The Type 63 Amphibious Tank (63式水陆坦克), later redesignated as ZTS63, is one of China’s first armored vehicle designs that was both developed and produced locally. This family of vehicles might be familiar, you might have played against it, alongside it, or even commanded one in-game; but have you ever wondered about the story behind the Type 63? As is the case with many Cold War vehicles, the story of this tank will take us back to the 1950s, shortly after the Korean War.
Development
As part of Soviet aid to China in the late 1950s, a few examples of PT-76 amphibious tanks were supplied. While a decent tank for the time, it was far from perfect. In China, the People’s Liberation Army wanted something with higher performance and better firepower. Its role would be to provide fire support during landing operations, as well as navigate inland rivers, lakes, and swamps.
In August of 1958, the Armored Forces Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and the Sixth Bureau of the Second Ministry of Machine Industry issued a design request for an amphibious tank under the name 211工程, or Project 211. Development was officially commenced in October, and in November, a meeting was held concerning plans for the development of the tank. The meeting decided to set up a unified design team.
Later that month, when Factory 615 received the requirements for the design, a few of the designers responsible for drawing up blueprints exchanged drawings with each other and reviewed them in front of the whole design team. The blueprint process was finalized at the end of February 1959, and the general design of the vehicle was completed as required by the PLA. In building the tank, the workers used methods such as building models of the tank before putting it together and multi-gate casting to ensure product quality.
One of the issues found during development was the issue of the propellers getting jammed or caught on underwater plants. Whenever a problem like this would arise, oftentimes the workers would discuss the issue on the spot, and get very little sleep until a solution had been found. In this case, a hole was cut from the bottom of the vehicle on the left and right side, linked with a curved pipe, with the propeller inside, which would remove the grille on the inlet of the waterway. This not only improved the safety of the vehicle, but also ensured that the project itself stayed afloat (pun slightly intended). However, 211 still used the same method of propulsion as the PT-76 did, with the tank having two water jets, one on each side of the hull where water would enter, be pressurized, and then expelled.
After months of design work, the first prototype of 211 was finished in March of 1959. After fueling and starting the vehicle, the vehicle could only drive in a straight line, and couldn’t turn left and right. The Second Ministry of Machine Industry quickly dispatched Soviet experts to assist in the analysis of the issue, and after discussions with the Soviet team, the final conclusion was that although the transmission system was a fairly advanced design, it was flawed. After discussion by the R&D team, it was recommended to change the design, changing the gearbox from a three-layer shaft structure to a two-layer shaft structure, and replacing the flawed transmission with a left and right clutch-type transmission.
The improvements turned out well, and in June 1959, after reviewing of data, concepts, calculation data, design drawings, installation, and debugging, the whole factory worked day and night to produce a second prototype. This prototype had two crew hatches, a straight line at the rear hull taper, and the driver’s bulge located further back. General Yang Chengwu, then deputy chief of the general staff of the Central Military Commission, and the heads of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission, the First Machinery Department, the Equipment Division, the Maritime Division, and the Engineering Division oversaw the testing of the vehicle in Beijing.
The engine, a copy of the PT-76's 240 horsepower 6-cylinder diesel engine, was seen as being underpowered for the vehicle and was also prone to overheating. The Army rejected the prototype partly due to this and called in the Military Engineering Institute and the No. 60 Research Institute of the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building to refine the design with another prototype. The vehicle would eventually be fitted with a 402 hp 12150L-2 V12 diesel engine, coupled with a manual planetary transmission system with five forward gears and one reverse gear.
At this point, 211 used a 76 mm gun similar to the PT-76, but was seen as weak in terms of anti-armor capabilities, and had a very limited range. It was eventually decided to use the Type 62 light tank turret, armed with an 85 mm gun. Due to this change, the crew increased to 4, with 3 crewmen in the turret instead of 2. During trials, the 85 mm was found to effectively knock out fortifications, while still being fast enough to participate in a landing operation, covering the infantry with fire support, be it against armored vehicles or infantry.
Included as secondary armament was a Type 59T 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun, which was a Chinese-produced version of the Soviet SGMT. A 12.7 mm Type 54 machine gun, a copy of the DShKM, could also be mounted on the roof.
While the hull had some resemblance and no doubt took inspiration from the PT-76, several differences made the Type 63 different. For one, its 85 mm gun was mounted in a much different turret with three turret crew as opposed to two, it had a more powerful engine and was heavier at nearly 20 tons as opposed to the PT-76's 14 tons. They did share several similarities however, such as very thin armor. The Type 63's armor was able to deflect rifle caliber bullets at best. This would prove to be a very big weakness later on.
In 1960, during a test at a reservoir, the vehicle nose-dived shortly after entering the water, and the whole vehicle sank. At this time, it was late autumn in China, and the water temperature was very cold. Worse still, the driver could not get out of the vehicle, and his life was at risk. Members of the test team took turns diving into the water to rescue the driver, eventually rescuing the driver and the vehicle. After going back to the factory to find out the reason for this incident, it was finally found that there was a problem with the position of the vehicle’s buoyancy center. To solve this problem, the R&D project team adjusted a few things and notably installed a trim vane on the front of the vehicle. After this, the speed in water was calculated to be increased from the original 8 km/h to 12 km/h. When it was time to trial the vehicle, it was a difficult problem choosing who to be the driver, since everyone still had lingering fears about the almost deadly experience last time. Eventually, two members of the design team agreed to drive it, and the second test was then completed without issue.
That August, a further 20 vehicles were produced, and from November 1960 to February 1961, the third beach landing test started. Conditions were poor, and in the rough waves and weather, several test drivers were not only frostbitten, but could be thrown against the inner walls of the vehicle, and several people were injured in this way, resulting in drivers tying themselves to their seats. In the wind and wave test on the Yangtze Delta, the test driver entered Lake Taihu from Suzhou at 5 pm, drove overnight to Wuxi, and then drove from land to Jiangyin. After a day’s rest, he crossed the Yangtze River from Jiangyin to the north. When driving to the middle of the river, the wind and waves started to increase, and the vehicle’s chassis swayed in the middle of the river. An officer from a tank regiment riding in the tank guided the to turn the steering wheel and face the waves and wind. After going around in circles for a while, the vehicle and its crew eventually escaped the situation and sailed to the north bank of the Yangtze Delta for more than half an hour.
In April of 1962, 211's name was changed to Type 63, factory codename WZ211, and approved for design finalization. In July, the Type 63 prototype completed the required performance tests on water, as well as a test of continuous driving, consisting of 100 kilometers on land.
After further testing, the vehicle was finally approved in 1963 and officially named the “Type 63 Amphibious Tank”. The new design was passed on to Factory 615 and the Shaanxi Weiyang Diesel Engine Plant to set up the final production design soon after it was accepted for service.
In March 1966, to further explore the performance of the Type 63 amphibious tank, the Armored Forces Headquarters decided to conduct a test across the Qiongzhou Strait. The Qiongzhou Strait is a waterway between Hainan Island and the Leizhou Peninsula, with a width of about 30 kilometers. To ensure the crew’s safety, the first stage of the test was not too far out to sea, and after reaching a set point, the crew was to return to the starting position. On one occasion, a Type 63 involved in the test drove even further from the coast, approaching the middle of the strait. At that time, weather conditions were good, so the command temporarily changed their plans and asked the crew to continue to advance to the opposite bank. Finally, under an escort of ships, the tank successfully reached the Leizhou Peninsula. It took 3.5 hours and the total voyage was nearly 30 kilometers, completing the first voyage across the Qiongzhou Strait.
A few days later, the test to officially cross the Qiongzhou Strait went ahead as planned. On this day, the winds were fierce and the height of the waves exceeded 1.5 meters. After being launched from a port in Haikou, the test tank drove towards the Leizhou Peninsula at a speed of 10 km/h and successfully reached the intended landing site after 4 hours of sailing. Due to heavy fog on the way, the tank sailed for nearly 40 kilometers. However, the Type 63 withstood the test of wind and waves and successfully returned to the Leizhou Peninsula.
Service
By the mid-to-late 1960s, war in Vietnam had escalated with the direct involvement of American troops alongside multiple other nations such as Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and Thailand. The country was divided into North and South, and both China and the Eastern Bloc supported the North. A part of the aid provided to North Vietnam was in the form of armored vehicles, although these weren’t as numerous as other forms of aid due to the terrain of Vietnam not being as suitable for armored vehicles. However, the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) still relied on T-54s, T-55s, and Type 59s as their primary tanks, as well as using PT-76s and a variety of armored personnel carriers.
Following the Battle of Ben Het, the NVA had lost two PT-76s and a BTR-50. Wanting more tanks to replace their losses, the North Vietnamese ordered 150 Type 63s in 1969, which were delivered in 1971 and 1972. Like many other NVA armored vehicles, the Type 63 would be relegated for major offensives, such as the Tet Offensive and Easter Offensive.
On January 19th, 1974, an incident broke out on the Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha Islands in Chinese, in which the South Vietnamese Navy attempted to remove People’s Liberation Army forces from the islands. On the 22nd, two days after the Chinese had retaken the islands, nine Type 63 amphibious tanks of the Second Company of the Independent Tank Battalion of the Guangzhou Military Region were dispatched on landing ships to land on the newly recovered islands, landing 6 days later on the 28th. At the time, the Xisha Islands had no fortifications, and heavy weapons could not be transported to the island for a while. The arrival of amphibious tanks greatly strengthened the island’s defense force. Since the Xisha islands had no wharves and some reefs at that time, the landing ships that transported the tanks could not dock, so the Type 63 amphibious tanks could only float 4,000 meters ashore. These Type 63s would later be removed from the Paracel Islands on May 22nd, 1975.
A year later, in April of 1975, the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell, effectively ending the civil war between the North and South Vietnamese. Type 63s were seen in and around Saigon for some of the last offensives of the war, notably the 1975 Spring Offensive. It was around this time that the PRC began selling Type 63s to a number of other nations, such as Albania, Sudan, and Tanzania.
Almost 4 years after the Fall of Saigon, on the morning of February 17th, 1979, a massive People’s Liberation Army force crossed the border into Northern Vietnam in response to Vietnamese attacks on the Chinese-supported Khmer Rouge. While a large part of this force were Type 62 light tanks, several Type 63s of the 1st Battalion of the Amphibious Tank Regiment of the Guangzhou Military Region also participated, kicking off from the Guangxi autonomous region. With the 1st Battalion, accompanying infantry from the Army’s 125th Division were blocked from advancing by anti-tank fire from the Vietnamese. Five or six tanks were destroyed and damaged, with several Vietnamese firing positions destroyed. After crossing a river, the 1st Battalion used their main guns to support the infantry in suppressing the Vietnamese when it was on the Vietnamese flank. However, Vietnamese anti-tank teams used the sugar cane fields as cover approached silently, and succeeded in damaging 7 tanks with RPGs.
After a change in tactics, the 1st Battalion was reorganized and cooperated further with infantry to clear out Vietnamese positions. During a fierce three-day battle, the Type 63s destroyed 7 Vietnamese artillery pieces, 148 firing positions, 47 rocket launchers, and 2 vehicles. The Type 63's mobility and firepower were praised by the troops, but the shortcomings of its armor were also exposed. The 1st Battalion had 26 tanks, and 18 tanks were damaged in battle, 29 crew were killed and 57 were injured. Included in these casualties was the commander of the Amphibious Tank Regiment, Zhu Fujun. In the face of so many casualties, the chances of the Type 63 surviving in a landing operation against a well-defended opponent was looking grim.
Although it had performed poorly, upgrades being looked into around the same time gave the Type 63 an external laser rangefinder and night vision equipment.
Later years
The Type 63 would see fighting during the Sri Lankan Civil War in 1983, then the Gulf War, used by the Iraqis against the Saudi Arabian city of Ras Al Jafiji to little success.
In China, the final variant of the Type 63 used by the PLA was the upgraded Type 63A, known as the ZTS63A under the revised 1987 designation system. Developed in the mid-1990s, the ZTS63A was equipped with a two-plane gun stabilizer, a digital fire control computer, integrated commander sight with a laser rangefinder, and passive night vision. To further aid in landing operations during rough weather, it was also given a GPS system and two additional floating tanks for stability. The largest upgrade is the turret, a larger welded turret housing a 105 mm ZPL98. This gun is capable of firing much more powerful and varied ammunition, including NATO standard rounds.
Despite being a fairly successful upgrade, the ZTS63A and its predecessors have largely been replaced by the newer ZLT05, which has much more modern electronics and is faster both in and out of water. Although it has replaced it, the ZLT05 embodies the spirit of the ZTS63 in its design and purpose.
Variants
- Type 63 — The initial production variant, equipped with the PT-76's 240 hp engine.
- Type 63-I — Produced in much larger numbers, this variant used an upgraded 402 hp engine.
- Type 63-II — Produced in the late 1970s, this variant featured a laser rangefinder also found on the Type 59-I (ZTZ59A in-game) as well as infrared night vision equipment.
- ZTS63A — A modernization featuring a larger welded turret housing a 105 mm gun, as well as upgrades to the engine and electronics. A ZTS63A with fully integrated hull extensions at the front has also been seen but seems to only be used by Tanzania.
- ZTS63HG — A variant of the Type 63 that featured a much more 'boat-like' hull, and was a competitor to the ZTS63A in the 1990s. It ultimately lost out.
- Type 76 Amphibious Recovery Vehicle — First developed in 1965 and entered service in 1976, this was a Type 63 with no turret and equipped with towing equipment for rescuing amphibious vehicles.
- Type 77 Armored Personnel Carrier — A variant with no turret and a redesigned hull and a slightly redesigned hull intended for amphibious landings, it could carry around 12 infantry.
- Amphibious 122 mm Self-propelled Howitzer Prototype — A 122 mm howitzer in a modified turret on the Type 63 hull. A prototype was made in 1979, but ultimately did not enter service.
- PLZ89 — A 122 mm self-propelled howitzer developed off of a modified Type 77 chassis.
Conclusion
Although it has a long and fairly complicated development, the Type 63 had a long service life. In-game, much like it was in real life, it is one of the first Chinese-developed tanks tankers will experience. I couldn’t include every single aspect of the vehicle’s development, but I did try my utmost to write in the important parts, hopefully correctly, of the Type 63 and its story. Thank you for reading!