- Holt gas electric tank
Infobox Weapon
name= Holt Gas-Electric Tank
caption=
origin=flagcountry|United States
is_vehicle=yes
length=5.03 m
width=2.76 m
height=2.37 m
weight=25.4 t
suspension=vertical coil springs
speed=10 km/h
vehicle_range=?
primary_armament=75 mm Vickers mountain howitzer
secondary_armament=two Browning 7.92 mm machine guns
armour=6 - 15 mm
engine=Holt gasoline plus 2 electric motors
engine_power=90 hp (67 kW)
pw_ratio=3.5 hp/tonne
crew=6The Holt Gas-Electric Tank was an early
U.S. producedtank built in a collaboration between the "Holt Manufacturing Company " (nowCaterpillar Inc. ) and the U.S.General Electric Company . It was the first real tank to be constructed in the USA.The prototype was constructed during 1917 and finished early in 1918. It used a lengthened and modified version of the suspension of the Holt tractors, with pivoting track frames. There were ten road wheels at each side. The tank had a height of 7 feet 9.5 inches, a length of 16 feet 6 inches and a width of 9 feet 1 inch.
The vehicle had a Holt 90 hp, 4-cylinder engine fitted with a GEC generator driving an electric motor for each track; a comparable petro-electric system had earlier been used for the French St Chamond that also was fitted with a lengthened Holt suspension. To prevent overheating of the transmission — a constant problem with electrical types — a complicated water cooling system had been installed. Like the French tank, the Holt Gas-Electric had a 75 mm gun in the nose; it had a sponson with a removable 0.30 inch machine gun at each side and a ball-mount for one in the front. The engine and transmission were at the back, next to a corridor leading to the only door. The crew number is often given as six, on the assumption there would be two machine gunners, a gunner and loader for the main gun, a driver and a commander.
Only one was built as tests showed its climbing performance was unsatisfactory and the type proved to be much heavier than originally envisaged: about 25
short ton s.
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