Why don't tanks have periscopes for turret down?

[shagrat]

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTQ2MlgxNjAw/z/CpgAAOxyu4dRxMR5/$(KGrHqR,!oQFG)JjhMZFBR)MR5KTHg~~60_35.JPG

[Nightmare515]

Modern tanks have camera periscopes and some that doesn't those don't need them anyway. Gaining significant advantage with submarine type of periscope is pretty minimal on most conditions. There is reason why there is scout infantry..

 

And rl experience: driving and commanding a tank with just prisms is pretty fun. But to contrast driving with old russian infrared nvg is the worst experience ever... You barely see anything and fov and fisheye effect makes it almost impossible to judge real distances on nature. On bright nights I must say I would drive my head out of cockpit than use that old nvg technology. Ofc it's totally different thing with modern nvgs.

And driving with prism isnt so hard as many seem to think. You get used to it really quickly and modern tanks have waay better fov and prism placements than tanks that I have driven.

 

I should have had you training my driver!

 

I still have the scars on my face to this day from that kid smacking my face against the TC's coupling every chance he got lol

 

Took a few months but he finally got it down pretty well. By the time I left that kid was a great driver and I had all of the confidence in the world in him. I'll never forget the day when we were doing a force on force exercise in the mountains of Colorado. I was inside trying to help the gunner fix something for a while so the loader was up top helping the driver navigate. After an extremely slow and bumpy ride I I finally hear the driver tell me we were at our position. I pop out the hatch and see our 68 ton tank had just crawled up a mountain trail made for 4 wheelers and was positioned about 2 feet from the edge of a 400ft cliff with rocks and trees on both sides.

 

He managed to maneuver us up there from the drivers seat with closed hatch with the loader guiding him. Few things are more terrifying than popping out of the hatch and seeing nothing in front of you put a huge canyon. After that day I rarely said a word to him I would just tell him where our position needed to be and sit back and let him get us there. I figure if he could get us up there on the mountain without my help then he doesn't need some guy in the TC's seat drinking a coke telling him what to do.

 

Great kids, I loved my tank crew.

[Jona33]

Nope. Last time snipers used periscopes was in WW2.

 

My copy of Sniper one has a picture that proves that incorrect. (Set in 2004.) The picture shows a sniper and spotter on a rooftop with a low wall, the sniper looks through loopholes cut into the wall, the spotter sticks a periscope over the edge. (In this picture.) Spotter's do use periscopes and why wouldn't you.

[Scrim]

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTQ2MlgxNjAw/z/CpgAAOxyu4dRxMR5/$(KGrHqR,!oQFG)JjhMZFBR)MR5KTHg~~60_35.JPG

 

Not a periscope, it's a spotting scope. You know how periscopes look?

[cichlidfan]

I can't say who does or does not use them, but you can buy one here.

 

http://ustacticalsupply.com/scoutsniperperiscope.aspx

[shagrat]

Not a periscope, it's a spotting scope. You know how periscopes look?

 

Uses mirrors to direct picture to the ocular. By definition a periscope. :D

It is not about the tube to retract it, but the mirrors.

Ok, splitting hairs here on both sides... I know what you mean, but as in one of the previous posts periscopes (a viewing mechanism enabling to watch over a barricade or revetment) are in use by British snipers, as well as others. Dan Mills' "Sniper One" , a good read btw, is a perfect proof.

As we will both agree, it is not standard issue for troops today.

Hedge wars and entranchments are a bit outdated on the battlefield. :D

Edited June 8, 2014 by shagrat