit the connection between the upper front plate and the lower front plate. Breach diameter: 150 by 230 mm entrance, 130 by 150 mm exit. On the opposite side, a piece of armour 260 by 320 mm , 85 mm thick, broke off.

Photo #18a, showing the damage done by shot #12.

Shot #13. Target: upper front plate. Distance: 1500 meters. Propellant: reduced. 

Dent, 165 by 200 mm, 80 mm deep. On the other side, an armour fragment 340 by 290 mm, 40 mm thick, broke off. A crack running all the way through the armour, 340 mm long, formed.

Shot # 14. Target: upper front plate. Distance: 700 meters. Propellant: reduced.

The shell hit a weakened portion of the armour. Penetration. Breach diameter: 165 by 210 mm entrance, 80 by 65 mm exit. A fragment 350 by 400 mm broke off the other side.

Shot #15. Target: upper front plate. Distance: 500 meters.

Dent, 170 mm by 240 mm, 80 mm deep. On the other side of the armour, a fragment 220 mm by 240 mm by 20 mm broke off. Cracks through the armour plate, 300 mm, 260 mm, and 170 mm long formed.

Shot # 16. Target: lower front plate. Distance: 1000 meters. Propellant: reduced.

Dent, 110 by 330 mm, 45 mm deep. On the other side, a 15 mm bump with a crack. Two cracks formed, 250 mm and 130 mm. The cracks are 12 mm wide.

Shot #17. Unsatisfactory. Ricochet from the ground.

Shot #18. Target: lower front plate. Distance: 300 meters.

Penetration. Shell hit the connection between the upper front plate and lower front plate. Penetration, 130 mm by 160 mm.

Shot #19: Unsatisfactory. The shell passed through the breach made by shot #18.

Shot #20. Target: lower front plate. Distance: 100 meters.

A piece 1000-1300 mm long fell off the lower front plate."

Photo # 24. Damage caused by shot # 20.

The damage is as we have seen previously. Even at ranges where the BS-3 cannot penetrate, spalling does the job. After a few shots at the LFP, it fell off entirely. At least, this time, no welding seams failed!

11 comments:

  1. So you just keep throwing shells until front plate falls off - brilliant! Feels medieval :D

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    1. They probably did the same on the battlefield. No wonder why many hate the Russians, they tried to fight them honorably!

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    2. WWII wasn't particularly honourable. The British were quite miffed when Rommel cheated by using his AA guns as AT guns. By comparison, shooting at the same tank more than once is quite gentlemanly.

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  2. That's very disingenuous of both of you that vehicle was shot at by literally every gun the USSR had ( test rounds included) including its own of both AP and HE before the plate buckled. Such a thing does not happen in combat. In combat the vehicle is mobile ( you can pull back if you start getting hit), first round hits are rare (lots of rounds would fall too short or be over), the weapons available are the weapons available you don't have the luxury of blasting it with every gun in existence nor the coordination to do so given that the weapons would be needed for other vehicles/duties during an attack

    I suppose the closest thing I can think of of something similar to these "tests" in combat is being unfortunate enough to be caught in naval/artillery barrage, of which the effects were not pretty for any tank/tanker on all sides.




    if for example a t-34 was put out on a field and artillery of all sorts (37mm, 50mm, 105mm,150mm,etc) was dropped on it HE and AP and at the end of this the wrecked vehicle as deemed unsaisfactory

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    1. I've seen photos of T-34s after testing. They looked like Swiss cheese. The Soviets had identical testing standards for their own vehicles and foreign ones.

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  3. So much literature written about 400 completely unreliable, mechanically deplorable white elephants. Yes they had a big gun and armour. But still the best way to beat a tiger was to have it drive 10 miles have it break down in combat and be forced to scuttle it.

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  4. he isnt the tiger 2 armor XD

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  5. https://www.google.al/search?biw=1280&bih=894&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=JS+2+destroyed&oq=JS+2+destroyed&gs_l=img.3...346202.350134.0.350289.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c.1.64.img..0.0.0.VlKAHTX1LcM#imgdii=0NBbmqwUktm0hM%3A%3B0NBbmqwUktm0hM%3A%3BjYJjFrYcuEXhzM%3A&imgrc=0NBbmqwUktm0hM%3A

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