T-55 v M48, which is better?

>>34151283

It's going to depend heavily on the specific variant of M48 and T-55 considering the two tanks have had 60+ year service lives.

I'm primarily talking about the base main production models, the T-55A and the M-48A1. Later variants I'd be welcome to learn about but I'm primarily asking about those mentioned.

>>34151340

It is still going to vary a lot because when these tanks entered service there were rapid developments in anti-tank munitions. They have roughly equivalent armor. The M48 had better fire control with its coincidence rangefinder, although I'm not sure if early variants had a similar analog ballistic computer as later variants. The T-55 was a smaller target.

A T-55 will have the paper advantage over a 90mm armed M48.

A 105mm armed M48 will have the paper advantage over a T-55.

Ah, alright. So they are essentially completely equal? M48 has better fire control but the T-55 is a lower target, so it just depends on the training and experience of the crew for the two to be able to best one another in a one on one?

>>34151580
M48 isn't as cramped on the inside either, which means the crew can operate it longer without going fucking crazy

Soviet tanks were manlets only

They would perform about the same in a single engagement, but US tanks in the early-mid cold war tended to have better reliability and ease of maintenance. It would be a bigger advantage the larger and more protracted a campaign became.

File: M48.jpg (2MB, 3072x1728px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 3072x1728px

>>34151580
An M48 would have had superior situational awareness to go along with those firing optics. Odds are good that the M48 would identify, target, engage, and hit the T-55 first most of the time.

Centurion > M48 > T-55

>>34151749

M48=T-55>Centurion

File: Centorian Mk.1.png (321KB, 736x402px) Image search: [Google]

321KB, 736x402px

>>34151749
I don't know that the Centurion's 20pdr was that much better than the US 90mm or Soviet 100mm. That being said, because they developed and deployed it first, the 105mm L7 can definitely be factored in here. So,

Centurion 5/2+ > M48A5 > M48-M48A3 ~= Centurion Mk.1-5/1 > T-55 (>AMX-30)

>>34151749

The Centurion was relatively poorly armored compared to the M48 and T-55, and had an antiquated suspension.

The only advantage it had was that it got the L7 first.