In September 1943, a program for the development of a number of heavy combat vehicles was launched in the United States. Research carried out by the Department of Armaments has shown that such vehicles may be needed in Europe to overcome in advance fortified defensive lines such as the German "Western Wall". It was planned to use a new 105 mm T5E1 cannon. The tank was planned to use 200 mm armor and an electric transmission developed for the T1E1 heavy tank and the T23 medium. The T5E1 cannon had a high initial projectile velocity and could effectively hit concrete fortifications. The chief of the armament department calculated that within eight to twelve months it was possible to produce 25 of these tanks (usually this much time was required to produce one prototype), which would allow them to keep pace with the invasion of Europe. The Ground Forces did not agree with this and recommended that only three experimental tanks be made, and the electric transmission should be replaced with a mechanical one. After approvals in March 1945, the rear of the ground forces ordered five tanks, designated T28. At the same time, the booking was increased to 305 mm, and the combat weight was raised to 95 tons.
The project was supposed to create a squat, reckless tank. At the same time, the 105-mm T5E1 cannon was mounted in the frontal sheet with horizontal guidance angles of 10 °, and declination angles of + 20-5 °. The crew of four was supposed to include the driver and gunner sitting in front of the left and right of the gun, respectively, the loader - behind the left and the commander behind the gunner. The driver and commander had observation turrets at their disposal. A turret was mounted around the commander's cupola for a 12, 7-mm Browning machine gun. It could only be used by the commander, standing in the hatch, which made it possible to consider the machine gun as an auxiliary weapon, except for the personal weapons of the crew members. The gunner had at his disposal a telescopic sight connected to the cannon barrel and a periscope sight mounted on the roof of the fighting compartment.
On February 7, 1945, the chief of the armament department issued a memorandum proposing to change the name from the T28 to the "self-propelled" T95, taking into account just the absence of a turret and weak auxiliary weapons. By order of OCM 26898 of March 8, 1945, this proposal was approved. Given the stress of the industry, loaded with military orders, it proved difficult to find the capacity to even make five machines. The Pacific Car and Fundari Company agreed to implement the project, and in May 1945 it received the project drawings, a description of the cannon installation and horizontal spring suspension. The final development of the project began immediately. The first casting of the frontal part of the hull was received on June 20, and the welding of the hull was completed in August 1945.
After the end of the Pacific War, the number of prototypes was reduced in order to two. The first of them was shipped to the Aberdeen Proving Ground on December 21, 1945, and the second - on January 10, 1946. The first vehicle received registration number 40226809 and was used for testing at Aberdeen, and the second, N 40226810, was transferred to Fort Knox, and then to Engineering Institute in Yuma, Arizona, to test floating sapper bridges.
The T95 propulsion system was almost identical to that installed on the M26 Pershing, although the latter was twice as light. Considering the traction characteristics of the 500-horsepower Ford-GAF engine, the handling conditions and the transmission ratio, the speed was no higher than 12 km / h. In fact, it was recommended to move at a speed of no more than 10 km / h at 2600 engine rpm. The large weight of the machine made it necessary to pay special attention to reducing the specific pressure on the ground. The solution to this problem was achieved by installing two pairs of tracks - one pair on board. External tracks, together with a side 100-mm screen, could be dismantled for the movement of the tank on solid ground. The removed tracks were towed behind the self-propelled gun. Removing the outer tracks reduced the width of the vehicle from 4.56 m to 3.15 m. In Aberdeen, during tests, four crew members removed the outer tracks on the first attempt in 4 hours, the same amount was required for their installation. On the third attempt, both of these operations took 2.5 hours.
The heavily armored, powerful armament T95 self-propelled gun did not fit into the concept of armored weapons of the US Ground Forces. So, tanks were supposed to have a turret, and self-propelled guns were usually easily armored to achieve maximum mobility. The T95 did not fit in either there or there. As a result, in June 1946 the name was changed again - the vehicle became the T28 heavy tank. They considered powerful weapons and heavy armor to be more suitable for a tank. Nevertheless, the T28 (T95) continued its tests at the Aberdeen test site until the end of 1947 - the survivability of parts and assemblies during the operation of such a heavy machine was determined. In total, 865 km were "screwed onto the caterpillar", including 205 km on roads and 660 km on virgin soil. Needless to say, this took quite a long time due to the low speed of movement and little interest in the tank testing program. The work was stopped due to the decision of the Department of Military Policy to stop all work in the class of 100-ton vehicles. One T28 (T95) is now on display in the collection of the Patton Museum in Fort Knox, Kentucky.
