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Greatest white elephants of military history
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In its defense the Char 2C was devloped for a specific kind of foght and would have prevailed in that fight being imune to anything the Germans had short of heavy artillery. Its armor should have been heavy enough at least from the front to stop 75mm HE rounds. Its great weight is a product of its leangth and armor. The leangth of the tank meant it could crawl across no-mans land as good as or better than the British rhomboids. The slow pace meant it also could not outpace its infantry. If you need to go 1000 yrds over shellhole hell and break into an enemy trench works with WW1 era technology the Char 2C is about as good as it gets. Had the war gone into 1919 or 1920 the Char 2C would probalby have outperformed the similar sized (dimensions) but much lighter Mk VIII Liberty tanks. It was also a damn sight better than the Schnieder(sp?) tank.
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I know I'll probably get gutted for saying this, but the DDX Zumwalt. The cost overruns make it ridiculously overpriced, even if it does live up to everything that the designers and Navy promises it will do. It's so bad that it's only having a production run of two ships. I hope that so its technology will find its way onto future Arleigh Burkes, though.
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Han Wudi is credited with driving the Xiong Nu off their land. troung [sic] claims that Han Wudi's expeditions were a failure, but he didn't cite sources for his assertation, which is contrary to the received wisdom.
The Great Wall is questionable. It failed the against the Mongols, but the sections around Beijing successfully held off the Manchus, see Battle of Ningyuan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . The Manchus only got into China once the Ming Dynasty fell to peasant rebels; the Ming general in charge of Shanhai gate got pissed off because the rebels seized his concubine so he decided to let the Manchus deal with the rebels.Last edited by troung; 23 Jul 08,, 19:15.To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway
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My vote goes for the abortive M247 Sgt. York DIVAD; how the US was unable to sucessfully design and build a self-propelled anti-aircraft platform, when the Soviets had already had the successful ZSU-23/4 in operation for 20 years, defies understanding."There is never enough time to do or say all the things that we would wish. The thing is to try to do as much as you can in the time that you have. Remember Scrooge, time is short, and suddenly, you're not there any more." -Ghost of Christmas Present, Scrooge
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Originally posted by Stitch View PostMy vote goes for the abortive M247 Sgt. York DIVAD; how the US was unable to sucessfully design and build a self-propelled anti-aircraft platform, when the Soviets had already had the successful ZSU-23/4 in operation for 20 years, defies understanding.
The Sergeant York was supposedly picked because it had better guns (40mm) but it could only score 50% kills if that much. In a public demonstration, with an untrained civilian gunner, it scored a perfect ZERO.
Another case where certain people in high political positions can order the military to buy junk in return for political favors.Able to leap tall tales in a single groan.
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The Sgt York also had commonality of parts with the Patton family and would have come with a huge supply of ready to use parts as National Guard M48 units were upgunned to M60's and M1's. The Bofors 40mm were also widely respected having been on the Duster until it was replaced by the Vulcan carrying M113.
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"Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.
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Originally posted by zraver View PostThe Bofors 40mm were also widely respected having been on the Duster until it was replaced by the Vulcan carrying M113.
They DON'T shoot the same ammo : the L56/60 uses the 40mm x 311R (rim diameter = 61.8mm; body diameter = 55.8mm), the L70 uses the 40mm x 364R (rim diameter = 65.0mm; body diameter = 57.9mm).Last edited by Shipwreck; 24 Jul 08,, 10:10.
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The other guns that Rusty mentions - were they 35mm. as in Oerlikon 35mm.? The guns on Gepard SPAAG are still considered as top of the line .If i only was so smart yesterday as my wife is today
Minding your own biz is great virtue, but situation awareness saves lives - Dok
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