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 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 ...

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: Михаи́л Ильи́ч Ко́шкин; 3 December 1898, Brynchagi, Yaroslavl Oblast – 26 September 1940) was a Soviet tank designer, chief designer of the famous T-34 medium tank. The T-34 was the most pr ...

, 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 weapons. The C ...

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 Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secreta ...

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 opposi ...

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 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 ...

. 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 Semyon Alexandrovich Ginzburg () (1900–1943) was a Soviet tank designer. He enrolled in business school in 1918, but then volunteered for the Red Army in 1919 and served in the light artillery squadron of the 3rd Rifle Division. After the divisi ...

. 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 est ...

(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 memb ...

, 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 The Vickers 6-ton tank or Vickers Mark E, also known as the "Six-tonner" was a British light tank designed as a private project at Vickers. It was not adopted by the British Army, but was picked up by many foreign armed forces. It was licens ...

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 wor ...

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

. It, and Moscow Factory no. 37'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 The T-28 was a Soviet multi-turreted medium tank. The prototype was completed in 1931, and production began in late 1932. It was an infantry support tank intended to break through fortified defences. The T-28 was designed to complement the hea ...

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 t ...

. 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 arm ...

. Further T-29-4 and T-29-1 prototypes were built in 1935, but in testing at the NIIBT in

Kubinka Kubinka (russian: Ку́бинка) is a town in Odintsovsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Setun River, west of Moscow. Population: __TOC__ History Kubinka, founded in the 15th century, may have been named after Prince , a ...

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, 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 p ...

. 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 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