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Description
Tanktober 2020 is a go!
Going with the 1st prompt of Inktober 2020 we're going with the Tauchpanzer.

===History Lesson Time!===

Operation Sealion, the planned Nazi German invasion of the United Kingdom in 1940, would've been the largest amphibious landing by a mechanized army, and the largest amphibious invasion since Gallipoli. As the Luftwaffe battled the Royal Air Force for air superiority, the Kriegsmarine and Wehrmacht made plans and preparations. One of the challenges was figuring out how to get their panzers ashore. Lacking purpose-built landing crafts, inland river barges would be modified and used to ferry tanks from ship to shore. But these were ill-suited for the choppy waters of the English Channel and were complicated to operate and vulnerable to enemy fire, and specially modified tanks were sought. While the lighter Panzer II could be modified to float, that left a problem for their heavier medium tanks.
Enter the Tauchpanzer or deep-wading tank (also known as the U-Panzer or Unterwasser Panzer), a standard Panzer III or IV made completely waterproof by completely sealing the tank, including covering the hatches and gun mantlet and commander's cupola rendering the entire crew blind. They would navigate underwater with a gyrocompass or follow instructions by radio from surface ships. An 18m long rubber hose fed air to the crew and engine, while the engine was converted to be cooled by seawater.
These would be dropped offshore and travel along the seabed, able to operate in waters up to a depth of 15 meters (49ft). Once ashore, the tanks could ditch the covers and seals and operate as normal tanks.

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As a follow-up from last year's sunken Sherman DD , I relished the opportunity to draw this little known tank in a what-if alt-history scenario had Operation Sealion gone ahead.
The first prompt of Inktober 2020 gave me the perfect excuse.
Plus drawing mermaids. Always a plus to draw mermaids.

Description
Tanktober 2020 is a go!
Going with the 1st prompt of Inktober 2020 we're going with the Tauchpanzer.

===History Lesson Time!===

Operation Sealion, the planned Nazi German invasion of the United Kingdom in 1940, would've been the largest amphibious landing by a mechanized army, and the largest amphibious invasion since Gallipoli. As the Luftwaffe battled the Royal Air Force for air superiority, the Kriegsmarine and Wehrmacht made plans and preparations. One of the challenges was figuring out how to get their panzers ashore. Lacking purpose-built landing crafts, inland river barges would be modified and used to ferry tanks from ship to shore. But these were ill-suited for the choppy waters of the English Channel and were complicated to operate and vulnerable to enemy fire, and specially modified tanks were sought. While the lighter Panzer II could be modified to float, that left a problem for their heavier medium tanks.
Enter the Tauchpanzer or deep-wading tank (also known as the U-Panzer or Unterwasser Panzer), a standard Panzer III or IV made completely waterproof by completely sealing the tank, including covering the hatches and gun mantlet and commander's cupola rendering the entire crew blind. They would navigate underwater with a gyrocompass or follow instructions by radio from surface ships. An 18m long rubber hose fed air to the crew and engine, while the engine was converted to be cooled by seawater.
These would be dropped offshore and travel along the seabed, able to operate in waters up to a depth of 15 meters (49ft). Once ashore, the tanks could ditch the covers and seals and operate as normal tanks.

=====

As a follow-up from last year's sunken Sherman DD , I relished the opportunity to draw this little known tank in a what-if alt-history scenario had Operation Sealion gone ahead.
The first prompt of Inktober 2020 gave me the perfect excuse.
Plus drawing mermaids. Always a plus to draw mermaids.