Category: Historical Articles

BT-7A Data

~ Sirchby

The BT-7A Artillery was developed based from the self-propelled gun variant of T-26. There were 2 variants of the tank; 45 mm standard gun and 76.2 mm close range artillery gun. Moreover, these guns had to be compatible with the original turret. Unfortunately, the turret was so crammed that even the crew of BT-7A couldn’t breathe freely, and the ammunition carried would be strictly limited.

BT-7A_Turret

Fortunately, they solved the problem by using the T-26-4 turret for the BT-7A, modifying the turret a little bit to make it compatible in order to mount bigger guns as such. As a result, the BT-7A passed the testing, and was ready for production.

It wasn’t easy to accept the BT-7A into service, mainly because unclear effectiveness of the BT-7A compared to other tanks with on par performance. But by 1937, they (The Soviets) finally decided to begin serial production of the tank. However, the production didn’t go smoothly as planned, because of reasons such as the incomplete BT-7A gun production, as it wasn’t a highly prioritized tank to mass-produce, not even slightly above the original BT-7. Of the 154 BT-7A produced, 132 were used in service, while 22 were used for further experiments in order to mount newer guns for the rest.

These new guns were the A-11 and F-32. Even though the guns were capable enough and recommended for installation on the BT-7A, They were never installed for unknown reason.

BT-7A_Concept

Verdun (1914-1918) + GIVEAWAY!

~ Sebastianul

Last week I posted something in regards to an event that shook the entire mankind: World War I. In that post, I also said that we have a surprise for you guys.

Recently, I saw Verdun go on sale on Steam so I thought why not buy it? I had been watching videos about it and reading some reviews about it and the game seemed to be pretty good. Not to mention it’s the only game of its kind, the only one that managed to attract my attention anyway.

Continue reading “Verdun (1914-1918) + GIVEAWAY!” →

Roma Battleship Interior Pictures

~ Sebastianul

(source: http://www.argunners.com/)

Battleship Roma (‘Corazzata Roma’) was the fourth Vittorio Veneto-class battleship of Italy’s Regia Marina (Royal Navy). She was laid down almost four years after the first two ships of the class (Impero and Vittorio Veneto) and was commissioned on 14 June 1942. On 9 September 1943 she was sunk by the German Luftwaffe with a Fritz X radio-controlled bomb. Roma capsized, broke into two, and sank carrying 2 Admirals, 86 Officers and 1264 sailors down with her. She was the pride of the Italian Navy; the most modern and powerful battleship.

Not only she was beautiful from its outside but so was her interior. Argunners Magazine has found, thanks to Marina Militare, incredible images of Battleship Roma’s interior.

Seldom images of Battleship Roma's engine and boiler rooms.

Seldom images of Battleship Roma's engine and boiler rooms.

Continue reading “Roma Battleship Interior Pictures” →

German Aircraft Carrier “Graf Zeppelin” Pictures

~ Sebastianul

It was one of the few German aircraft carrier types that were supposed to be built during the war, so I thought that it needs to be shared:

Built from 1935 on by Marinebaurat Dipl.-Ing. Oherich, it was repurposed on Hitler’s command, after seeing the success of British carriers it was once again supposed to be finished but eventually it got captured by the advancing Russians and blown up in 1947.

The little number of German ships that served in WW2 is simply sad. But hey, the USSR had very few warships too. Good thing we have those projects at least!

Italian WoWS Tech Tree Part 15: Planes

~ Sebastianul

Another post from our good friend, Daemon93! You can find the rest of the series in the history section.

PLANES

NOTE: my idea for the planes carried by the carriers is to have fighter bombers only as much as possible. There are a few reasons behind this choice:

1)Italy relied heavily on fighter bombers, strapping bomb on whatever plane available

2)The Italian carriers were supposed to provide first and foremost AA cover, they weren’t intended to be heavy hitters on their own(hence why both Sparviero and Aquila were supposed to carry only Re.2001s)

3)It would be an unique flavor with the ability to use the planes available both as fighters or as dive bombers, depending on the situation.

4)The number of planes carried was quite limited and having planes able to fulfill multiple roles would somewhat solve this problem

The only issue is that i don’t know if the game will be allowed(technically). From a balance point of view having full fighters or full dive bombers shouldn’t be that OP because you gain flexibility but you would be like a jack of all trade master of none(so specialized planes will be superior).

Historical projects

G.50 A/N

A project which was developed for Svarviero and Aquila. Considering how the planes are currently placed finding a spot for this particular aircraft will be quite challenging, being too strong for the fighters carried by the tier VI CVs but too weak to compete against the ones carried by the tier VII(considering the upgraded ones). It would act as a fighter-bomber(something which in theory would give an unique flavor to the Italian CV line and would somewhat compensate for the lack of numbers), being able to carry out both the role of the fighter and of the dive bombers(with a 250 kg bomb as payload).

Re.2001OR

Continue reading “Italian WoWS Tech Tree Part 15: Planes” →

Scraps: BattleBots with GUNS (Review)

~ Sebastianul

http://www.scrapsgame.com/

Hey everyone. You might have noticed that in the last period, new information was scarce. So I decided to make something new: a game review. You know how much I like Battlebots (and tanks), so this game was appealing to me from the first minute. What it is about? You build your robot and fight. It is like fighting rovers from Kerbal Space Program. Like mounting weapons on a RC Car and rolling away. You can mount tank turrets too!

The truth is that the game is really balanced, like rock-paper-scissors. It has good weapons, but each design is weak against another one. For example, vehicles with heavy cannons being vulnerable to fast flankers on flat maps, and flankers being vulnerable to plasma weapons (which, in turn, are also rendered useless on hilly maps), which destabilize the vehicle, making it easy to shoot at. Click this paragraph to get the free demo, which will be available on multiple platforms. (only Windows currently)

After I got the game, I researched all the parts in exactly 100 minutes, because I had some experience left from the demo. Still, the game is in development (Early Access), and it has only the basic modules. But look at what I made with those:

ddddI call this the „BEST”. A heavy machine with cannons, perfect for owning noobs. A bit damaged.
 Continue reading “Scraps: BattleBots with GUNS (Review)” →

VK 45.03 Short Description

~ Sirchby

The supertested VK 45.03 (tier 7 heavy tank) was a prototype heavy tank that resulted from a plan to improve the existing Tiger I  into the Tiger II, also known as Königstiger.

In short, it was, in principle, a further development of two previous projects from the VK 45.0x series. The Henschel und Sohn company soon started to work on the tank by combining the VK 45.03 project with the Panther to create the next evolution of both tanks, sharing similar aspects in a combined project, which would result in new tanks as Tiger II and the Panther II.

VK 45.03 Hull

The early model of the VK 45.03 was pretty much an enlarged Panther model, but it was changed after Hitler issued a further armor increase: 150 mm frontal armor and 80 mm side armor. Soon after the Panther II project was ceased due to the urgent task of expanding production of the original Panther tank, they were now focused entirely on the Tiger II development.

The VK 45.03
The VK 45.03, alongside the original Panther tank. The turret is similar, if not exactly the same as the one from the early Tiger II tank, the so called “Porsche turret”, although it is lacking a cupola on top.