The M47 Patton was an American Medium tank, a development of the M46 Patton mounting an updated turret, and was in turn further developed as the M48 Patton. It was the second American tank to be named after General George S. Patton, commander of the U.S. Third Army during World War II and one of the earliest American advocates of tanks in battle.
The M47 was the U.S. Army's and Marine Corps' primary tank, intended to replace the M26 Pershing and M46 Patton medium tanks.[note 1] The M47 was widely used by U.S. Cold War allies, both SEATO and NATO countries, and was the only Patton series tank that never saw combat while in US service.
Although the later M48s and M60s were similar in appearance, those were completely new tank designs. Many different M47 Patton models remain in service internationally. The M47 was the last US tank to have a bow-mounted machine gun in the hull.
Although a new power plant corrected the mobility and reliability problems of the M26 Pershing, the subsequently renamed M46 was considered a stopgap solution that would be replaced later by the T42 medium tank. However, after fighting erupted in Korea, the Army decided that it needed the new tank earlier than planned. It was deemed that there was not enough time to finish the development of the T42. The final decision was to produce another interim solution, with the turret of the T42 mounted on the existing M46 hull. Although this interim tank was itself technically immature, Army officials felt the improvements over the M46 in firepower and armor were worth the risk.[3] The composite tank, developed by the Detroit Arsenal, was named the M47 Patton.
In December 1950 the Army awarded a $100 million contract to the American Locomotive Company for the production of 500 tanks.[4] It entered production in 1951. Its main gun was the M36 (T119E1) 90 mm gun with an M12 optical rangefinder fitted, which was developed as a more powerful version of the earlier 90 mm guns and were backwards-compatible with their ammunition (but not vice versa, the new cartridge case does not chamber in the weaker guns). The secondary armament consisted of two .30 cal Browning machine guns, one in the bow and one coaxial with the 90mm main gun in the turret, and a .50 caliber Browning M2 on a pintle mount on the turret roof. The M47 was the last American-designed tank to include a bow machine gun. The T42 turret had a larger turret ring than the M26/M46 turret, and featured a needle-nose design, which improved armor protection of the turret front, an elongated turret bustle and storage bin which protruded halfway across the engine deck, and sloped sides to further improve ballistic protection; this gave the turret a decidedly lozenge-shaped profile. It also featured the M12 stereoscopic rangefinder, which was designed to improve first-round hit probability but proved difficult to use; the rangefinder protruded from both sides of the upper turret front, which would be a feature of American tanks until the advent of the M1 Abrams in 1980.[5]: 41–45
Production at American Locomotive began in July 1951.[6] Logistical and technical issues plagued production almost from the start.
Truman administration policy sought to strengthen American arms makers' resilience to aerial attack by encouraging more decentralized weapons production – away from Detroit. The U.S. curtailed civilian automotive production to boost military production with the onset of the Korean War. As a result, Detroit's newly unemployed automotive workers found little work, while tank manufacturers outside Michigan lacked skilled workers. Truman's policy also counted on civilian factories being able to quickly transition to war-time production. However, many factories lacked needed tank production machinery, done away with during World War II demobilization.[7]
A faulty Ordnance Corps-designed hydraulic turret-control mechanism, shared by the M41 Walker Bulldog, kept the tanks from Korea while engineers worked on a fix.[7] Engineers improved production quality controls of the hydraulics by April 1952, and set about correcting M47s sidelined in storage. By then Army officials had scrapped plans to send the tanks to Korea, in favor of providing them to troops stationed in Europe and at home.[8]
The first M47s were not fielded to the 1st and 2nd Armored Divisions until summer 1952. Standardized in May 1952, the M47 Patton's production ran until November 1953; Detroit built 5,481 tanks, and American Locomotive Company (Alco) produced 3,095, for a total production run of 8,576 M47 Pattons.[5]: 41
After the U.S. Army in Germany was equipped with the M47, the first M47s delivered under the Mutual Security Agency program were delivered to Portugal in 1952. In October the agency announced that NATO member nations had agreed to adopt the British Centurion main battle tank and the M47 as standard.[9] By October the at Camp Drum in July, the New Jersey Army National Guard was the first reserve force to train with the tank.[10]
The Marine Corps also fielded M47s starting in late 1952; after the Korean War, all seven Marine tank battalions, three divisional, two reserve training, and two force level, each fielded M47s. But these were soon replaced with M48A1 Pattons and M103 heavy tanks, with the last M47s being retired in 1959.[11]
American Locomotive production was halted in October when the company's ordnance and locomotive divisions went on strike. Production resumed in February when union leaders agreed to a pay raise.[12] In December 1952 the Defense Department ordered cutbacks to M47 and M48 tank production.[13] In November 1953 American Locomotive halted production of the M47 after operators found drive gear defects in Europe.[14] Army officials quickly acknowledged the issue arose from their own expedient decision to use lower grades of steel to circumvent wartime shortages.[15] Chrysler laid off about 1000 workers at Detroit Tank Arsenal when it wrapped up production in November.[16] American Locomotive resumed production in November.[17] The company closed its tank division in June 1954.[18]
With the arrival of the improved M48 Patton in 1953, the M47 was declared "limited standard" in 1955, and examples in tank units were replaced with the M48 series before long.[5]: 47 After being declared obsolete in 1957, M46s and M47s were retained in active duty infantry division battlegroup assault gun platoons (four tanks each, one platoon per battlegroup, for a total of 20 tanks per division) until replaced with the light truck-mounted SS-10 anti-tank guided missile in the early 1960s.[19] M47s were used by the Reserves for a relatively short time, soon being replaced by early production M48 Patton series tanks; thus, most of the M47s were exported in the late 1950s.[5]: 47 [20]: 6, 12–38, 44–45
The M47 was widely used by many countries, especially NATO and SEATO allies, including Austria (147), Belgium (784), Ethiopia (30), France (856), Greece (396), Portugal (161),[21] from USA and West Germany), Iran (around 400), Italy (2,480), Japan (1 for evaluation only), Jordan (49), Pakistan (100), Portugal (161), Saudi Arabia (23 from the US, 108 on the international market), Somalia (25 from Saudi Arabia), South Korea (531), Sudan (17 from Saudi Arabia), Spain (389), Switzerland (2 for evaluation), Turkey (1,347 from the US and West Germany), West Germany (1,120), and Yugoslavia (319).[20] Like the US Army of the time, the West German Bundeswehr also used the M47 in a tank destroyer role until replacing them with the Kanonenjagdpanzer in 1966.[22]
U.S. Army M47s remaining in storage were expended as targets.
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Additional equipment
Iran – 400 M47 delivered in the 1960s. Upgraded locally to M47M in the 1970s.[33] Later upgraded to Sabalan (see above) and Tiam standard in the 2010s. IISS Military Balance 2022 among the main battle tanks entry for Iran lists "168 M47/M48" (page 341).
Austria – 153 M47s in active service from 1957 till 1982. Since 1972, turrets of retired M47 tanks were fixed in Austrian bunker systems..svg/1280px-Flag_of_Belgium_(civil).svg.png){kind=small}
Belgium – One of the surviving examples is visible in the Brussels Military Museum
Croatia – Over 20 during the Croatian War of Independence, 16 units remained in service by 1996 but were soon retired.
Cyprus – One captured vehicle..svg/1280px-Flag_of_Ethiopia_(1975%E2%80%931987).svg.png){kind=small}
Ethiopia – Approximately 30 acquired second-hand from Yugoslavia in 1977.[34]
France – 856 (1954–1970) One of the tanks was converted with the 105mm gun developed for the AMX-30, including modifications to the gun breech assembly and ammunition racks.[1]: 75 .svg/1280px-Flag_of_Greece_(1970-1975).svg.png){kind=small}
Greece – 396 pieces in total, of which 391 were scrapped between 1992 and 1995..svg/1280px-Flag_of_Iraq_(1963%E2%80%931991).svg.png){kind=small}
Iraq – Captured from Iran. All destroyed or scrapped.
Italy – Up to 2,000 acquired. In the late 1960s one was converted to diesel engine power and fitted with a 105 mm gun for trials.
Jordan – Acquired about 50 from the United States in the mid-1960s, as well as 60 captured Iranian M47s and M48s from Iraq in 1988.[35][36]
Netherlands[37]
Norway – 2 pieces acquired for testing purpose before M48 purchase in 1962. Both exist today in a non-usable condition.
Pakistan – Retired in 2002–2003[38]
Portugal – 161 M-47 Tanks - an entire armored brigade plus a battalion worth - received from 1952 onwards, under Mutual Security Agency. They started being decommissioned in 1978 and some served until the mid 1980s.
Saudi Arabia
Somalia – All lost during the Somaliland War of Independence and the Somali Civil War (one tank captured by US Army)
Somaliland.svg/1280px-Flag_of_South_Korea_(1949%E2%80%931984).svg.png){kind=small}
South Korea – Acquired a total of 531 vehicles—463 for the army between 1956 and 1959, and 68 for the marine corps between 1963 and 1964—mainly from the USFK. Around three-quarters of the M47s replaced their 90 mm M36 guns with the 90 mm M41 guns that became available when their M48s upgraded their guns from 90 mm M41 to 105 mm M68. The last vehicle was out of service in 2007.
Spain – 22 M47ER3 Armoured recovery vehicles (ARVs) based on M47 hulls modernized in 1992–94. Listed as "22 M47-VR" in service by IISS Military Balance 2013, p. 175.
West Germany – 1,102 tanks were fielded.[39]
Turkey – 1,347 tanks were fielded. Today all M47s have been recycled, and the steel used for civil purposes, except for a tank that was delivered to the Istanbul Military Museum and another tank as a war memorial in location 35°19′39″N 33°8′28″E / 35.32750°N 33.14111°E / 35.32750; 33.14111 (Cyprus)..svg/1280px-Flag_of_the_United_States_(1912-1959).svg.png){kind=small}
United States.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Yugoslavia_(1946-1992).svg.png){kind=small}
Yugoslavia – Total of 319 delivered during the 1950s when U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower feared that the USSR could attack Yugoslavia via the Hungarian-Yugoslav border..svg/1280px-Flag_of_Japan_(1870%E2%80%931999).svg.png){kind=small}
Japan – One M47 was provided for evaluation, and used as reference for the STA(Type 61 tank prototype) development. After being used for comparison with prototype vehicles of STA and technical analysis, it was disposed of. This tank was not scrapped, and is kept in a private collection (not open to the public as of 2021).[40]
United States – 1 former Austrian Army M47 owned by Arnold Schwarzenegger. He previously operated the vehicle (331) during his mandatory service in 1965, which he later obtained in 1992 and now uses to support his charity.[41]DETROIT, Jan. 7 -- The new tanks rushed into production after the Communist assault on the Republic of Korea eighteen months ago have not yet been issued to the troops because they are unacceptable to the Army Field Forces.
...beginning in 1992 the Greek army scrapped 391 M47 as part of the CFE agreement
Second-hand (captured by Iraq from Iran and given to Jordan); incl some M-48A5 tanks
