The 88mm cannon on the Tiger I was elongated from 56 to 71 caliber. This new L71 high velocity gun was able to put a 40/43type armor piercing shell through a 150mm thick armor plate when fired from 2000m away. The chassis of the tank would be covered in 150mm thick armor on the front and 80mm thick armor on the sides. The Henschel and Porsche companies came up with rival turret prototypes. After a trial production of 50 tanks equipped with the Porsche turret, the Henschel turret, co-designed by the Krupp company, with its extremely thick armor that measured 180mm on the front and 80mm on the side panels, was adopted for mass-production. The Henschel turret itself was revised mid-way through production, from a stepped gun mantle to a smooth one. The new tank was equipped with the engine mass produced for the Panther, the Maybach HL230-P30 Fuel Engine. This engine was capable of producing 700hp of output to get the 69.8ton King Tiger at a 38km/h top cruising speed. From the summer of 1944 till March of 1945, a total of 440 King Tiger Heavy Tanks were produced. King Tiger Heavy Tanks fought until the end of World War II.
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