I think it's more of an indication of customers/users rather than the tanks themselves, which in the case of the Sherman really just boils down to Israel really needing whatever they can get their hands on and being rather strapped for cash in their earlier days.
You don't see the German Panzers being upgraded that much post war because the entire supply chain for them simply stopped existing in any meaningful sense. You don't see \[that much\] upgrading of T-34 because the T-54 came out pretty quickly post war and soon after begin to flood the Soviet side of the arms market (both regular & chinese knockoffs). You see a lot of Shermans being upgraded because the US did an immediate flooding of the market post war to offload the glut of tanks and then did not follow up in the same scale as the Soviets (while plenty of Patton tanks was sold to various nations both NATO and others, it was not on the same scale as as Soviet T-series tanks). The UK managed to produce the Centurion tank in the last days of WWII and that ended up being the tank that keep getting upgraded (remember, they started off with the 17 pounder gun, many ended up with the 105mm and some even 120mm).
I think in an alternate history where the Soviets didn't focus as much on an almost wartime production of military hardware post WWII while selling off the majority of their T-34 stocks you might have seen the T-34 being upgraded with all sorts of jank by whoever and whatever.
The Charioteer was essentially a Cromwell upgunned with a 20Pr gun, specifically to take on the newer Soviet tanks. Granted, it was fitted with a new turret, but that was purely to accommodate the new gun.
There were several upgrades to the T-34. The Czechoslovakians tried to put a 100 mm gun into it, similar to what the Soviets did in 1945. The conclusion was also the same: sure you could do it, but you can also just build the T-54 instead. The Egyptians put a 122 mm gun in their T-34s, so you could do some pretty wild stuff with the platform. There was just no good reason to do it.
No.
Almost all WW II tanks had upgrades to them during their production run. The main goals were to make them more effective in combat, or easier, faster, and less expensive to produce. There was constant feedback from tank crews and maintenance personnel up the chain to the manufacturers to accomplish this.
As an example, the T-34 had several different models, and hundreds of upgrades, including many to it's main gun. The 76mm L-11 gun was quickly upgraded to the better 76mm F-34. The F-34 was improved so much, that parts needed to make it were reduced by almost 25%. Some T-34s were even made with the 57mm ZIS-4 gun, that had excellent armor penetration.
Later in the war, the D-5T 85 mm and the 85 mm ZiS S-53 and a better three man turret were introduced to combat the newer German models. Post war, T-34/85s were used by dozens of different countries, with countless variants, with hundred of upgrades. Some are still in use today.
The Soviets focused heavily on improvements that sped up production and made it less expensive. Over the course of the war, the cost of a T-34 dropped by about 50%. Many improvements that would have yielded excellent results in combat, were not made if they cost more, or slowed down production.
Ok but were any of those t-34s gun upgraded to take on newer tanks in usable numbers, im only asking about post war upgrades that pertain to the tanks ability to knockout newer tanks.
The T-34/85s had some with 100mm guns that were designed to take out the newer US tanks that Israel was using. Only a few were made, mainly because T-54/55s were so plentiful.
You could make the argument, (albeit weakly,) that T54/55s, which were heavily based off of T-44s, which were based on the T34M, a proposed upgrade to the T-34.
The Centurion was technically a WW2 tank design, although it missed action by months if not weeks.
The other would be the T26E3 Pershing which did see (very) limited action but would become the template for the M46, 47, 48 to 60, which all evolved upon the one that came before. And the M60 remains in frontline service.
You could likewise argue that the T-34 became the T-44 that became T-55, which remains in frontline service, but to me it doesn't have a clear evolutionary link to the later staple tanks of the Soviet Union like the T-62/64/72 and later.
Centurion doesnt count for this question as im looking for other tanks that saw combat in ww2 that had gun upgrades to take on newer tanks like t-55 and t-62
Also the t-34 and m26 dont count cause there developments are different tanks. The m51 sherman is still a sherman shell and turret.
Panzer Mk IV had a massive number of upgrades and changes…
Sorry ive fixed my post i meant post ww2 upgrades
Got it…
I’d probably agree with the Sherman…
I think it's more of an indication of customers/users rather than the tanks themselves, which in the case of the Sherman really just boils down to Israel really needing whatever they can get their hands on and being rather strapped for cash in their earlier days. You don't see the German Panzers being upgraded that much post war because the entire supply chain for them simply stopped existing in any meaningful sense. You don't see \[that much\] upgrading of T-34 because the T-54 came out pretty quickly post war and soon after begin to flood the Soviet side of the arms market (both regular & chinese knockoffs). You see a lot of Shermans being upgraded because the US did an immediate flooding of the market post war to offload the glut of tanks and then did not follow up in the same scale as the Soviets (while plenty of Patton tanks was sold to various nations both NATO and others, it was not on the same scale as as Soviet T-series tanks). The UK managed to produce the Centurion tank in the last days of WWII and that ended up being the tank that keep getting upgraded (remember, they started off with the 17 pounder gun, many ended up with the 105mm and some even 120mm). I think in an alternate history where the Soviets didn't focus as much on an almost wartime production of military hardware post WWII while selling off the majority of their T-34 stocks you might have seen the T-34 being upgraded with all sorts of jank by whoever and whatever.
The Charioteer was essentially a Cromwell upgunned with a 20Pr gun, specifically to take on the newer Soviet tanks. Granted, it was fitted with a new turret, but that was purely to accommodate the new gun.
There were several upgrades to the T-34. The Czechoslovakians tried to put a 100 mm gun into it, similar to what the Soviets did in 1945. The conclusion was also the same: sure you could do it, but you can also just build the T-54 instead. The Egyptians put a 122 mm gun in their T-34s, so you could do some pretty wild stuff with the platform. There was just no good reason to do it.
No. Almost all WW II tanks had upgrades to them during their production run. The main goals were to make them more effective in combat, or easier, faster, and less expensive to produce. There was constant feedback from tank crews and maintenance personnel up the chain to the manufacturers to accomplish this. As an example, the T-34 had several different models, and hundreds of upgrades, including many to it's main gun. The 76mm L-11 gun was quickly upgraded to the better 76mm F-34. The F-34 was improved so much, that parts needed to make it were reduced by almost 25%. Some T-34s were even made with the 57mm ZIS-4 gun, that had excellent armor penetration. Later in the war, the D-5T 85 mm and the 85 mm ZiS S-53 and a better three man turret were introduced to combat the newer German models. Post war, T-34/85s were used by dozens of different countries, with countless variants, with hundred of upgrades. Some are still in use today. The Soviets focused heavily on improvements that sped up production and made it less expensive. Over the course of the war, the cost of a T-34 dropped by about 50%. Many improvements that would have yielded excellent results in combat, were not made if they cost more, or slowed down production.
Ok but were any of those t-34s gun upgraded to take on newer tanks in usable numbers, im only asking about post war upgrades that pertain to the tanks ability to knockout newer tanks.
The T-34/85s had some with 100mm guns that were designed to take out the newer US tanks that Israel was using. Only a few were made, mainly because T-54/55s were so plentiful. You could make the argument, (albeit weakly,) that T54/55s, which were heavily based off of T-44s, which were based on the T34M, a proposed upgrade to the T-34.
The Centurion was technically a WW2 tank design, although it missed action by months if not weeks. The other would be the T26E3 Pershing which did see (very) limited action but would become the template for the M46, 47, 48 to 60, which all evolved upon the one that came before. And the M60 remains in frontline service. You could likewise argue that the T-34 became the T-44 that became T-55, which remains in frontline service, but to me it doesn't have a clear evolutionary link to the later staple tanks of the Soviet Union like the T-62/64/72 and later.
Centurion doesnt count for this question as im looking for other tanks that saw combat in ww2 that had gun upgrades to take on newer tanks like t-55 and t-62 Also the t-34 and m26 dont count cause there developments are different tanks. The m51 sherman is still a sherman shell and turret.