page_title: T-24 tank
section_title: Production history
hierarchical_section_title: T-24 tank / Production history
caption_attribution_description: Komintern Soviet artillery tractor
context_page_description: The T-24 was a Soviet medium tank built in 1931. Only twenty four were built, and none saw combat. This was the first tank produced at the KhPZ factory in Kharkov, which was later responsible for the very successful BT series, T-34 and T-54 Soviet tanks. The T-24's suspension was used successfully in the Soviet Union's first purpose-built artillery tractors.
  The T-24's main armament was a 45 mm gun. It had a ball-mount 7.62 mm DT machine gun in the hull, another in the turret, and a third in a secondary turret atop the main turret. The tank was well-armoured for its time, but the engine and transmission had problems.
context_section_description: A tank design bureau was established at the Kharkov Locomotive Factory (KhPZ) in Kharkov, Soviet Ukraine, in 1928. The first tank project of the factory was the T-12 (or T-1-12). This was a larger version of the T-18, with a more powerful engine (the T-18 was based on the Renault FT). The idea of the T-24 tank was so great, in August 1930, the Revolutionary Military Council (RVS) commissioned a staggering 1,600 T-24 tanks, compared to worldwide production being 900 tanks during these years.
  The T-24 was commissioned as an effort to recover the engineering that was placed into the T-12 tank. The demise of the T-24 was caused by factors that were overlooked to compensate for the oversight of the T-12, this caused the T-24 to be plagued with faults that were seen as basic. This included mechanical errors within the drive train and the suspension. After twenty five T-24 tanks had been built, the entire project was cancelled. One prototype was built and production of thirty tanks in 1930 was authorized, but automotive performance was so disappointing that it was decided to do further development work. In total, twenty five tanks were built. Eventually, the tanks that remained were used as training tank units of the Red Army.
  The project was re-designated T-24, work was completed fixing problems with the transmission and fuel system, and a larger turret was designed. Initial trials were conducted, during which performance was found satisfactory, although the prototype's engine caught fire, and the turret had to be transferred to a T-12 prototype for further testing. Only a total of twenty-four were built during 1931. The T-24s were originally armed only with machine guns, until the 45 mm guns were installed in the following year.
  The T-24 was found unreliable and was used only for training and parades. Although the T-24 tank was a failure, it gave the KhPZ its initial tank design and production experience, which was applied much more successfully in adopting production of the US Christie tank as the BT tank series, starting in 1931.
  
  The T-24 ultimately was cancelled midway through production because of where it stood in the lineup of Soviet tanks that already existed at the time. The T-24 was meant to cover the gap in the existing lineup that consisted of light and heavy tanks by introducing the mechanics of a medium tank. During the design process of the T-24, the Soviets focused on many outlets for a solution to their problem, including the T-19, T-21, and T-23 tanks. While undergoing testing however, the T-24 was competing with the more widely known Tank Grotte-1, otherwise known as the TG-1 and eventually dubbed the T-22 by the Soviets.
caption: Komintern artillery tractor
exif: {}