Effect of British 17-Pounder on Tiger Armour

[43rdRecceReg]

Found this interesting pic of the state of Tiger armour after an encounter with a British 17-Pounder. Maybe it was from a Firefly mounted one...who knows? Anyway, although this round didn't penetrate completely, the heat and the shockwave possibly maimed the crew, or gave them the world's biggest headache...

Arrgh..das tut Mir sehr weh..

Tiger armour after being hit by British 17-Pounder.jpg (52.76 KiB) Viewed 2736 times

and the Germans liked the Firefly so much, they bought one:

[RobW]

Interesting. I suspect the shrapnel from the damaged Tiger armour would have been fatal if it's in the occupied space. Was it from the field or a test firing on a range?

[jackalope]

Does anyone here know why Tiger armor was harder to get through then any other? If you'd take Tiger armor the same thickness as normal armor the Tigers armor was stronger, anyone?

I do but I'll see if anyone else does too.

[PainlessWolf]

Good morning, Jack,
Why was the Tiger's armor stronger? The effect of Legend! *chuckles * probably not, it was more likely the amount of nickle in the steel. You can see from the picture above that the round from the 17 pdr did not shatter the steel, so much as deform it due to the armor's malleability.
regards,
Painless

[jackalope]

I see Mr.Painless knows.

It was also the only tank ever built to use nickel armor. Well that I've read of anyway.

[tomhugill]

The lack of which (amongst other alloys) led to German armour apparently being more prone to failure later in the war.

[dgsselkirk]

High velocity is your friend....

[43rdRecceReg]

Interesting. I suspect the shrapnel from the damaged Tiger armour would have been fatal if it's in the occupied space. Was it from the field or a test firing on a range?

Watching a tank DVD lately, I saw an interview with one of the old 'Kameraden', who'd survived Kursk and the curse of the Firefly in Normandy and Belgium. He pointed out that even if a shell didn't entirely penetrate armour, the heat it generated together the flesh shredding shrapnel, were often enough to finish the crew off. He also observed that the screams of men being burned to death in a tank were something you could never ever forget....
As for the pic, it came through on my Pinterest account....after a spot of digging. The leftover lump of tiger looks as if it's in a museum somewhere, and was excised from a knocked out tank with an acetylene torch..I imagine..for further ballistic study. More details were not on offer, unfortunately.

[blimp]

found it ! ( not the original link though) 131 wasn't the only Tiger brought back to the UK , the second was put on the range - 17pdr vs PzVI range test the remnants became a 'cutaway' instructional exhibit . B.

[RobW]

Makes sense to use special steels, and shows how advanced the German armour was. Does also raise the question re armour thickness that are always spoken of - ie how do you compare differing slope and composition for effectiveness? Eg would the KT with similar materials have been mostly immune to the 17pdr?