South-Korean "Tauchpanzers"... LINK

If I were the British on the receiving end of submersible tank crawling onto my beach, I would just lob shells into the water around the tank and let the depth-charge effect knock over all the snorkel tubes.

More on the topic... LINK

And here I was thinking "wait a minute" as Dragon released this one some time back. Wonder what (if any) changes outside of decals were different in this kit from the CH version. The Bug river crossing was the most famous usage of these tanks, I believe that they were also used on a couple of other, lesser occasions, but it should also be remembered that the first series of Tiger 1 also had deep-fording capabilities. Between leaks and claustrophobia it must have been terrifying!

I believe tiger 1, tiger 2,and panthers are all fitted for, but in most cases not with, snorkeling equipment. In fact one reason why early panthers suffer easily from engine fires was because the engine compartment was sealed for snorkeling so flamable fuel fumes accummukate too easily.

The specific Pz. III tauch featured in this kit (and the original Cyber Hobby white-box edition) was a genuine test-bed vehicle - there are in-action photos of it. This specific vehicle used a large float for a flexible snorkel - production tauch III (F, G, and H versions - and also Pz.IV D and E tauchs) used a simplified snorkel arrangement. As another poster mentioned, these were indeed successfully used to cross the Bug River, among other places. A large number of post-war tanks - German Leopard 1 and II, Italian Ariete, Russian T-62, T-64A and 64B, T-72, T-80, T-90, French LeClerck, and several others - come with standardized snorkel attachments and fittings and "diving" is a routine training exercise. Nobody - not the WWII Germans and not any modern army - likely intended or intends to have a diving tank actually go more than a few feet sub-surface. The real challenges (as I learned first-hand by riding inside a diving German Leopard crossing a small river during Reforger 76) lie not in how to keep the water out or get air into the engine and crew spaces, but in the fact that the driver can't see much of anything as he goes, so he has to rely upon the commander up top to direct his actions... We hit an under-water "pot-hole" and went "under wader-depth" for a moment... The WWII German approach using a sealed tank with a flexible floating snorkel with a closure poppet valve actually may have been a better idea than the modern "stack vent" - as the poppet could momentarily close, like in a submarine, and the tank and crew had a chance to get back up to workable depth before drowning. When that rigid "stack" dips under... you get an immediate flood. Cheers! Bob

Thanks for that insight, I always figured visibility (ie: none) was the big problem. While I know that only the first twenty or so(?) Tiger 1s were equipped for deep fording, I didn't know if the early Panthers were so equipped. If the Tiger 2 was at all is news to me as well. I understand that all subsequently had the gear removed later as it was decided as being an unnecessary, slow to use and expensive feature.

More "Tauchpanzer" info... LINK LINK

Early panthers with an armored pot over the central air intake at the rear duck were fitted with deep wading equipment. The pot protects a telescoping snorkel tube. The basic design of panther and tiger ii engine compartment with a separate water tight engine bay in the middle and free flooding radiator bays on either side were arranged this way to enable the engine to run while the vehicle was completely submerged. Early panther and tiger 2 also had inflatable hollow rubber o-ring seals on th erurret ring to allow the o ring to expand to form a watertight seal for wadding.