Cruiser Tank
To meet therequirement of modern tank concepts, in 1936, the British War Office designated two different categories of tanksfor future development. The first category is a fast mobile cruiser tankdesigned not only to perform reconnaissance and patrol tasks, but also capableof making forays deep into enemy territory. The second Category is an armoured infantrytanks designed tobe used in close co-operation with infantry during attacks.
Tank, Cruiser, Mk. II (A10)
Tank Cruiser MK. I, code A9 was the first ever built cruiser tank in theUnited Kingdom.
But while the A9 was still a prototype type in 1934, theBritish War Office had requested the production firm, the Vickers Armstrong Limited, to develop a more heavily armoured vehicle for better infantry supportrole.
On September 1937, a soft steel prototype Tank Cruiser MK. II, code A10 was produced.
The armour thickness has been increased from 35/64 inch (14mm) inthe A9 to 15/16 inch (24mm).
To reduce weight, the two front single man machineguns turrets were removed.
The increase in protection was achieved by boltingextra armour plate to the exterior of the hull and turret.
This is the firstpractice of the application of additional steel plate design ever in BritishTank.
Tank CruiserMK. II according to their own weaponry can be sub-divided into three variants.
Theproduction run A10 tank has turret, engine and suspension identical to A9, butthe thickness of bolt plates has been increased to 1 and 3/16 inch (30 mm) andweighs has been increased to 14.3 tons.
The maximum speed on road however dropsto 16 mph, while off road only 8mph.
As a result, the A10 tank is too slow toperform the cruiser tank duty such as forays deep into enemy territory.
Thisshortcoming self-explain although the A10 tank saw combat in most of the earlybattles, such as France, North Africa and Greece, the final production numberwas only 175 and phased out very quickly when new type of cruiser tank enterinto service.
| Carrier | Informations | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Regular mail | 2 weeks - 2 months | zł83.64 |
| Priority mail | 1-2 weeks | zł154.98 |
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