Mendeleev tank
| Mendeleev tank | |
|---|---|
Artist sketch of the Mendeleev tank | |
| Type | Tank |
| Place of origin | Russian Empire |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Vasiliy Dmitriyevich Mendeleev |
| Designed | 1911-1916 |
| Manufacturer | never built |
| Unit cost | $ 1,750,000 |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | Approximately 173.2 tons |
| Length | 13 m (42 ft 8 in) (with gun) 10 m (32 ft 10 in) (hull) |
| Height | 4.45 m (14 ft 7 in) (machine gun turret up) 3.5 m (11 ft 6 in) (machine gun turret lowered) |
| Crew | 11-12 |
| Armor | Front: 150 mm (5.9 in) Sides and rear: 100 mm (3.9 in) |
Main armament | 120 mm Canet gun (51 shells) |
Secondary armament | 1 × 7.62 mm (0.3 in) PM M1910 machine gun |
| Engine | Petrol gasoline engine taken from a submarine 250 hp (190 kW) |
| Power/weight | 1.44 hp/t |
| Suspension | Pneumatic piston suspension |
| Maximum speed | Maximum 24 km/h (15 mph) |
The Mendeleev tank was a proposed early tank design by Russian naval engineer Vasiliy Mendeleev, son of Russian scientist Dimitri Mendeleev, who created the modern periodic table. The vehicle was envisioned by Mendeleev during his time working at the Kronshtadt Marine Engineering School in Saint Petersburg, Russia, from 1911 to 1915. Its purported purpose was to be a "landship" immune to all enemy fire and able to cross large battlefields while providing heavy artillery support to troops using a 120 mm gun. The proposed tank was one of the heaviest tank designs of all time; at 173.2 tons it would have been nearly the same weight as the World War II German Panzer VIII Maus superheavy tank.