Amphibious vehicle DUKW
Total from 1942 to 1945. In the United States, more than 21 thousands of DUKW amphibious vehicles were manufactured. Of these, at least 586 amphibians entered service with the Red Army as part of the Lend-Lease program. According to the official website of the US Coast Guard, which currently manages all American amphibious vehicles, on 25 June 2002, only in the USA DUKW 75 amphibians were still used for commercial purposes, 140 was still under state jurisdiction, cars were used on non-navigable waterways. So the amphibian, released during the Second World War, remains in demand at the beginning of the XXI century. Some of them are operated in excursion companies and yacht clubs.
The abbreviation DUKW comes from the system adopted by General Motors for the names of models of automotive vehicles produced by it; it is interpreted as follows:
“D” means the car was designed in the 1942 year;
"U" means "utility" (in this case, "auxiliary");
"K" means all-wheel drive - all-wheel drive;
“W” means the car has a double rear axle.
The DUKW amphibious vehicle was finally put into service in October 1942, widely used by the US military and its allies until the end of World War II. For the first time these amphibians were used in the 8 of the English army during the landing on Sicily. During this campaign, the British were armed with 230 cars DUKW, which could carry troops, anti-tank guns and ammunition. Soon DUKW amphibians were used to transport cargo through the Strait of Messina, and also participated in the liberation of Salerno. In addition, amphibians were used when crossing rivers in Italy, Western Europe and Burma.
Amphibious car DUKW
The amphibious displacement hull and its contours were designed by the New York shipbuilding company Sparkman & Stephen. At the same time, the boat was not a supporting structure - inside the hull there was an ordinary ACKWX-353 chassis with minor changes in the nodes, which was caused by the specifics of the application. The existing truck frame with chassis assemblies was installed in a displacement pontoon-type boat hull. The body was welded and manufactured from 1,9 mm thick sheet steel. The amphibian hull was distinguished by the presence of power braces and amplifiers, with hydrodynamic forms that were very successful for such a versatile car, which almost did not limit its mobility in off-road conditions. In the bottom of the boat hull there were recesses for wheels, cardan shafts, axles and a propeller.
In addition to ordinary for truck controls in the amphibious GMC group, there were also levers for turning on the propeller, pump valves, as well as toggle switches for turning on tire inflation. All this additional equipment was located in the department of management. On DUKW amphibians with adjustable air pressure in tires, a two-cylinder compressor permanently connected to the engine was mounted.
Suspension and running gear (two-spar frame, box-type side members) of the DUKW amphibian did not differ from the base truck. But unlike a truck in an amphibious vehicle, all the tires were single-pitch, oversized with a large tread pattern, denoted as “reversing all-terrain vehicle”, with a single track. All this significantly improved the permeability of DUKW, as it was of great importance when the amphibian emerged from the water on a muddy, sandy or slick shore. Subsequently, in September 1942 of the year (after the production of 2005 amphibious vehicles), a centralized system for regulating the air pressure in the tires (on the go) was introduced into their design, which made it possible to reduce the pressure from normal 2,8 kgf / sq. Cm (when the amphibious vehicle was traveling on roads with coating) to 0,7 kgf / sq. cm when driving on weak soils (mud, sand), in particular, when leaving the shore from the water. Because of the deformation (flattening) of the tires that occurs during this, the contact area of the tread with the ground increased, which significantly reduced the pressure exerted on the ground, and increased throughput.
For pumping out water that could get into the body of an amphibious vehicle, it had an 2 pump: centrifugal and gear, they were driven from the propeller shaft. Behind, in the aft niche of the amphibious hull, a drum winch with a tractive force 9 mc was usually installed. The winch served to facilitate loading into the cargo compartment of artillery systems, vehicles, ammunition and other goods. For self-pulling the winch could only be used when moving backwards. The maximum height of the surf waves in the coastal zone, which still allowed the use of amphibious vehicles DUKW, was approximately 3 meters.
The mass production of GMC DUKW amphibious trucks was mastered in March 1942 by Yellow Truck & Coach Mfg factories, and, starting in 1943, by Pontiac, where only their final assembly was carried out. In 1943, 4508 amphibians of this type were manufactured, and in total by the end of 1945 - 21 units. The first DUKW amphibious vehicles entered the US Army in October 147 and were widely used by the US military until the end of World War II. At the same time, amphibious vehicles entered service with the engineering regiments and battalions of the specially created amphibious engineering command.
Around the middle of 1944, amphibious GMC DUKW-353 amphibious vehicles began to enter the Soviet Union as part of the lend-lease military assistance program. In the Red Army, amphibians were in service with individual battalions of amphibious vehicles. They were widely used by the Soviet military during the crossing of the Daugava and Svir rivers, during the Vistula-Oder offensive operation, and also in August 1945 of the year during the battles with the Japanese in Manchuria. The use of these unique at that point in time amphibians made it possible to solve complex combat missions with significantly less losses than when using conventional transport means.
DUKW performance characteristics:
Overall dimensions: length - 9,45 m, width - 2,5 m, height - 2,17 m.
Mass of the car with full gear - 6,5 t.
Load capacity - 2300 kg (on land).
The power plant - 6-cylinder gasoline engine GMC horsepower 94.
Thrust: 14 hp / t.
The maximum speed is 80 km / h (on land), 10,2 km / h (on water).
Power reserve - 640 km (on land), 93 km (on water).
Crew - 2-3 person.
Information sources:
http://www.bratishka.ru/archiv/2013/10/2013_10_13.php
http://zonwar.ru/news2/news_388_DUKW-353.html
http://pro-tank.ru/blog/1043-amphibious-vehicle-dukw-353
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