KV-1 Heavy Tank - Design
The design of the hull of the new tank basically repeated the general layout of the QMS hull. The KV was equipped with a 500 hp diesel engine B-2, a specially designed gearbox, 76 mm and 45 mm guns were installed in a single turret, in which there was no room left for another gun. The chassis elements, transmissions, optical instruments and special equipment were also taken from the QMS project. The KV favorably differed from the prototype in relatively small linear dimensions and combat mass, and by 01 September 1939, the first prototype KV was made, which was immediately submitted to factory tests.
On September 20, prototypes of SMK and T-100 tanks, the construction and testing of which was completed a little earlier and the prototype KV took part in the demonstration of the latest models of military equipment to the leaders of the Soviet government and armed forces. With the beginning of the Soviet-Finnish war in November 1939, prototypes of all three tanks passed military tests in combat as part of the 91 separate tank battalion of the 20th heavy tank brigade, during which they participated in the breakthrough of the Mannerheim line on the Karelian Isthmus. In the process of testing an experimental copy of the QMS was hit by Finnish artillery fire. Analyzing the experience of combat use and summarizing reviews from the troops about new heavy tanks, the leadership of the ABTU recommended the adoption of the KV tank for adoption and mass production, which deserved only one serious criticism from military experts: the second 45 mm gun installed in the turret hampered and made difficult the actions of the crew of the combat vehicle.
A significant role in the decision of the ABTU was played by the use of the B-2 diesel engine on the tank, which was planned for mass production and installation on the T-34 medium tank. Without waiting for the end of military tests, a heavy KV tank was ordered by the Decree of the Defense Committee No. 443ss dated December 19, 1939 with the same name. The decision was obviously premature due to the fact that the tank did not pass the number of kilometers set by the test program. When, after the end of the war and the construction of machines of the installation series, ABTU subjected several tanks to run in accordance with the standards, which revealed serious shortcomings in the work of the components and assemblies of the transmission, chassis and power plant, some of which, the tank could not get rid of until the end of its mass production.
In the serial version of the KV, instead of the 45 mm cannon, the installation of a 7.62 mm DT machine gun paired with a 76 mm gun was provided for in the turret. By design, the KV tank was a classic-style vehiclethat included an armored hull, a turret, an armament, an engine, a transmission, a chassis and special equipment. The armor case was made of rolled armor plates 75, 40, 30 and 20 mm thick that are interconnected by welding. Sheets with a thickness of less than 75 mm were used only for horizontal armor. In the frontal part of the body, the armor plates were installed at rational angles of inclination, which greatly increased the protection of the tank. Structurally, the tank hull was divided into three compartments: in the fore part there was a control compartment, in the central part of which was located the workplace of the driver above which a hatch was installed on the lid of which the observation device of the driver was mounted. To the right of the workplace of the mechanic-driver was located the workplace of the gunner-radio operator, a radio station was mounted there, a ball-mounted machine for the course machine gun DT was mounted in front of the gunner-radioman’s seat. The fighting compartment was located in the central part of the corps and in the turret.
The aft housed the power section, in which the engine and transmission elements were installed. The crew emergency exit hatch was located under the fighting compartment in the bottom of the hull. In the KV-1, during production, three types of turrets could be installed: welded with a rectangular niche, welded with a rounded niche, and cast. The sheet thickness of welded types of the turret was 75 mm, the sheets were set at rational angles. The thickness of the walls of the cast turrets reached 95 mm. The frontal part of the turret - cast, had a spherical shape and was made separately from the body of the turret.
The mask of the gun was a bent armor plate and had three openings: for a gun, a gun sight, and a twin machine gun. The turret was mounted on a turret ring with a diameter of 1,535 mm and was fixed with steel grippers. On the chassis, a goniometric scale was cut for the horizontal guidance of the gun when firing from the closed firing position (PDO). The turret housed the rest of the crew members: the tank commander - to the right of the gun, gunner and loader respectively, on the left. On the roof of the turret above the commander’s workplace there was a hatch on the lid of which a panoramic surveillance device of the PT-K tank commander was mounted. Above the gunner's workplace, holes were made, covered by a protective cap for mounting a ripping scope. In the stern of the turret behind the work station of the loader there was a spherical installation for the installation of the stern machine gun DT. In 1941, some of the KV-1 were made with enhanced armor, which was a set of 25 mm armor plates fastened to the hull and turret with bolts. Subsequently, the additional protection was refused, because it was clearly redundant.
The tank armament kit included a 76 mm tank gun on the initial L-11 series, subsequently the F-32, then the ZIS-5 with an increased barrel length and three 7.62 mm DT machine guns. The gun was aimed at the target with the help of the SJT-6 telescopic sight, the shooting from the PDO was carried out with the PT-6 hopper sight. On every fifth vehicle, an anti-aircraft turret was mounted on the roof of the turret for the DT machine gun. The layers were installed along the left and right sides of the fighting compartment.
In the power compartment, a V-shaped four-stroke 12-cylinder V-2K engine was installed, similar in design to a diesel B-2. The engine was started with the help of the ST-700 electric starter, or it could be used to start with compressed air, for which two 5-cylinder bottles were installed in the fighting compartment. The fuel came from fuel tanks with a total volume of 600 liters located in the combat and power compartment. In the second half of 1941 on the KV began to install the carburetor of the aircraft engine M-17T with a capacity of 500 hp as a result of measures for the evacuation of KhPZ, where the B-2 diesel engines were made.
The transmission consisted of a multi-disc main clutch, a five-speed gearbox, left and right multi-disc side clutches, left and right side gearboxes of a planetary type, and a belt braking system. Transmission control drives - mechanical type. Suspension suspension of the torsion type with internal individual shock absorption for each roller. The tracked propulsion unit consisted of six stamped rubberized rollers, a drive wheel with a removable toothed crown of the hinge gear set at the back and a sloth. The caterpillar was maintained in the upper position by three small rollers. Opposite each roller on the body were welded the limiters of the suspension balancers. Each caterpillar consisted of 88 single-track trucks 700 mm wide. Tension mechanism was of the screw type. Since the end of 1941, rollers began to be produced by casting without rubberizing.
The power supply of the tank’s electrical equipment was provided by the GT-4563A generator and four 6-STE-128 batteries with a total capacity of 256 A / h. The operating voltage in the electrical network is 24 V. The electrical equipment included lights for external and internal illumination, devices for illuminating sights and scales of sights, electrical measuring instruments, a sound signal, communications equipment, a starting electric starter and a starting relay. The tank had an installed radio station 71-TK-3 and the internal intercom device TPU-3. Subsequently, a 10-P radio station and a TPU intercom were installed - 4 bis. Some tanks were installed aircraft radio station type 9R. The 10P radio station operated in the range from 3.75 to 6 MHz and provided communication over the telephone at a distance of up to 25 km.
The real problem was the poor overall design of the tank, its low mechanical reliability, and its use of obsolete concepts. A KV-1 Model 1941 sent to the US in 1942 for evaluation was found to be using a 20-year old American Holt (Caterpillar) transmission design. This transmission was the main stumbling block of the KV-1, and there was some truth to rumors of Soviet drivers having to shift gears with a hand sledge. Interviews with commanders in the field were even more damning. Only senior commanders and certified heroes (who were too valuable as propaganda material) were totally honest on what a dog the KV-1 really was. It was too heavy, too unreliable, and carried no better firepower than the T-34.
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