America's First Railgun Tank

Many believe that railguns are what future tanks / armored fighting vehicles will be armed with. The concept of an electric gun seems very futuristic, but it actually goes back to World War I. During World War II, some nations began to look into it a bit further. Germany wanted to use railguns as anti-aircraft batteries, but the US Army had something different in mind. They wanted to mount it on the famous M4 Sherman. Eventually they had to settle for a coilgun, which is considerably less cool (this video is an April Fool's joke, please do not take any of this seriously).
Sources:
Me (It came to me in a dream)
Final Report of Test of One Medium Tank, M4A1 with 75-mm Magnetic Gun T82
The Rail Gun - Muad Al Khaldi (King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Department of Electrical Engineering)
The Practical Applications of Railguns on Tanks by Jotchua Bimbini
Check the channel "About" section for the link to the creator of my profile picture.
Songs used (in order from first to last):
Subnautica - Into the Unknown
Halo 3: ODST - Rain (Deference for Darkness)
Sound mods:
Epic Thunder (Pre-release)
Gunner HEAT PC Crew Voices Mod (Personal, go play the game: gunnerheatpc.com/ )
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#warthunder​​​​​​​​​​​​ #tanks​​​​​​​​​​​​ #tankhistory

[@Spookston]

Just in case it wasn't painfully obvious, this is an April Fool's joke. Don't take any of this seriously.

[@thejagerwolf6548]

Oh, so this isn't real, but the P.1000 is, still wish we captured one. But thanks for clarifying that.

[@dalel3608]

lol, I clued in when "Major Seymour Asses" was said.

[@peterhilligoss5697]

@@dalel3608 same

[@jakobc.2558]

Oh my god Spookston you cant do this! This April fools jokes is way too detailed. Now there will be people who actualy belive that this is true. I also belived it at first before I remembered what the tank in the pictures was actualy designed for (the "rail gun" is a rocket launcher).

[@cheesecakedoublepeanutbutt6511]

Wait, you're telling me it's not real?

[@risingsun9595]

Major Seymour Asses, a true American hero. Sad to see that he's sidelined in historical documents. I remember his great contributions to the Sugondese Conflict before the war.

[@Mirageknight2133]

I heard his secretary Amanda Huggenkiss contributed an awful lot when it came to putting his ideas to paper. The fact that there's hardly any mention of her is a travesty

[@abdior6961]

Seymour Asis*

[@mrbillybob444]

Don't forget the Summadeznuts conflict

[@Elguapo__]

Some say that that after the war he joined the Israeli tank design team, where he went on to design the Sugon Magach

[@dragonfusilier9173]

Finally we know the guy who ordered the pizza in futurama

[@andrewrogers3067]

This is so well detailed that I honestly can’t tell if it’s fake or not. Even while reading the description that’s telling us we can’t take any of it seriously…

[@Bruno-cb5gk]

yeah I got totally fooled despite being fully aware of the date.

[@scumbaggaming9418]

"Hooked up to Fort Knox' power grid." "Hit Major Seymour Asses." I think it's fake

[@nakkiibrks]

in the sources he say "Sources: Me (It came to me in a dream) Final Report of Test of One Medium Tank, M4A1 with 75-mm Magnetic Gun T82 The Rail Gun - Muad Al Khaldi (King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Department of Electrical Engineering) The Practical Applications of Railguns on Tanks by Jotchua Bimbini " i think its a joke

[@termitreter6545]

Yeah, I totally bought it. Militaries were actually looking into Railguns around WW1, so this seemed kind of plausible. The ridiculous part is obviously the idea of putting enough electric equipment into a tank; shoulda gotten way more suspicious when he went "they got 3 shots at 800m/s".

[@mariomario9166]

Its because he has a very serious tone

[@CardTiger]

I can't believe it took me as long as it did to realize this was a goof. Very well done Spookston.

[@tmik3443]

I forgot it was April 1

[@charliemccutcheon6030]

Seymour ahsez cleared it up for me

[@coolpilot7819]

It’s pretty late and I’m tired so I forgot it’s April 1st but it all hit me when I heard general seymorasses and after about 2 seconds I burst out laughing

[@johnw7722]

I realized when he said major Seymour asses. Good one!

[@ivanvarela3215]

FFS IT'S 3 DAYS AFTER

[@DefinitelyNotEmma]

That's the first American electromagnetically armed tank. But we all know the first tank with a rail gun was the Mondpanzerkampfwagen VI Tiger two Electric Boogaloo

[@averagewehraboo1509]

Whot

[@jvvl4703]

@@averagewehraboo1509 funny

[@nakuroyuki]

Mondpanzerkampfwagen is such a good name

[@coolguy2475]

Ah yes the classic "NOOOOO AMERICA SUCKS EVERYONE ELSE MADE EVERYTHING BEFORE AMERICA! AMERICA NEVER INVENTED ANYTHING!"

[@hetzerproductions9447]

ha ha funny -_-

[@-Ljs009]

The full story of Major Seymour Asses is actually really interesting. He only passed away in 2012 so the injuries from the misfire didn't take too much out of him!

[@northropi2027]

shame he succumbed to ligma in the end

[@olgagaming5544]

Ok Im not a native english speaker and didn't realise there's something weird with that Major's name. I thought it was true lol

[@suspiciouscheese4518]

@marcus velasquez I really wish people would talk about the the Dovers more though. The multigenerational friendship between the Dovers and Asses is really crucial to the achievements of both Slappe and Seymour. If Lieutenant Ben Dover hand been there for the rail gun test, Seymour Asses probably would’ve bled out before the paramedics could arrive.

[@JMTrof117]

Careful Spookton, you keep doing this good of a job, someone is going to assume this was a real tank and it will end up on ConeOfArc's Fake Tank Fridays :D Great work on this fun little spoof sir.

[@LazyBuddyBan]

SoyOfBoy

[@kousand9917]

now I want cone to actually make a video about this

[@ragnarokstravius2074]

@@gansior4744 Why are you calling Cone that? Only time I remember him doing cringe was in that video about Cement armor on tanks.

[@SabertoothedFrostbite]

WAIT YOU'RE TELLING ME THIS AIN'T A REAL TANK!!! I'VE BEEN BAMBOOZLED 😂

[@M50A1]

@@gansior4744 Go back to 2016, cringe culture is dead

[@PinguThePenguino]

Fun fact: vehicle at 2:45 is a T105 Engineering Tank prototype. M4 Sherman with 183mm rocket launcher :D It really looks like a railgun

[@Jan_Strzelecki]

Oh, wow, it really does! And the other photo of that tank that I found looks even better!

[@chitandaeru7239]

I need that tank omfg 183mm on a Sherman

[@amychan811]

Sherman is literally a tank of jack of all traits

[@bubbasbigblast8563]

I prefer the "Fighting Joe" mechanized walker tank: the high profile and slow speed were problems, but the increased velocity from the elongated arm cannon, and back mounted Calliope-2 rockets created a much more versatile platform than the all-gun "Erika" walker of Germany, even if it had superior range.

[@punishedsneed]

Most unrealistic part of this is saying a WW2 German vehicle had more range.

[@Stop_Gooning]

Something something Warhammer 40K reference

[@KoishiVibin]

By the by, what do you think of the prizefighter package? another, what, ton, half ton, of armor over the frontal arc and revised weapons load to duel dedicated antiarmor?

[@thejagerwolf6548]

I've heard about this tank, apparently it destroyed a P.1000. Amazing what technology we had beck then.

[@flawer1316]

But so has the T-910 Walker by the russians have also destroyed another one of those. But tbf, they have just overwhelmed the P1000 with the crew having been incapacitated by constant fire from all sides while the Americans, only five were able to fight the P1000 and they have have won with tactics like hiding in the sides of the tank.

[@thetankthatnoonereallytalk5933]

Cant forget the fact that it destroyed 27 AT-STs

[@RedstarBunny]

i...actually fell for this, i forgot today was the april fools and was about to tell a friend. well done spookston, well done.

[@wouter7779]

I only realised after reading the comments...

[@SilverStarHeggisist]

The cool part is the tank pictured does exist. But it's not a rail gun, it's a 7.2 inch rocket launcher

[@PrometheanGOld4]

It might be an April Fools video, but Railguns and Coilguns are cool as hell

[@scout4996]

They say the project failed because when they went back to the drawing board, they stuck with chalk instead of markers. This significantly hampered production. Doctrines and research in the 40s ware truly different than right now

[@MausBreaker]

The fact that coil guns predate the world wars makes this far too believable at least in the start of the video.

[@CharlieFoxtrot]

doesn't sound tooooo outlandish, some things seem newer than they actually are but didn't get into a nice mass production until well after WWII; such as heat seeking missiles, night vision, and Radars

[@MausBreaker]

@@CharlieFoxtrot ya, the first magnetic propelled gun was according to Wikipedia first patented in 1904 and reported to started as early as 1845.

[@SilverStarHeggisist]

@@CharlieFoxtrot or like how the AR15, AKM, AK-47, FN-FAL all come from late 1940s and mid 1950s designs. Or how things like electric cars which everyone seems to think is a new thing, are from all the way back in 1832.

[@AhuizotlXiuh]

@@SilverStarHeggisist or how Abraham Lincoln and a samurai could have theoretically communicated via fax.

[@dominicpantano6402]

You had me hook, line and sinker before the Seymour Asses part. Well done.

[@BusterBuizel]

Shit, even the Germans had a railgun tank concept. It was the brainchild of Captain Sugma Weiner and had some crazy design details

[@jonathan_0]

Props for making one of the most well thought out April fools gags I've ever seen

[@voneror]

Any electric accelerator that can match performance of combustion gun, would have to comparable specific energy of batteries/capacitors as gunpowder. It would be slightly safer as energy storage could be entirely separated from turret/crew compartment, but it would still go boom.

[@s5ehfr951]

I think Spookston has a series on future tank designs and in one of those videos he talked about exactly this

[@SilverStarHeggisist]

To be fair, just because something is high energy doesn't mean it is unstable enough to explode easily or at all. And example is nuclear reactors, who's fuel can not explode

[@KhornesChild16]

I was going to believe this video's subject was real, and then the name SEYMOUR ASSIS popped up and I knew I got baited.... Hook, line and sinker, touché Spook

[@zimman56]

Alright I was on board until the name "Seymour Asses" was uttered...then I FINALLY got it. Spooks you are just too good at this. You need to write your own stories!

[@armadillo3454]

this is probably one of the hardest to distinguish april fools videos ive ever seen

[@wolfcraft484]

how the hell did i only just now figure out this was an april fools video AFTER 2 YEARS

[@RAVANA7]

“But james why is the f*cking air on fire”

[@crispyboi4062]

Ive been hoodwinked, bamboozled, lead astray, run amok and flat out deceived

[@jakubgrzeszkowiak952]

Spook can make April fool video look like legit one for real with all those details and descriptions.

[@DerpsWithWolves]

I mean, multiple countries really did think about building 'death rays' as possible superweapons before nukes became the go-to, despite lasers not even being invented yet. And electric cars actually pre-date internal combustion engines... So something like this honestly wouldn't shock me if it had been real.

[@blackshogun272]

really make your think how our technological advancements coulda took a hard left turn and got weird but effective...

[@DasShaten]

Well the part about the germans and rail guns is true, and the big issues have basically stayed the same since then, how to get the power, and how to keep the rails in one piece (they flex pretty bad)

[@Meirstein]

"It's a joke name, like Seymore Asses." "I have a very good friend in Washington named Seymore Asses."

[@thegregitto]

This tank made it so it took only two Shermans to take out a Tiger instead of five (this number never changed in the field regardless of any variables)

[@Scoundrel1974]

I would like to see a more in depth dive into the backstory of Major Seymore Asses and other designs he supported like maybe the Armor Piercing Expanding Sabot or The 8lb bomb dropped from weather balloons

[@goodboi6540]

It took me almost 2 years to figure out that this was an April fools joke

[@ZonaAsier]

I lost it when you said the main supporter’s name. I’m not going to lie, you had me in the first half.

[@phillipgrubb2443]

You should do a video on the Japanese tank chi-nu "banzai". It didn't have a cannon barrel. Instead it featured a 200ft poll that had, what was essentially, a giant panzerfaust tip. It would just drive directly into oncoming American Armour and detonate the tip. It would either cripple the tank or on a good charge, detonate the ammo.

[@twogamingbros2586]

It took me 54 seconds before I realized and it was because you mentioned the M4 cooking off easily. Nothing else before that tipped me off.

[@akacurmurdar1]

I legitimately made it to the "rounds shattering" part without suspecting anything.

[@zahylon5993]

I heard from a former general that trials were actually continued in Shadow Moses Island, and that the Army not only developed a fully operational Railgun, but mounted it on a bypedal tank, supposedly it, using technology stolen from the Soviets during the Cold War. This Secret Super Weapon was capable of firing a nuclear payload from anywhere in the world completely undetected and striking Moscow from anywhere in the pacific. the project was abandoned after they found out that the cost of each vehicle was far larger than arming a nuclear cruiser with conventional ICBMs

[@rhodes3983]

You had me fooled there for a while. The detailwork actually made it sound plausible

[@cmdrblaze6487]

I honestly didn't realize this was a joke until i read the description, although honestly this sounds like a fun premise for an alternate history setting, Shermans with railguns german tanks with widely used night vision etc

[@voltage_cc1784]

Someone should make that into a movie or a book or something

[@ORYG1N]

I legit watched 4 mins of this until I realized it was for Apr fools. I was so intrigued until "Seymour" was introduced. 😂 (Watching in July)

[@kazookat03]

Absolutely fell for this. Didn't even realize it until I read the comments

[@dakotahondalock5621]

Thanks for another video and not an April fools joke

[@mcawesome9705]

hmm

[@dankeykang868]

April fools videos are so annoying. Hopefully Spookston makes more videos about Mayor Seymour Assis

[@Tarotb]

Really well put together; congratulations on making it sound believable.

[@343guardian5]

Looking for a tank composed of a gun that has been crafted with technology not yet mastered by human development? There's a Sherman for that!

[@rhystaylor851]

Excellent sourcing as always

[@CharliMorganMusic]

Well, if we can get super-batteries, maybe. I see them being part of anti-air defense network, though.

[@someguy95981]

Well done, Spookston. You got me.

[@scorf73]

You had me in the first half, not gonna lie

[@MisterMainiac]

Love the unique history that can be found. I've been getting into the habit of digging into more military history to find unique things after I did some digging to find out more what a realtive of my fiance did during WWII. Turned out he was a T-5 with the 56th armored engineer batallion of the 11th armored division.

[@egg3666]

major Seymour Asses was actually a good friend of the navy and would later try to develop a railgun used for underwater on the test craft Elbow Deep which ended up having an electrical fire and sinking.

[@Pope_Shizzle]

I didn't look at the post date. You 100% had me until Major Seymour Asses came into the picture. Well done!!

[@lolzers7986]

I couldnt fully determine if it was an april fools video until "fragments struck major Seymour Asses"

[@donsambo5488]

That poor Panzer 3 at 2:50 .... He was just excited for recess. Very cool video though.

[@sirpuffball6366]

The completely dry delivery of the Seymour Asses line caught me so off guard

[@calebchild4467]

Dang it, you had me fooled. This actually sounded reasonable. Not so much about the results, but the overall process. I was willing to believe that someone experimented with a rudimentary rail gun but it never worked out. There were a LOT of crazy weapons they developed in WWII that never saw production.

[@domokoskelen3975]

Rockstar: I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that

[@oueed]

Major Seymour Asses is gold

[@Zorro9129]

This is amazing. I'll admit, you got me, I was surprised by how legitimate this sounded.

[@derekburge5294]

Poor, poor Seymour Asses. That rail did so much damage to his body, he was never able to walk properly again.

[@-YellowFruit-]

I love how one of the sources in the description is just "me (it came to me in a dream)"

[@whipdisho5541]

came for the railgun tank story, realized it was april 1st, stayed for the panzer stomping footage

[@monticore1626]

I actually believed this for about a year until I actually read the comments today

[@michaelhowell2326]

Really dig the channel, man. I would love to see these videos in a slightly longer format of maybe 9-11 minutes.

[@brianalford5754]

You had me for a minute till I realized it’s April 1st.

[@Geniusinventor]

Can we all take a moment to appropriate the new information we got from this video

[@SomeOrdinaryJanitor]

i'm glad im not the only one who thought this thing looked like a railgun. for context its a prototype demolition sherman with a rocket launcher in place of the gun.

[@m808bscorpionmbt3]

I very much liked this. It even had an old engineering prototype.

[@FreeBurd0620]

During the Extension war of 1947 we equipped a few old M4A1s with these. Besides that we saw a few mounted on museum Shermans in the Future War in 2026 against the machines.

[@mrmurdokbawc2620]

Everybody in the comments talking about Maj Seymour Asses and his injury while forgetting about the medic that saved his life, Cpl. Michael (Mike) Oxismol.

[@mikeoxsmal8022]

bi

[@mikeoxsmal8022]

he was my grandfather

[@osarkthegoat7038]

i went off, watched a video on cypher machines, thought about haw this could work, given the level of materials and simulation available....and then remembered what day it was.

[@Timber_LXG_5]

This all was in a response to the threat of The legendary Bob semple

[@cherryartist17]

It is April 1st 2023. The algorithm brought me here.

[@jrsooner]

It took me until “Seymour Asses” to realize this was an April Fools.

[@AyenLogic]

The fact I didn't realize it was a joke until Seymour Asses genuinely upset me

[@SilverStarHeggisist]

For anyone curious this is what I found from Reddit for what it's worth T105: A single 7·2in rocket projector in box-like case mounted in M4A1 in place of 75mm gun. Developed from T76, August 1945. Did not proceed past trials stage.

[@Aquila.]

Totally Forgot it was the 1. of April when you released this Video. You got me lol

[@deltawaffles6015]

I actually designed a compact version when I was starting in engineering and what I found was that, with our current technology, railguns are only possibly viable in a much smaller form than traditionally depicted as a turreted base defense weapon powered by an onsite generator and localized capacitor bank so that mobility isn't an issue, barrels can be swapped more easily, and then gun would require less power to fire. With that said, this design would still retain the effect observable with larger railguns where the kinetic energy imparted to a target would make it appear to explode. In short, basically what you said. Fascinating technology tho

[@asukahasegawa]

They made me into a tank??? I didn't consent to this. Hope the US Army likes talking to my legal team. Unbelievable.

[@smoldoggy1005]

I believe the first kill the M4Rail got was on a T35 heavy assault Walker during the final week of Allied operations in Europe in 1945. US troops accounts recall the single flechette shot punctured a hole as large as half the hull and the Walker fell over and was submerged into the nearby lake. It’s flanking troops were engaged with ruthless efficiency with the upgraded man portable M2E2 Browning machine guns. No prisoners were reported by the 3rd Irregular Corps.

[@Wesley-1776]

“Rail guns are so advanced. They are weapons of the future” America in 1940. “Advanced?”

[@filmandfirearms]

Until you said "Major Seymour Asses", I was genuinely believing this. I don't even know how you managed to stay that straight faced

[@Gam20_]

Who would have believed Fry's dog was present for WWII tank testing, you learn something new everyday!

[@Gam20_]

@Lite Cosmo yes.

[@SimplySinify]

I was watching gameplay footage of the new Terminator game. One faction has a rail gun tank made out of a Sherman of all things. Was wondering where they got the idea for that from. Then this came up in my recommended and I thought "Oh cool, theres some actual history here"............. then I looked at the date

[@TheWizardGamez]

i cant believe that i got through the entire video, and then realised it was an april fools joke

[@podemosurss8316]

In the Command and Conquer: Tiberium saga the GDI uses railguns on games 2 and 3.

[@keithrogers6876]

I managed to keep a straight face until you talked about "Major Seymour Asses", that's when I lost it and lol'd. Nice video, thanks for the entertainment ^^

[@thuggeegaming659]

Railguns aren't practical for tanks yet (or possibly ever), but they are practical as part of an artillery system. BAE showed off some concepts for an artillery railgun system that could also shoot down aircraft and missiles. Pretty huge advantages as artillery is traditionally vulnerable to air attack. An artillery system that can do both ground attack and work as an anti-air system is too good to pass up. Plus in a pinch, they can do direct attack if their position is being approached, and a railgun can outrange any tank gun.

[@QuintonMurdock]

This is the AFV version of that fake dragon documentary history channel made

[@TacticalmailmanII]

I love the fact that the sources you left are “me”. Just reminds me of “where did you find your sources chief?” “My sources are I made it the fuck up”

[@thetalonking7233]

Holy shit, man. I knew what day it was today, but damn. I can't believe I bought into this so much. No joke, I truly believed every word until I read the comments. Either I'm naive as hell or you're utterly remarkable at making shit up. I'll say both.

[@jamesb3497]

War Thunder and World of Tanks: "Our next premium!"

[@courier6739]

I almost believed this untill I heard Major Semore Butts. You're too damn good at this

[@keegantripp1245]

Can’t wait for the next Sherman to be released as a premium rail gun carrier

[@A3319]

IIRC, an inventor named Birkeland patented the first electro magnetic gun in 1904

[@Marqhll]

You had me right up until "Seymour Asses."

[@cster9261]

What if you use electro magnets for mortars like the tube had electromagnet at the base of the tube and the shell had the same side magnet at its base. The mortar’s electro magnet would be triggered right when the mortar hits the magnet.

[@Arsiniuskingfire]

There's no way this is real, its april 1st

[@SnakierElm62]

Hello mate, love the videos, they have give me entainment during whatever time I have thanks

[@LAV-III]

I’m glad mr seemoreasses made a speedy recovery after that terrible accident

[@onyxdragon1179]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but iirc another reason/theory why the Sherman caught fire easily was that the British, because of doctrine or something, would take more ammo than needed (say, if it could carry 50 rounds, make space for an extra 15 or so), and as such this made the tank more prone to cooking off when hit...

[@malignant_rumor]

I knew it was an april fools video, but man, the documents really threw me. It'd be cool in an alternate history sense, it was a really realistic story

[@panthera6750]

I already know there’s people that wanna see this in WarThunder