Profile of Lümmel

Panzerkampfwagen 6 Ausführung B "Tiger 2" "Königstiger" axis

Production; 1944-1945
Number Built: 489 (I actually thought there would have been less)
Crew: 5
Weight: 69,8 t
Engine Output: 700 hp
Speed on Roads: 38 km/h
Armament: 88 mm KwK 43 L/71 gun
2x7.92 mm machine guns

The Königstiger was the last main battle tank built by the Wehrmacht.



The Tiger 2 was intended to combine the advantages of the Panther and the Tiger: The Panthers sloped armour and the Tiger's 8.8 cm gun. The Königstiger excelled in both aspects: Its armour was thicker, and the barrel was longer. The Königstiger could almost not be defeated when it was engaged from head on. Its gun had an extremely long range and its armour was tremendously strong.

The engine, transmission, and chassis of this huge tank, however, were prone to failure. The Tiger 2 was totally underpowered, its production and maintenance were complicated. It took 14 day to build one Tiger 2; the consumption of raw materials was enormous. Fuel became extremely scarce during the final phase of World War 2, and the Königstiger was particularly petrol-thirsty.





The combination of its advantages and disadvantages made the Tiger 2 a slow rolling fortress with great firepower, yet no longer suited for mobile combat.

Until today, the Tiger 2, also known under its informal name Königstiger (King Tiger/Royal Tiger), has remained the stuff of legends. Despite its minimal influence on WW2, it is still often glorified as a "super weapon" because of its size, armour and armament. But the Königstiger was far from being invincible. The allied heavy tanks were indeed a match for it and some Königstigers were destroyed even by significantly lighter tanks such as the T-34/85.

Huh. Here I was thinking, if you wanted 2v2 partners, you would have to join a clan...

... like maybe StC... I dunno, pure speculation here.

This is not mainly about me, I'm fine with my 2v2 partner(s).
But when I didn't have a clan, I didn't know where to search for a partner besides clans.

A Typhoon Class submarine laying in a Russian port somewhere.
Built in the '80's , these guys were the biggest subs ever build. With 2 nulcear reactors and enough missles to blow up half of the US, Typhoons were the most feared vessels at the end of the cold war.
It became famous trough The Hunt For Red Octobre with Sean Connery as a deffecting Typhoon Captain.
Unfortunately, these ships became too expensive to maintain (must be because of the sauna and swimming pool on board -no joke),all were scrapped.




Photo added for a size comparison.
At 26000 tonnes surfaced water displacement, these ships were big.. very big !
It's main rival, the Los Angeles class subs of the US navy discplaced a puny 6000 tonnes.

(Of course, LA class subs were fast attack subs and the Typhoons were Intercontinental Ballistic Missle subs, aka Destroyers of Worlds...)



Just a Typhoon casully cruising past the beach... After all, this is Soviet Russia!


Russia wouldn't be Russia if they didn't replace the Typhoon with an equally awesome beast. The Borei Class of SSBN'S is even longer than the Typhoon, carries more missles and has modern technology. The first sub of this new class is already launched and is currently undergoing sea trials. With 2 more in the works, the Americans have something new to fear.

I'd LOVE to see the insides of the Typhoon class! Especially the pool and the sauna, as you mentioned! Won't happen most likely tho

American B-24 Bomber being shot while dropping its load.



US paratroopers.

8,8 cm PaK 43/41 axis

The 8.8 cm PaK was an antitank gun that pushed new frontiers in terms of both technology and tactics.



Rheinmetall-Borsig had been awarded a contract to build an 8.8 cm antiaircraft gun. Krupp had had applied for the same contract with an own version but was declined. When it became clear that there was a demand for ever heavier antitank guns, Krupp converted its antiaircraft gun into an antitank gun (Panzerabwehrkanone - PaK). The design was accepted and production started in 1943.



The 8.8 cm PaK was very accurate and extremely powerful. But the gun's advantages were brought at the price of an enormous weight and a very big silhouette. The gun could hardly be concealed and if there was no artillery tractor available, moving it was almost impossible. The common method of fighting with antitank guns was to fire the gun from a concealed position and to then change to another position.



This could no longer be done with the 8.8 cm PaK. This was a weapon designed for slow dogged trench warfare as it became more and more typical for the Wehrmacht from 1943. The gun in the pictures is missing its gun shield. This measured almost 2 m in height.
Because of its size, the gun was popularly refered to as the "barn door" (German: Scheunentor).