The Heavy Tank T30 was a

World War II 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 ...

American tank project developed to counter new German tanks, such as

Tiger I The Tiger I () was a German heavy tank of World War II that operated beginning in 1942 in Africa and in the Soviet Union, usually in independent heavy tank battalions. It gave the German Army its first armoured fighting vehicle that mounted ...

Tiger II The Tiger II is a German heavy tank of the Second World War. The final official German designation was ''Panzerkampfwagen'' Tiger ''Ausf''. B,'' Panzerkampfwagen'' – abbr: ''Pz.'' or ''Pz.Kfw.'' (English: "armoured fighting vehicle"), ''Ausf.' ...

, and tank destroyers, such as the ''

Jagdtiger The ''Jagdtiger'' ("Hunting Tiger"; officially designated ''Panzerjäger Tiger Ausf. B'') is a German casemate-type heavy tank destroyer (''Jagdpanzer'') of World War II. It was built upon the slightly lengthened chassis of a Tiger II. Its or ...

'', or Soviet heavy tanks, such as IS-1 or IS-2. The T30 was designed at the same time as the

T29 Heavy Tank The Heavy Tank T29 was an American heavy tank project started in March 1944 to counter the appearance of the German Tiger II heavy tank. The T29 was not ready in time for the war in Europe, but it did provide post-war engineers with opportuniti ...

Early tanks

Plans for four pilot heavy tanks were put forward in 1944; two T29 with a 105 mm gun and two T30 with a 155 mm gun. The T30 pilot models were started in April 1945 and were delivered in 1947. Apart from modifications to fit the different engine, the chassis was the same as the T29. The gun fired separate loading (shell and charge) ammunition. The loader was assisted by a spring rammer. The T30 was fitted with one of the largest guns ever used on an American tank. The high, rounded edge, turret was needed to accommodate the standing loader and large gun mount. Even then the gun could only be loaded at limited elevations. It could carry a mixed assortment of 34 T35E1 HVAP (high-velocity armor piercing), M112B1 and T29E1 APCBC-HE (armor-piercing capped ballistic cap high-explosive) M107 HE (high explosive), or M110 WP (Smoke) rounds.

Variants

One pilot model, designated T30E1, had a semi-automatic system added to assist the loader in ramming the ammunition into the breech. This brought the gun breech into position, rammed the round from the loading tray into the breech and then returned the gun to the initial angle. An additional hatch at the back of the turret was added for the automatic ejection of the empty shell casings. The weight of the shell was and the charge , a total of for the whole round, which made it difficult to handle and gave it a rate of fire of only two rounds per minute when manually loaded.

Survivors

There are surviving examples in Fort Benning, Georgia. One surviving T30 is at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren, MI. Another is at

Fort Jackson, South Carolina Fort Jackson is a United States Army installation, which TRADOC operates on for Basic Combat Training (BCT), and is located within the city of Columbia, South Carolina. This installation is named for Andrew Jackson, a United States Army gene ...

References

Sources

* {{WWIIAmericanAFVs Heavy tanks of the United States World War II tanks of the United States Abandoned military projects of the United States History of the tank Trial and research tanks of the United States