Artillery installation "Object 261"

Many fans of the online game World of Tanks are familiar with the self-propelled artillery installation of high power called "Object 261". Gamers deftly destroy enemies, controlling this arta, but few of them know that this ACS never participated in any battle. Consider the history of the creation of this artillery installation.

Object 261: how it all began

Despite a number of setbacks that befell the previous ACS, the Soviet leadership even after the war did not abandon the idea of putting on a self-propelled chassis heavy-duty guns. This self-propelled installation was developed by the design bureaus of the Leningrad and Chelyabinsk Kirov factories. And the basis for the development of the new ACS was the PC-7 tank, which loved the players. The project of this artillery began to be developed immediately after the end of the Great Patriotic War and was completed in 1947. As an engine, the engineers used the M-50 ship's diesel power unit for increased power, naturally, first adapting it to this tank. "Object 261" was equipped with lightly armored open felling, in which a very powerful gun M-31 (152mm) was placed.

The feat of the design bureau of plant number 172

It was specially created for this project in the design bureau of the Perm plant No. 172. And the base was the ballistic artillery gun Br-2. M-31 for the sake of economy was unified with a tank gun M-51 a number of parts and mechanisms. The first tests of the M-31 took place already in October 1948. Designers upgraded BR-2 so much that it was quite difficult to find common elements in these two guns. The design bureau of plant No. 172 carried out a truly grandiose work, the new cannon from its predecessor was distinguished by the presence of a horizontal wedge semiautomatic shutter, unlike the piston in Br-2. In addition, she had a slotted rather powerful muzzle brake, capable of absorbing the energy of pullback up to 70%. The barrel of the gun was supplied with a very massive breech, which ensured the obtaining of the necessary mass of sliding mechanisms, and also contributed to a better balancing of the swinging part.

The principle of the tool

The charging of the new gun was separate-sleeve. The projectile was sent by means of a spring of a dispatcher, automatically cocked during a rollback. In addition, the mechanism responsible for blowing the barrel also worked in automatic mode. It used compressed air, located in a special tank. The retraction brake at the gun is hydraulic, and the drill is pneumatic, and the cylinders of these devices are rigidly connected to the barrel. As a result, due to the state part of the gun and the anti-roll system, the weight of the recoil part increased significantly. This, together with the muzzle brake, gave a very small rollback of the gun. Rotary and lifting mechanisms with a worm self-locking link were sector type.

M-31 - gun, which has no analogues in the world

This gun has truly unique characteristics. Thus, the firing range was 27800 meters (almost 28 km), and this at an initial flight speed of the projectile is 880 m / s. The M-31 gun was equipped with a direct sight of TP-47A, and for firing from closed positions - ZIS-3.

Such did not expect

As already mentioned, the IS-7 tank ("Object 715") was chosen as the driving base for the ACS with increased power. However, the submitted self-propelled project was not approved, and as a result it was returned to the plant for revision. In this regard, a fundamental revision of the layout of the gun was needed, although the commission did not have any substantive claims to it. These works were performed by the plant No. 172 in the first half of 1948, and on August 23 the commission of the Chief Artillery Directorate once again reviewed the revised draft. However, this time the "Object 261" was rejected. Once again, designers of the plant number 172 changed the design of the gun, or rather, its machine.

Meanwhile, in the Leningrad KB ...

While Permians once again "conjured" over the gun, in the cultural capital, almost everything was ready. IS-7 was already close to the conveyor production. As already mentioned above, the engineers adapted the diesel engine for this tank; Its power was 1050 hp. According to the calculations of specialists, "Object 261" was to develop a speed of up to 55 km / h and have a power reserve of up to 300 km. It was planned to place the gun and the crew in an open, lightly armored cabin. This option completely excluded the participation of ACS in tank duels. But the wheelbase of the artillery installation was left heavily armored, apparently, for unification with the IS-7 tank. It had a thickness of 150 mm to 215 mm. "Object 261" turned out to be quite heavy: its weight was 68 tons. When the works were almost finished, the country's leadership refused to produce the IS-7 tanks. And so, despite the work done, this project was not approved, and this automatic control system was only seen as an experimental model.

World of Tanks: Object 261

And now back to the game "World of tanks." Here, the artillery installation developers attributed to the technique of the tenth level, the maximum for this project. In the description of the object it is said that the said Soviet automatic control system possesses an accurate weapon, as well as a high speed of flight of projectiles and excellent dynamics, however, in connection with the flat trajectory of shooting, the defeat of the target behind the obstacle is very difficult. The "Object 261" is being investigated on the SAU 212A, the price of this study is 273 thousand game experience. Like all the tenth level equipment in the game, this art is elite, so it does not need to be pumped. In the photo below you can see what the "Object 261" is.

Hyde provided by game developers

The help part of the World of Tanks tells how to play such an installation with the most efficiency. As for the choice of position, it is necessary to take into account the low trajectory of the projectile's flight, therefore, where other automatic control systems easily throw ammunition, our unit will fall into the wall. Therefore, it is recommended to constantly seek out new places from which it is convenient to fire, the more that overclocking and maximum speed allows it to do so. It is also said here that on urban maps of this art is better to follow a group of their tanks and shoot enemies with armor-piercing shells, in this case, the penetration is 360 mm, and the damage is 1100 HP. If the SAU is illuminated by the enemy, it is best to immediately change the dislocation; In this case, the rivals leave the "rushing" 261st to "snack". Shooting should be carried out on the strongest tanks, but if there is a choice: to finish IS-8 / CT-1 or inflict damage on the IS-7 / IS-4, it is better to stop on the first option. In addition, it is preferable to fire on medium tanks located in open terrain than on more serious ones hiding behind obstacles. In view of the fact that this ACS is characterized by low alpha damage, it is preferable to use BB-projectiles, which in combination with high accuracy and penetration can cause serious damage to any tank. You can also use anti-tank mode - this is ensured by the rather high mobility of the subject of our conversation, which is "Object 261".

"World of tanks" indicates a number of pros and cons of this artillery installation. Pluses:

- The fastest in the game recharge at the 10th level;

- a shallow trajectory is very convenient for the destruction of enemies on opposite slopes;

- of all the artillery, this ACS has the highest accuracy;

- very powerful BB-projectiles;

- High mobility.

Disadvantages:

- small ammunition;

- small radius of scattering of fragments;

- small angle of horizontal aiming;

- relatively small damage;

- a flat trajectory, which does not allow throwing shells through serious obstacles.