Of course one of the greatest challenges facing engineers of the project was to be the power required to propel the 46-ton beast. This led to the prospect of having 4 x MAN M9v 40/46 diesel engines mated to the specially-designed tracked hull - the same marine diesels powering German U-boat submarine classes. Each engine was rated with an output of 2,200 horsepower which resulted in an estimated maximum road speed of no more than 9 miles per hour (on ideal surfaces). Operational ranges, though never formally estimated, was sure to be very limited and cross-country travel impossible. Considering the nature of European roads of the time and its narrow bridges, the Monster would have had a tough go of it when on the march. Rail-based travel was a possible alternative but engineers were driven by a more flexible, self-propelled solution - particularly as greater strides were being made with ever larger tank developments of the war that included the fabled "Tiger" and "King Tiger" heavy tanks coming online.
In the end, the P.1500 became yet another of Germany's abandoned fantastical wartime projects, limited to the minds and drawing boards of a few far-reaching men. The expected powerplant arrangement might have not supplied the required propulsion to move such a large and heavy weapon within acceptable time frames and its large battlefield profile would have made it near-impossible to conceal from the air - let alone defend it from concentrated air attack. Logistically, the P.1500 was simply too large a development to be of any tactical use and transportation/relocation of the system would be problematic for the life of the vehicle. Its large crew would have required support from a collection of vehicles to provide ammunition and general supplies which added to its operational oil, fuel, and munitions usage as well as requiring the services of specially-trained personnel to commit to a myriad of jobs while on the platform. As such, all development on the P.1500 ceased during 1943 with little work on the project actually having been completed. The P.1500 joined the P.1000 in never seeing the light of day, even in prototype/pilot form.
Other German super programs managed a more extended course - such as the super-heavy Panzerkampfwagen VIII "Mouse" tank - another of these famous secret mega-projects. Indeed it was manufactured in two examples (though one only partially) during 1944 but these vehicles only served to highlight the problems to be had in building extremely large and heavy tracked weapon systems. These pilot vehicles made her the largest enclosed armored combat vehicle ever produced in military history - one of the prototypes eventually falling to the invading Soviets in their advance on Germany.
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