Cruiser tank “Crusader”
Cruiser tank “Crusader”Tank, Cruiser Crusader.
The initial development of the A15 project was stopped due to the uncertainty of the requirements themselves and resumed under the designation A16 at Nuffield. Shortly after the approval of the wooden layout of the A13 Mk III ("Covenanter"), presented in April 1939, the head of the Mechanization Directorate asked the General Staff to consider alternative designs that would fully correspond to a heavy cruiser tank. These were the A18 (an enlarged modification of the Tetrarch tank), the A14 (developed by Landon Midland and Scottish Railway), the A16 (developed by Nuffield), and the “new” A15, which was supposed to be an enlarged version of the A13Mk III. The A15 was a clear favorite, since it used most of the components and assemblies of the A13 series tanks, including the Christie-type undercarriage, could therefore go into production faster, thanks to its longer length it blocked wider ditches and had 30-40 mm armor, which gave it greater opportunities than other applicants. Nuffield also proposed to develop a tank based on the A13 M1s III with an extension of the undercarriage by one road wheel on each side. In June 1939, Nuffield proposed using the Liberty engine of the base A13 instead of the Meadows of the A13 Mk III tank, as Liberty had already put the Nuffield into production but had not used it. It also promised weight reduction; the head of the Mechanization Department agreed and in July 1939 they issued the corresponding assignment for 200 tanks plus an experimental model. The last one was prepared by March 1940. In the middle of 1940, the order for the A15 was increased to 400, then to 1062 machines, and Nuffield became the lead in a group of nine companies involved in the production of the A15. Until 1943, the total output reached 5300 vehicles. The "childhood illnesses" of the prototype included poor ventilation, inadequate engine cooling, and shifting difficulties. Production without lengthy testing meant that the Crusader, as it was called at the end of 1940, showed poor reliability. During the fighting in the desert, the Crusader tank became the main British tank from the spring of 1941. It first saw action at Capuzzo in June 1941 and took part in all subsequent battles in North Africa, and even by the start of the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942 it remained in service with the 57 mm gun, although by by that time it was already being replaced by the American MZ and M4.
The last Crusader tanks were finally withdrawn from combat units in May 1943, but this model was used as a training one until the end of the war. From the middle of 1942, the Crusader chassis was adapted to various special vehicles, including ZSU, artillery tractors and ARVs. By the time the Crusader was designed, it was too late to take into account the lessons of the fighting in France in 1940 in its design. In particular, the nose machine gun turret was eliminated due to its poor ventilation and limited effectiveness, and also for the sake of simplifying production. In addition, it became possible to slightly increase the thickness of the armor in the frontal part of the hull and turret. Finally, the Mk III was rearmed from a 2-pounder to a 6-pounder.
The Germans celebrated the Crusader tank for its high speed, but it could not compete with the German Pz III with a 50-mm cannon - its main opponent in the desert - in the thickness of armor, its penetration and operational reliability. German 55-mm, 75-mm and 88-mm anti-tank guns also easily hit the Crusaders during the fighting in the desert.
The performance characteristics of the tank MK VI "Crusider III"
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The Crusader tank was developed in 1940 by the Nuffield company and represents a further development of the family of cruiser tanks on a Christie-type caterpillar undercarriage. It has an almost classic layout: the Nuffield-Liberty liquid-cooled gasoline engine is located in the rear of the hull, the fighting compartment is in its middle part, and the control compartment is in the front. Some deviation from the classical scheme was a machine-gun turret, mounted on the first modifications in front, to the right of the driver. The main armament of the tank - a 40-mm cannon and a 7,92-mm machine gun coaxial with it - was installed in a circular rotation turret, which had large angles of inclination of armor plates up to 52 mm thick. The rotation of the tower was carried out using a hydraulic or mechanical drive. The frame structure hull had frontal armor 52 mm thick and side armor 45 mm thick. To protect the undercarriage, armored screens were mounted. Like all British cruisers, the Crusader tank had a radio station and a tank intercom. The Crusader was produced in three successive modifications. The last modification of the Crusader III was produced until May 1942 and was armed with a 57 mm cannon. In total, about 4300 Crusaders and 1373 combat and auxiliary vehicles based on them (anti-aircraft self-propelled guns, repair and recovery vehicles, etc.) were produced. In 1942-1943. they were the standard armament of operational armored brigades.
