Meet the PANTHER TANK - WW2 SERIES.
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A Panther tank cost 117,100 Reichmarks (RM) to produce.[25] This compares with 82,500 RM for the StuG III, 96,163 RM for the Panzer III, 103,462 RM for the Panzer IV, and 250,800 RM for the Tiger I. These figures did not include the cost of the armament and radio.
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Using slave labour on the production lines greatly reduced costs, but also greatly increased the risk of sabotage. French-army studies in 1947 found that many Panthers had been sabotaged during production.
The Germans increasingly strove for production methods that would allow higher production rates and lower cost. By comparison, the total cost of the early production Tiger I in 1942–1943 has been stated to be as high as 800,000 RM.[29]
Steering and transmission
Repair of the transmission of a Panther
Steering was accomplished through a seven-speed AK 7-200 synchromesh gearbox, designed by Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen (ZF), and a MAN single radius steering system, operated by steering levers. Each gear had a fixed radius of turning, ranging from 5 m (16 ft) for 1st gear up to 80 m (260 ft) for 7th gear. The driver was expected to judge the sharpness of a turn ahead of time and shift into the appropriate gear to turn the tank. The driver could also engage the brakes on one side to force a sharper turn.[48] This manual steering was a much-simplified design, compared to the sophisticated dual-radius hydraulically controlled steering system of the Tiger tanks.
The AK 7-200 transmission was also capable of pivot turns, but tests showed this was possible only when the ground resistance on both tracks was the same. This high-torque method of turning could cause failures of the final drive.
This led to the complicated task of accessing the transmission which was fully enclosed by the Panther's frontal armor.[51] In order to access the final drive the entire driver's compartment and transmission had to be disassembled and lifted out. This is sharply contrasted with accessing the Sherman transmission which only required the armor cover to be unbolted in the front.[51]
The Panther's main weakness was its final drive unit. The problems stemmed from several factors. The original MAN proposal had called for the Panther to have an epicyclic gearing (planetary) system in the final drive, similar to that used in the Tiger I.
Germany suffered from a shortage of gear-cutting machine tools and, unlike the Tiger, the Panther was intended to be mass-produced. To achieve the goal of higher production rates, numerous simplifications were made to the design and its manufacture. This process was aggressively pushed forward, sometimes against the wishes of designers and army officers, by the Chief Director of Armament and War Production, Karl-Otto Saur (who worked under and later succeeded, Reichminister Speer). Consequently, the final drive was changed to a double spur system.[53] Although much simpler to produce, the double spur gears had an inherently higher internal impact and stress loads, making them prone to failure under the high torque requirements of the heavy Panther tank.
Ammunition storage
Ammunition storage for the main gun was a weak point. All the ammunition for the main armament was stored in the hull, with a significant amount stored in the sponsons. In the Ausf D and A models, 18 rounds were stored next to the turret on each side, for a total of 36 rounds. In the Ausf G, which had deeper sponsons, 24 rounds were stored on each side of the turret, for a total of 48 rounds. In all models, four rounds were also stored in the left sponson between the driver and the turret. An additional 36 rounds were stored inside the hull of the Ausf D and A models – 27 in the forward hull compartment directly underneath the mantlet. In the Ausf G, the hull ammunition storage was reduced to 27 rounds total, with 18 rounds in the forward hull compartment. For all models, three rounds were kept under the turntable of the turret. The stowage of 52 rounds of ammunition in the side sponsons made this area the most vulnerable point on the Panther since penetration here usually led to catastrophic ammunition fires.
The loader was stationed in the right side of the turret. With the turret facing forward, he had access only to the right sponson and hull ammunition,[79] and so these served as the main ready-ammunition bins.
Crew
The Panther had 5 crew members, the commander, gunner, loader, driver and radio operator. The commander, loader and gunner were in the turret, While the driver and radio operator were in the hull of the vehicle. The driver sat always on the front-left side of the tank and next to him was the tank's machine gunner whose job it was to operate the radio.