Disston Tractor Tank – The tank had a very large, rectangular profile with a height of 12 feet. It had a weight of 18 tonnes. The crew complement was six to eight men, including the driver and five machine gunners (one in the turret), with two more places available for crew members if wanted.
The Semple tank weighed 25.4 tons and was powered by a 127-hp diesel engine. This gave it a top speed of 15 mph. However, the tractor gearing restricted the Semple tank to slow speeds. Moreover, it actually had to stop to change gears. Even at slow speeds, the tractor chassis meant that the Semple tank suffered from intense vibrations on the move that made it difficult to shoot from. For armament, Semple could only equip his tank with six Bren machine guns — one on each of its sides, two in the front, one in the turret, and one at the rear.
Disston Tractor Tank
In the end, three Semple tanks were built. One reportedly went to the Pacific in 1944 after its armor was stripped, likely to serve as a conventional tractor and not a tractor-tank. While the Semple is remembered as one of the worst tanks ever built, the difficult conditions of its creation must be taken into account. After all, while it wasn’t very good, it was better than nothing.
Training Ground
Like Australia, New Zealand had no tank-building industry during WWII. Both countries expected Great Britain to provide them with tanks to fight the Japanese in the Pacific. However, the fall of France in mid-1940 saw much of the British Army’s armored strength abandoned on the European mainland. With no help from Britain in sight, New Zealand Minister of Works Bob Semple took his country’s defense into his own hands.
After the end of the Second World War, Semple continued his public service, continuing to serve as the Minister of Railways until 1949 and continuing to serve in the Parliament. He took a very hard stance on Communism, warning the nation to guard against communism and its influences. He became ill and retired in 1954 after serving in the Parliament since 1928. He died on 31 January 1955, survived by his wife, two sons, and two daughters.[1]
Training Ground allows players to explore and see other vehicles, items such as giant foot balls, special items and planes flying overhead. The great thing about training group map is that players have the opportunity to see just how big the Bob Semple is – almost as big as a Maus and taller than a M1A2 Abrams MBT. Players can also set up a duel with another another Bob Semple, however that Bob Semple is not easy to knock out, players must learn the weak spots to take it out of action while the other vehicles hunt them down.
Follow the instructions on this page and have fun – Remember War Thunder has many user-made missions & vehicles, from paper to iconics and more, which can all be enjoyed and with many hours of fun!
How Do You Play This?
The tank was created as a joint venture by the Caterpillar Corporation and the Disston Saw Works. Caterpillar provided the chassis, which was from a standard Caterpillar Model 35 civilian tractor, and Disston provided the tank body, which was bolted on to the Caterpillar chassis. The Caterpillar track was lengthened by adding a road wheel to the front of the track assembly, but some examples apparently do not have this lengthened track.[1][2]
It was always envisioned by the New Zealand Army that the vehicle would be fitted with a 37 mm gun in the turret. Unfortunately, weapons of that type, such as the British 40 mm QF 2 pounder gun, were in very short supply, so a 37 mm gun was never fitted and was replaced in the turret by a .303 caliber Bren machine gun (the turret was later removed when the vehicles were delivered to the New Zealand Army). It is unknown exactly what tank gun was considered by the New Zealand Army to be fitted in the Bob Semple, but it is quite possible that the American 37 mm M3 anti-tank gun – used on the American M3/M5 Stuart as well as the M8 Greyhound – was considered.[2]
The tractor chassis proved to be incredibly limiting to the mobility of the vehicle. The engine could produce 127 horsepower which gave a horsepower to weight ratio of approximately 7 hp/t. This allowed the vehicle to reach a measly speed of only 7.5 miles per hour (~12 kilometers per hour). The vehicle’s suspension and chassis proved unable to carry the tall superstructure well, making the vehicle unstable while on the move. Additionally, the driver had to bring the vehicle to a complete standstill to shift gears which was an issue. The range was a decent 160 kilometers, thanks to 90 liters of diesel fuel stored in two tanks in the front of the hull.[2]
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Bob Semple Tank Mm Gun
Since New Zealand was in danger of a potential Japanese invasion during the Second World War, the NZ Ministry of Defense began looking for a potential tank with which to defend itself. Bob Semple, then the New Zealand Minister of Public Works, saw a photograph of a tractor tank conversion built in the United States. This inspired him to begin the process to design a domestic New Zealand tractor-tank conversion, one which would later take his name.
Two of the Bob Semple tanks were given to the New Zealand Army at some point with their turrets removed, since no cannon had been acquired which would be suitable for the turret. The threat of Japanese invasion faded during the war, and with the delivery of British-manufactured Valentine tanks and local production of the Bren Carrier, there was no longer a need for the local development of a tank. General Puttick recommended that the program be closed and production end, while the ones that were built could be used simply for beach defense.
Being based on a RD8 tractor, it can plough the fields with its machine guns, if being a tank doesn’t work out. It can also replace the scarecrows on fields and scare away those scary kiwi birds that might try to eat those freshly grown kiwis!
In the foliage environment that the Bob Semple may find itself in, anything can be the enemy. The Japanese may be stalking under the dense brush, or the trees may speak. Therefore, the Bob Semple comes bristling with up to five Bren machine guns on all sides of the tank. That way, maximum response time can be taken to take out any pesky foe that dares come up against the might of the Bob Semple.
Machine Guns
One of the Bob Semple’s major weaknesses is that it has no turret-mounted anti-air defence. The Semple’s roof armour is also incredibly thin. Fighters with .50 calibre machine guns, such as the P-51 Mustang, can penetrate through the Semple’s roof armour and knock out the entire crew. Another scenario that would exploit this weak roof armour is if the Semple encounters a Strf 9040 BILL with its Rbs 56 ATGMs, which can easily shoot a missile over the Bob Semple to explode then penetrate down through the roof, knocking out the Semple’s crew.
The Semple’s 37 mm turret does not have any extra armour, it cannot ricochet shells. However due to the thin turret armour, which is 8 mm thick, high velocity shells will over-penetrate and only knock out the gunner. Due to the Bob Semple’s incredible complement of six crew members, replacing the knocked-out gunner is no problem.
During testing, the design proved to have sufficient mobility and armament, but the greatest concern was the height of the vehicle. The turret itself added over two feet to the vehicle so General Puttick recommended that it be removed to reduce the overall height, especially since the turret only added one machine gun to the total armament which was seen as redundant due to the multiple other machine guns in the hull. Additionally, Puttick noted that the vehicle would be too heavy to cross some bridges and therefore would have to ford streams. Another factor worthy of note was the off-road stability of the tank. When moving off-road the tank was very unstable which resulted in very poor on-the-move accuracy.[2]
Let’s talk about something very unique: The Bob Semple comes with two missions, both are very fun. One mission features the defence of New Zealand and a special mission to familiarize players on how to play this tank on the training ground.
Usage In Battles
In 1935, Robert Semple was chosen by the newly elected Prime Minister M. J. Savage as his Minister of Public Works. When the Second World War began, Semple and his Ministry of Public Works spearheaded the development of a domestic armoured fighting vehicle which would end up taking his name. In 1941 he became the Minister of Railways. He served in the position of Minister of Public Works until 1943.
Unlike other tanks, the Bob Semple tank offers six crew members, some land battleships such as the Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte, Independent, T-35 offer this complement. This large crew ensures that there are enough hands available to operate the weaponry on the tank.
In order to fit the armored body on the tractors a few modifications had to be made. Minor modifications were made to the suspension, the track assembly was lengthened, the driver’s controls were moved forward, and extensions were added to allow the fixing of an armored superstructure to the tractor chassis.
The first trials of the Bob Semple were carried out in December 1940 at Burnham Camp. More testing was carried out in August of 1941. It was fired upon by machine guns to test the general protection, and then by carefully aimed shots to determine more specific weaknesses. One concern was that the machine gun ports proved to allow shrapnel or bullets into the tank. The next phase of testing began on 8 October 1941. General Edward Puttick, the New Zealand Chief of General Staff, was there to witness the testing. He had seen combat in the Mediterranean theater and so was an experienced officer.
Super Bob Semple
These factors, combined with the boxy and ungainly appearance, contributed to a public opinion of ridicule towards the Bob Semple tank, which lasts to the modern day. Despite this, the Bob Semple tank could be viewed as a success due to the semi-acceptable characteristics as viewed by the New Zealand Army. For a conversion from a civilian vehicle, the Bob Semple was an impressive feat of New Zealand ingenuity.[2]
When it comes to the worst tanks in history, there are plenty of designs that never made it off the drawing board that are eligible for the title. However, it’s when one of these awful designs is actually produced that history takes note. This is the case with the Bob Semple tank from New Zealand.
The Disston Tractor Tank, also called the Six-Ton Tractor Tank, was an American light tank of the mid 1930s. It was cheap to make, but few were sold as it was primitive and markedly inferior to the other light tanks of the era.
Well let’s talk about this, Bob has been upgraded – the New Zealanders have found a time machine and they have used it. Don’t worry, the past is still kind of the same, but the only difference is now New Zealand has CIWIS systems and Derp Cannons that would make KV-2 cry. Poor old Bob Semple has now become the Big Bob Semple, it’s still the same size but it features AK-630s and 152 mm HE shells.
Defence Of New Zealand
There, Semple was employed at the state owned Runanga coal mine. Semple became embroiled in the coal miner unionism of the time. He became the president of the Runanga Miners’ Union by 1907. In 1913 he was arrested for supporting the thought of a nation wide coal miner strike, and he moved to Wellington after his release. In 1916 he was once again arrested and served 12 months of jail time for speaking out against conscription. In 1918 he was elected as a representative from Wellington South to the New Zealand Parliament, representing the New Zealand Labor Party. In 1919, Semple was not reelected to his position in parliament. In 1925 he ended up as the Labour representative to the Wellington City Council until 1935. He once again was elected to the New Zealand Parliament in 1928.
The Public Works Department had dozens of Caterpillar D8 crawler tractors readily available, so Semple used the D8 as the basis of his tank. While not ideal, he used corrugated iron to build the tank itself as it was the only suitable material locally available. Armor was provided in the form of corrugated manganese plating which was expected to deflect bullets, but would do little to protect the vehicle from proper cannon rounds.
Maximum speed for the Bob Semple tank with just machine gun armaments up to 24 km/h, provided by its lightning fast 5 hp per ton ratio. With the addition of the 37 mm, the top speed is slightly reduced compared to its maximum.
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Operational History[Edit]
The two tanks that were given to the New Zealand Army had their armour removed and were able to be returned to civilian use. The third, which had previously remained at Auckland, was supposedly used in the Pacific with a dozer blade fitted but there unfortunately isn’t any photographic evidence.
That tank was an honest-to-God effort to do something with the material at our disposal when raider were at our back door… instead of sitting down and moaning we felt we ought to do something to manufacture weapons that would help to defend our country and our people.[3]
In defense of the Kiwi armored vehicle, the Semple tank did not have the benefit of a long development period or national industrial might. Rather, it was hastily design and built in anticipation of a Japanese invasion of New Zealand.
The base armor consisted of 8 mm thick steel plating, with another 12.7 mm of corrugated manganese steel over the top of it. It is said that this armor could protect against up to 20 mm cannons and against even heavy machine guns.
Survivability And Armour
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Emma Nehls is a military writer and historian with a passion for exploring the intricacies of warfare and the human experience within the military. With extensive knowledge and a deep understanding of military strategy, tactics, and historical contexts, Nehls brings a unique perspective to his writings.
