The worst that ever was...

[Matt Wiser]

Don't forget Naval Aviation's worst from the jet age: the F7U "Gutless" Cutlass. Also known as the Ramp Monster, Ensign Eliminator, etc. Wally Schirra, who flew it in his test pilot days, called it a "Widow Maker." Underpowered engines and prone to ramp strikes when landing on carriers.....

[Olefin]

How about the Sheridan light tank - that has to be close to the top of the list for worst ever weapons system

[dragoon500ly]

The M-60A2 was right up there with the Sheridan.

[Vespers War]

The Norinco Type 62 probably deserves a mention as well. A lightened Type 59 (China's T-54/55 knock-off), it had 50mm of armor on the turret, 35mm on the glacis, and 15mm everywhere else. The 85mm main cannon is not stabilized and typically fires around 3 rounds per minute. Maximum road speed is 60 km/h, with a top off-road speed of 35 km/h. It did have a low-light periscope - with a 50 meter visual range. Unlike the Sheridan, it was not amphibious. Like the Sheridan, any sort of infantry-portable anti-tank weapon would go right through the armor. It was intended for use in mountains and other undeveloped terrain where a MBT couldn't go, but it was found to be too vulnerable even in those regions.

[Adm.Lee]

Two worsts

In an RPG, I encountered a historical Austro-Hungarian 19th century breechloading rifle, that needed an absurdly large number of actions to reload. Can't remember the name of it.

In a book on US infantry weapons of WW1, there was a blurry photo of a bayonet-mount flamethrower. It only had fuel for one squirt, but the idea was obviously to shoot it as one had closed up on a German trench or MG nest. I was appalled at the idea of multiple soldiers firing these about the same time in the heat of action, much less trying to cross no-man's-land with an extra weight at the long end of their rifles

[swaghauler]

How could such a thread exist since February WITHOUT ANY MENTION of the Gammagoat I'll bet that this vehicular monstrosity has injured or killed more soldiers than IEDs did. There are only THREE types of Gammagoat driver;
* Those who have rolled one.
* Those who will roll one.
* Those who have rolled one but won't admit it.

[cawest]

How could such a thread exist since February WITHOUT ANY MENTION of the Gammagoat I'll bet that this vehicular monstrosity has injured or killed more soldiers than IEDs did. There are only THREE types of Gammagoat driver;
* Those who have rolled one.
* Those who will roll one.
* Those who have rolled one but won't admit it.

as someone who had to drive one. I do not fall into those three cats. maybe it was because I only used it on a flight line as a helo tug. that was quite bad enough. while I have not rolled one, I have jack knifed them a few times. But they or the helo never rolled over. AHHH the true 9th circle. back up a ah-64 into an almost full hangar with one of those little monsters because of a wind storm.

[Vespers War]

In an RPG, I encountered a historical Austro-Hungarian 19th century breechloading rifle, that needed an absurdly large number of actions to reload. Can't remember the name of it.

If it was a military rifle, the pre-bolt-action breechloaders in use were the Wanzl and the Werndl. The Wanzl was a trapdoor rifle (flip open, dump spent round, load rimfire cartridge, close, cock, fire), while the Werndl was a rotary-breech rifle (rotate breech to the right, dump spent round, load round, rotate breech to the left, cock, fire). I've seen video of both in use, and for single-shot rifles they're not terribly slow. Anything with a magazine is obviously far quicker, but neither of these would have needed multiple GDW rounds to reload.

Austria-Hungary started transitioning to bolt-actions in 1872 with the Fruwirth Carbine, and adopted bolt-action long rifles with the 1881 Kropatschek before switching to Mannlicher in 1885.

[Vespers War]

In a book on US infantry weapons of WW1, there was a blurry photo of a bayonet-mount flamethrower. It only had fuel for one squirt, but the idea was obviously to shoot it as one had closed up on a German trench or MG nest. I was appalled at the idea of multiple soldiers firing these about the same time in the heat of action, much less trying to cross no-man's-land with an extra weight at the long end of their rifles

There's reference to these in The Springfield 1903 by William S. Brophy, but I only found a limited preview online. The Flaming Bayonet Mk III used 5 or 6 (sources vary) .44 caliber cases filled with incendiary mixture; the liquid version was the Mark I. Apparently they were capable of shots up to 10 meters, but the Army Chemical Service stopped experimenting with them as the war ended. Weights for various rifle-mounted flamethrowers ranged from 5/8 of a pound to 4.5 pounds.

[copeab]

I'm going to go with a controversial one:

The FG-42

Yes, this was a marvel of engineering, being a rare rifle-caliber weapon controllable from the shoulder in automatic fire. However, it was excessively expensive, served no purpose by the time it entered production (the Fallshirmjagers were ground-based light infantry by 1942 and no longer needed a gun that combined the 98k and MG-34 for air-drops), and was inferior to another gun developed at the same time (the Mkb 42(H), the first step in the StG-44 line, which was cheaper and an ideal paratrooper weapon, anyway).

[swaghauler]

If we are talking about modern equipment too, I'd include the LCS program. The Zumwalt, the F35, and the new Ford-Class carriers are all "technology demonstrators" with the associated "teething problems." The LCS or "Little Crappy Ships" are fairly conventional but totally unreliable and 100% over budget. The Navy has deployed ONE Independence Class ship successfully since 2012. The Navy now wants to ditch the LCS and move onto a proper Frigate. These ships don't even work as minesweepers (their primary mission design). With 2 30mm cannon (single-barreled but firing the A10's GAU 8 rounds), 1 57mm Cannon, and a single RAM (rolling airframe missile) Launcher (11 rounds on the Independence and 21 on the Freedom Class) with a range of 10km, they cannot even defend themselves from most Russian or Chinese Corvettes. I guess the Navy CAN bolt 8 Harpoon Launchers to their decks but with no Standard or Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles for AA defense, they are sitting ducks for enemy ASh missiles.