The Holt Gas-Electric Tank was the first prototype

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

built in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in a collaboration between the

Holt Manufacturing Company The Holt Manufacturing Company began with the 1883 founding of Stockton Wheel Service in Stockton, California, United States. Benjamin Holt, later credited with patenting the first workable crawler ("caterpillar") tractor design, incorporated ...

(now

Caterpillar Inc. Caterpillar Inc. (stock symbol CAT) is an American ''Fortune'' 500 corporation and the world's largest construction-equipment manufacturer. In 2018, Caterpillar was ranked number 65 on the ''Fortune'' 500 list and number 238 on the Global ''Fo ...

) and the

General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250 ...

. The tank, built during 1917-1918, was the only one of its kind built, as testing proved it lacked the agility and maneuverability required. The crew number is often given as six, on the assumption there would be two machine gunners, a gunner and loader for the main gun, a driver and a commander.

Construction

The tank was based on a lengthened and modified version of the suspension of the Holt Model 75, with pivoting track frames. There were ten road wheels at each side. The tank was tall, long, and wide. The vehicle had a Holt , 4-cylinder engine fitted with a General Electric generator driving an electric motor for each track; a comparable petro-electric system had earlier been used for the French

Saint-Chamond St Chamond may refer to: * Saint Chamond otherwise Annemund, bishop of Lyon * Saint-Chamond, Loire, a French town named after him * Saint-Chamond (manufacturer), informal name for the ''Compagnie des forges et aciéries de la marine et d'Homécour ...

that also was fitted with a lengthened Holt suspension. To prevent overheating the transmission—a constant problem with electrical types—a complicated water cooling system had been installed.

Weapon systems

Like the French tank, the Holt Gas-Electric had a 75 mm gun placed low in the V-shaped nose; two removable Browning 7.62 mm machine guns in

sponsons Sponsons are projections extending from the sides of land vehicles, aircraft or watercraft to provide protection, stability, storage locations, mounting points for weapons or other devices, or equipment housing. Watercraft On watercraft, a spon ...

on each side. The engine and transmission were in the rear, next to a corridor leading to the only door. Only one was built as tests showed its climbing performance was unsatisfactory and it was much heavier than planned, about .

References

External links

The Holt Gas-Electric Tank

Holt Gas-Electric Tank
{{Caterpillar World War I tanks Tanks of the United States Abandoned military projects of the United States Trial and research tanks of the United States Caterpillar Inc. vehicles Holt Manufacturing Company History of the tank