T - 19 The T - 19 was a Soviet Union tank design of the interwar years . Conceived as the mainstay of the new Soviet tank armies , it was a development of the T - 18 and was ultimately based on the First World War era French Renault FT - 17 . When ready for production in 1931 it was already obsolete and the project was terminated in favour of the Vickers based T - 26 . History . The idea of creating a new tank direct support of infantry , capable of replacing T - 18 , appeared at the meeting RVS July 17 – 18 , 1929 . According to the plan RVS , a T - 19 was supposed to be the main strike force mobile units in the Red Army in a maneuverable combat . From the tank required , in particular , the ability to overcome most of the field fortifications and barbed wire without the help of the " tail " and at the highest possible speed . Firepower tank was supposed to provide a tank superiority over all known fighting vehicles of similar weight , but booking would protect the crew from rifle and machine gun bullets at all ranges , and at a distance of 1000 meters and fire 37 - mm antitank guns . In autumn 1929 , the tank was formulated technical task . Under the terms of reference tank was supposed to have a mass not exceeding 7 , 3 tonnes . The machine was supposed to carry 40 - mm cannon and two machine guns , armor was assumed to 18 – 20 mm . This engine is the estimated output of 100 hp was to inform the tank speed on solid ground not below 30 km / h . Implementation of the overall management of the design of the T - 19 was requested Ginzburg . Together with the project worked A . Mikulin and V . Simsk ( engine and chassis ) , and D . Maydell ( overall design and the tower ) and P . Syachintov ( weapons ) . The original completion date of the Development , January 15 , 1930 , failed to survive , but already 1 March 1930 took place on acceptance of a project and preparations for the manufacture of the prototype . Manufacturing of prototypes . Upon approval of the project in the spring of 1929 , preparations began for the production of a prototype tank , but in the course of this work are constantly had difficulties and delays that hindered production . August 13 , 1930 at a meeting of the RVS was agreed : However , March 1 , 1931 the tank was not ready . Moreover , at this point , as such , its production was not even started - impact fantastic complexity of manufacturing the tank . In addition , some parts such as bearings ( which required a lot of tank ) , had purchased abroad . Direct production of a prototype began only in June 1931 , and only to the end of August , the tank was mostly ready . Price tank rolls over the reasonable limits for such a machine - 96 thousand rubles ( for comparison , production of the BT - 2 from beginning to end six months later will cost about 50 - 60 thousand rubles ) . To make matters worse the situation is that this sum does not take into account the tower with weapons and CPR . And if the gearbox later still collected , the conical tower , designed for the T - 19 at Izhorskij not even started to do . Therefore , to test a prototype of the T - 19 had to install a tower on the T - 18 , slightly expanded its insignia . Failed to time " to bring to mind " and was designed P . Syachintovym 37 - mm gun , which , however , was somewhat smoothed by the same installation of the tower from the T - 18 with standard 37 - mm tank gun Hotchkiss with shoulder rest . Was not completed on time and six - cylinder engine is air cooled 100 hp designed by Mikulina . From the position decided to leave , putting his place vysokoooborotny motor " Franklin " power 95 hp , but its application required a partial alteration of the motor - transmission compartment of the tank , because this engine was designed the larger in size . In addition , had to be replaced and the PPC . Contribute significantly to complexity and higher cost have made the tank and a variety of additional equipment such as chemical protection or buoyancy . However , the final draft of the T - 19 was " buried " the emergence of a Soviet tank " Vickers 6 - ton " bought in the summer of 1930 in UK . In its main characteristics , it has not assigned any T - 19 , or even exceeded it , but calculations show that the production of Vickers will cost much less . Therefore , in the late fall of 1931 all work on the T - 19 were dismantled and release the resources immediately thrown to the serial production of the tank T - 26 , a Soviet version of Vickers . By that time , more or less completely collected two T - 19 ( with the towers of the T - 18 engines and " Franklin " ) , and additional time to produce a body of welded and cast components , as well as a number of subsidiary units . Subsequently , all this was sent to the smelter .