OKMO (''Opytniy Konstruktorsko-Mekhanicheskiy Otdel'', 'Experimental Design Mechanical Department') was the tank design team in the Soviet Union during the early 1930s. Located in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, it produced the design of the T-26 infantry tank, of which about 12,000 would be produced. Most other designs from the bureau never saw the light of day, but it was here that

Mikhail Koshkin Mikhail Ilyich Koshkin (Russian language, Russian: Михаи́л Ильи́ч Ко́шкин; 3 December 1898, Pereslavsky District, Brynchagi, Yaroslavl Oblast – 26 September 1940) was a Soviet Union, Soviet tank designer, chief designer of t ...

, designer of the famous

T-34 The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank introduced in 1940. When introduced its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was less powerful than its contemporaries while its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against Anti-tank warfare, anti-tan ...

medium tank gained his early experience. The bureau was gutted in the

Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Nikolay Yezhov, Yezhov'), was General ...

and broken up by the beginning of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

History

Organizational

In 1930 the Bolshevik Factory No. 232 became home to the AVO-5 tank design bureau, soon renamed OKMO. In 1932, the tank department of the Bolshevik factory, became the new Factory No. 174 (K.E. Voroshilov). This new, independent enterprise was dedicated to the mass production of T-26 tank. Janusz Magnuski says that in 1932 one of the former departments of the Bolshevik factory became a base for the new independent entity, named in 1935 as Factory No. 185 (S.M. Kirov),Official website, History of Obukhov Plant
under the direction of N. Barykov and Semyon Alexandrovich Ginzburg. The OKMO, for a few months a part of Factory No. 174, moved at the same time to Factory No. 185. The new enterprise was also dedicated to the production of tanks, while the main part of Bolshevik Factory remained focused on production of heavy artillery. Because of the same honorific and the same city of location, the Factory No. 185 is often mistaken in Western sources with

Kirov Plant The Kirov Plant, Kirov Factory or Leningrad Kirov Plant (LKZ) ( rus, Кировский завод, Kirovskiy zavod) is a major Russian mechanical engineering and agricultural machinery manufacturing plant in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was establ ...

(or Factory No. 100), notably in Sewell's "''Why Three Tanks?''"Sewell, Stephen 'Cookie' (1998)
“Why Three Tanks?”
(PDF) in ''Armor'' vol. 108, no. 4, p. 21. Fort Knox, KY: US Army Armor Center. ISSN 0004-2420. and works of Steven Zaloga.Zaloga says that in 1935, after the assassination of

Sergey Kirov Sergei Mironovich Kirov (né Kostrikov; 27 March 1886 – 1 December 1934) was a Soviet politician and Bolshevik revolutionary whose assassination led to the first Great Purge. Kirov was an early revolutionary in the Russian Empire and membe ...

, the whole Bolshevik Factory No. 232 was renamed "Factory No. 185 (S.M. Kirov)", yet Leningrad inhabitants continued to refer to it as the Bolshevik Factory: Zaloga, Steven J., James Grandsen (1984). ''Soviet Tanks and Combat Vehicles of World War Two'', p. 53, London: Arms and Armour Press. . They were independent factories; the Factory No. 185 was a home of OKMO bureau (Ginzburg), while the larger Factory No. 100 was a home of SKB-2 ( Kotin, known for KV line of heavy tanks). In 1941, because of German threat, parts of both factories were moved to

Chelyabinsk Chelyabinsk ( rus, Челя́бинск, p=tɕɪˈlʲæbʲɪnsk, a=Ru-Chelyabinsk.ogg; ba, Силәбе, ''Siläbe'') is the administrative center and largest city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the seventh-largest city in Russia, with a ...

, where the large complex was given the name '' Chelyabinsk Kirov Plant No. 100'' (unofficially named "Tankograd"), and continued the production of Kotin's design line.

Design

In 1930, bureau oversaw design changes to the British Vickers E tank for construction as the

T-26 light infantry tank The T-26 tank was a Soviet light tank used during many conflicts of the Interwar period and in World War II. It was a development of the British Vickers 6-Ton tank and was one of the most successful tank designs of the 1930s until its light ...

, and later improvements to the T-26. In 1930 OKMO also began design studies for heavy tanks. A team led by German engineer Eduard Grote worked on a 100-ton design with 107 mm gun, four sub-turrets, and pneumatic suspension and servo-controls, called the T-41 or . A slightly more practical "land battleship" was the

T-35 heavy tank The T-35 was a Soviet multi- turreted heavy tank of the interwar period and early Second World War that saw limited production and service with the Red Army. Often called a land battleship, it was the only five-turreted heavy tank in the worl ...

, designed by N. Tseits's team and inspired by the British

Vickers Independent The Independent A1E1 is a multi-turreted tank that was designed by the British armaments manufacturer Vickers between the First and Second World Wars. Although it only ever reached the prototype stage and only a single example was built, it influ ...

. In 1934, OKMO designed the T-43-2, a design for an amphibious tank with convertible drive—being able to run on tracks or wheels—as a possible replacement for the

T-37 amphibious scout tank The T-37A was a Soviet amphibious light tank. The tank is often referred to as the T-37, although that designation was used by a different tank which never left the prototype stage. The T-37A was the first series of mass-produced fully amphi ...

. It, and

Moscow Factory no. 37 The NIIDAR company, the ''Scientific and Research Institute for Long-Distance Radio Communications'' (russian: Научно-исследовательский институт дальней радиосвязи) is a Russian manufacturer of radar ...

's competing T-43-1 were both rejected in favour of continuing T-37 production. Also in 1934, N. Barykov and N. Tseits worked with graduate students from the Leningrad Technical Institute to modernize the multi-turreted T-28 medium tank by adding a

Christie suspension The Christie suspension is a suspension system developed by American engineer J. Walter Christie for his tank designs. It allowed considerably longer movement than conventional leaf spring systems then in common use, which allowed his tanks to h ...

. The resulting T-29-5 adopted the wheel-and-track running gear from the

BT fast tank The BT tanks (russian: Быстроходный танк/БТ, translit=Bystrokhodnyy tank, lit. "fast moving tank" or "high-speed tank") were a series of Soviet light tanks produced in large numbers between 1932 and 1941. They were lightly ar ...

. Further T-29-4 and T-29-1 prototypes were built in 1935, but in testing at the NIIBT in Kubinka none of these were found satisfactory. Following Soviet armoured experience in Spain, another version was built with thicker armour and a better gun—it was considered for the A-20/T-32 competition which led to the famous

T-34 medium tank The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank introduced in 1940. When introduced its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was less powerful than its contemporaries while its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against anti-tank weapons. The C ...

, but by this time was obviously outdated. (One of the Leningrad engineering students had been

, the T-34's chief designer) In the 1930s, OKMO also designed a number of self-propelled artillery and antiaircraft guns, and tracked infantry, ammunition and fuel transporters, but only prototypes or trial batches of any were ever built, except for the T-26-T artillery tractor. In 1936–37 OKMO designed the T-111 (or T-46-5), the first attempt at a Soviet tank with "shell-proof" armour, effective against more than just small arms. The engine and gun were inadequate, and only a prototype was built. The T-100 'Sotka' was a two-turreted heavy tank prototype. It became rejected in favour of the

KV-1 heavy tank The Kliment Voroshilov (KV) tanks are a series of Soviet heavy tanks named after the Soviet defence commissar and politician Kliment Voroshilov who operated with the Red Army during World War II. The KV tanks were known for their heavy armour pr ...

. A second prototype was made as a single self-propelled gun T-100Y, later designated

SU-100Y The SU-100Y was a Soviet prototype self-propelled gun, developed from the prototype T-100 tank. It was developed during the Winter War with Finland to include a 130 mm gun to destroy concrete defensive structures like bunkers and anti-tank o ...

, presently displayed in Kubinka Tank Museum. The bureau started work on the

T-50 infantry tank T5 or T-5 may refer to: Biology and medicine * Fifth thoracic vertebrae * Fifth spinal nerve * Bacteriophage T5, a bacteriophage * T5: an EEG electrode site according to the 10-20 system Vehicles and transportation * AIDC T-5 Brave Eagle, a Taiwa ...

in 1939, but was gutted during the

. The T-50 was handed over to the Factory No. 174.

References

{{Reflist Tanks of the Soviet Union Manufacturing companies of the Soviet Union Design bureaus Transport in the Soviet Union Military equipment of the Soviet Union Defence companies of the Soviet Union

History

Organizational

Design

See also

References