Tartaruga T-12/43

From Sea To Shore

The Tartaruga --- official designation T-12/43 --- was a fully tracked amphibious infantry transport, designed and developed within the Ocrisian Empire in 143 A.S. by Autovecoli Pesanti.
The vehicle would enter service with the Imperial Naval Infantry two years later. There, it would form the backbone of their Shore Assault Groups, elements of infantry who would be ferried from their transport ships to the shoreline from these vehicles, and from there would quickly convert to conducting their combat operations, with their transports serving as their chief form of support. The Tartarugas would also see significant export success to Ocrisian aligned foreign states throughout the forties and early fifties, getting their first taste of combat in the Islander War, ferrying Nouvoloian marines onto United Commonwealth shores in Ngaionui.
Aside from a small number of policing operations by the Ocrisian Empire in its various off-World colonies, the Taratugas would not see further combat experience. Learning from the Nouvoloian experiences with amphibious operations in their conflict with the UC, Taratugas would be quickly retired from Ocrisian service, and the INI would be re-roled into into more specialised, air assault based infantry force.

Origin Of Concept

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In the early 130s, with the Imperial Legion successful in securing the homeland and the existing overseas colonies, the Naval Infantry found itself tasked with the goal of furthering the empire's dominion across the 12 Worlds. This entailed deploying large forces of expeditionary troops far and wide, often with the need to conduct aggressive landings on these foreign shores, with the possibility of facing serious opposition. For this, it was decided that as part of a general expansion the the Imperial military, a sizeable fleet of amphibious, armoured, and armed infantry transports would be formed. These, would not be the Tartarugas.
The Empire's initial foray into amphibious landings would lead to the Aragosta series of landers. Large machines weighing in at over thirty tonnes, these were created under the belief that the only goal of the transport was to bring as many troops ashore in a single run as possible. As the initial landings on Sot-Krittan in 134 showed, however, this would have rather mixed results. As a popular marine's joke of the time ran;

What crawls up the shore at dawn, dumps its contents on the beaches to die in the afternoon, and █████ off back into the sea at night?
A turtle?
No, those have armour!

The Imperial Navy began looking for replacements for its aging fleet of Aragosta transports in the later years of the 130s. The poor speed on both water and land, lack of any actual weaponry to support its troops, and paper thin armour were quickly recognised as major issues with the design as it was, and as such the Ocrisians moved quickly to find a material solution to the Aragosta's failures.

Development

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There would be many requirements laid out by the Imperial Navy for its new craft, almost all learned from lessons paid for in blood. Minimum requirements in speed were significantly increased, and for the low price of cutting down from the Aragosta's excessive passenger complement of thirty five to a more reasonable twenty, a rapid firing thirty millimetre autocannon turret was to be fitted, the same type already in service with the Legion's Furetto armoured cars. In addition, a full suite of low light optics and communications equipment was to be installed, bringing the INI into the modern age of war. Some final notes were made for improved safety features and crew ergonomics.
Eventually, a contract for the programme would be tendered by the Imperial government in 138, with AVP left the winning bidder. Prototypes left the factory floor within a year, and the Taratuga would enter full rate production and service with the 5° Fucilieri Navali in 145 A.S.

Production

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An initial order was placed for one and a half thousand Taratugas for Ocrisian service, filled out in a variety of specialised variants as well as the original infantry carrier. As word of the new vehicle spread, a variety of foreign powers declared an interest in it, both as an amphibious transport and as a useful general purpose infantry fighting vehicle. The largest foreign buyer would be the Republic of Nouvolouis, which ordered ordered a total of two hundred Taratugas across al variants.

Operations

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On the Eighth of March, 154 A.S., the Republic of Nouvolouis sent out a task force of six Fidèle-class amphibious assault ships, escorted by the Pieux-class destroyers Saveur and Guerrier, to effect an amphibious landing onto the Ngaionan island of Paeroa. They brought with them some twenty Tartarugas, and in this first battle they would prove a fiercesome and capable weapon system, delivering the entirety of the 2e Marine battalion safely ashore and continuing to support them into the interior. They would not be an invulnerable one, however, and despite the relative lack of anti-armour weaponry in the UC defender's hands, four were knocked out early on.
Disappointingly for all operators, this trend would continue. Most of the original battalion's Taratugas would find themselves the targets of merciless Commonwealth airstrikes, or fel prey to well hidden anti-armour teams that knocked out one or two from kilometres away with Talon or Lance missiles. In a subsequent landing, another dozen would be lost in the face of well entrenched infantry, putting a nail in the coffin of these sorts of operation.
In the eyes of the Ocrisians, the lessons learned were both valuable, and disappointing. Landings on a defended beach were seemingly impossible to pull off, transports or otherwise. Their remaining Taratugas were kept in service, but only as supporting vehicles in less dangerous environments.