SU-152P - Gorlitsky's ugly duckling

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Hello !

I’d like to suggest the addition of the SU-152P based on a very familiar chassis and armed with a powerful 152 mm gun.

Did you know? The P in SU-152P denotes the fact that it uses a conventional gun. Likewise, the G in SU-152G means that it carries a howitzer. (Yes, I’ve been heavily inspired by the official devblogs haha)


The SU-152P showing its full elevation sideways, 1949

History

Spoiler

Following the end of World War 2, the Soviets were very keen on getting their own lightweight guns that would be even lighter than their current self-propelled guns while keeping their key characteristics. However, at that point, no one had any idea what to do. Factory n° 9 proposed a duplex of a 100 mm gun and a 122 mm howitzer and that was the gist of it. The GAU (Main directorate of the artillery) and GBTU (Main directorate of armored vehicles) didn’t know what factory could make those vehicles and more importantly, what they wanted those vehicles to be.

It was not until May 1946 that UZTM would receive basic needed specifications. UZTM and all the factories working alongside (n° 8, 9, 172) agreed on designing open top vehicles. This led to the creation of 6 different vehicles : the SU-100P, SU-122G, SU-122P, SU-152G, SU-152P as well as a ZSU-85.







Can you tell which vehicle is which ?

Overall, the vehicles would share a similar concept with the Ardelt Waffenträger that the Soviets were trialing in early 1946 but that’s where the similarities would end. Work on the program was fast but was still delayed in late 1947, so the first SU-100P was not ready until June 1948. However, it was not until late July that the vehicle would enter factory trials.

Following good results and according to the plan, UZTM prepared all the blueprints necessary for the production of the SU-152G in the summer. Initially, the vehicle should have been going through trials by that time but the early delays of the SU-100P led to the SU-152G only being prepared in October.
The SU-152P itself was to be built by the last quarter of 1948. However, this one looked less promising. The weight and recoil force of the 152 mm gun were deemed excessive and the Soviets were not sure it could fill the requirements laid down. As such, the project stalled and the GBTU only approved the drawings and plans of producing a prototype by late January 1949. The SPG was now to enter factory trials by September and state trials 2 months later.



Blueprints of the SU-152P, it had an early muzzle brake and the ammo storage layout ended up being different


The SU-152P as it was built in UZTM, 1949

Of course, that didn’t happen. The SU-152P was a mess to deal with and was initially exceedingly overweight, reaching a whopping 29,2 tons in April. Somehow, UZTM managed to bring it back to the specified 26 tons by the end of the year but it was still a bit too heavy, not being helped by the fact that the shells’ total weight ended up being 71,5 kg (projectile + charge).
The project was cancelled in October 1949 and the vehicle only barely partook in factory trials, showing mobility issues.

Specifications

Crew : 5

  • Driver
  • Gunner
  • Commander
  • Loader
  • Loader

Armament

  • One 152 mm M-53 (Ammo : 30)
  • Sights : Unknown (likely to be similar to SU-100P)
  • Elevation : -5°/+30° (at the front)

Dimensions

  • Weight : 26,1 t
  • Length : 9,21 m (gun forward)
  • Width : 3 m
  • Height : ~2,6 m

Mobility

  • Engine : V-105 (400 hp)
  • Top speed : 55 km/h / -24 km/h
  • Transmission : 5 forward / 2 reverse

Armor

This is the armor scheme of the SU-100P but the SU-152P shared the same.

Sources

  • Трудная школа (ISBN 978-5-9906886-2-9)
  • Отечественные бронированные машины 1945-1965 гг. (ISBN 978-5-85905-623-1)
8 Likes

+1, for tech tree, absolutely. Love the images as well, never seen some of these before

2 Likes

I meant to do this one after suggesting the SU-152G, but got sidetracked by other projects. Great suggestion! +1

1 Like

What are the ammo specifications?

I could give you some information but I completely forgot this cannon, this muzzle is familiar to me.

+1

annouying su-100p BIG brother? why not lol

It fires the same ammunition as that of the ML-20S and M64 in ISU-152 and object 268 respecitvely, but at 760m/s. 10m/s greater than the M64.

2 Likes

Which are you talking about? the APCBC is also 760 m/s for the M64, so they will share the same pen.

1 Like

+1, it will be fun. I do really well in the Italian 90/43 M41M so this will just be perfect for me.

Unclear. As the information only comes from a secondary source (Yuri Pasholok) describing their differences without specifying a shell. And given that description I would assume the shell velocity difference is in regards to the HE shell.

The BR-540B then likely had a similar boost in velocity to ~770m/s. Though obviously a source is needed to confirm it.

+1 Good sidegrade option , and always for big guns