M1 Abrams
By David Doyle
5/5
()
About this ebook
Conceived to counter the threat of a massive Soviet armored incursion in Europe, the M1 Abrams tank gained considerable fame during the Persian Gulf War of 1991, and its combat record has continued to climb. With such a long service life, the Abrams has undergone continual improvements and upgrades, which are illustrated in great detail in this volume. The unique features of the various models are detailed in stunning color photos, and the combat use of these fearsome vehicles is richly illustrated through previously unpublished photos.
The story of the Abrams begins in the late 1960s when the threat of Soviet Armor developments forced the U.S. to look for a suitable replacement for the M60 series. A joint venture between the U.S. and West Germany to build a suitable common Main Battle Tank brought about the unorthodox and terribly expensive MBT70. It never saw series production. When this program was cancelled in 1970, a quest for a more cost-effective tank was begun. The constant development, upgrade, and conversion of the series have kept the Abrams at the forefront of main battle tank technology—and it has proven itself on the battlefield time and time again. This book, filled with rare archival photos, takes us through decades of its remarkable history, including improvements to its armor, transmission, and engine; the addition of an integrated nuclear, biological, and chemical system; the installation of a layer of depleted uranium and interior blast doors to protect the crew, and more.
David Doyle
An avid military vehicle enthusiast whose collection includes 10 Vietnam-era vehicles, it not surprising that most of his 100+ published books focus on US military vehicles. In June 2015, he was presented the coveted Bart Vanderveen Award by the Military Vehicle Preservation Association, given in recognition of "…the individual who has contributed the most to the historic preservation of military vehicles worldwide."
Read more from David Doyle
M7 Priest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVehicles & Heavy Weapons of the Vietnam War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsM36/M36B1 Tank Destroyer Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5M12 Gun Motor Carriage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Year of Living Stupidly Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsM29 Weasel Tracked Cargo Carrier & Variants Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFortitude: A Life Enduring Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLouis Riel: Let Justice Be Done Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to M1 Abrams
Titles in the series (100)
Himmler's Nazi Concentration Camp Guards Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Adolf Hitler Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Armoured Warfare in Northwest Europe, 1944–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChiang Kai-shek Versus Mao Tse-tung: The Battle for China, 1946–1949 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5D-Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blitzkrieg Russia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArmoured Warfare on the Eastern Front Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHitler's Defeat on the Eastern Front Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Armoured Warfare in the North African Campaign Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front, 1941–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreat War Fighter Aces, 1916–1918 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAllied POWs in German Hands 1914–1918 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5B-17 Memphis Belle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Crushing of Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Afrika-Korps Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Armoured Warfare in the Italian Campaign, 1943–1945 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Armoured Warfare and Hitler's Allies, 1941–1945 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH) at War, 1939–1945: A History of the Division on the Western and Eastern Fronts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHitler's Mountain Troops, 1939–1945: The Gebirgsjager Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArmoured Warfare in the Korean War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Auschwitz Death Camp Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Armoured Warfare in the Battle of the Bulge, 1944–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHitler's Headquarters, 1939–1945 Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Germans at Arras Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFallschirmjager: Elite German Paratroops in World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle for the Caucasus, 1942–1943 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Blitzkrieg in the West Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hitler's Panzers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5SS Totenkopf at War: A History of the Division Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRetreat to Berlin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related ebooks
M1 Abrams Tank Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bradley Fighting Vehicle: The US Army’s Combat-Proven Fighting Platform, 1981–2021 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5M1 Abrams: The US's Main Battle Tank in American and Foreign Service, 1981–2019 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Wheeled Armoured Fighting Vehicles Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5US Cold War Tanks and Armoured Fighting Vehicles Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Humvee: American Multi-Purpose Support Truck Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Patton Tank: Cold War Warrior Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leopard 2: NATO's First Line of Defence, 1979–2020 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsM48 Patton: American Cold War Battle Tank Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scorpion and Scimitar: British Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicles, 1970–2022 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFV430 Series Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Reasons To Improve: The Evolution Of The US Tank From 1945-1991 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chieftain: British Cold War Main Battle Tank Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Allied Tanks of the Second World War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Armoured Warfare in the Vietnam War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5British Battle Tanks: Post-war Tanks 1946–2016 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRussian Gunship Helicopters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5M2/M3: American Half-tracks of the Second World War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Centurion: Armoured Hero of Post-War Tank Battles Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5World War 2 In Review No. 66: German Fighting Vehicles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWorld War 2 In Review No. 58: Medium Tank M4 Sherman Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWorld War 2 In Review No. 22: American Half-tracks Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerican Tanks & AFVs of World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5U. S. Army Ordnance Research and Development In World War 2: A Review Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsM4 Sherman: Rare Photographs From Wartime Archives Plus Specially Commissioned Colored Illustrations Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The History of Tanks Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnited States Infantry Weapons of the Second World War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Panther Tank: Hitlers T-34 Killer Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5T-34: The Red Army's Legendary Medium Tank Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Allied Armoured Fighting Vehicles of the Second World War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Wars & Military For You
Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Resistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Daily Creativity Journal Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933–45 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unit 731: Testimony Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When I Come Home Again: 'A page-turning literary gem' THE TIMES, BEST BOOKS OF 2020 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War & Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The History of the Peloponnesian War: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Washington: The Indispensable Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/577 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for M1 Abrams
1 rating1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fantastic. Chock full of detail photos for the Abrams enthusiast
Book preview
M1 Abrams - David Doyle
Introduction
As the Abrams closes in on forty years of service, it is inevitable that many books and thousands of pages have been written about the M1. This volume won’t attempt to tell the story of evolution and service of this armored fighting vehicle; rather it is the intent of this volume to show you the evolution of the vehicle and provide you with a glimpse into the conditions under which America’s fighting men took it into combat.
This book will present many of the detail changes of three major variants of the series, using photographs of existing examples of the vehicle. This volume presents an early prototype XM1, an M1E1, two M1A1s and an M1A2 SEP, not just of museum specimens but also active vehicles in use by US troops.
For those interested in a narrative of the development of the Abrams, we recommend the companion ‘Images of War’ book on the Abrams written by Michael Green. By design, there is very little duplication between this volume and Michael’s.
The story of the Abrams begins in the late 1960s when the threat of Soviet armor developments forced the US to look for a suitable replacement for the M60 series. A joint venture between the US and West Germany to build a suitable common main battle tank brought about the unorthodox and terribly expensive MBT70. It never saw series production. When this program was cancelled in 1970, a quest for a more cost-effective tank was begun.
The constant development, upgrade and conversion of the series have kept the Abrams at the forefront of main battle tank technology, and it has proven itself on the battlefield time and time again. The Abrams is entering its fourth decade of service with US forces and the plan is to keep the vehicle in the United States’ inventory through as late as 2040.
The original design of the M1 was conceived to allow the installation of the smoothbore M256 main gun with only minimal modification. The gun was a German Rheinmetall design for the Leopard II. With additional improvements to the armor, transmission, engine and the addition of an integrated nuclear, biological and chemical system, the new production M1A1 Abrams was standardized in 1984, with the first production vehicles delivered in 1985. Production at the Detroit Arsenal was now under the control of General Dynamics Land Systems. The production of the M1A1 ended in 1993 with more than 4,500 produced.
The new main gun greatly increased the tank’s firepower. In 1988 a layer of depleted uranium (DU) was added to the special armor array in the front of the tank. This gave the tank unprecedented protection for the crew. The tanks were also equipped internally with powered blast doors that separated the turret crew from the ammunition storage in the turret’s rear. This also increased crew survivability in case the tank was penetrated in this area.
The story of the M1A1 will be forever linked with images of the First Gulf War of 1991. Never in the 100-year history of armored warfare has such a dominant weapon appeared on the battlefield with almost complete impunity from its adversaries. In that brief conflict the tank achieved an almost perfect balance of firepower, mobility and protection.
This pair of Abrams from the US First Armored Division is conducting a combat patrol in Tal Afar, Iraq on 20 February 2006. Though a far cry from the environment for which the Abrams was envisioned, the Abrams has ably proven its effectiveness. (US Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Aaron Allmon)
By the late 1960s the M60 series was in need of replacement to keep pace with the threat of new Russian armor. The M60 was basically an evolutionary design that had begun with the M26 Pershing of 1945 with a wide variety of improvements to automotive systems, armor and firepower. This M60A1 is being put through its paces at the test track at the Detroit Tank Arsenal. (Patton Museum)
A joint effort between the US and West Germany in the late 1960s worked to develop a common main battle tank for both armies. The product of this venture was the MBT70. The extremely expensive and complicated design was equipped with a 152mm gun capable of firing both conventional rounds and a wire-guided anti-tank missile. The escalating costs of the design forced Congress to end the US involvement in the program in January 1970. The second US prototype is seen pictured here. (Patton Museum)
The MBT70 incorporated a number of unorthodox components beyond the gun. The suspension would allow the vehicle to be raised and lowered overall, or at the front or rear. The entire crew operated in the turret, the driver having a rotating position in the left front. The gun was to feed with an automatic ammunition loading system, reducing the crew to three. When the MBT70 program was ended the army began development of a more cost-effective solution for a new tank. (Patton Museum)
One of the Chrysler XM1 pilot vehicles undergoes testing at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Following Chrysler winning the development contract in late 1976, extensive testing was done of the pilot vehicles at several military and private proving grounds. (Patton Museum)
Chapter 1
The XM1
The final outcome of almost a decade of development was the M1 Abrams. The new tank retained the 105mm gun of the M60A3 which it replaced. The development program had pitted designs from both General Motors and Chrysler against each other. Chrysler was eventually awarded the contract for its gas turbine-powered design. The layout of the tank was more conventional than the MBT70 design, with the exception of the turbine powertrain. The new tank was named Abrams in honor of the late General Creighton W. Abrams, former armor commander and Army Chief of Staff. (Patton Museum)
An early prototype XM1 was displayed for many years at the Patton Museum of Armor at Fort Knox, Kentucky. The tank had undergone numerous tests at the base throughout the late 1970s. This tank is from a batch of three that were refurbished in 1979 with the latest features to be incorporated in the production vehicles. (Don Moriarty)
The hull sides are fitted with both Chobham armored ‘ballistic’ and plate steel unarmored ‘non-ballistic’ skirts. Left-side No. 1 & 2 skirts are ballistic, as are No. 1 through 4 on the right side. The No. 7 skirt seen here was modified on later production variants to allow mud to escape from the sprocket area. (Don Moriarty)
The turret and hull were made up from large rolled steel components that give the tank its signature angular appearance. The boxy shape made it possible to install a revolutionary armor array within the front