The M47 Patton was the second tank of the Patton series, and one of the U.S Army's principal medium gun tanks of the Cold war with models in service from the early 1950s to the late 1980s. The tank belongs to the Patton family of tanks, named after General George S. Patton, commander of the U.S. Third Army during World War II and one of the earliest American advocates for the use of tanks in battle. It was a further development of the M46 Patton tank.