M46 PATTON

The 'M46 Patton' was the first of the Patton series tanks and one of the U.S army's principal main battle tanks of the Cold War, with models in service from the mid-1940s to the early 1950s. The M46 was the U.S. Army primary tank during the Korean War. It was widely used by some U.S. Cold War allies, especially other NATO countries. The tank belongs to the Patton family of tanks, named after General George S. Patton, commander of the U.S. Third Army during World War II and one of the earliest American advocates for the use of tanks in battle. The M46 Patton tank was designed to replace the previous M26 Pershings and M4 Shermans.

Contents

History

Combat service

Variants

Operators

References

See also

External links

History

In May 1946, due to the changing conception of the US Army's tank needs, the M26 Pershing tank was reclassified as a medium tank. Designed initially as a heavy tank, Pershing was a significant improvement over the M4 Sherman in firepower and protection. Its mobility, however, was deemed unsatisfactory for a medium tank as it used the same engine that powered the much lighter M4A3. Its underpowered engine was also plagued with an unreliable transmission. Work began in January 1948 on replacing the original power plant with the Continental AV-1790-3 engine and Allison CD-850-1 cross-drive transmission. The design was initially called M26E2, but modifications continued to accumulate, and eventually the Bureau of Ordnance decided that the tank needed its own unique designation. When the rebuild began in November, 1949 the upgraded M26 received not only a new power plant and a main gun with bore evacuator, but a new designation along with a name - 'M46 General Patton' or simply 'Patton'. In total 1160 M26s were rebuilt: 800 to the M46, 360 to the M46A1 standard.

Combat service

The only extensive combat use of the M46 was in the Korean War. The tank proved superior to the much lighter North Korean T-34-85, which were encountered in relatively small numbers.
The M46 was exported to some European countries, including Belgium, France and Italy.

Variants

★ 'M26E2/M46' - M26/A1 Pershing upgraded with Continental V-12 engine and cross-drive transmission. Used the same M3A1 90 mm gun as the M26A1 Pershing, and differed mainly in the position of the exhausts.

★ 'M46A1' - Product improved variant with improved braking, cooling and fire suppression systems, as well as, improved electrical equipment, AV-1790-5B engine and CD-850-4 transmission.

★ The later M47 Patton utilized the same hull as the M46 but with a different turret.

Operators

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References

★ Steven J Zaloga, Tony Bryan, Jim Laurier - ''M26–M46 Pershing Tank 1943–1953'', 2000 Osprey Publishing (New Vanguard 35), ISBN 1-84176-202-4.

★ Abraham Rabinovich - ''The Battle for Jerusalem June 5-7, 1967'', 2004 Sefer Ve Sefer Publishing, Jerusalem, ISBN 965-7287-07-3

★ Nolan, Keith W. "Into Lao's, Operation Lam Son 719 and Dewey Canyon II." 1986. Presidio Press. Account of the US Army's final offensive of the Vietnam War.

See also

★ List of armoured fighting vehicles

★ M1 Abrams

★ M47 Patton

★ M48 Patton

★ M60 Patton

★ M103 heavy tank

External links

★ AFV Database: M46 Patton

★ Patton-Mania