WW2 Tanks.... A question....

[Peebothuhlu]

The limited, hull conversion, of Tiger I's into the rocket armed assault "Sturm Tigers" carried about... six rounds? Maybe eight?

Those are the numbers comming to memory.

[Angrboda]

I had a friend who was training for tank duty and he told me the average lifespan of a tank in battle was 20 seconds, IIRC. I had to wonder why anybody would sign up for such duty.

[The Grand Nudger]

All that sweet..sweet BDE.

(I liked having them around to keep my feet warm at night, dat exhaust!)

[Brian37]

I am trying to absorb all the different data right now on this topic, but I am getting TANKED, HA I MADE A FUNNY!

[Anomalocaris]

I had a friend who was training for tank duty and he told me the average lifespan of a tank in battle was 20 seconds, IIRC.  I had to wonder why anybody would sign up for such duty.

That exaggerates.  But it is true that the life span of tanks in battle is often longer than the life span of the crew.   Penetration of tank’s armor is less likely to be fatal to the tank than the men inside.   It was not uncommon to find tanks that had gone through two or three crews.  Each time the tanks was repaired and the crew allowed to depart via the small water drain on the bottom of the hull, along with detergent and disinfectant used to mobilize the crew.

One of the reasons why winning armored battles is often so decisive is the winner, advancing after victory, can recover all the wrecked tanks he lost, wash out the remains of crew, and put most of the tanks back in service within 24 hours. The loser loses his tanks for good because all his wrecks are now behind enemy lines. So success in armored battle quickly builds on itself from a material point of view.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Heres a way to conceptualize it, Brian.  Think of a pringles can.  Now fill up your car with pringles cans.
(it's not -quite- right, but it's the first thing that jumped out at me)

One of my profs. rode Stuart tanks from Cairo to the Alps in WWII. He was fighting Tiger tanks in those bitty tin cans. I explained it to a class like this:

"Imagine a baseball bat. Prof. Rothenburg was firing shells about the size of the handle. The Tigers were firing shells the size of the business end."

[Angrboda]

I had a friend who was training for tank duty and he told me the average lifespan of a tank in battle was 20 seconds, IIRC.  I had to wonder why anybody would sign up for such duty.

That exaggerates.  But it is true that the life span of tanks in battle is often longer than the life span of the crew.   Penetration of tank’s armor is less likely to be fatal to the tank than the men inside.   It was not uncommon to find tanks that had gone through two or three crews.  Each time the tanks was repaired and the crew allowed to depart via the small water drain on the bottom of the hull, along with detergent and disinfectant used to mobilize the crew.

I'm not sure I'd care that the tank itself was likely to survive me in battle. YMMV.

[The Grand Nudger]

The other side of the equation being that your lifespan as an infantryman in front of a dialed in tank is counted in the fractions of a second it takes the shell to reach you from where they are.  

With the 75mm from before, firing he at 250 feet...that's about 1/8 of a second...unless my napkin math is as bad as their aim.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The link I posted earlier is to the Tank Data Books. Measurement taken directly from the tanks at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds.

[Peebothuhlu]

At work.

Tanks weren't quite built 'For' their crews. They were more designed 'For' , mainly, future conflicts. Generally with information from the past.