Wednesday 5 April 2017

Replacement Steel

"State Committee of Defense
Decree #3038
March 16th, 1943
Moscow, Kremlin

In order to test the quality of armoured plate made from KM-1 steel (FD 5732) as a replacement for M3-2 (8S) steel on tank hulls:
  1. The People's Commissariat of Ferrous Metal (comrade Tevosyan) must deliver KM-1 plate to factories ##112, 176, and Uralmash in the amount earlier established by the agreement between the People's Commissariat of Ferrous Metal and GABTU and the NKTP.
  2. The People's Commissariat of Tank Building (comrade Zaltsmann) must produce and test experimental T-34 and T-70 tank hulls at factories ##112, 176, and Uralmash from KM-1 steel produced by the People's Commissariat of Ferrous Metal and deliver conclusions to the Council of People's Commissars regarding the possibility of using KM-1 steel (FD 5732).
  3. In the event of satisfactory results of trials of KM-1 steel, the People's Commissariat of Tank Building (comrade Zaltsmann) must investigate the preparations necessary for hardening this steel at NKTP factories at a temperature of 200 degrees.
Deputy Chair of the Committee of Defense, V. Molotov
State Committee of Defense
Decree #4756
December 10th, 1943
Moscow, Kremlin

In connection with the unsatisfactory results of KM-1 steel (FD 5732) trials carried out in according with GOKO decree #3038 issued on March 16th, 1943, the following must be done to finally establish the suitability of the aforementioned steel in tank production;
  1. The People's Commissariat of Tank Building (comrade Malyshev) must carry out another trial of KM-1 steel, for which Uralmash must build an experimental batch of 30 hulls in February of 1944, of which 1 hull and 20 main armour plates will be put through ballistics trials at a proving grounds in accordance with GBTU's testing requirements.
  2. The People's Commissariat of Ferrous Metal (comrade Tevosyan) must roll at the Kuznetsk Metallurgical Factory and deliver to Uralmash by December 25th, 1943, enough KM-1 armoured plate to meet their requirements.
  3. The People's Commissariat of Tank Building (comrade Malyshev) and People's Commissariat of Ferrous Metal (comrade Tevosyan) must deliver conclusions to the Council of People's Commissars regarding the suitability of KM-1 steel for production by March 10th, 1944.

Deputy Chair of the Committee of Defense, V. Molotov"

1 comment:

  1. Would be interesting to see the results of the trial, if it ever happened.

    ReplyDelete