The track was 31 inches (78.7 cm) wide and had 102 links per side. Armor on the tank was a maximum of 7 inches (177 mm) thick on both the front of the hull and the turret.
The drive sprocket was at the back while the idler was at the front. The tank’s weight was supported on a Horstmann suspension with four, two-wheel bogies per side. The vehicle was propelled by an 810 horsepower Rolls-Royce Meteor M120 engine, which allowed the 63 long-ton (57 tonnes) tank to achieve a top speed of 22 mph (35 km/h). It was an impressive vehicle at 38 feet (12 m) long (with the gun forward, 25 feet 4 inches/7.72 m otherwise), 13 feet 1 inch wide (3.99 m) and 10 feet 5 inches (3.18 m) tall. In 1955, the 120mm L1 rifled gun was introduced to the chassis in a brand new turret, thus, the FV214 Conqueror was born. This later evolved in 1952 into the FV221 Caernarvon which utilized a Centurion Mk.III turret and gun. A 55-ton (49 tonne) tank armed with a 20-pounder (83 mm) gun designated FV201 was chosen for further development into a heavy tank. The Conqueror was born out of the 1944 FV200 project, a proposed ‘Universal Tank’ platform that could be modified to perform various roles (ranging from gun tank to engineering vehicle and Self-Propelled Guns) which would all share the same chassis. The FV222 Conqueror Armoured Recovery Vehicle Mk.2. This would be followed, in 1960, by the FV222 Mk.2 ARV. The British would do the same and, in 1959, create the FV219 Conqueror Armoured Recovery Vehicle (ARV), built using the chassis, propulsion and suspensions systems of the tank on which it was based. The Americans faced a similar issue with the M103 and, as such, developed the M51, a heavy recovery vehicle built on the chassis of – and specifically designed to assist – the M103 tank. The weight of this tank presented a logistical issue, however – there were no recovery vehicles capable of moving it, other than heavy-duty tractors such as the FV1201A Heavy Artillery Tractor. It was armed with a powerful 120 mm rifled gun and was protected by armor that was up to 10 inches (250 mm) thick. 1, 120mm Gun, Conqueror’ – was a monstrous tank. Weighing in at 63 tons (57 tonnes), the FV214 Conqueror – officially the ‘Tank, Heavy No. Great Britain – not to be outdone by these close allies – would develop the Conqueror, the last designated Heavy Tank operated by the British Army.
In response, the United States would produce the M103, while the French would experiment with the AMX-50. The IS-3 sent a cold shiver down the spines of Western on-lookers. In the early years of the Cold War, the Western Powers began developing heavy tanks in response to the Soviet’s IS-3 heavy tank, unveiled at the end of the Second World War. Armored Recovery Vehicle – 28 Built (8 Mk.1, 20 Mk.2)
0 kommentar(er)
