FV4007, Tank, Medium Centurion Mark 3 - the Centurion tank had originally been built to take a 76.2mm gun, the famous 17 pounder, but the design allowed for improvements. By 1947 the Royal Ordnance Factory had designed a new main gun and this was adopted for a new model Centurion, the Mark 3, which also featured an improved version of the Rolls-Royce Meteor engine.
The Mark 3 was derived from the similar Centurion Mark 2. The most important change was the fitting of the new and very powerful 20 pounder (calibre 83.4mm) tank gun and an improved electric stabilisation system to the gun that allowed targets to be accurately engaged while the tank was moving. The 20 pounder gun fired a variety of types of ammunition including Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot (APDS) rounds at 1,477 metres/second, Armour Piercing Ballistic Capped (APCBC) rounds at 1,006 metres/second and High Explosive (HE) rounds.
The gun was aimed by a periscopic sight and was electrically stabilised in elevation and traverse. All the main gun ammunition was stored below the level of the turret ring, reducing the risk of ammunition fires in the event of a hit on the turret. The turret traverse was electrically powered, eliminating hydraulic oil from the turret and removing another major fire risk. (In contrast the American M48 tank suffered frequent hydraulic fluid fires when the turret was penetrated).
The Centurion Mark 3 first saw action in Korea with the 8th Battalion of the King’s Royal Irish Hussars in 1950. It quickly established an excellent reputation for hill climbing, reaching the places that other tanks couldn’t in Korea’s mountainous terrain. The 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards relieved the 8th Hussars in December 1951. The 1st Royal Tank Regiment, in turn, relieved the Dragoons in December 1952.
The Museum’s Centurion Mark 3 is displayed in the markings of a tank of 3 Troop, C Squadron, 1st Royal Tank Regiment, part of the Commonwealth Division, during the Korean War. Commanded by Sergeant A Wallace, Military Medal, it participated in a fiercely contested action defending a location called ‘The Hook’ against Chinese forces in Korea in May 1953. Sergeant Wallace was awarded his Military Medal for his bravery during this action.
Although painted as a Korean War tank, this vehicle was in fact the prototype Centurion Crocodile flame throwing tank, a type that never entered production. It may originally have been a Mark 2.
[Note: Although a C Squadron tank, unusually the exhibit has a vehicle name that starts with an ‘A’ (“Arromanches” – just visible in the yellow rectangle on the tool boxes on the side of the tank) rather than a ‘C’ as you might expect. After the Second World War, the naming policy of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment was as follows: A Squadron adopted the names of A Battalion tanks from the first world war; B Squadron took their tank names from locations where the regiment had seen action in North Africa in WW2, while C Squadron used names of action locations in Italy and NW Europe. Thus ‘Arromanches’ was a C Squadron name, being the first place that the regiment landed in NW Europe.]
FV214 Conqueror was the last British tank to be officially designated as a ‘Heavy Tank’ and at the time of its introduction it was the heaviest tank to have served with the British Army (65 tons). It was developed as a direct response to the Soviet IS III Iosif Stalin heavy tank, first seen a Soviet Victory Parade in Berlin in September 1945. The War Office view was that the thick armour and 122mm gun of the ISIII outmatched any tank in the Western armoury.
The search for a counter to the ISIII led to consideration of a 120mm gun based on the American T53 gun. Firing Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot (APDS) rounds at 1450 metres/sec, the new gun could penetrate 220 mm (8.7in) of homogeneous steel armour sloped at 30 degrees at a range of 914 metres (1,000 yards). This performance should have been sufficient to penetrate the armour of both the IS III and its successor the T10. The ammunition was separate (i.e. the round and cartridge were loaded individually) and the expended cartridge cases were automatically ejected from the turret. This gun was also fitted in the American M103 heavy tank.
Clearly any tank that mounted a 120mm gun with commensurately thick armour was going to be large and heavy. However Conqueror was undoubtedly underpowered. It was propelled by an up-rated version of the Rolls Royce Meteor petrol engine fitted in the Centurion, driving through a Merritt-Brown transmission. Unfortunately Conqueror weighed 15 tons more than the Centurion and mobility and agility suffered accordingly. It employed a Horstmann suspension system fitted with steel rimmed resilient road wheels that made it very noisy. Like many British tanks the Conqueror acquired a reputation for unreliability. However accounts written by men who actually crewed Conqueror, contradict this view.
Two of the tank’s most interesting features were the turret and the commander’s post. The turret was a massive cast structure that weighed 18 tons in its own right. The commander operated from a cupola mounted at the rear of the turret. This rotated independently of the turret and was fitted with its’ own range finder that enabled the commander to acquire a second target while the gunner was dealing with the first (similar to the ‘hunter / killer’ systems found on modern day MBTs). The gun could then be quickly laid on the target found by the commander who was free to search for a third target.
Only a small number of Conquerors was made; production of the gun tank amounted to 159 vehicles, excluding the prototypes. A further 28 vehicles were built as FV219 and FV222 Armoured Recovered Vehicles, (ARV Mk 1 and Mk 2).
Conqueror started to enter service in 1955 and was issued to armoured regiments equipped with the Centurion Medium Tank. It served with the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) and was supplanted by the Chieftain, starting in 1966.
FV4201 Chieftain was the British Army’s first Main Battle Tank (MBT), in other words a single design that replaced both heavy (FV214 Conqueror) and medium (FV4007 Centurion) tanks.
Design studies began in the early 1950s and some experimental vehicles were produced to evaluate particular technical features. One of the most important was the ’40 ton Centurion’ (FV4202) which introduced a semi-reclining position for the driver and a main gun mounting without an external mantlet. The first of these features was intended to reduce the overall height of the tank; the second made the gun mounting less vulnerable.
The prototype Chieftain was shown to the press in the summer of 1961. The design emphasised firepower and protection. Following extensive trials the Chieftain Mark 2 entered service with the 11th Hussars in the autumn of 1966. The Chieftain introduced a number of innovations, some of which gave considerable trouble in service.
The L11 120mm gun used a self-combusting bagged charge instead of a brass cartridge case: the gun proved to be highly successful. The engine, the Leyland L60 specially developed for the Chieftain, was a different story.
It had six vertical cylinders each containing 2 opposed pistons working on the two-stroke principle. A diesel, it was capable of running on a variety of fuels. The engine was intended to produce 750bhp; early versions managed 585bhp. Eventually the engine delivered 720bhp but it continued to be chronically unreliable. After extensive modifications reasonable reliability was eventually achieved. The L60 was coupled to a TN12 gearbox and transmission with six forwards and two reverse speeds.
The Chieftain was continually upgraded during its’ service life. This particular tank, a Chieftain Mark 11, was originally manufactured as a Mark 5. It was subsequently fitted with a laser range finder; a computerised fire control system (IFCS), thermal sights (TOGS – located in a redesigned ‘searchlight’ bin on the left hand side of the turret) and additional compound armour on the front of the turret and around the driver’s hatch (so-called Stillbrew armour). The L60 engine was continually modified and improved to increase its’ output and reliability. The end result of all these changes was a very formidable tank.
In all more than 2,200 Chieftains of all types were manufactured by the Royal Ordnance Factories and Vickers Ltd - 900 of these served with the British Army while the remaining 1,300 tanks were exported to Iran, Jordan, Kuwait and the Oman.
The Museum’s Mark 11 served with the 10th Hussars, the 4th Royal Tank Regiment, the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards, the Royal Hussars and the 2nd Armoured Delivery Squadron, all in the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR).
Chieftain gun tanks were withdrawn from front-line service with the British Army during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The FV4211 Experimental Chieftain holds two ‘world firsts’. When it was produced in 1969 it was the world's first vehicle fitted with ‘special’ composite armour (‘Chobham’ armour), and the first MBT in the world with an aluminium hull. Based on Chieftain automotive components, it influenced the design of the US M1 Abrams Battle Tank. The Museum’s exhibit (04SP28) is believed to be TV-A, the first of nine Test Vehicles scheduled for production following the trials of two prototypes MTR-1 and MTR-2.
The Museum’s Challenger 2 is a development prototype (V5). Challenger 2 was conceived in the mid-1980s when the British Army planned to run a fleet of some 1,200 MBTs, made up of Challenger 1 and late model Chieftains, until the year 2000. Both tanks would then be replaced by a joint Anglo-German project, FMBT 2000.
Although there were plans to upgrade Chieftain to improve its armour protection (the ‘Stillbrew’ package) and its night fighting capability (by fitting the TOGS thermal sight), continuing reliance on Chieftain was thought to be risky given the expected improvements in Soviet MBTs. The British Army was increasingly dissatisfied with the turret systems of Challenger 1 while the future of the FMBT 2000 was beginning to look bleak.
A series of improvements to Challenger 1 were planned, including CHIP (Challenger/Chieftain Improvement Programme) and CHARM (Challenger/Chieftain Armament. CHARM embraced the development of a new high pressure rifled 120mm gun, the L30, as well as novel types of very high performance depleted Uranium projectiles. It became clear that FMBT 2000 would not be ready in time to replace Chieftain. At about this time (1987) Vickers Defence Systems offered to build a replacement for Chieftain under a fixed price contract. The new tank, called Challenger 2 Mark 2 by Vickers, would combine the hull and automotive systems of the Challenger 1 with a new turret developed as a private venture by Vickers for their Mark 7 MBT.
A major review of the tank procurement programme was undertaken. This included an evaluation of Challenger 1 against the M1A1 Abrams and the Leopard 2. The review showed that Challenger 1 needed considerable improvement and that a replacement was urgently needed for Chieftain. Although there was a strong lobby in favour of buying the American Abrams a further evaluation was undertaken that matched Challenger 2 against the M1A2 Abrams, an improved Leopard 2 and the French Leclerc. All were found to be highly capable. Eventually, against the background of the excellent performance of Challenger 1 in Operation Desert Storm, the government awarded a contract in 1991 to Vickers Defence Systems for 127 Challenger 2 gun tanks and 13 driver training tanks. This decision maintained a tank design and manufacturing capability in the UK.
At the same time the Soviet Union was collapsing; the Warsaw Pact finally disintegrating in late 1991. Major cuts in defence spending followed in the West and as a result the plans to upgrade Challenger 1 and Chieftain were abandoned. Chieftain was withdrawn, partly as a result of major arms control agreements with the former Soviet Union. In July 1994 the MoD decided to order a further 279 Challenger 2 gun tanks so that the eight armoured regiments remaining in the Royal Armoured Corp (RAC) could all be equipped with Challenger 2, albeit with only 38 tanks in each regiment.
Challenger 2 entered service in June 1998 and although a logical development of Challenger 1, the new tank is greatly superior. It has a new digital fire control system that includes a panoramic commander’s sight and a new version of the Thermal Observation and Gunnery Sight (TOGS II). The turret mounts the high pressure L30 120mm gun that fires conventional APDS-FS, HESH, smoke and depleted uranium projectiles with great accuracy. The ‘Chobham’ armour is an upgraded version of that fitted to Challenger 1 (called ‘Dorchester’).
As a result of exercises in Oman in 2002, extensive modifications were made to ‘desertise’ the Challenger 2. These changes included the fitting of canvas skirts covering the wheels to reduce the dust cloud created by the tank and changes to the engine air filters. The combat survivability of the tank was improved by the addition of reactive armour to the hull front, additional composite armour panels to the hull sides, a special cover to the exhaust to reduce the tank’s heat signature and visual Combat Identification Panels. These modifications raise the tank’s combat weight to about 65 tons.
In the event Challenger 2 performed superbly during the invasion of Iraq and played an important role in the early capture of Basra by British Forces.
The main vehicle in this photo is a Polish built T-55K ‘Enigma’ command tank that was used by the 5th Iraqi Mechanised Division. It has been fitted with extra armour around the front and sides on both turret and hull. One armour pad has been cut open to reveal he multi-layer arrangement inside which consists of alternate plates of steel, rubber and aluminium. This is intended to defeat HEAT projectiles. Trials in the USA indicate that, crude as it appears, this system works quite well. However it increases the weight of the tank and reduces performance while the counter-balance, at the rear of the turret (barely visible in the photo), suggests that it is affected by the extra weight. The sectioned armour pad is above the driver’s hatch. Unless the turret is in this position, and the pod raised as shown, the driver would be trapped.
Behind the T-55 is a Chinese built version of the T-54. It was manufactured in 1984 and is typical of a late production Type 69-II. This exhibit was also captured during the Gulf War and it appears to have served as a command tank. The crude plumbing on its left side (just visible) was designed to duct smoke from the exhaust and release it at the front of the tank as a smoke screen.
The T72 is probably the most widely used main battle tank in the world today. It has been manufactured in six countries, is in service with the armies of 35 nations and has fought in all the major wars of the last 20 years.
In 1967 the Soviet Army adopted the T64 as its future standard tank. The most revolutionary aspect of the new tank was the use of an auto-loader to feed its 125mm smooth bore gun. The T64 was very complex and very expensive; characteristics that made it unsuitable for export to the Soviet Union’s allies. Moreover the T64’s high cost would limit the number of tanks that could be bought and worse, the early versions proved unreliable.
The Vagonka Design Bureau was running out of work as T62 development finished. Its leader, Leonid Kartsev, persuaded the Minister responsible for tank production to allow him to modify the T64 and also to permit the Vagonka Bureau to build six prototypes. This decision was made without reference to the Main Armour Administration in the Soviet Defence Ministry who were supposed to control tank policy! The revised tank, Obiekt 172, had a new, more reliable, Vagonka auto-loader, a 125mm gun, a redesigned suspension and a new engine and power train.
The Obiekt 172 tanks were tested during 1968-70. Following modifications Kartsev’s new tank was accepted as the T72 in 1971. This was a compromise between the advocates of the T64 and those who wanted a cheaper tank that could be bought in large numbers. It gave the Soviet Army a ‘high/low mix’ of vehicles: the T64 at the high end would equip first echelon units in East Germany, the low end T72 would go to the follow up forces and for export. The adoption of the T72 also kept the Vagonka Bureau in business.
The Museum’s exhibit was in service with the former East German Army; it is the model T-72M (official name Obiekt 172M-1, Ural) which was produced for export only. Tanks of this type were employed by the Iraqi Republican Guard during the Gulf War (1991), by the Syrian Army in Lebanon, by various elements in the former Yugoslavia and, of course, in Chechnya.
Finally, some 'random' shots that I haven’t posted so far:
German Army Leopard I
Canadian Army Leopard C2 (updated Leopard 1A5)
Variety of tank guns and projectiles
Scorpion
Example of the effect of an armoured piercing round (possibly 120mm APDS?) on steel plates; penetration is from top to bottom. For scale, the tripod is about 45-50cm in length.
From left to right – Cromwell, Sherman Firefly and Churchill Crocodile
Hope you enjoyed the show and a Happy New Year to everyone
For those living in the UK or visiting the capital, I highly recommend a visit - you won't be disappointed! More details to follow in 2015 