Description
The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet main battle tanks that were introduced in after WWII. By the end of 1945, Nizhny Tagil had completed the first T-54 prototype, which subsequently became the principal tank for Soviet armoured divisions, Warsaw Pact armies, and a variety of other armies starting in the late 1950s.
Since their introduction in the second part of the twentieth century, T-54s and T-55s have been involved in many of the world’s military conflicts, and were the most widely produced tanks in history.
The series’ estimated production numbers range from 86,000 to 100,000. In the Soviet and Russian armies, they were superseded by the T-62, T-64, T-72, T-80, and T-90 tanks, although they are still in service by up to 50 other armies throughout the world, some of which have undergone significant retrofitting.
During the Cold War, Soviet tanks never engaged NATO forces in direct action in Europe. However, the T-54/55’s first appearance in the West in the 1950s (at the start of the Cold War) prompted the Royal Ordnance L7 to be developed in the United Kingdom and the M60 Patton to be developed in the United States.
