Tank, Heavy, TOG I
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Type
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Place of origin
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Production history
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Manufacturer
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William Foster and Co. Ltd.
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Number built
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1
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Specifications
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Weight
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80 long tons (90 short tons;
81 t)
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Length
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10.1 m (33 ft 2 in)
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Width
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3.1 m (10 ft 2 in)
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Height
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3 m (9 ft 10 in)
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Crew
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8 (commander, gunner, loader, driver,
4x sponson gunners)
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62 mm (2.4 in)
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Main
armament |
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Secondary
armament |
2.95 inch (75 mm) howitzer
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Engine
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Transmission
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English
Electric motors
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Suspension
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unsprung
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Speed
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14 km/h (8.7 mph)
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The Tank, Heavy, TOG 1 was a prototype British heavy tank
produced in the early part of the Second World War in the expectation that
battlefields might end up like those of the First World War and was designed so
it could cross churned-up countryside and trenches. A single prototype was
built but interest faded with the successful performance of another cross-country
design, the Churchill tank, and the mobile war that was being fought.
In July 1939 the Special Vehicle Development Committee was
drawn up for future tank designs suitable for Great War conditions under Sir
Albert Stern; who had been on the original Landships Committee and head of the
Tank Supply Depot during World War I. The committee included others who had
been instrumental in the development of the tank during the Great War: former
Director of Naval Construction, Sir Eustace Tennyson d'Eyncourt, General Ernest
Swinton, engine designer Harry Ricardo, the gearbox and transmission expert
Major Walter Gordon Wilson. Unsurprisingly they got the nickname "The Old
Gang" and the initials TOG were applied to their designs.
Together they proposed the development of a heavy tank
design, which they entrusted to another of the first tank's developers and
builder of the first tank, Sir William Tritton of Foster's of Lincoln.
Their specification was comprehensive. As well as being able
to operate across ground broken up by shelling and waterlogged, it was expected
to resist 47-mm anti-tank guns and 105-mm field guns or howitzers at 100 yd (91
m). Main armament would be a field gun mounted in the front - effective against
7 ft (2.1 m) thick reinforced concrete - and two 2-pounder guns, the latter in
sponsons. For use against infantry there would be a machine gun firing forward,
one in each sponson, and one firing to the rear. To provide cover four 2-inch
smoke mortars were included.[2]
Design work by Fosters began in February 1940. Designed with
trench crossing abilities to the fore and the capability to carry infantry as
well, the design as built was a large hull with side doors supported on broad
tracks, with a 2-pdr gun armed Matilda II infantry tank turret.
It was realised that running the track drive over the top of
the hull was not necessary and work began on a follow-up design in June 1940.
The prototype TOG I was delivered in October 1940. After problems with the
electro-mechanical drive, it was converted to a hydraulic drive designed by
Fluidrive Engineering, a process that took until May 1943 after which it was
called TOG 1A. The prototype was sent to Chobham and then seems to have
disappeared into history.
The TOG heavy tanks were designed
by TOG, or "The Old Gang", a team of men who, at the outbreak of
World War II were given the task of finding ways to fulfill Britain's new tank
requirements.
This team had been responsible for the UK's World War I tank
program. Its members were d'Eyncourt, Ricardo, Stern, Swinton, Symes, Tritton
and Wilson.
TOG 1 had a 2 pounder Matilda-2 type turret and a 2.95 inch
(75 mm) howitzer in its nose. While it may have performed well during World War
I, when there was not much movement during battles, it would not have been
effective during the Blitzkrieg.
Problems with the TOG 1's electrical transmission were
revealed during trials
