Right ascension: 0 1:33.2 (hour: meter)
Declination: +60: 42 (degrees: meters)
Distance to Earth: 8.5 (km)
Apparent magnitude: 7.4 (mag)
Apparent diameter: 6.0 (arc minutes) Blue bright star is the most prominent group in the open cluster M 103. The stars in an open cluster are slowly condensed by a cloud of gas, and these stars will slowly disperse. Among the formed stars, the brightest, bluest and heaviest star has exhausted its nuclear fuel and destroyed itself in the supernova explosion.
According to theoretical calculation, the life of the brightest main sequence star in M 103 is about 20 million years, that is, the brightest main sequence star in M 103 can be seen 20 million years ago. In fact, near the center of the cluster, you can see a blue main sequence star, but now it has left the main sequence belt and evolved into a red giant. Generally speaking, compared with the massive blue stars, yellow stars like the sun are darker and less obvious in open clusters. 1945 On May 9, the Soviet Red Army held a grand military parade in Berlin Square to celebrate the victory of the anti-fascist war. This military parade
The "star" weapon in the world is the IS-3 (Stalin -3) heavy tank recently equipped by the Soviet Union. The mighty IS-3 heavy tank fleet rumbled past Berlin Square, like a tiger descending the mountain. Its low profile, heavy armor, long barrel and turtle-shell turret left a deep impression on visitors. Red camp friends are proud, while western military strategists are afraid. This is the famous "IS-3 shock". In order to counter the "IS-3 shock", the United States developed the M 103 heavy tank, and Britain developed the "Conqueror" heavy tank. In fact, at the end of World War II, the US Army had developed several experimental heavy tanks, including T29, T30, T32, T34 and other heavy tanks. Among them, the closest to maturity is the T34 heavy tank. It was successfully developed on the basis of T30 heavy tank. Using 60 times caliber 120mm rifled gun, the total combat weight reached 70 tons. However, because T34 heavy tank is too heavy, it only stays in the prototype development stage.
1946 65438+1October19 The US Army Ordnance Bureau decided to develop light, medium and heavy tanks after the war. The direct reason for the decision to develop heavy tanks is the impact of "IS-3 shock". 1May, 94614th, Chrysler Corporation of the United States put forward a new design scheme for heavy tanks in the name of "K tank". Several prototype heavy tanks mentioned above were all designed by Chrysler, so the company had a good idea to develop new heavy tanks. 1948 65438+In February, the US Army signed a development contract with Chrysler to develop a heavy tank code T43. 195 1 June, the company completed the trial production of the prototype and began to carry out various tests at Aberdeen proving ground. 1953 was formally defined as M 103 heavy tank. 1956 was formally incorporated into the US military equipment sequence and began to equip the US troops stationed in West Germany. It is found that there are many problems in the use of M 103 tank, which is considered "not suitable for use in the front line". As a result, the M 103 tank has been transformed 150 times. The end user of the M 103 heavy tank was the United States Marine Corps, and it was used until it was retired in 1973.
The number of M 103 heavy tanks is unknown, of which 300 took part in the Korean War.
Dying hero
M 103 heavy tank is used as the fire support tank of M47/M48 medium tank. Imagine that in the European battlefield, if you encounter a heavy tank like the Soviet IS-3, you can take the M 103 heavy tank to compete with it. However, on the one hand, M 103 heavy tanks are prone to failure and have poor reliability; Secondly, the M 103 heavy tank is a bit untimely. In the late 1950s, the US military was already developing a new M60 main battle tank. In the early 1960s, the performance of M60 main battle tank was completely close to or higher than that of M 103 heavy tank. This makes the M 103 heavy tank feel like a "hero dying".
In this way, the M 103 heavy tank was retired from the first-line battlefield in Europe and transferred to the US Marine Corps. Not long after, the US Marine Corps converted it into an M5 1 tank rescue vehicle, which was mainly used for rescue operations on soft ground such as beaches. M5 1 Tank Rescue Vehicle has a total combat weight of 55 tons, a maximum lifting capacity of 30 tons and a maximum traction of 45 tons. Structurally, the number of pulleys above the track is reduced from 6 to 4.
"people leave their names, geese leave their voices." The retired M 103 heavy tank was exhibited not only at Aberdeen proving ground, but also in the garden of an American city. M 103 The "Big Mac" posture of heavy tanks always makes visitors stop. At the beginning of designing the M 103 heavy tank, the US military put fire performance first, followed by armor protection and maneuverability. The main battle weapon of M 103 is 1 M58 120mm line-bore gun, the length of the gun barrel is 60 times of the caliber, the vertical breech is adopted, and there are two-chamber muzzle brakes and smoke devices in the gun bore, and the high and low range is -8 ~+ 15 degrees, which is controlled by hydraulic mechanism. The types of ammunition are as follows. When launching an armor-piercing projectile, the steel armor with a thickness of 22 1 mm can be penetrated at a hit angle of 30 degrees and a shooting distance of 9 14 meters. The armor-piercing thickness when launching armor-piercing projectile is 330mm; the maximum range when launching Grenade is 23 150m. Although it is sub-loaded, the actual firing rate has reached 5 rounds per minute because there are two loaders.
The fire control system includes: M 14 electromechanical simulation ballistic computer, M 15 stereo rangefinder, M29 gunner's main sight, M 102 telescopic sight, quadrant, bidirectional stabilizer and turret drive device, etc. The rangefinder is combined with the main sight, with the ranging range of 457-4572 meters and the magnification of 8.6 times. The magnification of the auxiliary sight is 8 times. According to the standards of 1950s, this fire control system is quite advanced.
The auxiliary weapons are two 7.62mm parallel machine guns and 1 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine guns. The 7.62mm machine gun has a firing rate of 400-500 rounds per minute, a maximum range of 3,200m, and a ammunition base of 5,250 rounds. 12.7mm machine gun has a firing rate of 450-550 rounds/min, a maximum range of 682 1m, and a ammunition base of 1000 rounds, which can be fired remotely by commanders in the control tower.
The power plant of M 103 heavy tank is AVDS- 1790-7C V 12 cylinder air-cooled gasoline engine of Terdyne Continental Company, which is the most successful.
The transmission ratio is 8 10 horsepower, equipped with CD 850-4A hydro-mechanical gearbox, two forward gears, 1 reverse gear, which can realize central steering. Veteran weapons fans may find that this power transmission device is almost the same as the M48 tank, and the total combat weight has increased by nearly 10 ton. This is the main reason why the mobility of M 103 tank is slightly poor. The action device adopts independent torsion bar spring suspension device, and 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 load wheels are equipped with hydraulic shock absorbers. Like M48 tank, the track is T 1 1mm metal rubber track. The maximum speed of the tank is 33.8km/h, and the maximum stroke is 168km. It can be considered that the mobility of M 103 tank is slightly poor, not because American and American tank designers can't design better power devices, but because the design guiding ideology is different.
In terms of maneuverability, the "bright spot" of M 103 tank is the steering wheel, which has good maneuverability and passengers are not easy to get tired. The maintenance of the power transmission device is also very convenient.
M 103 Heavy tank body is welded with cast steel armor. The front armor thickness of the car body is110-127mm, the side armor thickness is 76mm, and the rear armor thickness is 25mm. The turret is cast, but the bottom of the aft cabin is welded. The armor thickness of each part of the turret reaches 1 14 mm, the armor thickness of the gun shield reaches 178 mm, and the compartments are separated by armor plates. In terms of armor thickness alone, M 103 tank is superior to IS-3 heavy tank. M 103 Heavy Tank * * * has two improvements, namely A 1 and A2. A 1 improved the fire control system and turret drive device (from hydraulic to electric), changed the joystick to steering wheel, and improved the fixing method of artillery. The improvement of A2 model is mainly to change gasoline engine into diesel engine. The total combat weight of M 103A2 is increased to 58 tons, and AVDS- 1790-2A V 12 cylinder air-cooled diesel engine is used. The maximum power is adjusted to 750 HP, which is the same as the power plant used by the M60 main battle tank.
The matched gearbox is also changed to the improved CD 850-6A model. In this way, although the unit power is slightly reduced, the maximum speed is increased to 37 km/h, and the maximum stroke is increased to 480 km due to the increase of fuel tank capacity (from 10 14 liter to 168 1 liter) and diesel engine. But it is difficult to distinguish A 1 from A2 in appearance. If you insist on distinguishing, the infrared headlights above the A2 gun can be regarded as an identification feature.
Maximum health of tank class 9 1850HP weight/maximum load 54.39/57.5t price 3,640,000 silver coins/crew member 1 captain (signalman)
Two gunners
3 drivers
4 loader
5 loader engine horsepower 8 10/860 maximum speed 34 km/h turning speed 26 degrees /s turret moving speed 32 degrees /s body armor (mm) front 203
Edge 5 1
Tail 38 turret armor (mm) front 127
127 side
Tail 5 1 main gun 120mm58 Bomb load (pieces) 33 lethality (HP) 300-500 maximum penetration (millimeters) 336 firing rate (rounds per minute) 5.36 observation distance (meters) 390 communication distance (meters) 745