The T-28 was the first mass-produced multi-turreted Soviet tank, appearing in 1932. While prototypes mounted a 45mm gun in the main turret, production models used a low-velocity 76.2mm gun. There were two machinegun turrets on the front hull, in the style of some early British cruiser tanks. When introduced, the T-28 was a powerful tank, with good armor, firepower and mobility. Some may have been sent to fight in Spain, but the first major combat was the Winter War. The Finns in 1939-40 and the Germans in 1941 exposed the aging tank, which did not last much longer in Soviet front-line service. Some 1,650 of all versions were built.
The T-28A has a crew of six. The commander sits in the turret. Also in the turret is the main gunner (who fires the 76.2mm KT-28 gun and coaxial DT LMG) and the loader/radio operator (who fires the 7.62mm DT LMG in the rear of the turret). The driver/mechanic sits in the body. One gunner is located in each of the MG turrets, firing a DT LMG. The main turret is manually traversed by the gunner and loader at 3 degrees per second. The secondary turrets are manually traversed by their gunners at 4 degrees per second. The T-28A uses 16.8 gallons per hour at routine usage.
T-28A
Subassemblies: Large Tank chassis +4, full rotation Medium AFV
Turret [Body:T] +2, two limited rotation Medium Weapon turrets [Body:T]
+2, tracks +3.
Powertrain: 373-kW gasoline engine w/373-kW tracked drive train
and 172 gallons in standard fuel tank [body]; 16,000-kWs batteries.
Occupancy: See above Cargo: 8.5 Turret #1, 2.5
Turrets #2&3, 0.5 Body
Armor
Body: F 4/135, RL 4/75, B 4/75, T 4/40, U 4/40
Tracks: 4/45
Tur#1-3: F 4/155, RL 4/75, B 4/40, T 4/40, U 0/0
Weaponry
76.2mm Short Howitzer/KT-28 [Tur#1:F] (96).
2¥Ground LMG/DT [Tur#1:F,B] (*).
Ground LMG/DT [Tur#2:F] (*).
Ground LMG/DT [Tur#3:F] (*).
* 7,938 rounds for all four MGs
Equipment
Body: Small radio transmitter receiver.
Statistics
| Size: 24'x9'x9' | Payload : 1.8 tons | Lwt: 30.5 tons |
| Volume: 142 | Maint.: 44 hours | Price: $20,800 |
HT: 11
HP: 1800 [body], 135 [turret #1], 75 [turrets # 2/#3], 600 [each
track]
| gSpeed: 23 | aAccel: 3 | aDecel: 10 | aMR: 0.25 | aSR: 6 |
Design Notes
Design speed was 35 mph; this was lowered to historical speed. The
design was badly underweight and had to be increased by 25%.
Variants
The original T-28 (1932) had DR 115 frontal armor and a 280-kW engine.
Weight was 28 tons and speed was 22 mph.
Some T-28A’s replaced the right DT turret with a turret containing
a 45mm anti-tank gun.
The T-28(V) was a commander’s vehicle, with a radio and noticeable ring-type aerial around the turret. Eventually, most T-28’s were equipped with radios.
The T-28B (1938) replaced the 76.2mm KT-28 with a 76.2 L-10 (75mm Short Tank Gun), which eliminated the need for the 45mm turret.
The T-28C (1940) was up-armored after the sobering experience of the Winter War; the hull and main turret fronts were increased to DR 310, while the hull and main turret sides were improved to DR 195 (some sources list this as DR 155 on the turret sides and DR 105 on the hull sides). Roof armor was doubled to DR 80.
A number of specialist vehicles were based on the T-28, including the IT-28 bridgelayer and the OT-28 flamethrower tank (which replaced the 76.2mm gun with a Medium Tank Flamethrower).
The T-29 was a T-28 modified to use a Christie-type suspension with removable tracks. No data is available, but speed would likely have been in the 30-35 mph range on tracks.