T-60

T-60

T-26-4

T-70

T-60

T-26-4

T-70

USSR

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.0	1.0	1.0

Class:

Light tank

Research:4 000

Purchase:2 100

Show in game

Description

The T-60 was a Soviet light tank, developed in late 1930s as a replacement for the amphibious T-38 scout tank. The team around designer Nicholas Astrov started designing the tank at Moscow Factory No. 37 in 1938 and two prototypes designated T-38A and T-38B were produced. The former was manufactured from 1940 as the T-40 light amphibious tank. The T-60 was considered a stop-gap tank after the German attack on Soviet Union, until the factories could produce enough T-34s and KV tanks. The T-60 used the chassis from the T-40 but gave up the ability to float for thicker armour protection. The T-60 was initially to be armed with a 12.7 mm DShK machine gun, but the army demanded stronger armament so a 20 mm TNSh cannon was chosen instead. The TNSh was a tank version of the aircraft ShVAK cannon and as such had very low penetration characteristics, being able to penetrate only 15 mm of armour at 500 m. Such gun characteristics were not enough to engage newer German up-armoured tanks, so the T-60 was moved into the role of an infantry support tank. The T-60 served as a base for an upgunned and uparmoured version which would later become the T-70 tank. The T-60 served through the entire war and Romania modified 34 captured T-60s into their domestic TACAM T-60 tank destroyer.

The T-60 was introduced during the Closed Beta Test for Ground Forces before Update 1.41. The T-60 features a long reload of 26 seconds once a belt is expended, paired with a quite mobile chassis with strong sloped frontal armour. The gun however, suffers from very poor ballistic properties and struggles to penetrate most opponents frontally, so flanking is advised while utilizing the T-60.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armourfront / side / back

Hull35 / 15 / 25

Turret35 / 25 / 25

Crew2 people

Visibility61 %

T-60 on "Frozen Pass"

The armour of the T-60 is fairly effective frontally, being for the most part angled gives it good protection against similarly rated opponents with a high chance of causing shots to ricochet, however a shot to the side will likely be fatal due to the thin (15 mm) side armour and the vehicle only having a 2 man crew, this means that the loss of 1 crew member will cause the vehicle to be knocked out.

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour

Armour	Front	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	35 mm (24°) Driver's plate 15 mm (70°) Front glacis 35 mm (31°) Lower glacis	15 mm	10 mm (71°) Top 5 mm (71°) Radiator vent 25 mm (29°) Bottom	15 mm (20°) Front glacis 20 mm Driver hatch 15 mm 5 mm Engine vent 10 mm (19°) Rear 5 mm (19°) Radiator vent
Turret	25 mm (24°) Turret front 35 mm Gun mantlet	25 mm (24-26°)	25 mm (26°)	10 mm Turret 20 mm Cupola

Notes:

• Belly armour is 10 mm thick.
• Suspension wheels are 10 mm thick while tracks and torsion bars are 15 mm thick.

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB50 / 7 km/h

RB and SB45 / 6 km/h

Number of gears4 forward

1 back

Weight5.8 t

Engine power

AB134 hp

RB and SB70 hp

Power-to-weight ratio

AB23.1 hp/t

RB and SB12.1 hp/t

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	50	7	5.8	118	134	20.34	23.1
Realistic	45	6		67	70	11.55	12.07

The mobility of the T-60 is very comparable to the T-26, while it is fast enough to move around the map with ease, it is not mobile enough to be the first friendly to the cap or camping position, the mobility is enough to allow for a support or flanking role in most situations.

T-60 firing its 20 mm cannon

Modifications and economy

Repair costBasic → Reference

AB172 → 221

RB195 → 250

SB225 → 289

Total cost of modifications4 450

2 680

Talisman cost300

Crew training600

Experts2 100

Aces45

Research Aces110 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

10 / 20 / 20 %

100 / 100 / 100 %

Modifications

Mobility	Protection	Firepower
Tracks Research: 300 Cost: 180 65 Suspension Research: 200 Cost: 120 45 Brake System Research: 200 Cost: 120 45 Filters Research: 370 Cost: 220 80 Transmission Research: 360 Cost: 220 80 Engine Research: 360 Cost: 220 80	Improved Parts Research: 300 Cost: 180 65 Improved FPE Research: 200 Cost: 120 45 Crew Replenishment Research: 370 Cost: 220 80	Horizontal Drive Research: 300 Cost: 180 65 Adjustment of Fire Research: 200 Cost: 120 45 20mm_ussr_TNSh_AP_ammo_pack Research: 200 Cost: 120 45 Elevation Mechanism Research: 370 Cost: 220 80 Artillery Support Research: 360 Cost: 220 80 20mm_ussr_TNSh_APCR_ammo_pack Research: 360 Cost: 220 80

Armaments

Main armament

20 mm TNSh cannon

Ammunition754 rounds

Belt capacity58 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

26.0 → 20.0 s

Fire rate750 shots/min

Vertical guidance-7° / 25°

The main armament of the T-60 is a 20 mm TNSh cannon, this has a fire rate of 750 rounds/min and will have to reload after 58 rounds have been fired, the gun is certainly effective against lightly armoured opponents but will have trouble against higher-rated heavy and medium tanks.

20 mm TNSh						Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	754 (58)	750	-7°/+25°	±180°	N/A	14.30	19.76	24.00	26.54	28.24	26.00	23.00	21.20	20.00
Realistic						8.93	10.50	12.75	14.10	15.00

Ammunition

• Default: AP-I · FI - The default belt is the most effective against aircraft because of the presence of 1/2 FI shells, which can make quick work of any aerial threats. Its performance against ground vehicles is however lessened by that.
• API: AP-I- This belt fixes the default belt's problem against ground vehicles, and allows you to have AP-I shells only. However, this reduces performance against aircraft.
• API HV: AP-I · AP-I · FI- This belt could be considered the best out of the three, as it has improved AP-I shells with a couple more millimetres of penetration. Additionally, the 1/3 FI shell presence helps with air defense quite a bit, but doesn't worsen your damage against ground vehicles as much as the default belt does.

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
FI	3	3	2	2	2	2
API	27	24	13	6	3	2
API HV	32	28	15	7	3	2

Shell details
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
						0%	50%	100%
FI	800	0.09	0.04	0.1	5.6	47°	56°	65°
API	800	0.1	-	-	-	47°	56°	65°
API HV	892	0.1	-	-	-	47°	56°	65°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the T-60

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	Visual discrepancy
13	9 (+4)	5 (+8)	1 (+12)	Yes

Note:

• 1 clip contains 58 rounds.

Machine guns

7.62 mm DT machine gun (coaxial)

Ammunition945 rounds

Belt capacity63 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

10.4 → 8.0 s

Fire rate600 shots/min

7.62 mm DT
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Coaxial	945 (63)	600	N/A	N/A

Usage in battles

T-60 driving through "Eastern Europe"

The T-60 is a fine little tank that excels in very particular situations; namely holding corners, flanking, and acting as a close range SPAA. This tank should never be used for long-range shooting or in pushes against an enemy head-on, one should always try to use its speed and manoeuvrability to gain an advantage before attacking. In a SPAA role, the long reload time for this tank's main weapon can be a severe disadvantage. This means that one should use controlled bursts when attacking aeroplanes, making all shots count, and only picking large slow moving targets when at the range. The presence of a co-axial machine gun, however, not only adds to the firing density but allows for the tank to fire whilst the cannon is reloading. This machine gun has no utility against armoured targets. In this role, the T-60 is the only SPAA in this rank that does not have to fear 7.7 mm rounds (although 12.7 mm rounds can be very deadly - the M2A2 is a very dangerous opponent, for instance). This means that T-60 pilots can be confident that they can survive being strafed by most fighter aircraft. In RB this tank serves as a perfectly capable replacement for the 4M GAZ-AAA. In conclusion, the T-60 is a versatile tank of good effectiveness that is a constant presence of any Rank I ground forces game. Its gun gives it easy penetration at the sides and some fronts of low-rank tanks.

This is a very versatile tank and that is its greatest strength. Its greatest weakness is it's horrible all around armour, always remember that you will probably not survive a single hit from an AT gun, and as such stay hidden and behind cover. In order to accomplish this use, this tanks great manoeuvrability to your advantage and try to hug cover and move in depressions of the landscape. When using this tank always attack from an unexpected angle then shot your entire belt and afterwards always re-position after an attack. A great strength of this tank is that at any point it can go from flanking an enemy tank to acting as a front line SPAA, and in many games this amazing ability that can save you and your comrades from certain death at the hands of an enemy bomber or attack plane.

Pros and cons

T-60 driving into "Eastern Europe"

Pros:

• 70° sloped frontal armour, at range it holds up well against cannons, autocannons and HVAP at 300m range. When the front is angled, the T-60 is decently resistant to cannons with less than 50mm of penetration.
• Fast-firing gun, that can even harm aircraft due to calibre and rate of fire
• Good manoeuvrability
• High ammunition count (45/belt, 754 total)
• Can act as a decent front line SPAA
• Very low profile
• Often not regarded as a high priority target
• Will wreck vehicles it penetrates because of the TNSh's 750 RPM

Cons:

• Poor overall armor with only 15mm sloped frontal armor, 15mm side and 25-35m flat turret on the turret. The T-60 will have extremely high chances of being penetrated at close range where the sloping becomes negated.
• Very cramped interior
• Only 2 crew so you can't afford losing anyone
• Extremely long reload time (26 seconds stock, 20 aced)
• Low horsepower compared to similar sized vehicles
• Bad speed retention
• Terrible penetration values. Even the 12.7mm M2 Browning has similar penetration values.
• Poor post-penetration damage per bullet

History

Development

In 1938, a task to create an amphibious and non-amphibious scout tank was given to Nicholas Astrov's design team at Moscow Factory No. 37. The result was the T-30A and T-30B prototypes, with the A model being amphibious. The T-30A went on to become the T-40 amphibious scout tank, while the T-30B went on to become the T-60 scout tank. Production started on July 1941, one month after the German invasion in Operation Barbarossa.

Originally with a 12.7 mm machine gun, the T-60 was up-gunned with a 20 mm TNSh cannon, which was derived from an aircraft cannon. The gun could penetrate 15 mm of armour at a 500 m range, which proved very inadequate against the Germans Panzer IIIs and Panzer IVs, which had a maximum of 50 mm of armour on the front. Not only that, the scout tank had poor mobility on cross-country terrain and had a maximum armour of only 20 mm thick. Despite that, the T-60 was easily produced and 6,292 of these tanks were produced between 1941 and 1942.

Usage

The low gun performance urged for an attempt to upgrade the tank with a 37 mm ZIS-19 cannon or the standard 45 mm tank gun. Both of these projects were proven impossible. The T-60 served as a light tank up until the better T-70 light tank was chosen as the new standard Soviet light tank in 1942, which had better armour and gun.

The T-60 went on in armour developmental projects for the Soviet forces, such as the designing of the T-90 anti-aircraft vehicle. But perhaps the most unique project that it played in was the Antonov A-40, which was the Soviet's attempt on a "flying tank". The A-40 was a glider design that has wings attached to a lightened T-60 (removing its armament, ammunition, some accessories, and most of the fuel). On September 2, 1942, in a test, the prototype was towed by a TB-3 Bomber into the air. When released, the A-40 reportedly glided smoothly on its descent, despite the drag it put on the TB-3 plane. The A-40 landed safely and was able to drive back to the testing site after detaching the wings. The project was then abandoned due to the lack of enough aircraft with the power to tow the A-40 at 160 kilometres per hour speed.

The T-60 also were used by the Romanians when they captured 34 of them and modified them into the TACAM T-60 and Mareşal M05, both tank destroyers. All examples of these vehicles were confiscated by the Soviets after Romania switched to the Allies.

Archive of the in-game description

The T-60 light tank was developed in August, 1941 at Moscow Factory #37 under the management of N.A. Astrov. In September, 1941 the T-60 was accepted into the arsenal of the Red Army and was released serially in several automobile factories. The T-60 was produced until February, 1943, when it was replaced on assembly lines by the more powerful T-70 light tank. A total of 5,920 T-60s were produced, 1,366 of them in 1941. Most of them were built at the Gorky Factory. Large numbers of T-60 tanks were used in battles from 1941 to 1943, starting with the Battle of Moscow and ending with the elimination of the Leningrad blockade in January, 1944. The T-60 was used actively throughout the Battle of Stalingrad and the Kharkov Operation. Due to significant losses, the T-60 was gradually removed from the front lines in late 1942.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the T-60 from live.warthunder.com.

See also

Vehicles equipped with the same chassis

• BM-8-24

Other vehicles of similar configuration and role

• L6/40

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.