Soviet T-55 Main Battle Tank

Excellent reference for T-55 technical data and operational history. With the T-55 series being one of the most (if not THE most) produced tanks out there, I'm surprise there's not more written. But this isn't a German tank, so there ya go. But I digress.... This is the best currently available. One more thing: Modelers should take note that this book doesn't contain a wealth of detail pictures. I have a Miniart kit with the full interior and am still looking for good interior reference. In the meantime, you won't regret buying this book.

This book is one of the best on the subject. Very good data on the variants of the T-55.

I’m very happy with the content of this book. It’s a great reference for the history and development of the T-55. Many pictures I have not previously seen. Highly recommended

This book is an excellent companion volume to the authors' previous book on the T-54. This new title carries on the story of the evolution of the T-44/T-54/T-55 family and covers both the tank versions as well as the many specialized derivatives. The T-55 is one of the most important tanks of the Cold War era, not only serving as the backbone of the Soviet Army, but also exported to 86 countries. The overall quality of this book is excellent, combining exceptionally good graphics and photos with a very thorough text. This book is a "must-have" for anyone interested in Soviet tanks.

Terrific book! It provides the most comprehensive design development and production history of the T-55 I have ever found. Until a few years ago, I had always thought that the T-55 was just a T-54 with a few modifications and fairly minor upgrades. Definitely not! It was an evolutionary development of the T-54 but it incorporated a great many design changes and upgrades. Chapter 2 “Development of the T-55 Tank” describes the Kartsev design bureau in Nizhny Tagil and the design development history of the tank. The text is accompanied by a horde of black and white photos. There are also some color photos taken of vehicles in military museums. There are also copies of some of the original design drawings as well as a couple of cutaway diagrams.Chapter 3 describes the many variants and upgrades of the original T-55 design. I thought the reactive armor design upgrades were among the more interesting improvements. The BTR-T heavy APC based on the ideas of the Israeli Army was also interesting (Chapter 4).There are also several Appendices covering other fascinating subjects:• Appendix 1: T-55 production by year;• Appendix 5: Specifications and data tables for the Model 1958 T-55 production variants as well as several later models. These provide detailed data on dimensions, weights, engine horsepower and speed, armament, and armor thicknesses.• Appendix 7: Soviet Standardized Life Cycle for Armoured Vehicles. It describes the Soviet era tank design development and production flow systems and procedures.

Organized as with earlier books of the series on T-10, T-54 (authors earlier review), the T-55 represented an earnest attempt to modernize a design with origins in late-/early-post WW Two (T-44).Book contains five chapters, Appendices, Bibliography and Index.* Chapter One - Leonid Kartsev* Chapter Two - Development of the T-55* Chapter Three - Description of the T-55 and its Variants* Chapter For - Derivatives of the T-55 Tank Family* Chapter Five - Combat use of the T-55 TankPhotos are extensive and appropriate. Drawings are useful in understand Soviet-era munitions used in the T-54/T-55 series, including the 9M116 Bastion guided-missile round (p. 79).Eleven appendices are important, as they focus on specific aspects of the design (some of the photos are the result of author James Kinnear's visit to the Kubinka Museum, published in Jane's a couple decades ago but does not detract from provided details). The Appendix section includes Client list of users; cut-away, 3-view drawing; technical characteristics, listing of Izdeliye/obiekt (project numbers) of variants designs; and other data useful for a full understanding of the tank and its impact.[...the only unfortunate omission might be not having recently related S. Zaloga's Soviet evaluation of the T-54/-55 and other tanks vs Western tank designs - and how the Russians evaluated relative capability....it just came too late.]HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

A great book for tank history buffs and hobbyist's, covering in detail the development history of this tank. A fair amount of high quality photos in B/W, and color. Lots of technical detail in tables, plus line drawings for the different versions. Because the book is 10" by 7.5" some of the many photos are small but still useful.There are also a few color sideview drawings scattered thru-out that show some interesting color schemes and/or markings. A great reference source to have around, and I can say the same for the T-54 book which I also have.

good data source. easy delivery

Alles bestens..

ソ連のT-55及びその系列車両に関する素晴らしい書籍です。当時の写真・現存車両の写真・マニュアルを用いてT-55及びその系列車両を解説しています。同じ著者の「T-10重戦車」「T-54主力戦車」に続く第3弾です。この書籍自体がB5サイズ（Osprey社刊の書籍サイズ）であることや、全体のスペースの問題もあるのでしょうが、掲載されている写真のサイズが全体的に小さく細部のディテールが確認出来ない点があるのが残念ですが、写真集がメインではないので良しとしましょう。Ｔ-10、T-54に比して当時の製造図面類は少ないのですが、T-54からの改良点等が説明文に加えてマニュアルからの図版が多数掲載されており、視覚的にも良く判ります。近代化の改修や系列車両等に関しても、説明文だけでなく多方向からの写真（カラー写真も多数あり）で説明されており、良く判ります。戦歴や海外の利用国リストもあり、写真が全体に小さいのを除けば、ソ連Ｔ-55に関する素晴らしい書籍です。是非とも、「T-10重戦車」「T-54主力戦車」と併せて持っておきたい一冊です。主な内容導入カルツェフ技師T-55の開発と発展T-55各型とバリエーションT-55の派生型T-55の戦歴付録：年度毎の生産台数、T-55及び系列車両の開発番号、T-55の性能諸元表、海外での使用国と台数、用語解説、透視図等参考文献他にT-55(T-54含む)関する書籍を全てではありませんが参考に記します。Osprey Publishing：Soviet T-54 Main Battle TankOsprey Publishing：T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tanks 1944-2004 (New Vanguard)Pen & Sword：T-54/55：The Soviet Army's Cold War Main Battle TankEKSMO Publishing：T-54 i T-55. "Tank-soldat" (ロシア語)SabIngaMartin：T-54/55 Vol.2 in Israeli-Arab war Part1(Vol.1/3は未刊行)SabIngaMartin：Israeli Armor Wrecks Tiran4,5,6SabIngaMartin：Tiran Tanks in IDF Service Part1 (Tran4 & 4 shrir)Desert Eagle：TIRAN WRECKS TIRAN4/5/6 WRECKS IN THE IDF

I have the kindle edition of this book. It includes the pictures as well as the text, and unlike some kindle books the graphics quality is good so no need to worry about that.This is a very useful source about the design and development of the T-55, which is one of the most significant post-World War 2 tanks. It explains very well why the T-55 was as it was, how the Soviet Union approached designing AFVs and how its chief designer worked within that framework, the political factors which influenced the design and development process and how the design was altered, adapted and modified over the very long time it was in production and service around the world, including the engineering variants such as the bridge layer.The photographs are good and very useful, as are the line drawings, many of which are taken from the tank’s operation manuals. Unfortunately the key to the manual’s numbered drawings isn’t included but that’s not a major problem if you know much about what is what in a cold war tank. Lots of detail that’s often not clear in photographs, such as the layout of the external fuel lines, is shown.Highly recommended.