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-54

▄T-72M1

▄T-55M

▄T-54

▄T-72M1

Sweden

VI Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
8.7	8.7	8.7

Class:

Medium tank

Research:160 000

Purchase:450 000

Description

The ▄T-55M is a rank VI Swedish medium tank with a battle rating of 8.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Apex Predators".

General info

Survivability and armour

Smoke grenades

Creation of a smoke screen in front of the vehicle

ESS

Creation of a smoke screen in the direction of movement of the vehicle

Armourfront / side / back

Hull100 / 80 / 45

Turret200 / 160 / 66

Crew4 people

Visibility83 %

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:

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	___ mm	___ mm Top ___ mm Bottom	___ mm	___ - ___ mm
Turret	___ - ___ mm Turret front ___ mm Gun mantlet	___ - ___ mm	___ - ___ mm	___ - ___ mm
Cupola	___ mm	___ mm	___ mm	___ mm

Notes:

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB56 / 9 km/h

RB and SB51 / 8 km/h

Number of gears5 forward

1 back

Weight36.0 t

Engine power

AB1 107 hp

RB and SB580 hp

Power-to-weight ratio

AB30.8 hp/t

RB and SB16.1 hp/t

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	56	9	36	899	1,107	24.97	30.75
Realistic	51	8		513	580	14.25	16.11

Modifications and economy

Repair costBasic → Reference

AB4 249 → 6 182

RB4 623 → 6 726

SB5 908 → 8 596

Total cost of modifications133 000

224 400

Talisman cost2 400

Crew training130 000

Experts450 000

Aces2 000

Research Aces890 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

140 / 200 / 240 %

214 / 214 / 214 %

Modifications

Mobility	Protection	Firepower
Tracks Research: 7 100 Cost: 11 000 370 Suspension Research: 5 300 Cost: 8 400 280 Brake System Research: 5 300 Cost: 8 400 280 Filters Research: 7 100 Cost: 11 000 370 Transmission Research: 9 200 Cost: 15 000 480 Engine Research: 9 200 Cost: 15 000 480	Improved Parts Research: 2 100 Cost: 11 000 370 Improved FPE Research: 1 600 Cost: 8 400 280 Crew Replenishment Research: 7 100 Cost: 11 000 370 ESS Research: 9 200 Cost: 15 000 480	Horizontal Drive Research: 7 100 Cost: 11 000 370 100mm_BR412D_ammo_pack Research: 7 100 Cost: 11 000 370 Adjustment of Fire Research: 5 300 Cost: 8 400 280 100mm_HEAT_ammo_pack Research: 5 300 Cost: 8 400 280 Laser rangefinder Research: 5 300 Cost: 8 400 280 Elevation Mechanism Research: 7 100 Cost: 11 000 370 100mm_M1000_ammo_pack Research: 7 100 Cost: 11 000 370 Smoke grenade Research: 7 100 Cost: 11 000 370 Artillery Support Research: 9 200 Cost: 15 000 480 100mm_ussr_Smoke_ammo_pack Research: 9 200 Cost: 15 000 480

Armaments

Laser rangefinder

Reduces the error and increases the maximum measurable distance of the rangefinder

Main armament

100 mm D-10T2S cannon

Two-plane stabilizer

Reduces the swing of the gun in two planes while moving

Ammunition43 rounds

First-order18 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

9.7 → 7.5 s

Vertical guidance-5° / 18°

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 machine gun

Ammunition360 rounds

Belt capacity60 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

6.5 → 5.0 s

Fire rate700 shots/min

Vertical guidance-10° / 60°

7.62 mm SGMT machine gun (coaxial)

Ammunition3 500 rounds

Belt capacity250 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

10.4 → 8.0 s

Fire rate600 shots/min

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.