World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe Samokhodnaya Ustanovka 85 (SU-85 for short) tank destroyers were designed by Lew S. Trojanow and they were put into production in mid-1943 as a response to the need to counter the heavier German tanks that were beginning to appear on the front lines, and to meet the changing Soviet tank strategy that focused more so on the lethality of guns rather than the thickness of armor. They were built by mating the chassis of T-34 with high velocity 85-millimeter D-5T anti-tank guns. The first production examples reached the front lines in Aug 1943 and were assigned to Soviet units of Russian, Polish, and Czechoslovakian nationalities. In late 1944, T-34-85 medium tanks with a similar primary weapon entered full production, thus the production of SU-85 design was ordered to cease; 2,050 examples were built by this point. They continued to see combat until the end of WW2. After the war, they were retired from active service in the Russian military, but they were exported to other Soviet states such as Poland, North Korea, and Vietnam.

SPECIFICATIONS

SU-85

Machinery	One V-2 12-cyl diesel engine rated at 493hp
Suspension	Christie
Armament	1x85mm D-5T gun
Armor	45mm
Crew	4
Length	8.15 m
Width	3.00 m
Height	2.45 m
Weight	29.6 t
Speed	55 km/h
Range	400 km

Photographs