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The Steam Tank (Tracked) was an early U.S.
tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engi ...
design of 1918 imitating the design of the British
Mark IV tank The Mark IV (pronounced ''Mark four'') was a British tank of the First World War. Introduced in 1917, it benefited from significant developments of the Mark I tank (the intervening designs being small batches used for training). The main impro ...
but powered by steam. The type was designed by an officer from the U.S. Army's Corps Of Engineers. The project was started by General John A. Johnson with the help of the Endicott and Johnson Shoe Company and financed by the Boston bankers Phelan and Ratchesky, costing $60,000 (US$ in ). Expertise was called in from Stanley Motor Carriage Company in
Watertown, Massachusetts Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and is part of Greater Boston. The population was 35,329 in the 2020 census. Its neighborhoods include Bemis, Coolidge Square, East Watertown, Watertown Square, and the West End. Waterto ...
, that produced
steam car A steam car is a car (automobile) propelled by a steam engine. A steam engine is an external combustion engine (ECE) in which the fuel is combusted outside of the engine, unlike an internal combustion engine (ICE) in which fuel is combusted ins ...
s. The engines and boilers of two Unit Railway Cars were built in. Earlier fighting vehicles projects had employed steam power because petrol engines were not yet powerful enough; the Steam Tank however used it for the main reason that it was meant to be a specialised
flame tank A flame tank is a type of tank equipped with a flamethrower, most commonly used to supplement combined arms attacks against fortifications, confined spaces, or other obstacles. The type only reached significant use in the Second World War, dur ...
to attack pillboxes and the original design had this weapon driven by steam. When the main device to build up sufficient pressure became a auxiliary gasoline engine, the two main 2-cylinder steam engines with a combined power of remained, each engine driving one track to give a maximum speed of . The transmission allowed two speeds forward and two in reverse. The steam engines used
kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...
for fuel. The flamethrower, located in the front cabin, had a range of ; additionally there were four .30 cal. (7.62 mm) machine guns; two in a
sponson Sponsons are projections extending from the sides of land vehicles, aircraft or watercraft to provide protection, stability, storage locations, mounting points for weapons or other devices, or equipment housing. Watercraft On watercraft, a spon ...
at each side. The length of the vehicle was , the width and the height . The tracks were wide. Each track frame carried mud clearing spikes, sometimes mistaken for battering rams. The tank had a weight of about . There was to have been a crew of eight, on the assumption there were a commander, a driver, an operator of the flame thrower, a mechanic and four machine gunners. Only one was completed in Boston and demonstrated in April 1918, in several parades also, on one occasion breaking down in front of the public. The prototype was in June shipped to France to be tested — with much publicity to bolster allied morale — and was named ''America''. The flame thrower nozzle was moved to a rotating turret on the roof of the cabin. There was a contemporary steam-powered armored vehicle - the Steam Wheel Tank - which was not tracked but an armored three-wheeled vehicle, hence the designation "(Tracked)" or "(Track-laying)". The design combined serious cooling problems with a dangerous vulnerability due to its two steam boilers and large fuel reservoirs needed to heat the two main engines, and feed both the auxiliary engine and the flame thrower.


Bibliography

Notes References * {{US WWI Vehicles World War I tanks Tanks of the United States Abandoned military projects of the United States
Tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engi ...
Trial and research tanks of the United States History of the tank