Tanks of the Bear Trivia Quiz

Answer: T-35

The T-35 was the result of the need for a heavy tank in the Soviet arsenal. Somehow, it was more practical than its competition, the TG, tank, but was difficult to produce, lumbering and slow, and required an uncoordinated crew of 11. It was mechanically unreliable, as well as hard to steer. Even with all its weight, the tank was still lacking in armor protection.

The only use the Russians managed to find for this behemoth is to appear in military parades.

Answer: BT-7

The BT series was the first to use the Christie suspension system, developed by American John Christie, whose designs were disregarded in his home country. However, successive designs more than proved the Christie suspension. By the time of the BT-7, the series had created a mobile, fast, and moderately powerful tank.

It was intended as a light tank, and so was understandably lower in armor protection. It more than outperformed the Japanese tanks, and easily defeated German models in the Spanish Civil War.

However, in the war itself, due to the amazing pace of armor development, the BT-7 could no longer perform, due to its poor protection.

Answer: KV-1

The Klementi Voroshilov tanks were finally the model which broke the Soviet obsession of multiple turrets. The tank, first in service in 1939, surprised German troops with frighteningly unpenetrable armor. Only 88 rounds and aircraft could properly dispose of a KV tank.

However, they were spread thin throughout the armies, and had poorly trained crews. In 1942 and 1943, a few automotive and transmission issues gave the final word and ended the service life of the KV-1, in the face of new German models that could easily penetrate the KV.

Answer: T-34

The T-34 was, for lack of a better word, unbeatable. When it first came into service, it wielded a weapon capable of penetrating all but the toughest German armor. When German tanks were up-armored, the Soviets, merely up-gunned their versatile T-34's to 85mm cannons instead of 76mm.

The pioneering sloped armor warded off shots, and contributed greatly to making the T-34 almost un-penetrable in the beginning of the war. This design was so successful that the sloped armor appeared in the next German tank, the Panther. With a max speed of 25 miles per hour, and the Christie suspension, the T-34 had excellent mobility and cross-country capabilities. Only from 1943 onwards did the Germans have tank models to properly compete with the T-34. However, the final, killing blow, was that the T-34 was almost as easy to produce as a Sherman, and production numbers almost tripled that of the German Panther, which was the only real competitor to the T-34.

Answer: IS-3

The IS-2 was an excellent heavy tank, but improvement could be made. The low profile and sloped armor made it a hard target and a tough target, and the armament was a powerful gun that could easily destroy any other tank in the world, including the new Centurion and Pershing designs. Mobility, however, was lacking, and soon, tank designs globally outdated the IS-3 as medium tanks became just as powerful and just as tough, but more reliable and mobile.

The IS-3 has often been considered the last great heavy tank.

Answer: T-54/55

Although now obsolescent, the T-54/55 is still used by over 35 nations today. A redesign of the excellent but unreliable T-44 resulted in the basis of the T-54. The T-54 pioneered the change from Christie suspension to torsion-bar suspension. A turret redesign and a new, more powerful engine created the T-55. With over 95,000 models and variants sold, the T-54/55 is the AK-47 of the tanks.

Answer: PT-76

Since the T-37 and T-40 models in the interwar years, Russia had long been occupied with the tempting idea of a tank crossing a river, bringing considerable firepower to an amphibious operation. However, the T-37 and T-40 were almost useless, with negligible weaponry and armor. THe PT-76 was also somewhat lacking in this area, but, with much more modern technology, was more mechanically reliable, more mobile, and did pack some very useful infantry support power.

Although no match against another tank, the PT-76 proved valuable in Vietnam, where marshes and swamps were the ideal terrain for the versatile tank.

Answer: T-72

After the T-62 succeeded the T-54/55 in the 1960s and 1970s, the Soviet Union decided once again that the T-62 was rapidly becoming obsolete. They tried the T-64, but it proved unreliable and vulnerable to breakdowns. The T-80 later ironed out these faults, and provided a good, if expensive, tank.

The T-72 itself did not bear impressive statistics. It was only a slight improvement over the T-64 on paper. However, it was uncannily reliable, very easy to manufacture, and, biggest of all, much, much cheaper.

As a result, it has been shipped to countries all over the world, from Eastern Bloc countries to Central Asia, to the Middle East and Africa. Although the T-54/55 still possesses the title of most manufactured, the T-72 is the most deployed.

Answer: T-90

The T-90 is the most modern tank in the Soviet arsenal, but, is still probably not on par with the newest Western tanks. It is just an upgraded version of the T-72, upgunned and uparmored. However, it is very cheap and easy to build. Russia is working on a new generation of tanks.

Answer: Black Eagle

The Black Eagle Tank (Chiorny Oriol) is the newest Soviet design, and nothing is known about the performance of the tank. It was revealed at a 1997 arms exhibition, and the turret and armament were concealed. The Black Eagle appears to be based on a T-80U chassis. There is also a new autoloader, replacing a long running problem in all Soviet tanks since the T-72.