The IS-3 sported a stout, low-set profile, characterized by its curved turret design - appearing as something akin to a frying pan set upside down. The long rifled barrel was capped with a double-baffled muzzle brake. Each track side was fitted with six road wheels with the idler held forward, the drive sprocket aft and three track return rollers. The engine was fitted in a large rear compartment with the turret fitted noticeably forward. The optimal operating crew consisted of four personnel. The IS-3 was armed with the potent 121.9mm D-25T series main gun and afforded approximately 28 rounds of 122mm projectiles. Secondary armament consisted of a 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun (250 rounds carried) and one or two 7.62mm anti-infantry machine gun (756 rounds carried). Armor protection ranged from 20mm to 230mm across all facings, essentially over 9 inches at its thickest cover - impressive to say the least. At any rate, attacking the IS-3 from the front could prove a fruitless endeavor. Power for the heavy chassis was served from a V2-IS series engine of 520 horsepower delivering a respectable top speed of 25 miles per hour with a range out to 115 miles. The IS-3 weighed in at 45.77 tons and measured a running length of 32 feet, 4 inches with a relatively low height of just 8 feet.
While a breakthrough design along many fronts, large heavy tanks such as the IS-3 were naturally prone to a few mechanical issues when considering their operational abilities. Foremost was a generally unreliable powerpack - engine and transmission system - which was prone to failure. The haste in which design and production was ushered by Soviet authorities also opened the IS-3 up to some quality control issues regarding defects in the hull. These limitation brought about a phase of upgrades which sought to improve a few key areas by upgrading systems of concern - these included better radio equipment, new road wheels and replacing the original clutch mechanisms. When completed, these improvements drove up the operational weight of the IS-3 by some 4 tons, slightly hampering performance.
The IS-3 served with the Red Army throughout the latter part of the 1940s and into the 1950s. A modernization program was enacted to help keep the IS-3 viable in the ever-changing battlefield that was the Cold War. Eventually, this World War 2-era design was supplanted by more modern thoroughbreds - each owing a little bit of their existence to the mighty IS-3 - while the IS-3 itself fell quietly to the history books. She went on to serve in a few foreign armies before her time was completed and even served as a trainer to new generations of Soviet tankers before heading into storage. Egypt became a notable foreign operator of the type, showcasing the IS-3 on military parades as early as 1956. Several examples were captured by the Israelis during conflict and reconstituted for the IDF. The IDF went as far as upgrading the IS-3s with better engines taken from T54 tanks to help improve performance and modernized the aged system. China received deliveries of IS-3 but only after their participation in the Korean War had drawn to a close.
For the Soviets, the IS-3 was always regarded as "the most powerful tank in the world" and this became a claim that few could dispute.
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