Cruiser Tank Mk VII Cavalier (A24)

History of the cruiser tank Mk VII Cavalier (A24)

The Knight cruiser tank became one of many cruiser tanks adopted by the British Army during World War II (1939-1945). The specifications that eventually became the A24 tank also evolved around two other wartime designs - the Centaur and the classic Cromwell.

Cruiser tanks were the cornerstone of the British Army doctrine, which required light and fast cruiser tanks to take advantage of the breakthroughs made by heavier and better equipped infantry tanks (such as the famous "Churchill" line) in enemy lines. Ultimately, the Cavalier proved to be a springboard for transitional MBT design that met some needs on the battlefield but never achieved the popularity or tactical value of its wartime counterparts.

When a new generation of cruisers entered service with the British Armoured Corps in 1940, the design of a new generation of combat vehicles was already under consideration. One of the main qualities of the new cruiser tank design was the standard implementation of the QF 6-pounder gun, a weapon whose battlefield performance was much better than the original QF 2-pounder gun used by many early British tanks.

Several specifications were developed to meet the requirements and three main submissions were reviewed - the selected design became the "A24" for Nuffield Mechanization and Aeronautics Ltd and about 500 types considered for production. The other two entries are from Vauxhall (A22) and BRC&W.

Due to a compact development/production programme, the A24 is based on the existing Crusader cruiser tank (A15) - the armoured vanguard of the British Armoured Group formed by the Crusaders from the early days of the war. Design work continued until 1941, and authorities agreed that the vehicle should enter series production in early 1942 to support the tank's limitations as the war continued. The vehicle will be well armored and armed with an internal Nuffield "Freedom" engine. Like other cruiser types, the A24 will provide good road speed and strong self-maneuverability.

As a stopgap, the prototyping phase was skipped entirely, and six evaluation models were ordered instead. At the time, the tank was known as the "Cromwell" - although by the end of the war that name would be associated with a completely different tank design used by the British Army.

Increased delays on the A24 program meant that serial production did not begin as planned in early 1942. Trials of Crusader hulls and 6pdr guns are in the process of demonstrating mating noise, but these tests suggest mating is not a good solution. Appropriately reduced the original 500 tanks. The A24 eventually joined the development of Leyland's A27L and A27M, which were equipped with Rolls-Royce's "Meteor" engines - all of which were successively known as "Cromwells" (as in "Cromwell I"). , "Cromwell II" and "Cromwell III").

Before the end, the A24 was officially referred to as the "Knight", the A27L was called the "Centaur" and the A27M "Cromwell" - this was done to formally differentiate the designs.

The finished 27-ton (short) rider car is 6.3 meters long, 2.8 meters wide and 2.4 meters high. The standard operator is five, including a driver, a passenger/gunner, a commander, a gunner, and a loader. The armor protection of the various platings of the tank ranges from 13mm to 76mm. Power is provided by a 410-horsepower Nuffield Liberty Mark IV gasoline engine that, combined with an "upgraded" Christie suspension, gives the vehicle a range of up to 24 mph and 165 miles of range.

Off-road speeds top out at 14 mph. The main armament is a QF 6 pound (57 mm) main gun, fed by 64 rounds. Secondary armament consists of 2 x 7.92mm BESA machine guns (one mounted on the bow and the other in the turret) for local defense. It carries 4,950 rounds of 7.92mm ammunition.

Externally, the knight has a traditional armored layout with a driver/crew compartment mounted in the front, the turret mounted directly in the rear, and the engine mounted in the rear. Typical English style at work, with the vehicle relying heavily on thick, near-vertical surfaces along the hull superstructure and turrets.

The driver is seated on the front right, the passenger/machine gunner is on his left. The rest of the crew maintained a mid-fuselage position in the turret.

The landing gear uses a traditional track wheel arrangement using five large wheels on one side of the fuselage, with the drive sprocket at the rear and the track idler at the front. The barrel slope is noticeably minimal to prevent the vehicle from getting stuck when descending steep ditch walls.

Drive control is pneumatically assisted.

Knights served from 1942 to 1945, eventually supplying the armoured units of the British Army and the Free French Army. For the former, these are relegated to secondary roles and tanker crew training and are generally not used as frontline combat vehicles as better alternatives are available. A variant of the series became the Knight ARV, an armored rescue vehicle model that lost the turret and had an A-frame arm mounted on the hull. The Cavalier OP is an observation post vehicle designed to help artillery regiments fine-tune their long-range indirect fire.

The vehicle features a "virtual" main gun barrel and is equipped with additional communications equipment to complete the mission. About a dozen vehicles were used in France under the banner of the 12th Dragoon Regiment of the 14th French Infantry Division.

The end of the war in 1945 effectively ended the widespread use of knights. The choice of Liberty engine powering the line was never really satisfying and made the tank an underperforming vehicle. At one point, it was seen as the successor to the Crusader series from which it grew.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Performance

for everyone else in our database)

Armor

64 x 57mm bullet

4,950x7.92mm ammo

Changes