Likewise, heavy payload bombers, once seen as America’s primary form of nuclear deterrence, were largely discounted as old-fashioned once intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs started entering service in the 60s. Aircraft carriers emerged as among the most dominant warfighting assets a nation could field in the Second World War, but today, the advent of comparably cheap anti-ship missiles with four-digit ranges has many calling for America’s carrier fleet to get the ax. Aircraft carriers and heavy payload bombers, both of which continue to serve as cornerstones of American military might, have shared a similar ebb and flow of public support. Tanks aren’t the only military technology to be constantly dismissed as old-fashioned. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jackson Adkins) ![]() Ford, America’s newest supercarrier (U.S. Nonetheless, before the conflict was over, Churchill himself would decide tanks had, once again, run their course, declaring, “ we have too much armor - tanks are finished.” Germany’s early successes in World War II, enabled to so small extent by their Panzer division, set the stage for the massive tank battles to come in the years ahead. By leveraging the speed and armor of their tank forces and integrating them into a combined arms strategy, Germany’s Blitzkrieg tactics allowed them to quickly route Polish defenses. “I am not in a position to give any information, but it is at least possible that in a few years’ time the most heavily armoured car or tank will be as vulnerable to the fire of the future as an old wooden caravan would be to the firing of to-day.”īut then, on September 1, 1939, German forces poured over the border into Poland with more than 2,500 tanks of varying sorts. In 1934, Britain’s Financial Secretary to the War Office, Duff Cooper, succinctly explained why tanks were already on the verge of total obsolesce. “The circumstances which called it into existence were exceptional and not likely to recur.” “The tank proper was a freak,” one British commander wrote after World War I. These armored vehicles entered the conflict too late to play a pivotal role in its outcome, and many believed the entire concept of “tanks” would end right alongside the fighting. The first time these British tanks found a fight, only 25 of the 49 of them actually moved when ordered to commence the attack. ![]() Of course… all new technology comes with problems, and those early tanks proved to be finicky beasts. Thanks to the increased availability of things like the internal combustion engine and armor plating, tanks (which derived their name from the cover story for the factories building them under the guise of water-holding “tanks”) seemed perfectly suited for withstanding heavy enemy gunfire coming from their trenches. The first tanks used in combat were British, fielded during World War I in an attempt to foil the long and bloody stalemate that dominated the European continent.
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