It’s Tanker Tuesday Time
All that tangled stuff about politics and surviving a shutdown and all that other stuff took my attention off the real issues: keep the troops happy. So I pulled back, regrouped and hunted down a few tanker videos which, I hope, will make our tanker peeps happy.
Here they are, and the nightfiring part of the British Challenger tank was impressive. I’d bet the Challenger pairs well with one of those robot machine guns that can track incoming shells and planes and knock ’em down.
Here you go. Enjoy it. Pop some popcorn, grab a cold one, and be glad these things are on our side.
Old Tanker may like this NATO 25-tank lineup firing a simultaneous barrage. I found it to be rather impressive – kind of like watching a brigantine firing all the 16-pounders at once.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=was2xsfFgQ0
Next up is a video of the Challenger tank in action on the firing range, day and night both. Glad they’re on our side of the fence. If I run across any Russian tank stuff, I’ll post that, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbQPtyDQq1I
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Army
Think I need about 20 minutes to smoke one and recover.
When did a Paladin become a Tank? Isn’t that a Howitzer? I think Someone praises them often around here! Or is it armored vehicles in general are now tanks…like MRAPs and HMMWVs and JLTVs?
Heh heh…Good catch MI Ranger…Guilty as charged? I “tread” lightly on gently chastising the Chief(tan) Lioness of TAH. She has already threatened to tie me up, cook, and eat in front of me without allowing me even a taste. Tho that would be cruel and unusual punishment it remains a clear and present danger. And AW1Ed would let her get away with it…and probably help. The squidley swabbies do have a tendency to stick together, ya know.
“Tanks” Matey! (pun intended) I do enjoy seeing videos of Armoured Tracked, Mobile Artillery platforms. And like David mentioned above, I feel like I need a smoke and a few minutes…and maybe medical attention. I seem to be having an increased heart rate, shortness of breath, and there is some swelling going on.
The Armor Association was giving their pitch to become a track toad during Basic @ Fort Hard Knocks back yonder. As they were trying to lead us into temptation, a two tour Vet of The Viet of the Nam Times Drill SGT asked me specifically, “Pvt Recruit, did you not join to become an Artilleryman?” “Yes Drill Sergeant I did!” “Pvt Recruit, do you know what we call Tanks in the Artillery?” “We call them TARGETS!!!” The next presentation of the orientation showed the Rolling Barrage that the Gun Bunnies laid down in order for the Armoured Tracked Artillery Platforms to advance. The temptation and desire to ride off into battle in a steel coffin dissipated like the smoke from the end of a Howitzer.
Actually, it’s more like some people don’t know the difference between a real tank and an armored vehicle with a big gun attached.
Sorry to hijack this thread, but is there an easy way to contact VG with news stories? I found this today.
nsjonline.com/article/2020/09/nc-11s-democratic-candidate-has-a-number-of-disturbing-treats/
Anybody know this POS?
I checked that: the headline link is misspelled. It should be “disturbing tweets”.
It should be this way:
https://nsjonline.com/article/2020/09/nc-11s-democratic-candidate-has-a-number-of-disturbing-tweets/
And he IS a nasty little bugger. Such a foul mouth on one so young and ignorant.
To send info on something like that, click on the “Contact Us” link in the upper right hand corner of the links bar, up top. That sends messages to Admin.
He’s hardly that young, Ex-PH2. According to Wikipedia, he’s 62.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moe_Davis
My guess is that he was “encouraged” to retire from the USAF (see the Wikipedia article) and has a grudge against the GOP ever since.
FWIW: the article’s from last Sep. The guy lost in the Nov election.
Very nice videos Ex, and I’ll lift my Tankard of soda pop as I watch the flicks again.
I will do my best to make it weekly from now on, especially with the distractions of people on the Potomac quacking and squawking like twits.
Quick Recap:
Range of effective fire for the M1A2 Tank: a little over 4 km.
Newest M109A7 Howitzer : Just reached out and touched somebody at 43 miles.
NSN’s available upon request./s
Should I include armored mobile artillery in the tank stuff? I can look that up easily enough.
Even the Parthians (Persians) had war wagons. Probably got them from the Chinese.
Including is not a bad idea Mi’Lady, but then again, a separate thread on Artillery in general would be well received too. Maybe even a Valor Friday Piece from Mason on, oh I don’t know, the 2 Batteries of Tube Artillery from the FIRST (ht 2 TXNorsky) of the TwentyFIRST (ht 2 TX Norsky) at LZ Falcon during the LZ X-Ray Fight. They fired over 18 THOUSAND rounds during a 53 hour time frame, going without sleep, to keep a wall of steel around the Troopers of Colonel Moore’s.
We could also do special on Major John “The Gallant Young” Pelham, of J.E.B. Stuarts Horse Artillery ( a personal Hero of Mine from the days of my youth) who held up an entire DIVISION with only a 12 pounder Napoleon (“Grab Ol’ Nap Boys”) and a 10 pounder Parrot Rifled Gun for an afternoon.
“Artillery Lends Dignity to What Would Otherwise be a Vulgar Brawl.”
That M109A7 is one bad-ass weapon! Zowie!
But can you hit a target at 1500m moving at 30mph wile also moving at 30mph cross country? No? I didn’t think so.
Have a ‘nice’ day!
(Remember: you mileage may vary)
Yep…you just lead them a little more!
I’ll just leave this here for David & KoB. (grin)
That photo would be more appropriate on Field Artillery Friday.
Ah, brings back memories! But as a maintainer, not a tanker…
Spent a good deal of time chasing and fixing ’em.
Thanks for the vids Ex. Keep ’em coming.
I knew I’d find a way to make you all happy, even when things seem sad.
Now THIS is a tank!!
The Landkreuzer P.1000 Ratte
The German army has always been renowned for their superior tank forces and therefore it wasn’t long before they thought of building the largest and the most powerful tank in the world. It was called the Landkreuzer P.1000 Ratte and was planned on being 145 feet in length and four stored building in height. It’d weigh 1000 metric tonnes, heavier than any other tank in the world. And though the design soon got approved by Krupp director Edward Grottein June 1942, it wasn’t practical to build such a tank and the project soon got shelved. Moreover the tank weighing like that is useless for the military, it isn’t convenient and could be easily spotted by enemy from a distance. But had Landkreuzer P.1000 Ratte been built, the tank could easily have been ranked among the top super weapons built by Nazi.
The tankers look like they were having fun, but
who is so dead that they DON’T have fun on range day – especially when someone else is buying the ammo?
Old saying goes “Artillery lends dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl” The Fort Sill Bookstore (in the ’60s and ’70s) used to carry a great cartoon depicting the truth of this.
Well if I can’t watch Abrams live-fire, the Challenger is a good option. And since I last qualified a tank in 2014 (993, by the way), I will take what I can get. Just don’t show me any tank with a designation of T (e.g. T55 through T90) because those are just targets to me. (“On the wayyyy!”)
Didn’t see the videos until this morning (Weds), thanks much. I loves me some gunnery and wish I could do it again. Although those tanks are not my old ride, the M60 series. I miss them very much. It sucks to get old.
Gunnery was a time to get one hell of a rush, even back in the old days with the 105mm. No one left the tank without a giant woody and a huge smile on their face after firing the main gun. My scores on qualification weren’t the highest normally. I tended to make sure my other TC’s (Tank Commanders) had the most senior gunners and I took the ones least qualified on my tank. My reasoning was that I wanted my people to have the best option to max out on the range. I knew in real combat I should have the best gunner as he would be running and fighting the tank while I concentrated on running the Company but in peacetime my ego didn’t need the stroke of high score as long as I could teach a new guy how to gun. We still qualified every time and has some distinguished engagements. Made the new gunner stoked when that happened.
That’s a great attitude when it comes to crew management and training. The first priority is qualifying Q1. Only worry about points after that.