Tag: t-34

T-34-85 – the military designation of the latest modification of the Soviet medium tank T-34 with a gun of 85-mm caliber. Adopted for service by the Red Army by Decree GKO No. 5020 cc of January 23, 1944 [1]. Designed on the basis of the T-34 serial tank of the 1943 model. The installation of the 85-mm cannon and structural improvements significantly increased the combat effectiveness of the T-34-85 tank in comparison with the T-34-76. The new tower of increased volume with reinforced armor protection is structurally similar to the tower of the experienced T-43 tank. The general safety of the crew (5 people) has been increased, the conditions for the crew members’ functional interaction have been improved. Indicators of mobility (high-speed, maneuverability and patency) of the T-34-85 tank due to the increase in its combat mass decreased slightly. In the spring and summer of 1944, a stabilizer of an 85 mm tank gun in the vertical plane was tested. This stabilizer was developed by a special design bureau of the People’s Commissariat of Shipbuilding headed by A. Atovmyan on the subject “Taran”. The peculiarities of its design were that the actual gyroscope, untwisted by a three-phase asynchronous motor, was not located on the gun, but controlled the power supply circuits of the hydraulic drive pump of the power section. To supply the gyroscope, the tank was equipped with a GKZ-T direct current converter based on a 24-volt DC electric motor and a three-phase generator with a voltage of 60 V and a frequency of 275 Hz. The power consumption of the stabilizer was 550 W, the start-up time was 4, 5 minutes. The first tests of the model prototype took place in March-April 1944 in Kubinka. Since 1944 T-34-85 was the main tank of the Red Army in the Great Patriotic War. With a slightly increased overall armor protection, thanks to the tower, (in comparison with the T-34-76 tank), but inadequate, in comparison with heavy enemy tanks, the T-34-85 tank practically did not lose its former mobility and maneuverability – the main advantage of the medium tank In fights with the tanks “Tiger” and “Panther”. As a fighting vehicle, the T-34-85 tank was a classic example of a combination of constructive and technological solutions that together provided the best match for the tactical and technical requirements for the “cruiser” tank in the “Breaking period” of the Second World War. T-34-85 was produced in the USSR from January 1944 to 1950 before the mass production of the T-54 [2] Under the USSR’s license, 3,185 tanks of this type were produced in Czechoslovakia in 1952-1958 and 1980 tanks – in Poland, in 1953 -1955 years. The total number of T-34-85 tanks (including those produced in Czechoslovakia and Poland) was almost 30.5 thousand units, and taking into account the previously released T-34-76, the total output was slightly more than 65.8 thousand units. This allows us to state that the T-34 tank was the most massive tank in the world [3]. After the war, the T-34-85 formed the basis of tank troops of the Soviet Army until the middle of the 1950s, until the new T-54 medium-sized tanks were massed into the tank troops of the Soviet Army. Officially, T-34-85 was withdrawn from the Russian Federation in 1993. After the war, the T-34-85 were delivered in considerable quantities to the states of Europe and Asia, where they were used in armed conflicts, including the Korean and Six-day wars, and several others. As of 2010, T-34-85 was in service with a number of countries .