Why did Multi-Turreted Tanks Fail?

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"Breakthrough Infantry Carrier" Sir did you just reinvent the BMP ?

One drawback that you didn’t mention is the increasing difficulty tanks have turning the longer they are. A longer tank means more track on the ground that has to be dragged in a turn. And this is compounded the heavier the vehicle is as the greater weight presses the tracks into the ground more and multi-turret designs tended to be heavier than more standard tanks. This was a problem with things like the British Vickers Independent, the Soviet T-35, and even the legendary TOG II which only had the one turret but was freakishly long and heavy. This is also the reason the Swedish cheese wedge STRV 103s had very short lengths of track in contact with the ground, it allowed them to much more easily rotate on the spot to aim the gun.

One of the problems with multi turret tanks is that the two turrets are going to get into each others' way and it would be difficult to bring them both to bear forward and aft. Plus a multi turret will always have to sacrifice protection or mobility as the most powerful engine you can put in a single turret tank will be the same as you can put in the multi turret design.

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Wouldn't those remote machine guns on the top of modern tanks count as multi turret?

I think one important benefit of having multiple turrets is that you can give the turrets different armaments to fit different roles, which is basically what the M3 and Char B1 did: the main gun with limited traverse was used for firing HE shells to break through fortified defenses, while the smaller gun in the turret was used to deal with enemy armor.

Dear sweet Lord, the reference and use of Led Zeppelin was not expected, but most certainly welcomed.

Given how (not really) durable tanks are, its no surprise people figured "hey, iron coffins for 5 or less are better than iron coffins for 12 or 15". Its a nightmare for the commander to get everyone synchronized on what theyre meant to be doing; there isnt enough room in the vehicle to operate it properly, and those multi-turreted tanks usually lacked armor, due to weight constraints imparted on them by said turrets... who knew more steel on an already impressive amount of steel could cause logistical issues? Besides, these things always turned out huge, which goes against the idea and current development to reduce the height of tanks below 2 meters.

Another sizeable issue that kinda follows from how multi-turreted designs didn't have much more in the way of armour protection for the increase in weight... Why have one tank with two turrets that can be taken out by a single AP round in the right spot (and is a larger target for such), when you can have two tanks that require at least an AP round each to take out. If one of your two single turret tanks is taken out, you still have one fully operational tank. If the two-turreted tank is taken out, you now have zero fully operational tanks especially in a flare up scenario.

The only place multi-turret tanks are flourishing is at Multi Turret Academy on Steam. Happy to see another video, young man. You've come a long way from your MrSteveCrafter days :)

"Am I A Joke To You!" ~ Several Baneblade Crewmen

I was hoping to hear mention of things like the MBT 70 and AMX 30 having 20 mm on their tanks during the Cold War. And the recent designs like the Abrams x with the 30 mm on top. While ammo storage would of course be an issue I think having a remote weapon system 20 mm or 30 mm seems like a good idea

This reminds me of an old Mico board game made in the 1980's called, "Hell Tank", and "Hell Tank Destroyer". It was set in the far future. The hell tank was a multi turreted beast that also could carry smaller tanks if I recall correctly. That was over 40 years ago. I didn't learn that the concept of multi turreted tanks was a reality until about 20 years ago. I keep living. I keep learning. Thank you.

The weight problem is severe. Because you have to armor 360 degrees of turret multiple times over. In the modern day where ANY weak spot will be a detriment and having ERA facing towards your tank os a BAD idea, I doubt it will happen. Best ai can think of is a drone tank with like 5 controlled weapon mounts that can just drive into a town square and unload in every direction at once.

The multi turreted tank is quite a sensible idea when you think about it as an early tank designer. Since you only expect to fight infantry, it's theoretically superior. The first tank ever had two cannons for this exact reason. It's the same logic as warships. Many canon=more boom=more dead energy In the context of trench warfare it seems to make sense on paper.

One idea i do have for fictional multi turreted tanks is usage in a droid/machine army. With no crew and an ai in command rather than an individual person, some of the major draw backs (command oversight, needing more space for more crew, communication issues) are completely eliminated. Theoretically, in a sci fi setting an ai could use multi turreted tanks in a similar role to breakthrough and heavy tanks

They just evolved into RWS systems (yes I know thats redundant). We're now seeing cannon armed RWSs in 20mm & 30mm. The remote control nature makes them a much more viable option nowadays, as there doesn't need to be a crewman charging the cannon with clips of ammo or taking up an extra space. I think the CITV/Gun hybrids like Rheinmetall's "MSSA RCWS", the one of the T-90M and the ones KNDS showed off on the Leclerc Evolution at Eurosatory this year are the way to go.

Added to what you've already mentioned: greater complexity = more things to go wrong, more things requiring maintenance in the field, more time needed for field maintenance. There's also more training time needed to work up crews to efficiency, and if you have a hull loss, there's perhaps twice the personnel lost (and thus needing to be replaced).

I feel like you missed a quiet big benefit of multi turreted tank is the firepower to weight ratio. To achieve the same firepower of a multi turreted tank consisting of two cannons there should be two separate chasis built for each cannons resulting in separate engines and the exponential increase of armor needed hence multi turreted tanks, although costly per unit, do have a leverage over multiple tanks being required to be build.