#Vw tank wars serial#
#Vw tank wars full#
#Vw tank wars series#

The serial production version, designated T-54-1, differed from the second T-54 prototype.

#Vw tank wars series#

The 100 mm gun fired BR-412 series full-calibre APHE ammunition, which had superior penetration ability when compared to the T-34 that it replaced. The Red Army received a tank that was superior to World War II designs and theoretically better than the newest tanks of potential opponents. Production of the initial series of T-54s began slowly as 1,490 modifications were made. This example has the fender machine gun boxes replaced with fuel tanks. It has a turret reminiscent of the T-34-85s, with prominent, undercut shot traps. It would go into production in Nizhny Tagil in 1947 and Kharkiv in 1948. It was decided to begin serial production of the new vehicle and the vehicle officially entered service in April 1946. In testing, there were several drawbacks that needed correcting and many alterations that had to be made to the vehicle's design. This model looked almost identical to the original T-44, albeit with a much larger gun. A prototype of the new design, about 40 centimetres (16 in) longer and only 10 cm wider, was completed in 1945. The main issue was a larger turret ring, which suggested slightly enlarging the hull. ( July 2009) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Įfforts to fit the 100 mm gun to the T-44 demonstrated that small changes to the design would greatly improve the combination. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. This section needs additional citations for verification. Instead, the designers continued to use the design as the basis for further improved guns, experimenting with a 122 mm design, but later deciding a 100 mm gun was a better alternative. The T-44 was produced in only small numbers, around 2,000 being completed during the war.

#Vw tank wars full#

Although the T-44 was superior in most other ways, by this time T-34 production was in full swing and the massive numbers of T-34s being built offset any advantage to smaller numbers of a superior design. Thanks to a space-efficient torsion-bar suspension, a novel transverse engine mount, and the removal of the hull machine-gunner's crew position, the T-44 had cross country performance at least as good as the T-34, but with substantially superior armour and a much more powerful 85 mm gun.īy the time the T-44 was ready for production, the T-34 had also been modified to fit the same gun. In 1943, the Morozov Design Bureau resurrected the pre-war T-34M development project and created the T-44 tank. Its development never stopped throughout the Second World War and it continued to perform well however, the designers could not incorporate the latest technologies or major developments as vital tank production could not be interrupted during wartime. The Soviet T-34 medium tank of the 1940s is considered to have the best balance of firepower ( F-34 tank gun 76.2 mm gun), protection and mobility for its cost of any tank of its time in the world. Development history Predecessors: T-34 and T-44 However, the T-54/55's first appearance in the West around the period of the 1950s (then the beginning of the Cold War) spurred the United Kingdom to develop a new tank gun, the Royal Ordnance L7, and the United States to develop the M60 tank. They were replaced by the T-62, T-64, T-72, T-80 and T-90 tanks in the Soviet and Russian armies, but remain in use by up to 50 other armies worldwide, some having received sophisticated retrofitting.ĭuring the Cold War, Soviet tanks never directly faced their NATO adversaries in combat in Europe. Estimated production numbers for the series range from 96,500 to 100,000. The T-54/55 series is the most-produced tank in history. T-54s and T-55s have been involved in many of the world's armed conflicts since their introduction in the second half of the 20th century. From the late 1950s, the T-54 eventually became the main tank for armoured units of the Soviet Army, armies of the Warsaw Pact countries, and many others. The first T-54 prototype was completed at Nizhny Tagil by the end of 1945. The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet main battle tanks introduced in the years following the Second World War.