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Model 1917 Holt Gas-Electric

1918 WORLD WAR 1 X-TANK

History of Holt Gas and Electricity in 1917

The Holt Gas-Electric Tank became the first truly American designed and built "tank". Barely legendary, the system still provides a stepping stone to the nation's future defense needs and builds on some harsh lessons learned from observing the wars that engulfed Europe. In the end, it turned out that Holt's design was complex internally, and the resulting tank was simply too heavy to perform well. Therefore, production is limited to a single evaluation prototype.

Prototypes were started in 1917 and completed in 1918.

Holt already has extensive experience building Holt tractors. So Holt teamed up with General Electric Company (GEC) to try to produce America's first fuel tank system based on their manufacturing and design experience. An entirely new track was developed as a longer ten-wheel arrangement using a vertical coil spring suspension system.

Tracks were mounted on either side of the lower hull, while a fixed "box"-type armor assembly housed the engine, transmission and crew compartments that made up the superstructure. This layout gives the Holt tank an extremely functional look, to say the least, with the only notable physical feature being the overhanging broadsides.

Armor protection for the crew varies throughout the design, ranging in thickness from 6mm to 15mm. The crew will consist of six people, including the commander, driver, gunner, loader and two machine gunners. Power is provided by a Holt-branded 4-cylinder petrol engine producing up to 90 hp and mated to a transmission system, both housed in a compartment at the rear of the vehicle. A sophisticated water cooling system was developed to improve cooling and prevent the transmission from overheating.

The engine was used as a generator to drive the two GEC track motors per track (similar to the French St Chamond tank, which also used a Holt suspension system).

The armament of the Holt gas-electric tank is centered on the 75mm Vickers Mountain howitzer (again similar to the French Saint-Chamont tank). The howitzer is mounted on the forward hull with limited travel.

This was complemented by a pair of Browning 7.62mm (.303 caliber) machine guns for anti-infantry work on the sides of the vehicle. These machine guns will be mounted on ball mounts in the sideboards and beams with limited visibility.

Ultimately, Holt's design was an overall disappointment. The tank did not perform well in testing, and being overweight (caused by a number of factors, including the transmission cooling system) was detrimental to performance.

While the system performed well enough on flat ground, its real downside was its ability to cope with altitude changes and the tank's performance dropped significantly. Essentially, the Holt tank cannot climb slopes efficiently and is of great use to the U.S. Army.

The machine has a top speed of just 6 mph and a range of 31 miles.

Although their efforts to design America's first tank were over, the Holt Manufacturing Company became known as Caterpillar - still today a major manufacturer of tractor systems.