SMK

Overview
The SMK (Named after Sergei Mironovich Kirov, an official of the communist party who was assassinated) was an experimental Soviet heavy tank developed in the years before WWII. Only one example was ever produced, due to its poor performance during the Finnish winter war.

Design
The SMK was a design of heavy tank intended to replace the mechanically unreliable T-35. A team of engineers under Josef Kotin produced the vehicle at the Kirovsky works in Leningrad. In 1938 it was decided to change the tank's suspension from spring to torsion bar, and the number of turrets were reduced to two. The new plan for the tank required a crew of seven men. Kotin also designed a single turret version with a shortened chassis, which eventually became the famous KV-1 tank. A 45 mm M1932 cannon was placed in the frontal turret, while a larger 76.2 mm weapons with a barrel 11 calibers long was placed in the central turret. Three 7.62 mm machine guns were placed throughout the monstrous tank.

Action
The tank was taken along with two KV-1 prototypes to a proving ground, where the KV-1s proved more successful than the SMK. Regardless, the SMK was pushed into the Battle of Summa in Finland, where it was immobilized. The crew abandoned it, though it was eventually recovered. No more were built, and with good reason, as the tank's performance was not impressive.