T-44-122

T-44-122

T-44-122

USSR

IV Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
6.3	6.3	6.3

Class:

PREMIUM

Medium tank

Purchase:6 090

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Description

The T-44-122 is a premium rank IV Soviet medium tank with a battle rating of 6.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.55 "Royal Armour". It has the same design as the standard T-44, but comes with a 122 mm gun instead, giving the tank a very high boost in firepower compared to its previous 85 mm cannon.

The most distinctive feature of the T-44-122 is its excellent 122mm cannon. This cannon has the ability to reliably penetrate the front of every single tank at 6.3 except for the T28. However, this does come at the cost of a long reload which can be somewhat assuaged with an upgraded crew (max reload ~23sec).

Succinctly put, the T-44-122 is a go-kart equipped with a 122 mm gun. At 6.3 it is highly competitive with its peers, sporting an extremely powerful 122mm cannon, Panther-like armour, and Hellcat-like manoeuvrability. As such, the T-44-122 makes for an excellent flanking tank due to its high mobility and devastating firepower. A single 122 mm to the side of an enemy tank can instantly destroy it. When flanking, try to stay out of reach from the enemy's cannon as the 122 mm has a long reload and the T-44-122 will be vulnerable in this time period from enemies with cannons like the 88 mm on the Tiger II and possible flankers.

In urban combat, the T-44-122 both excels and suffers due to its 122mm cannon. On one hand, the sheer firepower of the cannon makes for an excellent tank destroying machine; on the other, the long reload make it difficult to deal with multiple opponents. Playing with a teammate is highly recommended.

Additionally, the 122mm cannon also makes the T-44-122 a somewhat good sniper, but this nullifies the excellent mobility which should be utilized on the battlefield.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour (Hull, Roof, Gun mantlet)
• Cast homogeneous armour (Turret)

Armour	Front	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	75 mm (62°) Front glacis 75 mm (27°) Lower glacis 75 mm (34-35°) Driver's port	75 mm	45 + 18 mm (2°)	15 mm
Turret	110 mm (7-80°) Turret front 110 mm (2-76°) Gun mantlet	80 mm (14-21°)	75 mm (10-13°)	15 mm
Armour	Sides	Roof
Cupola	90 mm	15 mm

Notes:

• Tracks cover the rear of the tank, which provide an additional 18 mm of armour at their locations.
• Suspensions wheels and tracks are 20 mm thick.
• Belly armour is 30 mm thick.
• Commander's cupola is 90 mm thick.

Mobility

Mobility characteristic
Weight (tons)	Add-on Armour weight (tons)	Max speed (km/h)
31.8	N/A	67 (AB)
		60 (RB/SB)
Engine power (horsepower)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	775	954
Realistic/Simulator	442	500
Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	24.37	30.00
Realistic/Simulator	13.90	15.72

Armaments

Main armament

122 mm D-25-44T
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
24			-5°/+18°	±180°	N/A
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	14.9	20.6	__.__	__.__	__.__
Realistic	14.9	17.5	__.__	__.__	__.__
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
30.2	__.__	__.__	__.__

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 90°
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
BR-471	APHE	200	196	179	158	141	125
BR-471B	APHEBC	207	201	183	162	144	129
OF-471	HE	36	36	36	36	36	36

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
								0%	50%	100%
BR-471	APHE	795	25	1.2	15	272	-1°	47°	60°	65°
BR-471B	APHEBC	800	25	1.2	15	272	+4°	48°	63°	71°
OF-471	HE	800	25	0.1	0.1	3,600	+0°	79°	80°	81°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the T-44-122.

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	Visual discrepancy
24	21 (+3)	1 (+23)		no

Rear empty: 21 (+3)

Machine guns

7.62 mm DT
Coaxial mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
1,890 (63)				600	N/A	N/A

Usage in battles

Flank and spank. The T-44-122 plays almost identically to the -85 variant T-34/44s, but obviously gets the added bonus of being able to penetrate most vehicles frontally in an emergency.

Most ~6.3 British vehicles with stabilizers (etc. FV4202) are extremely dangerous as they have APDS/AP that can shear through the T-44's armour like butter. Additionally, the Tiger II (H) can only be penetrated through the turret but thankfully such a target is much less mobile than the aforementioned vehicles and also lacks a stabilizer.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Devastating 122 mm firepower for a medium tank
• Low profile, can assume hull/turret-down positions and take cover easily
• Ridiculous mobility and corresponding armour
• Better gun depression than the T-44-100
• Matchmaking tends to place the tank in down-tiers

Cons:

• Limited ammo capacity of 24 due to having a heavy tank's gun in a medium tank
• Slow main gun reload speed
• Suffers from poor gun depression inherent in most Soviet tanks
• Front armour is not as strong as T-44 at 75 mm instead of 90 mm, the turret is slightly thinner at 110/120 mm
• Driver's port and turret ring can be a weakness
• Tends to face allied teams of which many tanks have 2-plane stabilizers and APDS

History

Development

In the autumn of 1943 at the Stalin Ural Tank Factory No. 183, the designers started working on a vehicle under orders of Stalin to have major improvements over the initial T-34s. The mobility of the T-34 medium tank was to be similar, but with more armour on it. In November, chief designer A. A. Morozov presented a design and model, and it was designated the T-44 (Object 136). The first prototype was completed on January the next year and two more in February. The first two prototypes are armed with the 85 mm D-5T gun with the designation T-44-85, while the last had a 122 mm D-25-44T cannon similar to the one on the IS-2 tank (Though differing from one-piece ammunition and better muzzle brake) designated the T-44-122. An innovative feature that allowed the mounting of heavy guns on a 30-ton design was the placement of the engine perpendicular to the axis of the tank. This allowed the hull to be made without sponsons, gave the crew a much bigger fighting compartment, had the turret placed on the centre of the vehicle and reduced the vehicle's overall length. However, the ammo stored on the left side of the tank was easily hit and could detonate, destroying the tank. The armour on the design featured 75 mm thick plate on the front, 90 mm on the turret mantlet, side armour is 45 mm thick with the capability of mounting an additional 30 mm of armour. These prototypes had a V-2IS diesel engine delivering 500 horsepower. The tank provided many advantages over the T-34 design, the gun accuracy on the T-44 design was arguably better, and the turret ring was more reliable. It presented more than double frontal armour without significantly affecting weight distribution. The increased fighting compartment meant that the turret floor ammunition storage on the T-34 could be removed. Tank height comparison, the T-44 was 300 mm lower than the T-34, and the driver's vision from his hatch is much better than on the T-34.

Testing and cancellation

Trials with the first prototypes began in February 1944. One of the competition was against the German Panther tank. Compared to the T-44-85, the T-44-122 was flawed and unsatisfactory. The large gun made the interiors cramped and unable for the crew inside to work properly. The rate of fire with the 122 mm, even when using single-piece ammunition, was very slow with a maximum of only three rounds per minute. This compounded with the fact that the T-44-122 could only hold 24 rounds inside the tank, makes the T-44 with the 122 mm gun unsatisfactory for the role of a medium tank. Thus, all further development on the 122 mm armed T-44 is cancelled for further development on the 85 mm variant, which continued on to finally being accepted into service on November 1944 and with 1,823 units built from 1944 to 1947.

Media

The T-44-122 prototype on trials alongside a German Panther.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

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• encyclopedia page on the tank;
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