T-54 (Sweden)

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

▄T-54

▄T-54

Description

Finland operated 43 T-54s and 73 T-55s, acquired from the Soviet Union shortly after their introduction with the Red Army. The existing T-54/55 tanks were delivered between 1959 and 1972. At some point in their service, they were modernized, first to the T-55M standard and then to the T-55 AM variant. An additional 10 T-55AMs were bought from Poland and their chassis was used with the Marksman SPAAG turret to create the ITPSV 90. A total of 230 T-54/55s were in service by 2001 in different variants, 74 were in service by early 2003 and the rest remained in storage. During the 1960s, some T-54/55 turrets were used as coastal fortifications as the 100 56TK light coastal gun. The last variant of the T-54/55 (a mine roller known as KMT-5) was retired in 2022.

Introduced in introduced in Update "Fire and Ice", the ▄T-54  is an excellent brawler and frontline tank, compared to other early MBTs. With good frontal armour, firepower and mediocre mobility, it excels in close combat against other MBTs. While the armour is very good and will consistently stop conventional rounds, HEAT warheads can penetrate the tank with ease. The interior is also very cramped and the tank is vulnerable to one shot, especially by APHE shells. The tank is fitted with a 100mm D-10T cannon, that has access to a fairly powerful APDS shell, as well as a very capable APHE shell, while the APHE shell is not the best in close combat, it can be used to guarantee a kill in flanking manoeuvres, when the enemy tanks side is exposed.

General info

Survivability and armour

The armour of the T-54 leaves nothing to be desired except for the hull armour. It is one of the strongest frontal plates seen in an early MBT and is able to withstand full calibre solid shots from all nations (Obus de rupture for example, the French solid shot seen in most post war designs such as the Lorraine 40t, AMX-50, etc). However, the armour is nonexistent for HEAT and ATGM which are the main ammunition used in 7.7 to 8.7. The tank is practically immune to low calibre autocannon fire with exception of APDS rounds to the sides (seen in Warrior and AMX-30 DCA).

Armour type:

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	100 mm (60°) Front glacis 100 mm (54°) Lower glacis	80 mm	45 mm (16°) Upper 30 mm (72°) Lower	30 mm Front 20 mm Back
Turret	160 mm (14-39°) Turret front 200 mm (4-78°) Gun mantlet	115 mm (45-50°) Upper 155 mm (10-30°) Lower	65 mm (9-35°)	30 mm

Notes:

Mobility

As a relatively heavily armoured tank and part of the Soviet doctrine, the mobility of the T-54 leaves much to be desired. Not only is top speed the lacklustre, but turn rate is not great and reverse speed is mediocre. Overall, the mobility is not the best and should not be relied on to be used to play as a fast paced vehicle. However, the power-to-weight ratio on the T-54 is impressive and is able to climb and move through rough territory with ease as well as push and pull tanks.

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade				806			__.__
Realistic				460			__.__

Armaments

Main armament

The T-54 has access to the powerful D-10T. As seen in prior vehicles and other vehicles in the tree, the 100 mm is a reliable calibre for all situations with amazing ammunition for all cases. The T-54 (1951) also has access to APDS and HEATFS ammunition for use against everything except Soviet tanks. Both are impressive ammunition which require little to no practice in terms of use but they do require more trigger discipline and accurate aiming as they make much less spalling that the BR-412D. Despite not having great penetration which will be sort of required when facing heavily armoured targets like the Tiger II, it is able to decimate every vehicle it sees from all angles due to the explosive power. At 7.7 and above, the threats that will be seen (especially Europeans) have little to no armour, able to be easily penetrated by even the BR-412. However, some of the frontal plates of said vehicles are meant to stop the ammunition at certain distances (AMX-30 can stop BR-412 at past 500 m). Using 3BM-8 and 3BK-5 makes frontal engagements easier and with greater results due to the increased armour penetration. But again, they barely cause spalling and will most likely take more than one shot to fully disable and destroy an enemy tank.

100 mm D-10T					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	34	-4°/+17°	±180°	-	9.5	13.2	16.0	17.7	18.8	9.75	8.63	7.95	7.50
Realistic					5.9	7.0	8.5	9.4	10.0

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
BR-412	APHE	218	212	189	164	142	124
BR-412B	APHEBC	218	215	201	184	169	155
BR-412D	APCBC	239	236	220	202	185	170
BR-412P	APCR	224	216	186	153	127	105
3BM-8	APDS	336	332	317	299	282	265
3BK-5	HEATFS	380	380	380	380	380	380
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%
BR-412	APHE	895	15.88	1.2	19	100.1	47°	60°	65°
BR-412B	APHEBC	895	15.88	1.2	19	100.1	48°	63°	71°
BR-412D	APCBC	887	15.88	1.2	19	100.1	48°	63°	71°
BR-412P	APCR	1,050	8.53	-	-	-	66°	70°	72°
3BM-8	APDS	1,415	4.13	-	-	-	75°	78°	80°
3BK-5	HEATFS	900	12.38	0.05	0.1	1,240	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
34	33 (+1)	28 (+6)	24 (+10)	23 (+11)	21 (+13)	1 (+33)	No

Machine guns

12.7 mm DShK
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Pintle	250 (50)	600	-4°/+82°	±180°

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

Usage in battles

Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but instead give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Roof-mounted machine gun for anti-air defence
• Armour provides full protection against autocannons frontally, the relatively thick side armour of 80 mm can protect from many autocannons side on.
• Engine smoke system can aid survivability

Cons:

• Stock performance is quite lacklustre
• Cramped crew layout
• The armour doesn't hold up against sabot or HEAT ammunition

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the T-54 (Sweden) from live.warthunder.com.

See also

Related development

• T-54/55 (Family)

External links

• [Wikipedia] - T-54/55 Operators and Variants