T-55M (Sweden)

This page is about the Swedish medium tank T-55M (Sweden). For other versions, see T-54/55 (Family).

▄T-55M

▄T-55M

Description

The ▄T-55M is a rank Swedish medium tank with a battle rating of (AB), (RB), and (SB). It was introduced in Update "Apex Predators".

General info

Survivability and armour

The T-55M is essentially a modified Soviet T-55A, as such the armour and interior layout are identical to T-55A.

The T-55M has moderate frontal protection, with 100 mm plates for upper front plate (UFP) and lower front plate (LFP) placed at angles 59° and 56° respectively; effective thickness frontally comes up to ~180 mm and ~200 mm, respectively. At a perfect angle, the T-55M can bring its frontal effective thickness to ~200 mm and ~220 mm for the UFP and LFP, while having ~250 mm of protection at the angled sides. The additional 20 mm of protection will rarely provide any advantage at this BR as high-calibre APDS and APFSDS will have no difficulty penetrating your front plate.

As for the turret, the T-55M has slightly less protection than the T-62 and combined with a generally larger turret, it is easier for opponents to hit and penetrate the turret. The thinnest spots are right next to the cannon breech, at 200 mm, which rather slowly becomes over 300 mm when moving further away from the breech.

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour (Hull, Turret roof)
• Cast homogeneous armour (Turret, Gun mantlet)

Armour	Front	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	100 mm (59-77°) Front glacis 100 mm (56-59°) Lower glacis	80 mm	20 mm (61°) Upper 45 mm (16°) Middle 20 mm (71°) Lower	30 mm General 45 mm Engine vent
Turret	130-200 mm (14-39°) Turret front	100-160 mm (15-73°)	66-110 mm (4-41°)	30 mm

Notes:

• Suspensions wheels and tracks are 20 mm thick
• Belly armour is 20 mm thick.

Mobility

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade				899			__.__
Realistic				513			__.__

Armaments

Main armament

100 mm D-10T2S					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	43	-5°/+18°	±180°	Two-plane	14.3	19.8	24.0	26.5	28.2	9.75	8.63	7.95	7.50
Realistic					8.9	10.5	12.8	14.1	15.0

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
3BM-8	APDS	336	332	317	299	282	265
BR-412D	APCBC	239	236	220	202	185	170
M1000A1	APFSDS	344	342	336	329	322	314
3BK17M	HEATFS	390	390	390	390	390	390
OF-412	HE	27	27	26	24	23	21

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
3BM-8	APDS	1,415	4.13	-	-	-	75°	78°	80°
BR-412D	APCBC	887	15.88	1.2	19	100.1	48°	63°	71°
M1000A1	APFSDS	1,475	3.75	-	-	-	78°	80°	81°
3BK17M	HEATFS	1,085	9.96	0.05	0.1	1,170	65°	72°	77°
OF-412	HE	900	15.6	0.2	0.1	1,460	79°	80°	81°

Smoke shell characteristics
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Screen radius (m)	Screen deploy time (s)	Screen hold time (s)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
3D3	880	15.6	16	5	25	50

Ammo racks

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
43	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__

Machine guns

12.7 mm NSVT
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Pintle	360 (60)	700	-10°/+60°	±180°

7.62 mm SGMT
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Coaxial	3,500 (250)	600	-	-

Usage in battles

The T-55M has the exact same playstyle as the Soviet T-55A. The T-55A usage in battle is very similar to the T-54 tanks prior to it. Aside from some minor design differences, the general armour layout of the T-55A (and by extension, the T-55M) is similar to that of the T-54 (1951). The mobility is slightly better due to a more powerful engine, enabling a higher hp-to-ton ratio despite the small weight increase. The firepower of the T-55M compared to its predecessor is what makes it stand out, with access to the M1000A1 APFSDS ammunition that can penetrate over 340 mm at point-blank range (compared to the T-54 (1951)'s point-blank penetration of 299 mm with the 3BM-8 APDS and 380 mm with the 3BK-5 HEATFS shell). The high-velocity and penetrating APFSDS shell allow the T-55M to more easily reach out and destroy long-range enemies. The option to use the BR-412D APCBC shell is also available to use in order to cause devastating post-penetration damages, especially against the Leopard 1 tanks that the APCBC shell can penetrate frontally. However, the presence of other tanks with enough armour to protect against the APCBC shell mean it is only situationally useful. Other helpful differences the T-55M has over the T-54 (1951) is a faster turret traverse rate and stabilizer, the latter of which is very useful when reacting to enemy targets on the move.

The T-55M is suited for a variety of roles and actions when assaulting or defending a point. In these roles, the firepower and mobility is sufficient, but the armour may not stand up against the enemy due to the prevalence of HEATFS and APFSDS ammo at this battle rating. As such, all these tactics should emphasize avoiding being seen and destroyed by the enemy.

A weak spot of the T-55M's is a shot through the upper front plate, as while more protected then other T-55s, is still weak. A good shot here can knock out three of the four crew members easily.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Large selection of ammunition
• APFSDS can pen pretty much every tank at its BR
• Stabilizer
• Decent speed & acceleration, even when not fully modified.

Cons:

• Reverse speed is awful
• Gun depression isn't great, it can have a hard time of depressing the gun on slopes

History

Between 1960 and 1970, Finland purchased 74 T-55As from the Soviet Union to bolster the numbers of their tank core and complement the T-54s. At the turn of 1980-1990, all T-55As were modernized to the new standard, adding the M suffix to their designation. In early 2000s, most of the T-55Ms were retired with last 9 T-55Ms being used for mine clearance. By the end of 2022, all T-55Ms were officially retired from the service.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the T-55M (Sweden) from live.warthunder.com.

See also

Related development

• T-55A
• T-55AM-1
• T-55AMD-1

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.