Monday 6 April 2015

Nahkampfkanone II

Source.

This self-propelled gun was one of the most interesting Swiss-made armored vehicles, despite the fact that it was never accepted in service. It was not totally original per se - it was more like an assembly of existing solutions invented by other parties and it was by no means bad, the program was cancelled for economic reasons, not design ones.



The requirements for the NK2 were laid down in March 1943 with the real design work starting on 28.1.1944 when the SPG parameters were finalized as such:

- 75mm gun or 105mm howitzer
- maximum depression: -14 degrees
- maximum elevation: +26 degrees for the gun or +38 degrees for the howitzer
- telescopic and periscope sights available

In the end, the NK2 ("close combat gun") project took a while to develop, as many as 4 variants of the vehicle were considered. In January of 1946, a single prototype was made - the only one of the four that would be actually built. It weighed 24 tons and was armed with a 75mm L/49 gun. Its frontal armor was 70mm thick and its maximum speed was 50 km/h. The vehicle had a frontal transmission that resembled the American design actually, but was of the Wilson type (clearly influenced by the Czechoslovak-made Panzerwagen 39). The hull was in turn heavily influenced by the French (partially cast, partially bolted with curves). The crew consisted of five men - commander, loader, driver and two gunners, a legacy of the main weapon being originally an AA gun. The vehicle was propelled by a 12-cylinder Saurer 16 liter CV1DL engine, producing 300 horsepower. The suspension was a mix of Czech (drive sprocket, support rollers), American (roadwheels) and German (Panzer IV-style idler) influence.

Even though the self-propelled gun concept was becoming somewhat obsolete, the vehicle turned out to be quite good, especially considering the fact that Switzerland was not exactly experienced in tank design at that point. The vehicle was assembled and tested in Thun, where it is currently located as well. Unfortunately, after two years, the project was cancelled for economic reasons. The Czechoslovaks offered Switzerland the 15-ton G-13 tank destroyer, which was already mass-produced. The NK2 mantlet by the way comes from a G-13 as well.


Despite not being mass-produced, the NK2 actually turned out to be fine. Despite some similiarities to the G-13, it was completely originally developed.
























18 comments:

  1. Grown-up hetzer :P In all seriousness I'd love to see this vehicle in EU branch in WoT :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Stronk swiss engineering, wait till you see the Panzer 61 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_80U-6lbkJA&list=LL86tK-QBTW4d7BCbpJ1L-kg&index=7
    That thing right there is as sexy as a tank can get

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To each his own. For me it always looked like a secret love child of a Patton and some ruskie tank.
      As for sexyness, nothing gets close to Centurion <3

      Delete
    2. yup the Centurions are sexy as well, it was so sexy, even the siwss got some, and they prefered the centurion over the M47 Patton

      Delete
    3. You can't really blame them. The M47 Patton was really a rather lackluster stopgap improvement to the M46 Patton until the US could design an entirely new tank (the M48 Patton). It follows that it would be kinda ugly. The centurion though, that is an awesome tank!

      Delete
    4. You can't really blame them. The M47 Patton was really a rather lackluster stopgap improvement to the M46 Patton until the US could design an entirely new tank (the M48 Patton). It follows that it would be kinda ugly. The centurion though, that is an awesome tank!

      Delete
  3. would be a nice tier 6 premium td for the eu branch.....looks like an hetzer on steroids....insteresting article ...thanks

    ReplyDelete
  4. Is it just me or in first photo ( where we see tank from front and from right side ), the white paint which covers viewing port and goes down looks like Stigg, from top gear.
    Sorry for bad english, I hope you understood what i wanted to say.

    ReplyDelete
  5. - the program was cancelled for economic reasons, not design ones.
    // Good you mentioned that. It looks like WG made it up Oo

    ReplyDelete
  6. "The vehicle had a frontal transmission that resembled the American design actually, but was of the Wilson type (clearly influenced by the Czechoslovak-made Panzerwagen 39)."
    What is "Wilson type"?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. imho this? :)
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preselector_gearbox#Wilson_gearbox

      Delete
  7. Damn delicious weakspot... -looking at the copula-

    ReplyDelete
  8. Damn delicious weakspot... -looking at the copula-

    ReplyDelete