Were heavy tanks worth the cost in WWII?

[derspiess]

You know what tank kicked ass?  The M551 Sheridan.  Okay, not really, but I always thought the gun was cool.  Except for maybe that night at Ft. Bragg in 1995 when they were doing gunnery just a few yards from my tent.

[The Brain]

The Swedish S-tank was best.

[Syt]

Swedish stank? 

[grumbler]

Swedish stank? 

Present tense is more appropriate.

[Kleves]

No doubt that TDs were ultimately a mistake, but didn't the US TDs have a pretty good record (i.e. positive kill-ratio) in Europe?

[Syt]

Swedish stank? 

Present tense is more appropriate.

I was thinking more along the lines of: http://de.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=stank

3.
 
Stank
The smell that is present when you are having sex.

[grumbler]

No doubt that TDs were ultimately a mistake, but didn't the US TDs have a pretty good record (i.e. positive kill-ratio) in Europe?

Not if you look at all TD kills divided by all TD losses.  In the cases where they were used as proper tank destroyers (i.e. defensively), they would certainly have a positive kill ratio, but the opportunities for such use were few, and when one considers both that the production of an M10 cost the production of a Sherman with the 76mm gun, and that TD were most often used as tanks anyway, the concept can't help but be seen as a failure.

[grumbler]

Swedish stank? 

Present tense is more appropriate.

I was thinking more along the lines of: http://de.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=stank

3.
 
Stank
The smell that is present when you are having sex.

Okay.  Germans are weird, but I knew that already.

[DGuller]

No doubt that TDs were ultimately a mistake, but didn't the US TDs have a pretty good record (i.e. positive kill-ratio) in Europe?

For that matter, for all the hate heaped on Shermans, didn't they still have a pretty good kill ratio against what they faced (especially if you consider German tanks lost to breakdowns, which you arguably should, since reliability is part of the design compromise).

[Admiral Yi]

Why should you assign a German breakdown kill to Shermans, instead of, say, some guy in a jeep?

[PDH]

The Sherman gets a lot of scorn heaped on it, but had the TD nonsense been not there than the Sherman could have been upgunned to 76mm a year earlier, and quite possibly up armored (as was done in shops anyway) without too much loss of mobility.  While it would still "ronson" when hit with an 88, it would have been a far better option for quickly having a far better tank force.

[Admiral Yi]

It still wouldn't have looked cool.

What does ronson mean?  Brew up?

[Malthus]

It still wouldn't have looked cool.

What does ronson mean?  Brew up?

Yup - "Ronson" was a popular brand of cigarette lighter at the time.

[PDH]

"Lights up the first time, every time!"

[Razgovory]

I actually think the Shermans were some of the best tanks of the war.  Of course I happen to believe that an adequate tank on the battlefield is worth much more then a great tank that is not.