Cost of WW2 weapons

Does anyone have man hours on the production of these weapons?

 

Madsen LMG $37,000 USD 2012 for a regestered weapon.
$1800 world arms market price
see machinegunpriceguide.com

 

M-1 Garand $70 USD 1942, $31 USD 1945
M-2 BMG $1560 USD 1945
M-2 4.2" Mortar $834 USD 1945
M1919A4 $579 USD 1945
M1918A2 BAR $319 USD 1945
Mk II Sten $10 USD 1942
Mk 2 Hand grenade $1 USD 1942

P-51 $50,985 USD 1945
B-17 $240,000 USD 1945
B-24 $296,000 USD 1945
B-29 $750,000 USD 1945
Norden and Sperry bombsights $15,000 USD 1942
US Balao Class sub $2,750,000 USD 1945
Mk 13/14/15 Torpedo $10,000 USD 1940

V-1 $600 USD / RM 1500 1945
V-2 $40,000 USD / RM 100,000 1944, $20,000 USD / RM 50,000 1945

Atomic bomb $30,000 USD

 

An interesting counter point to:

According to:
http://aupress.au.af.mil/digital/pdf/book/b_0006_werrell_evolution_cruise_missile.pdf
page 69 a JB-2 costs the US about $8,620 since it was almost identical to a V-1 something seems a bit fishy here.
On page 76 the cost is listed as $8,080 (less warhead) and 1,047 man hours.

??? I'd like to know where this came from and how it was calculated. It seams awfully low.

Given the differences between the MK 13, MK 14, and MK 15 torpedoes I find it odd that they all are set to one prices as well.

 

M-1 carbine $45

 

When I saw the title of this thread I remembered a previous comment I had made on the cost of tanks and found it here:

Quote

Full thread here:
http://www.ww2talk.c...eapon-cost.html

 

Holy crap that's a lot of $$. 180k is a lot now that must have been a LOT of money then!!!!!!

 

Nice one RG. Think it is a good idea to attach accountability to the expensive pieces issued. Otherwise the kit may be neglected/ abused/stolen...But would they hold someone accountable for damaged equipment- other than a brow beating? It was war after all.

 

As stated before...these numbers musn't be compared...a gun could cost you NIL if its slave labour (plus materials - which themselves differ in prices depending on the market and location...and if there is a war on!)
Labour costs were highest in the US so it makes sense that everything from there costs more...they still have the same problem : )

 

Were US labor costs really hgher than British? It may depend a lot on how you calculate them though.

 

Hello!

Guys, i am making new strategic game and i want do it like as war simulator.

Costs of units will be in real price. I am from club of army history and i know many kind of units. In my game will be planes, tanks, guns and infantry. Now i am finding informantions about cost of units and i have so big problems with that :-(

I found there some prices and really thank you for that! But i want ask you, please: Is possible to find cost of these units?

Tanks: Germany: Jagdtiger, Hummel, SdKfz 234 Puma, Jagdpanther

Soviets: T-60, SU-76 M, SU-85(mb 201.000), KV-1 (mb 295.000 rubles), KV-2, IS-1, SU-100, ISU-152, IS-2 (mb 264.400 rubles)

USA: M40 Long Tom

Other: M3A1 Half-track, M8 Greyhound, M16-AA (mb 35.000 dollars?), 37mm AT-Gun, 57mm AT-Gun, 76,2mm M5.

M3A1 for SSSR, BA-20, Zis-42-61K (AA), 53-K vz.37 (mb 10.000 rubles), ZIS 2, ZIS 3, BS-3

I will be verry happy for every help!

Tomas

 

Currency Conversion Rates.

1 USD = 2.5 German mark.

Bismarck costs 196 Mio Reichsmark -> 78.4 Mio USD
for comparison BB 61 Iowa cost 125 Mio USD

 

Good chance with your undertaking, I've been attempting something like it on and off or over 30 years now but the inflation, "official" and "real" exchange rates, cost streamlining dynamics and other "phenomenons" like the decreasing quality of German armour and quality control late war so that a 1945 Panther or K98k is quire different from an early production one, have made me give up as I realized I was comparing apples and oranges.
Adding more and more variables to the model, for which I might be able to find historical data for possibly 30% of the weapons, was going nowhere.
So I just stopped maintaining the "cost" column in my weapons database and now I'm just using the equipment's weight multiplied by a "weapon class" factor and a "sophistication factor" and it gives reasonable results.

You would at least need to have different costs for the same weapon for each year to take into account production streamlining, for mass produced weapons unit costs tended to drop dramatically.

 

You might want to put in an "efficiency" factor as well. One problem the Axis powers had was their lack of access to certain resources. Aluminum for instance is very power intensive to produce yet fuel in general was a constrained resource in the Axis nations especially once the war started. Thus a ton of Aluminum would be considerably more valuable in Germany than in the US.

 

Here is something I have been pondering ever since I discovered that a B-24 cost ~$300,000 in 1945 dollars, and 12000 saw service with the USAAF (according to Wikipedia).

That's $3.6 billion dollars and we haven't even factored in operating costs yet.

I always see the total cost of WW2 for the USA quoted as $341 billion, but that seems incredibly low if just the production costs of a single weapon system (the B-24) accounts for 1% of that. Sure, the B-24 is a relatively expensive example, but how many different aeroplanes, ships, tanks and guns were also produced in large numbers, and that before we even start to factor in the cost of shipping it all around the world, fuel, ammunition, and the cost of paying all the soldiers and staff.

Does anyone have any insight into how the $341B was calculated?

 

Welcome aboard - I like your question.

That Liberator price from Wiki seems a tad high for a start:

That's from 'The Arsenal of Democracy'
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=SZ2UAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA286&lpg=PA286&dq=The+Arsenal+of+Democracy+by+A.+J.+Baime+...+The+cost+to+make+each+Liberator+dropped+from+$238,000+per+ship+at+the+beginning+of+production+to+$137,000&source=bl&ots=sN0Pq-gYFt&sig=PQBesKh0TfXW1nHS94vquR3CikU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiK4cDB59vPAhVDbBoKHVGUAa4Q6AEIIDAB#v=onepage&q=The%20Arsenal%20of%20Democracy%20by%20A.%20J.%20Baime%20...%20The%20cost%20to%20make%20each%20Liberator%20dropped%20from%20%24238%2C000%20per%20ship%20at%20the%20beginning%20of%20production%20to%20%24137%2C000&f=false

(Wiki price was taken from Pacific Wrecks: http://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/b-24/tech.html uncited)

So the $3.6Bn for B24s is looking a little sketchy, even before you take off Commonwealth and other countries' purchases from the total.

As to that $341bn - no idea. Now interested.