History, Development, and Use
of the T-54/55 Medium Tank

 

This section will cover the history, development, and use of the T-54 and T-55 medium tanks.  In this section you will find where the tank has been used, when it was designed, its limitations and abilities, and how it functions.

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Brief Operational History

The first vehicle of the T-54/55 series was the T-54 medium tank.  This tank was a development of the earlier T-44 tank program   The T-44 was designed in 1944 to replace the T-34/85 in front line service.  It had better torsion bar style suspension, a transversely mounted engine, and a more rounded hull and turret.  Despite all of these advantages its turret was considered too small when it was later fitted with the later 100mm gun.  Experience with the Stalin III also showed that the armor of the T-44 could be sloped even more.  It would also be cast instead of welded.  Seeing all of these possible improvements the Soviet tank designers set themselves to incorporating them into a new design.

The first prototype of the new tank design was completed in 1946 at the Kharkov tractor works, but it would take until 1949 for the tank to see series production.  When this happened the T-54 had a wider, more sloped turret that mounted the powerful 100mm D-10TG L/56 main gun as well as a coaxial machine gun.

The D-10T 100mm main gun of the T-54/55 originated from a modified naval gun.  It uses a horizontal sliding wedge breechblock and recoil system consisting of a hydraulic buffer and hydro-pneumatic recuperator.  The whole system weighs 1948 kilograms and has a range of 14,600 meters when fired in the indirect fire role.

Common 100mm Ammunition used by the T-54/55
BR-412 BR-412D F-412 OF-412 ZBK-5M BM-8
Type AP-T APC-T HE HE-FRAG HEAT-FS HVAPDS-T
Weight 15.69 kg 16 kg 15.89 kg 15.59 kg 12.36 kg 5.69 kg
Fuze MD-8 DBR-2 RGM V-429 VP-9 N/A
Explosive RDX/Aluminum RDX/Aluminum TNT TNT RDX/wax N/A
Velocity 1000 m/s 1000 m/s 900 m/s 900 m/s 900 m/s 1415 m/s
Penetration at 1000 meters 150mm 185mm N/A N/A 380mm at any range 200+ mm

Its hull is all welded and has three major compartments (driver, fighting, and engine).  The drivers compartment is located at the front of the vehicle on the left side.  He has two periscopes mounted into the hatch to see through when driving.  The hatch itself is of one piece construction and opens to the left.  It is possible to replace on of the periscopes with an infra-red detecting model (known as the TVN-2) that enables the driver to see items at night which are illuminated by the tank's infrared spotlight.  Also at the front of the vehicle is a large V-shaped splash guard designed to keep water and mud off of the driver's periscopes when fording.  His compartment is also equipped with a hatch (behind the driver) leading into the fighting compartment so he can escape should his own hatch become blocked.

The turret makes up the majority of the fighting compartment, and is where the rest of the crew operates.  The T-54 was not originally equipped with a turret basket, but later models were.  Both the gunner and commander sit in the left side of the turret, with the commander sitting behind the gunner.  The loader sits on the right side of the turret and has a single piece hatch above him that opens to the rear.

Above the tank commander is a cupola equipped with a single piece hatch that opens forwards.  It can rotate 360 degrees, allowing the commander to see the battlefield using the periscopes mounted on either side.  In the front of the cupola is a TPK-1 sight and two other periscopes.  The gunner has but a single sighting system known as the TSh-22.  It provides a target magnification of 3.5x or 7x.

The final compartment in the rear is reserved for the engine which is mounted transversely in the hull.  It uses an electrical starter system, but has a compressed-air system for starting the tank in cold weather.  The tank can also be fitted with two drum-type fuel tanks to extend its range.  These are mounted at the rear of the vehicle along with an unditching beam.  There are also four flat steel tanks along the right running board of the tank.  The first, second, and fourth contain 93 liters of fuel, while the third tank holds lubricating oil.  From inside the vehicle the driver can manually select which of these tanks he wishes to use.  The three boxes on the right side of the tank hold tools, gun cleaning equipment, and night vision gear.

All tanks of the T-54/55 family use torsion bar suspension and are not equipped with track return rollers.  The five road wheels have a distinctive gap between the first and second wheels that makes the tank easily recognizable.  There is also a hydraulic shock absorber on the first and fifth wheels.  Older versions of the tank were equipped with a metal track held together by special metal pins which were not secured on their outer end.  They would move toward the inside of the tank, only to be pushed back into position by raised metal guides each time they passed.  Newer versions were equipped with a more traditional track.

The T-54/55 tanks also have a variety of other capabilities.  They can inject diesel fuel into their engines to lay down a smoke screen.  The smoke exits the tank on the left side and produces a 300 meter long cloud that lasts up to two minutes.  It can also be fitted with a snorkel for deep fording operations.  Two types of snorkel were produced for the T-54/55; a wide version for training, and a narrow version for combat.  It takes 15-30 minutes to properly mount the snorkel, but the device can be blown off when the tank crosses the river.  The snorkel is mounted over the loader's periscope when not in use.

Early models of the T-54/55 were not equipped with either NBC systems or night vision equipment.  Night vision systems were introduced on the T-54B and all earlier tanks were retrofitted with them.  These systems give the driver visibility out to 60 meters.  The commander's searchlight increases night visibility out to 400 meters, while the main infrared searchlight extends the range out to 800 to 1000 meters.  Like the night vision systems, the NBC system was installed on later model T-54/55 tanks and retrofitted on all earlier models.

Not surprisingly, the tank chassis was found to be very reliable and served as the basis for other tracked vehicles such as the ZSU-57-2 self propelled anti-aircraft gun.  The PTS amphibious vehicle and ATS-59 also use many of the components found in the T-54/55 tanks.  In addition to those vehicles, the Soviet army also pressed the tank into a wide variety of roles ranging from recovery vehicle to flamethrower tank.  Each of these variants is described on the table below.

T-54/55 Variants
Designation Role Notes
T-54-T Armored Recovery Vehicle Has a crew of 3-5, is equipped with a loading platform so that a spare engine can be carried, it has a crane that can lift 1000 kg, and a spade at the rear.  It has no winch, but can use a snorkel.
MTU Bridgelayer This two man vehicle was developed in 1950's.  It has no turret, but is equipped with a 12.5 meter bridge that can support 50,000kg.
MTU-20 Bridgelayer This two man vehicle was developed in the late 1960's.  It replaced the earlier MTU and has a folding bridge of 20 meters in length.  This bridge can support up to 60,000 kg of weight.
IMR Combat Engineer Vehicle This variant has no turret, but is instead equipped with a large crane that can be traversed in any direction.  It can also be fitted with a claw or bucket attachment.  It also can be fitted with either a straight or V-shaped dozer blade.  It cannot use the blades at an angle like a normal bulldozer.
T-54 (w/ dozer blade) Engineering A normal tank equipped with a BTU bulldozer blade for moving earth, or a STU blade for moving snow.
OT-55 Flamethrower Tank An otherwise normal tank equipped with a coaxial ATO-200 flamethrower with a range of 100 meters.  This variant only had 38 shells.
Mine Clearing Variant Mine Clearing Tank These are tanks equipped with the KMT-5 mine roller/plough system.  They can also use rocket launched mine clearing line charges.

The T-54/55 series tanks have an impressive service record outside the Soviet Union as it is the most widely exported tank type in the world.  They have seen action in numerous conflicts in Africa and Asia.  T-54/55 was used in both the 1967 and 1973 Arab-Israeli wars, in Angola, Vietnam, and in the India-Pakistan wars.  The last major conflicts that the T-54/55 tanks were used in was the 1991 Gulf War in Iraqi service, in the 2001 Afghanistan campaign on the side of the Taliban, and in the 2003 Iraq war.  In all three cases the tanks were usually destroyed in one sided engagements by aircraft or tanks far more advanced than itself.

Even so, the T-54/55 serves in more armies than any other nation.  Over 65,000 tanks of the T-54/55 family have been produced by the former Soviet Union, Poland, and  Czechoslovakia.  The People's Republic of China also manufactured over 7,000 tanks of this type that they designate the Type-59.

  

Tactical Use and Limitations

The T-54/55 series tanks would be used much like other medium tanks of the time were - to engage and destroy other tanks.  They would also be used to penetrate weak areas of the enemy line.  In strongly defended areas the T-54/55's would follow behind the Stalin series heavy tanks, then cause destruction in the enemy rear areas.  They formed the bulk of Soviet tank strength for many years.  They were issued at the rate of 95 tanks per regiment.  Each armored division was issued 325 tanks and each motor rifle division 215 tanks.

When it was first introduced the tank was greatly feared by NATO.  A report from the West German army made the tank seem almost invincible.  The truth is that it was a good tank, but not unstoppable.

The T-54/55 was built with thick sloped armor that made it very difficult to destroy.  This slope helped to deflect shots that would otherwise have penetrated the tank.  It also presented a very low target silhouette to its enemies.  Another advantage of the T-54/55 tanks were in their powerful 100mm cannon which proved to be a threat to tanks around the world for the next several decades.  The tank is also simple to maintain and can be fitted with a snorkel to allow it to ford deep rivers.  It can also mount a variety of night vision equipment and is NBC protected.

But like all things the tanks had several limitations.  The one most people notice is that it is not a roomy vehicle.  The crew spend most of their time working in incredibly cramped working conditions.  The tank also had a slower rate of fire than its Western counterparts.  Another problem was that there were so many differing models of T-54/55 produced over the years that they all didn't share the same features or modifications.  The main gun also had poor gun depression, and very simple fire control systems.  The external fuel tanks were also said to present a possible fire risk in combat.

   

Deployment Chronology

The T-54/55 was the most widely produced and distributed Soviet tank of the Cold War.  It had a very long service life and is still used in many nations today.  Still, there came a time when technology had advanced to a point where it was no longer a first quality tank.  In this section you can see what vehicles the T-54/55 medium tank replaced, and what tank eventually replaced it in front line service.  You will also be able to read more about these tanks if we have them on our site by clicking the links below.

The T-54/55 replaced... T-54/55 Medium Tank The T-54/55 was replaced by...
T-34/85 Medium Tank
T-44 Medium Tank		 T-62 Medium Tank

 

Sources Cited

Here are some of the most informative sources that we have used in compiling this information for you.  We hope you can find them as useful as we have.