T-55A(P)

[Stuhlfleisch 3,762]

T-55A(P) "Grit of the NVA"

 

From October 1967 to 1970 the NVA received a total of 333 T-55A and T-55A(P) MBTs to strengthen their now rather weak fleet of T-54-51 and T-54A tanks. The T-55As were delivered by Czechoslovakia, while the T-55A(P)s were delivered by Poland. The destinction between the two was, firstly of course, the (P) designation, standing for Poland and the Polish T-55A also had a hydraulical steering-aid mechanism, which however would probably not impact the tanks performance in War Thunder, since the steering-aid just reduced the restistance of the steering-rods for the driver and reduced the working-range of the steering-rods from 400mm to 160-190mm.

The steering-rods were also in front of the driver, between the legs, instead of being on the sides of the hip. The only difference in War Thunder would be the designation.

This would be the decision of Gaijin and would also depend on which version they would choose, so from here on out, I will refer to both the T-55A and T-55A(P) as T-55A.

However, the NVA T-55As were not issued with any sub-caliber ammunition until 1971, when east-Germany started receiving BM-8 and BM-20 APFSDS along with the modernized T-55AM obr.1970.

This means we could get the T-55A with a pre-1971 ammo-selection, with access to only APCBC, HEAT-FS and HE (BR-412D, BK12M and OF-412 respectively).

Of course the decision would lie with the developers and a T-55A with APFSDS (BM-8 and BM-20) would of course also be a welcome addition.

 

An additional way the German T-55A could differ from the Soviet one, besides the NVA-markings, could be the two storage-boxes which were mounted on the left turret-side of most east-German tanks. These boxes were also used extensively by Polish T-55's.

 

 

Side-vew:

(with beautiful winter-camo)

 

More pictures (some with the two extra storage-boxes on the left turret-side):

Spoiler

 

 

 

Specifications:

 

Crew: 4

Combat-weight: 36T

Power to weight ratio: 16,1

Lenght (with barrel): 9m

Lenght (hull): 6,2m

Engine: "W-55" four-stroke diesel V-12 (580HP)

Armament: 1x 100mm "D-10T2S" cannon with 43 rounds / 1x 7,62mm PKT coaxial-Mg with 2500 rounds / 1x 12,7mm DSchK AA-Mg with 500 rounds

 

In my opinion, this MBT would be an excellent addition to the German tech-tree. Either at 8.7 with APFSDS (post-1971 ammo-selection), or at 8.3 / 8.0 without APFSDS (pre-1971 ammo-selection). Either way, I would love to see it being added, with or without Warsaw-Pact match-maker.

 

Thank you for reading!

 

If you spot any mistakes, or want to add something to the suggestion, just let me know!

 

Cheers.

 

Sources:

http://panzerregiment4.de/?p=61

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-54/T-55_operators_and_variants

"Kampfpanzer der NVA" by Jörg Siegert and Helmut Hanske

http://www.militaertechnik-der-nva.de/Tagebuch/Technik2000/Technik2000.html

http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/

Edited September 18, 2021 by Stuhlfleisch
Cleaned up a bit

[leroyonly 4,310]

Open for discussion. 

[Zombificus 792]

It would be nice to have a few East German tanks in the main tree. We could, of course, have some as premiums, but East Germany operated too many Soviet-designed tanks to have them all as premiums, whereas there's probably just enough to have their own line in the tree. The main opposition, I think, is going to come from people who hate "copy-paste" vehicles, but things like this T-55A(P) with its early ammunition (and therefore lower BR) is different enough that it should make for an interesting and worthwhile addition to the game. 

 

Maybe a line with East German tanks could be for foreign-designed equipment operated by Germany in general, since they used several foreign tanks in pretty large numbers alongside their own Panzers, not just a couple of captured tanks. The line could begin with the Czech-designed Pz.35(t) and Pz.38(t)s and also include some of the interesting TD/SPG conversions Germany made from captured tanks (especially French) , as well as the Italian vehicles they commandeered and operated, then finally the East German machines. We might have some trouble finding a Tier VI or VII tank, but not every line needs a top-tier MBT (look at the USA, where XM-803, MBT-70, M1, IPM1 and M1A1 are all crammed into one line) and Germany's already got a fair few (KPz-70, Leo 2K, 2A4, and next update, 2A5) so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

Wherever this thing winds up in the tree, regular or premium, it has my support. 

[WulfPack 1,693]

+1 for it playing with the USSR

[Milocat 4,854]

+1 for East Germany.

[onemax9000 1,243]

+1 you got my support.

[Stuhlfleisch 3,762]

6 hours ago, Zombificus said:

It would be nice to have a few East German tanks in the main tree. We could, of course, have some as premiums, but East Germany operated too many Soviet-designed tanks to have them all as premiums, whereas there's probably just enough to have their own line in the tree. The main opposition, I think, is going to come from people who hate "copy-paste" vehicles, but things like this T-55A(P) with its early ammunition (and therefore lower BR) is different enough that it should make for an interesting and worthwhile addition to the game. 

 

Maybe a line with East German tanks could be for foreign-designed equipment operated by Germany in general, since they used several foreign tanks in pretty large numbers alongside their own Panzers, not just a couple of captured tanks. The line could begin with the Czech-designed Pz.35(t) and Pz.38(t)s and also include some of the interesting TD/SPG conversions Germany made from captured tanks (especially French) , as well as the Italian vehicles they commandeered and operated, then finally the East German machines. We might have some trouble finding a Tier VI or VII tank, but not every line Needs a top-tier MBT (look at the USA, where XM-803, MBT-70, M1, IPM1 and M1A1 are all crammed into one line) and Germany's already got a fair few (KPz-70, Leo 2K, 2A4, and next update, 2A5) so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

Wherever this thing winds up in the tree, regular or premium, it has my support. 

 

To have an east-German/foreign line in the GF tech-tree wouldn't be too hard tbh, it could be like this:

 

Rank I: Panzer 35(t), Panzer 38(t), SPW-40P2, PSH, SPW-60PB, BM-21 (premium) and GAZ-M20 mit ZU-23-2

 

Rank II: H.35 (premium), LKW W50 LA/A mit 2M-3, Char 1bis, T-34-76 (1942) and SU-76

 

Rank III: T-34-75, BM-24M (premium) and SU-85

 

Rank IV: PT-76, SFL 2S1, T-34-85, SU-100 and T-34-85M

 

Rank V: T-54-57, T-54A, ZSU-57-2, BMP-1SP2, BRM-1K and SFL 2S3M

 

Rank VI: T-72 "Ural" (premium), T-55A(P), T-55AM-2B, T-72M1, ZSU-23-4V1 and RakJPz 9P110

 

Rank VII: T-72S, 9K33M2, 9K31 and 9K35

 

I know, mostly east-German, but it could work like this.

[Zombificus 792]

2 hours ago, Stuhlfleisch said:

 

To have an east-German/foreign line in the GF tech-tree wouldn't be too hard tbh, it could be like this:

 

Rank I: Panzer 35(t), Panzer 38(t), SPW-40P2, PSH, SPW-60PB, BM-21 (premium) and GAZ-M20 mit ZU-23-2

 

Rank II: H.35 (premium), LKW W50 LA/A mit 2M-3, Char 1bis, T-34-76 (1942) and SU-76

 

Rank III: T-34-75, BM-24M (premium) and SU-85

 

Rank IV: PT-76, SFL 2S1, T-34-85, SU-100 and T-34-85M

 

Rank V: T-54-57, T-54A, ZSU-57-2, BMP-1SP2, BRM-1K and SFL 2S3M

 

Rank VI: T-72 "Ural" (premium), T-55A(P), T-55AM-2B, T-72M1, ZSU-23-4V1 and RakJPz 9P110

 

Rank VII: T-72S, 9K33M2, 9K31 and 9K35

 

I know, mostly east-German, but it could work like this.

 

Yeah, that's mostly what I was thinking. There's a few other options, too:

 

Tier I:

10.5cm GSW Lorraine Schlepper (French Lorraine ammo-carrier adapted into a 105mm SPH; same shells as StuH 42 except no HEAT)

 

10.5cm GSW Mk.VI(e) (British Light Tank Mk.VI adapted into a 105mm SPH; same shells as 10.5cm Lorraine)

 

Panzer 35-R mit T-26 Turm (German Renault R-35 field modified as a one-off with a Russian T-26 turret; premium)

 

Panzer 35-S (German Somua S-35, about 230 captured, of which most were fitted with German cupolas; mainly used on the Eastern Front)

 

Tier II:

10.5cm GSW B2(f) (StuH's howitzer on a Char B1 chassis; the Germans called their all modified Char B1s, including flamethrower variants, "Char B2s"; this might have had HEAT)

 

15cm GSW Lorraine Schlepper (French Lorraine ammo-carrier adapted into a 150mm SPH; same shells as Sturmpanzer II)

 

12.2cm GSW Lorraine Schlepper (French Lorraine ammo-carrier adapted into a 122mm SPH using a Soviet howitzer; same shells as SU-122; seen on a train in the picture)

 

Tier III:

PT-76K1 (Command version with extra radio specific to East Germany; picture is a standard East German PT-76, K1 had a big antenna)

 

Tier IV:

BMP-1A1 Ost (Ex-East-German BMP-1Ps modified to NATO standards by unified Germany, no ATGM)

 

Tier V:

SPW-40 9M14 (East German unique prototype ATGM vehicle based on BTR-40; same missile as BMP-1)

 

T-54AMZ (East German modernised T-54, roughly equivalent to the T-54AM)

 

Also, the East German T-34-85s, T-55AM2-Bs and T-72Ms aren't quite standard. The T-34-85s often had rear-turret boxes and a lot of extra fuel tanks, the T-55AM2-Bs have a lot of extra storage on the turret, and the T-72Ms were all upgraded with smoke launchers, side skirts and 16mm add-on glacis plates. By modelling these differences (as well as the K1 antenna for the German PT-76) we could have a set of tanks that are visually distinct from their Soviet cousins.

 

T-34-85s:

 

T-55AM2-B:

 

T-72M (Left: mostly standard T-72M, though it does have skirts;  Mid: fully upgraded T-72M; Right: T-72Ms in winter camo)

 

Hopefully, if enough people upvote East German tanks, we might see some of these in the game.

[Stuhlfleisch 3,762]

If we get the T-55A(P) with the "early" ammunition loadout (HEAT-FS, APCBC and HE) I could see it being implemented like this (if we don't get a dedicated NVA tech-tree line), unconnected and below the Kpz-70 at 8.0 (no APFSDS but better turning ability and still retains stabilizer):

 

Edited March 14, 2019 by Stuhlfleisch

[Stuhlfleisch 3,762]

On second thought, it's probably better if the T-55A(P) would be situated before the Kpz-70, due to the lower BR (even with APFSDS). 

[Borotovas 4,500]

+1

[Jsaac4000 3]

Winter Camo will Cost 200GE, so  Cost for tank implementation should be secured.

[smaddeus 54]

I am not sure about it, while Germany's history in Cold War was quite divided, which involved both USSR and U.S. operated vehicles at that time until the fall of Berlin Wall, so in this case, Germany is in quite interesting spot in the diversity of vehicle choices and could bring some...balance because of having U.S. vs U.S. or USSR vs USSR type of vehicles rather than having this one tank being overpowered against some if not most of German vehicles and vice versa.

But, I would prefer to have some uniqueness to those vehicles than being basically copy paste. So I don't know how I feel about this if it's not unique enough.

Edited April 17, 2020 by smaddeus

[Stuhlfleisch 3,762]

Added more pictures and the extra info, that the German T-55A could be different to the Soviet one with the addition of two storage-boxes which were mounted on the left turret-side.

 

These boxes were used on Polish and east-German T-55's, and they are not mounted on the Soviet T-55, meaning they would be an additional way to distinguish these two vehicles.

[modern_primat 182]

add all east german vehicles +1

[SturmWerwolf 793]

+1 I think Germany needs at least one of the later T-54 / T-55 variants. Giving a solid East German alternative to the West German M41, M47 and M48s line ups.