World of Tanks Is Building The Maus

[Andy Chalk]

World of Tanks Is Building The Maus

​

World of Tanks developer Wargaming.net has joined with the Kubinka Tank Museum to bring the legendary Panzerkampfwagen VIII to life.

The fearsome Maus may be the most ironically named tank of all time. It's the heaviest fully-enclosed armored fighting vehicle ever built, weighing roughly 200 metric tons, covered with nigh-impenetrable slabs of armor plating and packing a 128 mm gun that could destroy everything. Its one flaw: The most powerful engines of the day could give it a best speed of only around eight MPH.

Whether or not it could have been effective in the field will never be known; development of the behemoth started too late to impact the war, and only two hulls and one turret were completed before the Soviets overran the testing grounds.

The only remaining example of the Maus is on display at the Kubinka Tank Museum near Moscow. It's non-operational, but that's a situation that the museum, working in conjunction with Wargaming.net, hopes to change through a reconstruction project that's now in the works. It's a pretty big deal; because most of the internal parts didn't survive the war, they'll have to be remanufactured, which Wargaming.net promises will be done "in close cooperation with the most experience military vehicle restorers."

It's also a big deal because it's the Maus. It probably would have been completely ineffectual as a fighting vehicle, but as a grandiose secret weapon from a bygone era, there aren't many that can match it. And if any gaming company has both the resources and the willingness to make this happen, it's Wargaming.net: It's already taken part in the search for the lost Dornier bomber [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/125495-Wargaming-net-Reveals-What-Became-Of-Burma-Spitfires] for the RAF Cosford museum.

Thanks to Charcharo [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/Charcharo] for the tip.

[http://pv.webbyawards.com/2014/web/general-website/games-related]

Permalink

 

[deathmothon]

Maus is nothing compared to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landkreuzer_P._1000_Ratte

 

[WouldYouKindly]

While I may have fell out of their game, I still do commend their restoration and preservation efforts. Best of luck trying to get that damn thing to move. I recommend a train engine like the ones still in use in the states, diesel electric. It's the only thing I can think of that can both pull 200 tons and might fit in the chassis. It is what they used in the first place although it was an aircraft engine before they put what I think was a diesel submarine engine in.

Oh, and considering the thing, while it had 200+mm of very sloped frontal armor and just shy of 200 in the rear, It wasn't nearly as well armored on top. And it doesn't move. It wouldn't have taken long for an IL-2, Tempest, or P-47 to drop a bomb or rocket as near to right on top of it as possible. Given that even the other heavy tanks of the time had thinly armored tops, even though I can't find any information on the Maus specifically, I'd assume this would also be true for the Maus.

 

[Alfador_VII]

This is an amazing project, it's nice to see Wargaming helping towards rebuilding such a unique historical vehicle.

Who cares that it was ludicrously impractical, extremely heavy, very slow, and never saw combat, it's still a part of armoured warfare history

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Nice that they're restoring it, like they did with the Dornier bomber. But the Maus is a laughable joke when it comes to tank engineering. The thing was ludicrous and horribly impractical at the time when it was developed.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

Maus is nothing compared to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landkreuzer_P._1000_Ratte

If you're gonna bring up crazy German super-heavy class tank designs that never went into production, you may as well go all-out.

I introduce you to the Landkreuzer P.1500 "Monster."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landkreuzer_P._1500_Monster

The main weapon on that beast is an 800mm Krupp railway gun. There's no kill like overkill.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

While I may have fell out of their game, I still do commend their restoration and preservation efforts. Best of luck trying to get that damn thing to move. I recommend a train engine like the ones still in use in the states, diesel electric. It's the only thing I can think of that can both pull 200 tons and might fit in the chassis. It is what they used in the first place although it was an aircraft engine before they put what I think was a diesel submarine engine in.

Oh, and considering the thing, while it had 200+mm of very sloped frontal armor and just shy of 200 in the rear, It wasn't nearly as well armored on top. And it doesn't move. It wouldn't have taken long for an IL-2, Tempest, or P-47 to drop a bomb or rocket as near to right on top of it as possible. Given that even the other heavy tanks of the time had thinly armored tops, even though I can't find any information on the Maus specifically, I'd assume this would also be true for the Maus.

Only bombs and rockets can knock out a tank, and only on a direct hit ... and those were rare and hard to achieve.

Maus roof armour is 50 mm.

Yes, it's the size of a house and it only takes one good pass. It's not like they even could have fielded them in significant numbers.

 

[Andy Chalk]

While I may have fell out of their game, I still do commend their restoration and preservation efforts. Best of luck trying to get that damn thing to move. I recommend a train engine like the ones still in use in the states, diesel electric. It's the only thing I can think of that can both pull 200 tons and might fit in the chassis. It is what they used in the first place although it was an aircraft engine before they put what I think was a diesel submarine engine in.

Oh, and considering the thing, while it had 200+mm of very sloped frontal armor and just shy of 200 in the rear, It wasn't nearly as well armored on top. And it doesn't move. It wouldn't have taken long for an IL-2, Tempest, or P-47 to drop a bomb or rocket as near to right on top of it as possible. Given that even the other heavy tanks of the time had thinly armored tops, even though I can't find any information on the Maus specifically, I'd assume this would also be true for the Maus.

Only bombs and rockets can knock out a tank, and only on a direct hit ... and those were rare and hard to achieve.

Maus roof armour is 50 mm.

Yes, it's the size of a house and it only takes one good pass. It's not like they even could have fielded them in significant numbers.

According to Wiki, only five were ordered.

And while it's easy to say in hindsight that it's an insanely impractical idea, you have to remember that Germany at that time was desperate for some kind of silver bullet to halt the Allied advance. The same mindset that led to the design and near-creation of the Maus also led to all kinds of amazing technological advances that had a huge impact in the post-war era.

The Maus reminds me a lot of the Japanese battleship Yamato. Ridiculously big, heavy, tough, outgunned everything else in the world, and it ended up sunk by aircraft without firing a meaningful shot. Fearsome weapons, but not for the era in which they were created.

 

[RA92]

Maus is nothing compared to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landkreuzer_P._1000_Ratte

If you're gonna bring up crazy German super-heavy class tank designs that never went into production, you may as well go all-out.

I introduce you to the Landkreuzer P.1500 "Monster."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landkreuzer_P._1500_Monster

The main weapon on that beast is an 800mm Krupp railway gun. There's no kill like overkill.

Man, that 80mm shell they were gonna fire outta that...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/14/80cm_Gustav_shell.jpg/625px-80cm_Gustav_shell.jpg

 

[mistwolf]

The Maus reminds me a lot of the Japanese battleship Yamato. Ridiculously big, heavy, tough, outgunned everything else in the world, and it ended up sunk by aircraft without firing a meaningful shot. Fearsome weapons, but not for the era in which they were created.

Yeah, but at least it got a chance to fly across the universe to save the human race.

 

[Andy Chalk]

Yeah, but at least it got a chance to fly across the universe to save the human race.

Right website, wrong thread.

 

[uchytjes]

Of all the things that Wargaming does, its these restoration projects that I respect the most.