M60: Cold War Guardian | Tank Chats #175

Hi Tank Nuts! We hope you enjoyed this video. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

One of the major reasons for the decision to move to diesel which isn't often mentioned, is that the US was trying to move to multi-fuel concepts, and diesels were considered much easier to convert to other fuels than conventional petrol engines. If petrol engines had been able to be converted easily, it is questionable whether the US would have moved as it did. Of course, in the end, real multi-fuel capability was only implemented in practice by the US Army in some of the trucks like the M35 series, and the M1's turbine which is one of the few true (i.e. no conversion/modification requires) multi-fuel engines out there.

Grew up in the shadow of Aberdeen Proving Grounds; it was common enough to have one of these behemoths roll down the road. The really impressive thing was the very slow undulating 'bounce' as it rolled by - the suspension damping out the motion of massive lump of armor. You could really feel the mass.

Great Video! I was Active Duty Army from 1987 until 2006. I was a tanker. I have been on the following tanks: M60A1, M60A3, M1-IP, M1A1 and M1A2 SEP. I am extremely grateful for my time on the M60 tanks. It taught me how to be a tanker old school. If you can tank on an M60, you can tank on any modern tank. It was rough making M60A1 do it's job. The A1 had no night sights. We relied on mortar allum rounds to conduct night ops. We never mounted the spot lights. The engines would blow a jug almost every time we were in the woods. The M1 tanks were like Cadillacs after being on the M60 tanks. I was in OIF and DS on M1s. I cannot imagine those wars on an M60.

What a flash from the past! I was a M60A1 tank commander in the 70s. I still remember TCQC and Reforgers while serving in Germany. The heaters on the tanks were a blessing in the winter. During field exercises we often only wore our teashirts inside, while the poor infantry guys were laying in the cold German snow. We often heated our C-Rations in the tank engine compartment.

I have a soft spot in my heart for the M60. I spent 6 years in USMC tank units. 1st Tanks and 3rd Tanks. Up to and including Desert Storm.

One of the finest Cold War warriors.

My uncle on my dad’s side was part of Task Force Ripper during the push to capture the Battle of Kuwait International Airport. He was a driver of an M60a1 in the Marines. 1st Tank Battalion. He freely talks about his experiences. Over Thanksgiving, he lamented the marines current decision to remove all armored units from the USMC.

My number one favorite tank. When I was in infantry training at Ft. Benning, we ambushed M-60s and quickly learned these monsters didn't play nice. If we hid in spider holes to pop up behind them, they would pivot turn over the holes and bury us. And they would charge ambushes and chase us through the woods. I can imagine how they've torn us apart with live ammo.

I served on the M60A1, 2nd Armored Division at Ft. Hood 1972-75. We knew our limitations, but good tank crews and lots of training made the difference.

I was enlisted on an M60A1 AOS and transitioned to Rise Passive as I made NCO rank as a Tank Commander. I then went to OCS and was a Platoon Leader on M60A3s until the M1 transition as I was an XO of a Cav Troop. The difference in the M60A1 AOS and the M60A3? As a gunner, I hit a 1500 m target center mass battlesight engagement from a quick halt on a daylight range and was patted on the back with a 'Good shot!" from my TC. Three years later on an M60A3, my gunner hit a 5000 m first round hit while traveling 20 mph in a pitch-dark live fire run at the National Training Center,... and no one said a thing about it. It was that common a feat of gunnery. With the thermal sight and magnification, I could see a female deer start to urinate three miles away on a rainy night at Fort Benning GA and know for a fact that I could put a SABOT round through it's skull before it was even finished. That was (now) nearly 40 years ago. That was the difference that just five years (1982-1987) made in armored warfare. It was like going from WWII to the 21st Century in that time.

We hosted a tank company at the kaserne is was stationed at for Reforger in 1984. I remember seeing a driver climbing out of his tank hold the M-3 grease gun.

LOVE the M60!!! I served on M60A3 for a couple years before transitioning to M1. Great Tank, the 105mm was super accurate.

Thanks for the memories. M48 in Vietnam and M60 in West Germany.

I am a BSA Eagle scout in the US, and for my Eagle project I painted and otherwise restored a M60-A3. A lot of love for this beautiful warrior.

That you Tank Museum for finally doing an excellent video about the tank I served on when I was a Tank Platoon Leader. Outstanding presentation. No doubt you are the finest tank museum in the world. David Willey is particularly excellent in his narration. Keep up the good work. I salute you.

In the mid 1980s, my local NY National Guard base had an M60 armored unit. On certain Sunday mornings, the guard unit would drive their M60s through my city neighborhood on their way to a practice ground outside the city. There's nothing like being shaken - literally - out of bed at 07:00 while several 50+ ton tanks drive down a 4 lane street.

Love this, retired National Guard tanker. Served on the M48A5, M60A3 and M1

I like that the Tank Museum chose to present this beast in the old US Army MERDC camo. I grew up on these M60s and other US equipment finished in this scheme.

Several corrections: Other than the M60A2, the M60 series did NOT have a powered commander's cupola. To my knowledge the M60 series never had a centralized NBC overpressure system. It did have a forced-air central filtration system that fed pre-filtered air thru hoses in the tank to each crew station, which in turn connected to the vehicle crewman's version (M25A1) of the individual soldier's "gas mask." This version had a cylindrical cannister filter in the carry bag with the hose hookup to connect to the vehicle and a hose led from the cannister bag up to the rubber face piece.. The M17 series masks for non-vehicle-crew soldiers had the filters built into the cheek pouches of the rubber face piece of the mask. Other significant notes that were not mentioned: The M60A2 series' powered commander's cupola had a "target designate" feature similar in concept to that deployed on the M1A1/A2 with CITV. The commander could use his own optics in the powered cupola to acquire a target, and then upon hitting the target designate button, slew the main gun to the cupola's azimuth, which would help the gunner identify the target more quickly. The M60A3's TTS (tank thermal sight) was generally considered by crews to yield a much better "picture" that the first gen thermals on the original M1 series, and the M60A3's ruby laser seemed to yield more accurate ranges than did the early M1's YAG laser. The original M60's M73 and early M60A1's M219 coax machineguns were the bane of every tank crew's existence--they were at best problematic and at worst "single-shot machineguns." Loaders, gunners, and commanders rejoiced once the FN-derived M240 coax was deployed. Likewise, the M85 commander's cupola machinegun was the subject of many cursewords, with only the most knowledgeable TCs and unit armorers able to make them run reliably. (HINT: regularly replace with new ALL seven or eight operating springs and it will pump out belt after belt without a hiccup.) The M60 was the Sherman of the Cold War---never the best tank, but it's best "ability" was "availability."