Our hero today is the LVT-4 (Landing Vehicle Tracked) floating transporter, better known in army circles as the Water Buffalo. The car is very interesting, but quite rare in the USSR. Accordingly, in our museums too. Simply because of the rather small volumes of supplies. The reason for this situation is somewhat lower.
Those who have a chance to see the expositions of foreign museums, best of all American ones, will be surprised by another name of this machine - "Amtrak". The name, according to the American tradition, as we have repeatedly pointed out, comes from the combination of two words. Amphibious (floating) tractor. Am plus Track (eng. Tractor).
Attentive readers have already noticed that the presented car was produced in series. If there is a 4th option, then there were at least the previous 3. This is indeed the case. And a story about the 4th LVT is impossible without a story, albeit a superficial one, about the first cars of this series.
In general, amphibious vehicles are vital for the US Army. The very structure of the Armed Forces is created in such a way that the Navy has a fairly large weight in it. The Marines are a priority for the Americans. And the Marine Corps is generally independent, like our Airborne Forces and has a lot of things in its composition.
It was by order of the US Navy in the mid-30s that engineer D. Roebling created the first military amphibious transporters. This same model was developed in 1938-41. And in 1941 it was put into mass production. So - LVT-1.
The first model of "Roebling amphibious tank", namely such a banner, judging by the photo, was located on board the first production vehicle - "ROEBLING AMPHIBIAN TANK", produced in the summer of 1941. And immediately "with a bang" was accepted by the military.
The original contract for the production of LVT-1 provided for the production of only 200 vehicles. But, just a few days after the start of the series, the contract was increased to 1225 vehicles. And the "tank" itself received the bloodthirsty nickname "Alligator".
540 transporters received the Marine Corps, 485 were transferred to the US Army. The rest of the vehicles were sent to the Allied army for viewing.
Have you noticed the "jumps" of the authors in the title - "tank-transporter"? It would seem that it is easier to stick to the name that the author gave to his brainchild. We are trying to give an objective picture of the car. And there from the "tank" only the letter "T", and even then in the wrong decoding of the abbreviation.
The English name officially sounds like this - Landing Vehicle Tracked. And there was the "Alligator" unarmored floating tracked transporter.
The car had a trough-shaped body, the width of which was almost half the length. The building was divided into three sections. Can you imagine this classic "trough"? You can argue about the car endlessly. but try to argue on the carrying capacity. Especially afloat.
The department of management had the form of a wheelhouse, shifted forward as much as possible, towering above the water and equipped with a roof. It housed the vehicle commander, driver and assistant driver. There were three observation windows in the frontal deckhouse.
There was one more window (hatch) in the vertical sides, which generally gave the crew a good overview. On the machines of the first series, the frontal windows were spaced apart, later they were made closer to each other.
Directly behind the control compartment there was an open-top airborne compartment (it is also a cargo compartment), which could accommodate 20 soldiers in full gear or about 2 tons of cargo.
In the aft part there was a closed engine-transmission compartment, where a 6-cylinder carburetor engine "Hercules" WXLC-3 with a capacity of 146 hp was installed. On the sides of the engine were fuel tanks with a total capacity of 303 liters, which provided a cruising range of up to 121 km on land or up to 80, 5 km on water.
Hollow welded pontoons were attached to the sides of the hull, which increased the buoyancy and stability of the vehicle. Each pontoon was internally divided into five sections, and when one of them was broken through, the car retained its buoyancy and stability. Pontoons served as a frame for the installation of parts and assemblies of the chassis.
The drive wheel was mounted on the hull near the stern, and the steering wheel was mounted in the front upper corner of the pontoon. The idler wheel attachment had a hydraulic track tension adjustment mechanism.
Track track width - 260 mm. High stamped lugs were obliquely attached to the tracks, which served afloat as paddle-paddles. The turn, both afloat and on land, was carried out by braking the caterpillar of one side.
The welded hull was assembled from sheets of soft (non-armored) steel of various thicknesses, since the LVT-1 was considered not as a combat ("assault") amphibious assault vehicle, but only as a transporter allowing soldiers or cargo to be quickly delivered from the ship directly to the shore.
To suppress possible enemy fire and self-defense against a close attack, it was decided to arm the vehicle with one 12.7 mm M2NV machine gun and one 7.62 mm M1919, or two M1919 machine guns. By the way, when installing the machine guns, a rail already known to our readers was used. Why reinvent the wheel?
In some vehicles, you can see other weapons. Sometimes this is the "technical creativity" of local gunsmiths, but more often it is a factory fulfillment of the requests of specific units or even specific units.
We paid such great attention to the "Alligator" because, despite the relatively small production of these machines, it was they who revealed some of the shortcomings and problems of the decisions of the engineer Roebling.
First of all, the disadvantage, traditional for that time, was the engine. In those modes in which the Alligator had to work, the engine quite often simply collapsed. Strength left much to be desired, as they say.
But the biggest problem was the caterpillars. Refusal from a water propulsion system in favor of caterpillars, along with positive aspects, has a number of significant disadvantages.
First of all, the heterogeneity of the environment of use and its aggressiveness in almost all aspects. Sea water corrodes metal just like acid. This is especially true for hinges.
Then - an exit to the sand. You don't even need to comment here. Here blades were added to the hinges. In short, the variant of swimming with the use of caterpillars is quite difficult to implement.
Even ordinary soil for "floating" caterpillars is deadly. And for repairmen - a constant headache with replacement for new ones.
The shortcomings that we noticed were also noticed by the designers. Therefore, by December, the new car was basically ready. The Japanese, with their attack on Pearl Harbor, hastened the adoption of the Water Buffalo - LVT-2. American soldiers called the car a buffalo.
The transporter was significantly different from the Alligator. In fact, the LVT-2 is a completely different machine.
The hull had more "sea" contours. This not only improved the seaworthiness of the transporter, but, as strange as it may sound, greatly facilitated the very exit of the car ashore.
The control compartment was shifted back, the car received an elongated "nose" with a large inclination of the sheets. The body was welded from steel sheets, inside a lattice frame was welded to the bottom, the main units were mounted on it. The bow was reinforced with a tubular beam with brackets for cables.
The car turned out to be longer and wider than the previous one, the wheelhouse of the control compartment was lower, had two large inspection hatches in the frontal sheet with plexiglass windows hinged forward (so that the hatches in a critical situation could be used as manholes) and small inspection hatches in the cheekbones.
But most importantly, the vehicle received a chassis and a tank engine!
The LVT-2 was equipped with the engine and transmission of the MZA1 "Stuart" light tank. In the engine compartment, fenced off from the airborne partition, a radial radial carburetor four-stroke engine "Continental" W-670-9 air-cooled power was mounted. 250 h.p. at 2400 rpm.
The undercarriage received an individual suspension with rubber elastic elements, called Torsilastic. All 11 road wheels were suspended from the side pontoons of the hull on swinging levers, while the 1st and 11th rollers were raised above the ground, taking the load when leaving the water to the shore and overcoming vertical obstacles, as well as providing the tension of the track chains.
The specific pressure of only 0.6 kg / cm2 allowed the car to go to the sandy shore, move through loose sand, mud, swamp - LVT often passed where other transport vehicles got stuck. The length of the supporting surface was 3, 21 m, track width - 2, 88 m. Their ratio of about 1, 1 allowed the machine to turn around on land with a radius equal to its length, launching the tracks in opposite directions.
The specific engine power in comparison with the LVT-1 increased from 14.7 to 18 hp / t, the carrying capacity increased to 2.7 - 2.9 tons, a possible landing - up to 24 fully equipped soldiers.
Since embarkation and disembarkation could only be carried out through the side, four ledges-steps were made in the side sheets of the pontoons. From above, the undercarriage was covered with wing flaps.
Along the perimeter, the hull had brackets for fixing the vehicle on the deck of a transport ship, they were also used when securing cargo in the troop compartment.
The vehicle was armed with one 12.7 mm M2NV machine gun and two or three 7.62 mm M1919A4, which were mounted on mobile M35 units with a swivel, moving along a rail along the perimeter of the troop compartment.
A total of 2,962 such beauties were produced. 1,355 vehicles were taken by the Marine Corps, 1,507 by the US Army, and the Allies received only 100 units. Knowing the finickyness of the American military, the quality of these machines becomes clear.
By the way, these are the vehicles we see in some photos with the 37-mm cannon taken from the Airacobra (R-39 fighter). Launchers for NURSs were installed on the same machines. Mine trawls and other engineering equipment were installed on the same vehicles.
There is a nuance here. The design of the machine had one small but unpleasant drawback. The propeller shaft ran in the middle of the troop compartment and prevented the placement of serious weapons there.
Marines and those who, by the nature of their service, were associated with frequent crossings, from among the readers, are already rubbing their hands with pleasure in anticipation of malicious comments. In vain the authors praise this car so much. Buffalo, he is a buffalo. there is power - no mind is needed.
When landing from ships, or when crossing water obstacles, the transporter must have a quality that the "Water Buffalo" does not have. Namely, loading and unloading not only through the board, but also through special doors or ramps in the car. Moreover, for convenience in battle, the ramps should be in the stern!
Opened and forward. Fast loading and unloading of personnel, cargo, weapons. After all, the Marines have to operate under heavy enemy fire, where every second of delay means death. The Americans know this as well as we do.
In short, the main drawback of both the "Alligator" and "Water Buffalo" was inherent in the design decision itself. This is … the engine compartment. More precisely, its location. The aft location of the engine compartment deprives the car of the ramp.
Body designers actively pressed on the "minders". It is necessary to move the engine forward. In this case, the body will have its own hinged lip. This means the ability to load the machine directly from the ground.
It is this machine that we see today in the Museum of Military Equipment of the UMMC in Verkhnyaya Pyshma. And it passes under the LVT-4 index.
LVT-4 was created on the basis of LVT-2, but with the location of the engine compartment directly behind the control compartment. The roof of the new engine compartment has been fitted with blinds. The troop compartment moved back, and instead of its rear wall, a folding ramp was installed, controlled by a manual winch.
The ramp with a winch added more than a ton of weight to the car. But the amphibian could carry in its more spacious (due to the elimination of the propeller shaft) troop compartment 1135 kg more cargo, and the possible length of the latter increased by 0.6 m.
The new model retains the elements of the body structure, engine, transmission units, suspension, LVT-2 tracks.
With a carrying capacity of up to 4 tons, the transporter could carry up to 30 fully equipped soldiers, as well as light vehicles (say Jeep "Willis") or field guns.
In the troop compartment, for example, it was possible to place a 105-mm M2A1 howitzer with the wheels removed, and with some adaptations, the assembled howitzer could be attached to the hull from above.
To facilitate the loading of vehicles and implements, there were ribbed tracks on the inside of the ramp. The deckhouse of the control compartment was equipped with two viewing windows in the frontal sheet and inspection hatches in the cheekbones. Compared to the LVT-2, they have become taller than the side of the vehicle.
This transporter began to enter the troops in 1944. A total of 8,351 LVT-4s were manufactured, which was slightly less than half of all LVTs produced. More than 6,000 of them were received by the US army, a little more than 1,700 - by the Marine Corps, another 5,000 were transferred to the Allies under Lend-Lease.
Several dozen of these transporters got into our army. But none of them were used for their intended purpose. The vehicles were attached to reconnaissance units and acted as tractors. Which, in principle, is understandable.
A vehicle designed for the Marine Corps and perfectly adapted specifically to the amphibious assault, in the field it loses many of its advantages. Like a duck among chickens. It seems to be walking, not even lagging behind others. But looking from the outside, it becomes clear - the duck must swim!
TTX LVT-4
Combat weight: 18, 144 kg;
Length: 7975.6 mm;
Width: 3251.2 mm;
Height (with anti-aircraft machine gun): 3111, 5 mm;
Internal fuel tanks: 530 L (140 gallons);
Cruising range: 241 km;
Maximum speed on water: 11 km / h (7 mph);
Maximum speed of movement on land: 24 km / h;
Turning radius: 9, 144 m (30 ft).
Engine: Continental W670-9A, aviation carbureted, air-cooled;
Engine displacement: 10.95 L (668 cubic inches);
Engine power: 250 HP at 2400 rpm
Armament: 12.7 mm M2HB machine gun and 7.62 mm machine gun.
Troopers on board: up to 30 people. or up to 4 tons of cargo.
