Supertest: ST-II, Tier X Heavy Tank

The pinnacle of the double-barrel Soviet mini-branch: ST-II. Based on a real proposal, the ST-II will be the only vehicle based on historical documents, a project lead by engineers Chasovnikov and Ganin. The ST-II tank was designed to be a powerful armoured vehicle with a rapid-fire large-calibre gun. The design continued the development of the ST-I heavy tank, and the main differences concerned improving accuracy and increasing the rate of fire.

To achieve this, the project aimed to mount two large calibre (122mm) or medium calibre (100mm) guns and two machine guns into a single turret. The guns were serviced by two loaders, which ensured a high rate of fire as both guns could be loaded at the same time. The tank could hit a target swiftly and accurately with the second gun after the adjustment fire of the first gun.  Another advantage was in case of potential malfunctions of one gun, the firing was continued with the second gun, leaving the tank fully operational. The combat characteristics of the tank were expected to surpass two similar type tanks.

In TsAMO RF’s Case 395, where the project is stored, there are a few comments, probably made by the military:

This implies the author is not another “breakthrough genius”, but a qualified expert in their field, which is true. Ganin V.A. worked on the “Bolshevik” factory and also was a senior engineer of the Central artillery construction bureau of the factory ?92. He was more known as a rocketeer – in particular, he’s credited the idea of an underwater rocket launch. Ganin was the author of 62 projects in fields such as aviation, artillery, rocket engineering etc., and had 24 copyright certificates. But in the case with ST-I and ST-II projects, the story of OSA-76 and Savin’s turret repeated itself. The project was good, but without a constructor bureau of his own and the backing of the right people, and with the dislike of tankmen towards artillerymen it was “ridiculed” and forgotten.

Please remember, these vehicles are not Rewards or Premium, they will be regular heavy tanks.

The ST-II is armed with two 122mm guns, each with an alpha of 440 points. With its perfect stabilization, the double-barreled gun boasts a dispersion of 0.4 m and aiming time of 2.9 s. Speaking of its armour penetration, it’s 258 mm for a standard AP shell and 340 mm for a special HEAT round.

Just like other vehicles, the ST-II’s guns have their own peculiarities: it takes 11.7 s for one barrel to reload; to switch between them in cyclical mode you’ll need 3 seconds, while the time needed to prepare for a double shot is 2.5 seconds and after each double shot both barrels will be locked for 5 seconds. As you might notice, the higher the tier, the better the double-barreled system performs: a double shot is prepared faster, guns stay deactivated for less time, while shooting in cyclical mode is more convenient as it takes you less time to switch between guns.

As for its survivability, the rules are the same: the turret is armoured better (up to 250 mm in the front) as compared to the hull (150 mm in the front and 140 mm in the sides). Yet this heavy has an ace up its sleeve, its 2,500 hit points. The view range is 390, while the dynamics are similar to same-tier Soviet heavies, with a max speed reaching 40 km/h and a power-to-weight ratio of 12.2 hp/t. But beware of the turret traverse speed—it’s only 16 degrees.

Characteristics

SurvivabilityFirepowerManeuverabilityMobilityConcealmentSpottingCrew

Tier	X
Hit Points	2,500 (HP)
Hull Armour	150/ 140 / 100 (mm)
Turret Armour	250 / 160 / 160 (mm)

Penetration	258 / 340 / 68 (mm)
Damage	440 / 440 / 530 (HP)
Rate of Fire	5.34 (rpm)
Reload Time	11.25 / 11.25 (s)
Preperation Time	2.50 (s)
Reloading Lock Time	5.00 (s)
Gun Changing Time	3.00 (s)
Turret Traverse Speed	16.69 (deg/s)
Depression / Elevation	-8 / +20 (deg)
Accuracy	0.38 (a)
Aim Time	2.88 (s)
Damage per Minute	2,347 (HP/m)

Aiming Circle Spread
after Shot	— (a)
on Turret Traverse	— (a)
on Vehicle Move	— (a)
on Vehicle Traverse	— (a)
on Turret Full Speed Traversing	— (a)
on Vehicle Full Speed Moving	— (a)
on Vehicle Full Speed Traversing	— (a)

Weight / Load Limit	69.30 / 71.50 (t)
Engine Power	800 (h.p.)
Specific Power	11.54 (h.p./t)
Top Speed / Reverse Speed	40 / 13 (km/h)
Chassis Traverse Speed	27.12 (deg/s)
Terrain Resistance	— / — / —  (m/s2)

Concealment of Stationary Vehicle (%)	6.67 / 1.20 (%)
Concealment of Moving Vehicle (%)	3.36 / 0.61 (%)

View Range	380 (m)
Signal Range	625 (m)

About Author

Harkonnen

Tank Nut and Gamer Wannabe! Huge fan of tanks and World War II history. Playing video games since I was six years old, from Streets of Rage on my Sega Mega Drive to World of Tanks, I’ve never stopped since and will always love games.

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