Most useless weapon of the 20th Century

I'm sure there was a lot of that kind of thing between the various Allied nations!

But check the 'rivalry' between Italy & Germany...

 

The SA80 has had major problems but seems to be much better having being worked over by HK. See: http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/SA80.htm for the full story.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion
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Or better still, the rivalry between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Army. Those two groups barely spoke to one another, and it sometimes seemed like they were more interested in fighting each other than in defeating the Allies. The Japanese defeat at Guadalcanal stemmed in part from this lack of interservice cooperation.

 

Useless weapons nominations

Useless one: King tiger, heavy, cant be put on a flatbed railway car, runs on petrol, more like a slightly movable pill box than a tank. Not a lot of thought went into that weapon.

Useless two: V1/V2, not enough space or time to expain why these were a waste of resources. Sure they furthered the cause of space exploration. Tell that to the slave labourers in Dora-Mittelburg.

Useless three: Do 217/He111/He117. Total failures at the tasks they were given. These planes simply sacrificed their crews in large numbers. why could`nt the Germans follow what other airforces had in planning? Look at the 117, four engines two props? Germans are supposed to be conventional. the 117 was a total waste. The 217 was out of date by 1940, the 111 was not far behind it.

Useless three; Tiger Elefant, the Porsche design for the Tiger 1, turned into tank hunter/spg, electric gerabox???? Crazy, total let down at kursk, not at all reliable

 

i disagree with about the KT, yes it was big clumbsy but it served it purpuse, as a defensive weapon it was more than a match for the allies and it's 88 can take any tank on any front,
on the elephant, it also served it purpuse in due time, no as mobile as the panther or tiger but deadly with the 88, please read other post about the elephant( i do not remember where, but roel or skua can give you the link to it)
and can you tell me about the He 117, never hear of that plane, and it was an order by hitler that only bimotor planes will be needed so that's the reason of no big planes in the luftwaffe, but you must remember that messersmith made the me 264 that was able to reach ney york city but he did not get officialy suport

 

Re: Useless weapons nominations

As for the V1 and 2 they were terror weapons which at first instilled terror, however, after a while the people became used to them and almost ignored them. But they were in principle a killing weapon and that is what they did. Non cost effective yes useless no.

If you wish to cite this as an example of useless then most weapons of WW2 were useless and the only useful bombers were dive bombers, as they were the most accurate.

 

Don't forget the V1 was used to bombard Rotterdam - from stategic missile to heavy artillery - there is versatility!

The V2 was terrifying, as it arrived before the sound of it did. No warning at all. You never know if one is just about to hit you...

 

Yep. Good thing the German nuclear program never amounted to anything. The combination of the two would have been devastating.

 

The elefant and king tiger were too complicated and therefore a waste of valuable resources. for one elefant they could have had four PzKw iv, with a potent 75mm gun, sure the elefant and King tiger were interesting ideas and a window on the future, but the conditions on the ostfront showed that this approach to armour was incorrect - quality vs. quantity.

The V2 and V1 were useless, the v1 more than the v2, yes they did terrorise the low countries and s'east england from 06.44 to the end, but what a waste of resources, their production of these weapons helped the allies win and quickened the end for the Third Reich. That defiens useless for me. The whole accuracy thing is another story. kinda like those anti ICBM missiles that the US has, but don`t work

the Junkers 260 was built, served with KG60 on recon of the convoy routes and mysterious transport missions at the end of the war, I think somewhere between 16 and 20 were built. It had a massive range

the He 117 was codemnamed Greif, it also served on the recon of convoy routes, carrying the Fritz X guided bomb, with KG 40. It took over form the Fock Wulf FW 200 Condor, as it was unable for the payload. The engines were fine, but the transfer form the engines to the properllor screw was not up to the task, It had a problem with sudden fires, could`nt fly with one engine. Bigger than B-17. Remote control turrets, some pressurised versions. I`d prefer the Ju260, personally.

Fianally the whole two engined, vs four thing had an awful lot to do with the LW command, which was divided on the issue.

 

Looks like the gun used by the Stormtroops in starwars..... :lol: :lol:

KBO

 

The V1 was a lot more useful to the Germans than the V2 because the latter was extremely expensive and hard to operate while the first was extremely cheap and could be launched almost anywhere. A fully assembled V1 cost just a few man-hours in comparison to other weapons and I believe the material used cost a total of just 120 RM.

 

Hmmmm...hard to believe that they were *that* cheap. Still, if they were, then they were more cost effective than the V-2s. However, a V-2 hit did a LOT more damage than a V-1 hit. I saw a picture once of a crater made in London by a V-2. You could have parked at least a dozen of the british double decker buses in the hole!

 

It was a much more formidable weapon than the V1, certainly, but the cost made it useless; Germany couldn't afford a whole storm of them, and therefore they were of little effect. The V1s were much better suiited for distant bombardment, because they were (really that) cheap and easily operated.

 

But they required huge, fixed launch ramps, which are easily spotted and bombed. The V2 could be launched from the back of a modified half-track.

 

If you don't develop weapons because they are too costly then you will never develop a good weapon.

You develop a weapon and then improve on it.

 

I don't think think the V1 & 2 could be described as useless but it would be fair to say they didn't make a material difference to the course of the war.

Obviously both systems had the disadvantage of war time development which doesn't allow for all the kinks to be worked out.

The V1 could be caught and shot down by a number of allied types. Its level flight and consistant height made relatively easy to shoot down with AA guns. Still had they been able to make enough of them the option would have been to simply saturate the defences

The V2 had the big advantage that once it left the ground it was unstopable (still would be actually) but the actual explosive was relatively weak. The Germans found that V2's will more powerfull explosives tended to blow up in mid air.

 

There was a derivative of the V-2 in development when the war ended, which would have had enough range to hit the East Coast of the United States. They likely would not have done a lot of actual damage, but it would definitely have hurt civilian morale.

 

Talking about the V2, does anyone know of v2 launch sites or bunkers still intact that you are able to visit. I heard of Dora Mittelbau in tha Harz mountains, which i`d like to visit.

 

but that is the place of construction , not a launching site

 

Try Peeneemundu (spelt wrong, I know) where they were developed & tested.
V2's tended to be launched from mobile platforms.