Tortuga (vehicle)

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The "Tortuga" was an armored vehicle designed and built in Venezuela in 1934, during Juan Vicente Gomez's rule. It was first seen at a military parade in the city of Maracay. The vehicles were built at the Puerto Cabello shipyard by Eng. Tomás Pacanins, in order to send a clear message to neighboring Colombia, who had created several border and political incidents since their victory over Perú in the War of the Putumayo, as was the whole parade. On December 23, 1934 the vehicles were first revealed to the public, in conjunction with two Italian Ansaldo CV 33 infantry tanks.

[edit] Characteristics

In his "Historia de la Artillería" (History of Artillery), Lieutenant Pedro Arturo Omaña describes the Tortuga: "It was a very flashy armored car - whose external shell gave it a shape similar to a London policeman's hat - but it was hard to manoeuver, with a nearly null ventilation system and nearly null visibility"

Its shell was mounted on a 6x4 Ford 1934 truck. Its rear wheels were linked by threads, making it a semi-threaded vehicle, its designation within the Army being "Semi-threaded Armored Recon Vehicle". It was armed with a Mark 4B 7 mm machine gun (.303 cal), installed in a dome-shaped rotating turret located on the upper part of the shell.