Quote:
Originally Posted by Slipdigit
Maybe the rake served two purposes. I woulda thought they might have angled also it to shift some of the weight to the center, instead having it all hang over the end of the car, making it less likely to tip forward, just enough to derail all or part of the rear bogie. In my description, the front is at the muzzle and rear at the breach of the cannon.
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Correct there, all sorts of arguments for sloping armor. The primary argument against is internal design. Folks want to have losts of room for machinery, crew, and ammo storage. The result of this is usually vertical side armor, and poorly sloped areas on the front.
Naval architects had compiled a large body of data on armor & AP ammo from experiments and experince since the mid 19th Century. The use of this for designing tank armor seems to have been less than perfect.