PT-76

{{Infobox Weapon |name= PT-76 |image= |caption= PT-76 on display near the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, Kiev |origin= |type= Amphibious Light Tank |is_ranged= |is_artillery= |is_vehicle= yes |is_UK= yes |service= 16 August 1952–present |designer= N. Shashmurin and Zh.Y. Kotin |design_date= 1949–51 |manufacturer= VTZ, Kirov Factory |unit_cost= |production_date= 1953–69 |number=Around 12,000

Further development of the design was carried out between 1949–1951 under the leadership of Zh. Y. Kotin, and the tank was officially adopted on August 16, 1952 with the designation PT-76. Production started in 1953 at the Volgograd Tractor Factory and the Kirov plant in Leningrad. The Model 1 was produced in limited numbers and was quickly replaced in production by the Model 2. In 1958 an improved variant, the PT-76B, was adopted and remained in production until 1968.

Design

. The water-jet outlets at the rear of the vehicle, both of which are closed, can be clearly seen.]]

The PT-76 has a typical tank layout: the steering compartment at the front, the combat compartment in the center and the engine compartment at the back. The tank has a three-man crew, with the commander also acting as the radio operator and gunner. This reduces his effectiveness as an observer. The commander and loader stations are located inside the turret, the commander sits on the left-hand side of the main gun and the loader sits on the right. They have a large oval shaped double hatch which opens forwards on top of the turret. The driver sits in the center of the front of the hull and has a one piece hatch that opens to the right, with three vision blocks and periscopes located beneath the main gun at the top of the sloping glacis plate. Under the driver's seat there is an emergency hatch which can be used by all crew members. At night the center periscope is swapped for a TVN-28 night vision device which gives the driver clear vision up to 60 meters.

Armament

Its main armament consists of a 76.2 mm D-56T series rifled tank gun which has an effective range of approximately 1,500 meters and a rate of fire of six to eight rounds per minute. This gun is 42 calibers long. The PT-76 carries 40 rounds for its gun. A typical ammunition load consists of 24 x OF-350 Frag-HE, 4 x subcaliber AP-T, 4 x AP-T and 8 x BK-350M HEAT rounds. The gun is mounted in an oval dish-type circular truncated cone turret with flat sloping sides which is mounted over the second, third, and fourth pair of road wheels. All PT-76s have a fume extractor for the main gun at the rear of the turret.

Mobility

Tactical mobility

The torsion bar suspension consists of six evenly spaced large rubber-tired road wheels with the drive sprocket at the rear and the idler at the front. The road wheels are hollow to minimize weight. These hollow road wheels increase the tank's buoyancy by 30%. There are no track-return rollers. The first and last road wheels have a hydraulic shock absorber and the steel tracks have 96 links each when new, each link has a single pin. There is a small, thin, horizontal skirt over each track. Its V-6 6-cylinder 4-stroke in line water-cooled diesel engine develops 240 hp (179 kW) at 1,800 rpm which gives it a road speed of 44 km/h and a range of 370 km to 400 km. The vehicle can cross 1.1 m high vertical obstacles and 2.8 m wide trenches and climb 52° gradients. The engine has a cooling system and an initial heater (intended for use when the air temperature is -20°C or colder). The PT-76 has a 5 speed manual shaft-type transmission system similar to the one in the T-34/85. The gearbox has four forward gears and one reverse. The vehicle has a side clutch that enables it to make turns and a bandbrake. The tank has four mounts for additional external fuel tanks at the rear of the hull. The two on the corners are for flat type external tanks and the two in the center are for a drum type. These additional tanks increase the range from 370 km - 400 km to 480 km - 510 km. The PT-76 is a reliable, simple to operate and highly mobile reconnaissance vehicle and is ideally designed for amphibious operations, but it has many limitations as a fighting vehicle.

Strategic mobility

, Kiev, with another view of the radio antenna on the left-hand side of the turret.]]

The PT-76 is amphibious, it has a flat, boat-shaped hull which is hermetical and ensures minimal resistance when the tank is afloat. It can swim after switching on the two electric bilge pumps, erecting the trim vane which improves the vehicle's stability and displacement in the water and prevents water from flooding into the bow of the tank. Switching the driver's periscope for a swimming periscope enables the driver to see over the trim vane. When not in use the trim vane is stowed in the front of the bow over the barrel of the main gun and serves as additional armor. Bilge pumps keep the tank afloat even if it leaks or is damaged. There is a manual bilge pump for emergency use. The tank is propelled through the water by two hydrojets, one on each side of the hull, with the inlets undermeath the hull and the outlets at the rear. There are also additional assistant water-jet inlets on both sides of the hull over the last road wheels. The rear outlets have lids that can be fully or partially closed, redirecting the water stream to the forward-directed outlets at the sides of the hull, thus enabling the vehicle to turn or go in reverse. To go turn to the left for example, the left water-jet is covered, to turn to the right, the right water-jet is covered. To make a 180° turn, one water-jet sucks in water while the other pushes it out. This system was designed by N. Konowalow. It is the same system as the one used in the BTR-50 APC which was based on the PT-76. The tank can swim at up to 10,2 km/h and has a range of 100 km. It can cross most water obstacles and can also swim in the sea. However, its amphibious design makes it disproportionally large for a vehicle of its weight and allows less armor protection than other light tanks. The main disadvantage of the BMP-1 and the BRM-1 when compared to the PT-76 is the absence of a powerful main armament. However, the BRM-1 is fitted with more modern reconnaissance equipment. Also, both vehicles have stronger front armor and superior mobility features and the BMP-1 can carry up to 8 fully equipped soldiers inside. The PT-76 is still on active service in a number of countries mainly in the third world. The Russian Army is reported to have used PT-76 units in the ongoing war in Chechnya.

The PT-76 is used/stationed by/in following Russian units/bases: 61st tank repair plant (1), 61st Kirkinesskaya marine brigade (26) from Sputnik which is part of the Murmansk military district, 175th marine brigade (26) from Tumannyy which is part of the Murmansk military district and 336th Belostokskaya marine brigade (26) from Baltyysk which is part of the Kaliningrad military district.

In Ludowe Wojsko Polskie (LWP), PT-76s and PT-76Bs were used by the reconnaissance subunits of tank divisions and mechanized divisions and Coastal Defense units including the 7th Lusatian Landing Division (officially known as 7th Coast Defense Division).

PT-76s were in service with the Indian Army and they were in reserve status before they were withdrawn from service in 2009 after which they were used for target practice by the army and as static memorials at various military facilities. Thirteen PT-76s, of the NVA 202nd Armored Regiment spearheaded an assault against approximately 24 Green Berets and 500 irregulars. The defenders fought back with M72 LAWs (Light Anti-Tank Weapons/66 mm), and requested support from nearby Khe Sanh, who were unable to help, as they too, were under siege..]]

Of the US Army's three armor (tank) battalions in Vietnam, only the 1/69th engaged in a tank to tank duel. On March 3, 1969, the Special Forces camp at Ben Het was attacked by the NVA 202nd Armored Regiment. The 202nd was tasked with the mission of destroying the camp's 175 mm self propelled guns. One of the PT-76s had detonated a land mine, which not only alerted the camp, but also lit up the other PT-76s attacking the firebase. Flares had been sent up, thus exposing adversary tanks, but sighting in on muzzle flashes, one PT-76 scored a direct hit on the turret of a M48, killing two Patton crewmen and wounding two more. A second Patton, using the same technique, destroyed a PT-76 with their second shot. At daybreak, the battlefield revealed the wreckage of two PT-76s and one BTR-50 armored personnel carrier.

The PT-76 also saw action with Indian forces in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and 1971. Despite the PT-76 being obsolete by 1971, the superior tactics and overwhelming numbers of the Indian Army enabled it to play a vital role in defeating the Pakistani Army. In the Eastern theater the high numbers of PT-76s proved superior to the Pakistani World War II era M24 Chaffee light tanks. It was a different story in the western theater where they proved incapable of facing Pakistani M48 Patton and Type 59 main battle tanks especially at the crucial Battle of Chamb.

The PT-76 also saw service in the Six Day War (1967) during which the Israeli army destroyed or captured about 200 Egyptian T-54, T-55 and PT-76 tanks. During the Yom Kippur War in 1973 PT-76s were used during the crossing of the Great Bitter Lake by the Egyptian 135th Marines Brigade.

It also saw service in the Angolan Civil War (1975–2002).

During the Yugoslav wars, the PT-76 saw service with the Yugoslav Peoples Army and later the army of the Krajina Serbs in a few battles during the Ten-Day War in Slovenia (1991) and Croatian War of Independence (1991–1995).

The Indonesian Navy used its PT-76Bs on the Indonesian island of Ambon during civil unrest from 2000 onwards.

List of conflicts

1959–1975 Vietnam War

1965 Indo-Pakistani War

1967 Six Day War

1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

1971 Indo-Pakistani War

1973 Yom Kippur War

1975 Operation Seroja ( Indonesian military operation in East Timor)

1975–2002 Angolan Civil War

1990–1991 First Persian Gulf War

1991–2001 Yugoslav wars

* 1991 Ten-Day War

* 1991–1995 Croatian War of Independence

* 1992–1995 Bosnian war

1999– Second Chechen War

2000 Civil unrest on the Indonesian island of Ambon

2000-2003 Indonesian military operation against the Insurgency in Aceh

2003– Second Persian Gulf War

2003 Invasion of Iraq

Variants

Soviet Union

SAM system. It's based on the GM-578 chassis.]]

PT-76 Model 1 (Ob'yekt 740, FROG-5 "Luna" tactical missile launch vehicle.

People's Republic of China

Type 60 - The Chinese obtained a few PT-76s in the mid 1950s. In October 1958, the People's Liberation Army (PLA), decided to develop an indigenous amphibious tank based on the PT-76. The development program was carried out by 201 Institute and 615 Factory. A prototype known as the WZ221 was built and tested in 1959, but the design suffered from a number of problems including engine overheating. The PLA wasn't satisfied with the performance of the vehicle, which led to the development of a new vehicle based on the Type 60, Type 63 amphibious light tank.

Czechoslovakia

OT-62 TOPAS (OT-62 stands for Obrněný Transportér vzor 62 - "Armored Personnel Carrier model 62") ("TOPAS" stands for Transportér Obrněný PÁSový - "Tracked Armored Personnel Carrier") - A series of BTR-50 variants developed jointly by Poland and Czechoslovakia. They are similar to the BTR-50PK but have hatches in the hull sides, a more powerful PV-6 engine of 300 hp (224 kW) and two projecting bays like the BTR-50PU..

East Germany

K1 - Command tank based on PT-76 Model 2s and PT-76Bs. It is equipped with an extra R-112 radio.

Indonesia

PT-76B fitted with Cockerill 76.2 mm smooth bore tank gun (with multi-slot muzzle-brake) and larger gunners sight.

United States of America

The PT-76 was used by the US Army for OpFor training. They were modified in a number of ways including the replacement of the engine with a caterpillar diesel engine, changing the turret hatch to a rear hinged arrangement and the fitting of US radios and antennae mounts. Due to the new engines different exhaust arrangements, the exhausts were rerouted to use the water-jet ports rather than the original engine exhaust. 60 in service as of 1996. - 150 - - - North Korea also operates a number of North Korean PT-85 amphibious light tanks. - - - All were captured from JNA. Scrapped. - . Retired as of 2009. - All destroyed or scrapped. - Designed a copy of the PT-76, known as the Type 60 but it proved to be unsatisfactory and was replaced by a Chinese design, the Type 63. - 300 ordered in 1955 from the Soviet Union and delivered between 1957 and 1958. were originally inherited from the former Soviet Union. 5 in service as of 1995 and none as of 2000. -

Evaluation-only operators

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See also

M551 Sheridan - US light tank of the Cold War.

Notes

References

Dunstan, Simon. "Vietnam Tracks-Armor In Battle." 1982 edition; Osprey Publishing. ISBN 0-89141-171-2.

Starry, Donn A. General. "Mounted Combat In Vietnam." Vietnam Studies; Department of the Army. First Printed 1978-CMH 90-17.

Stockwell, David B. "Tanks In The Wire." Account of the Battle of the US Special Forces camp at Lang Vei in 1968. (1990); ISBN 0-5151-0333-0.

External links

PT-76 at FAS.org

PT-76 Light Tank at enemyforces.com

PT-76 description (in Russian) and photo gallery at armoured.vif2.ru

PT-76 Model 2 at battletanks.com

Chinese Type 63 at sinodefence.com

Cuban PT-76

Category:Cold War Soviet tanks Category:Light tanks of the Cold War Category:Amphibious tanks Category:Tanks of Finland Category:Light tanks of the Soviet Union