T-44
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| T-44 | |
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| General characteristics | |
| Crew | 4 |
| Length | 7.65 m |
| Width | 3.15 m |
| Height | 2.45 m |
| Weight | 31.9 tonnes |
| Armour and armament | |
| Armour | 120 mm |
| Main armament | 85mm gun model ZIS-S-53 |
| Secondary armament | 2×DTM machine guns |
| Mobility | |
| Power plant | 12-cyl. diesel model V-44 520 hp (388 kW) |
| Suspension | torsion-bar |
| Road speed | 51 km/h |
| Power/weight | 16 hp/tonne |
| Range | 300 km |
The T-44 was a Soviet medium tank, first produced at the end of the Second World War. This tank was the successor to the very successful T-34. Fewer than two thousand T-44s were built because of mechanical teething problems, but this design became the basis for the T-54/55 main battle tank series, which was the most-built tank of all time.
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[edit] History
The T-34M design project, intended to improve the T-34 tank with modern technology, including torsion-bar suspension and a three-man turret, was abandoned at the start of the Second World War. It was resumed in 1942 with T-43 tank design project, but that concentrated on increasing armour at a time when maintaining production and increasing firepower were more important. The T-43 was cancelled, but its turret design was adapted to carry a larger 85mm gun in the T-34-85.
The T-44 was the result of another revival of T-34 development at the end of 1943 at Nizhny Tagil (in the Ural Mountains, where most of the Soviet tank industry had been evacuated in 1941), and finally completed after the Morozov Design Bureau had moved back to Kharkiv in Ukraine. Prototypes were tested with 100mm and 122mm guns, but the turret was too small for such a gun. Production began in August 1944 at the Kharkiv Plant No. 75, about twenty being built that year, and at least 150 tanks were built by the end of the war, 965 by the end of 1945.
Although the T-44 outwardly resembled the earlier T-34 medium tank, it was a new design intended to provide heavier armour protection against large-calibre tank guns, but retain the mobility of its predecessor. This was accomplished by adding thicker armour but reducing the internal volume of the hull. It also had a lower profile than the T-34, and was potentially simpler to manufacture. The T-44 had a compact torsion-bar suspension instead of the old Christie coil springs, although it retained the Christie method of engagement between the slotted drive wheel and track lugs. The hull machine-gunner's crew position was eliminated. The tank had an improved hull design, longer and wider but slightly lower, with thicker armour, and was simpler to construct. The new V-44 engine was a more powerful version of the T-34's V-2, with a new planetary transmission. The engine was in a novel transverse mounting which freed up more space and allowed the turret to be placed at the centre of the hull. Early examples had transmission problems, which were resolved in a 1961 modernization. The turret resembled a longer, better-armoured T-34-85's turret, with a smaller shot trap under the rear overhang because it didn't have to clear the T-34's raised engine deck.
The T-44 was issued to three tank brigades mustered on September 15, 1944 for training purposes, but these formations were re-equipped with T-34-85s prior to entering the Battle of Berlin and Prague Offensive—these were the 6th Guards, 33rd Guards, and 63rd Guards Tank Brigades (Zaloga et al 1997:61). Although T-44s were sent to the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, there is no evidence that any T-44 ever saw combat.
Because of mechanical teething problems, the T-44 was only built in small numbers while the T-34 continued to account for 85% of production through 1950 (Zaloga & Johnson 2004:6), and development of a more advanced medium tank with a more powerful 100mm gun proceeded. The relatively brief production run ended in 1947 with a total output of 1,823, when the first T-54-1 tank with a 100mm main gun started to be built at Nizhny Tagil Factory No. 183 and Kharkov Diesel Factory No. 75. The superior T-54-2 would finally replace T-34 production at the Omsk Factory No. 183 in 1950, and the T-54/55 main battle tank series would remain in production until 1981.
T-44s in Soviet service were modernized in 1961 (drive train updated to T-54 standard, new radio and night-vision equipment), given gun stabilizers in 1966, and were retired by the late 1970s.
[edit] Recognition features
The hull and wheels are virtually identical to the early T-54's, although the tracks are the same as those on the T-34.
Hull has a flat, sloped glacis plate, vertical sides, and slightly bevelled rear. Driver's hatch is on the left side of the hull roof. The engine deck has two transverse ventilation grilles at the rear; exhaust port is on the rearward left side of the hull. The hull may have a straight splash guard on the glacis, storage bins and rectangular fuel cells on the fenders.
Suspension has five large spoked road wheels and 'dead' track (without return rollers or tight tension). There is a prominent gap between the first and second road wheel. Original T-44 has the T-34's 'spider' road wheels and a narrow, inset drive wheel at the rear; T-44M has the T-54's 'starfish' road wheels and a conventional toothed drive sprocket, flush with the outer track edge.
Turret is cast, shaped like an elongated hexagon with sloped sides and overhang all around, similar to T-34/85 turret, in the centre of the hull. It has a cast gun mantlet with a small ring around the base of the long, featureless tank gun barrel. The turret roof has a raised commander's cupola on the left, and gunner's hatch on the right with a low ventilation dome behind it.
Photos of various prototypes are sometimes seen displaying a gap behind the second road wheel instead of the first, a slightly protruding driver's station on the glacis and hull roof, cylindrical fuel tanks on the fenders, or spaced armour panels protecting the sides. These may be equipped with a smooth 85 or 100-mm gun, or 122-mm gun with muzzle brake.
[edit] Variants
- T-44-85 – prototype armed with D-5T 85mm gun
- T-44-122 – prototype armed with D-25-44T 122mm gun
- T-44-100 – prototype armed with D-10T 100mm gun
- T-44A – main production series, armed with ZIS-S-53 85mm gun
- T-44M – 1961 modernization, with drive train upgraded to match T-54, new radio and night-vision equipment
- T-44MK – 1963 command tank conversion
- T-44S – 1966 modernization, adding gun stabilization
- BTS-4A – armoured recovery vehicle
[edit] References
- Zaloga, Steven J., James Grandsen (1984). Soviet Tanks and Combat Vehicles of World War Two. London: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 0-85368-606-8.
- Zaloga, Steven J., Hugh Johnson (2004). T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tanks 1944–2004. Botley, Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-841767-92-1.
- Zaloga, Steven J., Jim Kinnear, Andrey Aksenov & Aleksandr Koshchavtsev (1997). Soviet Tanks in Combat 1941-45: The T-28, T-34, T-34-85, and T-44 Medium Tanks, Hong Kong: Concord Publication. ISBN 962-361-615-5.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- T-44 Medium Tank at battlefield.ru
- Rem Ulanov: The Transitional Variant, memoir of a T-44 test driver, at iremember.ru
| Soviet armoured fighting vehicles of World War II | |
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Experimental and Improvised AFVs
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| List of armoured fighting vehicles of World War II | |
| Soviet armored fighting vehicle production during World War II | |
