Hello WOTers!
Do you have any curiosity about why the name of the M-series IX class special tank, which was sent when you log in during the holiday operation, has changed several times? From the M48A2/T54E2/T123E6 that was difficult to talk about at the beginning, to the M48A2 (120), the "Patton" III, and then to the last "Patton" tank, what are the considerations? Although the prototype is only a transitional test tank in history, to a certain extent, it represents the development of American tanks from M48 to M60 after the war, and it deserves the name "Patton". Let's take this opportunity to talk about this history!
In December 1950, the U.S. Army Equipment Development Guide proposed to develop a new generation of tanks equipped with 105 mm guns in order to cope with the situation of the future battlefield, which led to the T54 tank project established in July 1954, which was developed on the basis of the M48 tank chassis and equipped with a 105 mm T140 gun. It is divided into two models, one of which uses a traditional large turret with an automatic loader (derived from the early M48 scheme, which can choose between three types of shells). It was the prototype of the Tier IX "T54 Heavy Tank", and the second adopted the fashionable swinging turret construction, which is known as the T54E1.
▲ Line diagram of the T54 (left) of the conventional turret and the T54E1 (right) of the swinging turret
At the end of 1952, the T54E1 was rejected because of the inherent defects of the rocking turret, and although the traditional turret T54 was approved for the next step of development, it was required to simplify the structure and reduce costs, so in the T54E2 that appeared in May 1953, the shell-avoiding shape of the turret was optimized, the weight of the armor was reduced, and the automatic reloading equipment with poor reliability was also canceled. At the same time, the gun was replaced with the 105-mm T140E3 model, and thanks to the new gun mount, the recoil stroke was significantly shortened (only comparable to the 90-mm gun). The T54E2 was actually the prototype of the "M54 Renegade", but in January 1957 the Ordnance Committee halted all T54 projects to make way for the more promising T95/96 tank project.
▲ T54E2 armed with a 105 mm T140 gun
The development of the T95/96 tank began in June 1954, with plans to further reduce the weight and increase the firepower, and was divided into the T95 medium tank and the T96 heavy tank. The project combined many of the latest technological innovations in the tank industry at the time, including silicon core composite armor, hypervelocity smoothbore guns, etc., but progress was rather slow, and it was not until May 1957 that the first prototype T95E2 was produced, and the turret of the M48A2 was mounted on the chassis of the T95, which became the design prototype for the VIII T95E2 and the TL-1 LPC. In August 1957, the Army decided to reduce the number of tanks to two: reconnaissance/airborne tanks and main battle tanks. Since the tests found that the turret of the T96 could be mounted on the hull of the T95, the two projects were merged and the designation T95 was retained.
▲ T96 heavy tank. The biggest difference from the T95 medium tank is:
The body of the car is more protected
The T95 medium tank best fits the Army's definition of a main battle tank, and was once considered the future main battle tank of the U.S. military. During the development of the project, the T95 experimented with a variety of turret and gun combinations, including the turrets of the T95, M48A2, T54E2 and T96, and the guns included the 90mm M41, 90mm T208 smoothbore guns, 105mm L7, 105mm T140, and the lightweight 120mm T123E6, etc., from the basic T95 to the final T95E6, a total of 7 schemes, including the installation of 105mm T254 guns (imitation L7) The T95E5 was the most satisfying, and in order to further improve the turret protection, it was finally decided to install the same gun on the basis of the T95E1 and give it a new designation T95E7.
However, even the well-demonstrated T95E7 failed to reach mass production, and the T95 tank project was finally determined to be too cost-effective, and the combat performance was not significantly improved compared with the current tank, so it was basically stopped in early 1958, and the design of the new main battle tank was still required to be based on the M48. However, the live fire tests of the British showed that the 90mm guns and 20-pounder guns of the main Western tanks at that time were not capable of penetrating the front of the Soviet T-54 tank, which made the XM60 project equipped with a new high-power gun seem imminent, and the original plan was to use a combination of 120mm T123E6, and it was tested with other turret and gun combinations.
▲ T95E7 tank line drawing
Shooting tests were conducted at the Aberdeen Proving Ground and included six types of guns: the 90mm M41, the 90mm T208E9 (smoothbore gun), the 105mm X15E8, the 105mm T254, the 120mm M58 and the lightweight 120mm T123E6. The test results once again show that the 105mm T254 gun, which was born from the British L7, has the best adaptability and comprehensive firepower, and the slightly optimized T254E2 has become the standard equipment M68. The T123E6, which was originally planned to be used, was eventually eliminated due to the slow reloading speed caused by the use of split ammunition.
▲ Several conceptual designs of XM60:
Mounting a 120mm T123E6 with a T95E6 turret (top left)
Installation of 105 mm T254E2 with M48A2 turret (top right)
Mounting a 90mm T208 smoothbore gun with a T95E1 turret (bottom left)
Mounting the 105mm T254E2, M48A2 turret and the new long turret (bottom right)
▲ Several tanks for firing tests:
M120 with a 58-mm M103 gun mounted (top left)
A 120-mm T54E2 gun is installed in the T123E6 turret (top right)
90 mm M48 gun mounted in the M41A2 turret (bottom left)
A 95mm T90mm smoothbore gun is installed in the T208 turret (bottom right)
▲ Photo of a test vehicle with a 120mm T123E6 gun mounted in the T54E2 turret
That is, the prototype of the "Patton" tank!
In the end, the XM60 scheme using the M48A2 turret and T254 gun was overwhelming, and finally won an order from the military in December 1958, and received the official name of the M60 in March of the following year, and was deployed to the European garrison in 1960. The test vehicle made up of the M48A2 chassis, T54E2 turret and 120mm T123E6 gun in the XM60 fire test is the prototype of the "Patton" tank that appeared in everyone's garage!