Panzer VIII Maus

Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 1:23 pm

Anyone ever seen a pic of one of these? If you know of one let us know we'd love to see it..

Weight 188 tonnes
Length 10.09 m
Width 3.67 m
Height 3.63 m
Crew 6

achtungpanzer.com wrote:

Also known as the Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus. It was one of the few super-heavy tanks that ever got off the drawing board.

The Maus was to be a 188-tonne giant fitted with a either 75mm, 128mm or even a 170mm turret mounted gun and was planned to move at a staggering 20km/h. There were two prototypes produced, going by the appropriate names of V1/"Maus I" and V2/"Maus II".

Maus I, the first turret-less prototype was completed on Christmas Eve of 1943 and was put through extensive testing. Powering its bulk was an altered Daimler-Benz MB 509 engine which could produce almost 500 horsepower, but yet was only able to move the Maus I at about 13km/h, or 5mp/h. This was not the only problem with its weight -- other weight issues were the suspension and the fact that no bridges anywhere could support its 180,000 pound mass and it had to be fitted with a snorkel so it could be driven underwater (yes, it was air-tight).

The second prototype, Maus II, was completed in mid-1944 and unlike its forebearer, included a working turret complete with 128mm and 75mm guns (which could penetrate most tank armour at over 3500 metres) and a powerplant provided by Porsche, and later replaced by another Daimler-Benz Diesel.

Upon the defeat of the Reich, several unfinished turrets and frames were discovered, and a fully assembled Maus (V2 turret on a V1 hull) is on display at the Museum of Armored Forces in Kubinka, Russia.

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:48 pm

Here's the Panzerkampfwagen Maus and it's massive 128mm gun Smile

With the rise of anti tank weaponry that featured shaped charge explosives, super tanks such as these became impractical.

Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 3:49 pm

Link

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 9:31 am

heh, i remember my brother showing me this beast of a tank. i think 2 were deployed on the battlefield but both were destroyed by the allied airpower before getting to see any action.

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 12:40 pm

i ran into this and thought it was an extra huge tank until I realized those are children playing on the tank Smile

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 11:08 pm

here's a few interesting ultra heavy tanks

Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 11:18 pm

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 prototypes (one with, one without turret) underwent trials in late 1944. The complete vehicle was 10.2 metres (33 ft 6 in) long, 3.71 metres (12 ft 2 in) wide and 3.63 metres (11.9 ft) tall. Weighing 200 metric tons, the Maus's main armament was a 128 mm KwK 44 gun (55 calibers long barrel), based on the 12.8 cm Pak 44 anti-tank artillery piece, with a coaxial 75 mm gun. The 128 mm gun was powerful enough to destroy all enemy armored fighting vehicles at close or medium ranges, and even some at ranges exceeding 3500 meters.[1]
The principal problem in development of the Maus was finding a powerful enough engine for its weight that could be carried in the tank. Though the design called for a maximum speed of 20 kilometres per hour (12 mph), no engine was found that could power the prototype to more than 13 kilometres per hour (8.1 mph) under ideal conditions. The weight also made it impossible to cross most bridges; it was intended to ford or submerge and use a snorkel to cross rivers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzer_VIII_Maus

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 9:19 pm

wustenfuchs wrote:

i ran into this and thought it was an extra huge tank until I realized those are children playing on the tank Smile

Oh you, that's a King Tiger with Porsche turret Wink

Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 6:38 pm

cool.

Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 7:37 pm

Well there is a same picture as the one above what a coincidence

Posted: Fri May 18, 2012 12:22 am

I didn't know they used any Porsche turrets on Tigers nice picture tho.

Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 8:00 pm

me neither until u said that.