Cromwell Tank
Manufacture: Leyland Motors
Engine: Rolls-Royce V12 27-litre 600-hp
Service: 1942-52
The Cromwell was designed as the replacement for the Crusader tank, which was fast becoming obsolete. In late 1940, the General Staff set out the specifications for the new tank, and designs were submitted in early 1941. It was designed by the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Co.
Due to the typical rushed production and lack of components, the first of these tanks to be accepted, the Cavalier, had far too many problems to see active combat service. One of the key problems was that its Nuffield-built Liberty engine was simply not up to the task.
A new engine, based on the powerful Merlin engine used in aircraft such as the Spitfire, was designed and called the Meteor. Rolls-Royce, the makers of the Merlin, were already fully committed to its manufacture and could not spare the facilities for the Meteor, and manufacture was passed to the Rover Car Company. A modified tank design, the A27 Mk VIII, was then drawn up to take advantage of the new power available, approximately 600 hp, double that of the Liberty.
It would take considerable time for Rover to make ready production lines for the Meteor, so the initial A27s were equipped with the antiquated Liberty engine. These became known as A27L Centaur. It was not until a few months later, in January 1943, that sufficient Meteor engines were available and the A27M Cromwell began production.
Total A27 production consisted of 4,016 gun tanks; 950 of which were Centaurs and 3,066 Cromwells. In addition, 375 Centaur hulls were built to be fitted with an anti-aircraft gun turret; only 95 of these were completed.
The Cromwell still had revisions to make before service, most notably upgunning from the QF 6-pounder (57 mm) to the ROQF 75 mm gun (an adaptation of the 6 pounder design to fire the ammunition of the US M3 75 mm gun), and it was not until June 1944 that it first saw action during Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy. It had a mixed reception by crews. It was faster and had a lower profile than the Sherman tank. However, while its armour was of equivalent thickness, it was less sloped and therefore less effective than that of the Sherman. The 75 mm gun, though able to fire a useful HE shell, was not as effective against armour as the 6 pdr or the Ordnance QF 17 pounder gun that was fitted to the British Firefly variant of the Sherman.
The Centaur was chiefly used for training; only those in specialist roles saw action. The Close Support version of the Centaur saw service as part of the Royal Marine Armoured Support Group on D-Day, and a number were used as the basis for combat engineering vehicles such as an armoured bulldozer
The Sherman remained the most common tank in British and Commonwealth armoured units. Cromwells were used to fully equip only one division, the 7th Armoured Division. The Cromwell was also used as the main tank in the reconnaissance regiments of British armoured divisions because of their great speed. The Cromwell in turn was succeeded by small numbers of the Comet tank. Although the Comet was similar to the Cromwell, and shared some components, it was a much better tank with the 77 mm gun (a version of the 17 pounder)
After the war, the Cromwell remained in British service and was also used by Finland (Charioteer version).
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Wikipedia