Centurion (A41)

Though considered a pivotal tank design of the Cold War, the Centurion main battle tank actually had its design roots in the latter stages of World War 2. The tank was conceived of as a new cruiser tank system in response to a War Office request and would have been a grand addition to the British Army arsenal should it had seen service in the global conflict. The arrival of the Centurion proved too late to see combat in the war but would go on to see some thirty years of service in peacetime and - more importantly - in wartime. The Centurion would see numbers in excess of 4,400 production models, with these branching off into other useful battlefield roles, making the Centurion main battle tank one of the most successful post-World War 2 tanks ever produced.

An original requirement of the A41 "AFV" was to be survivability, this in response to the nasty German 88mm main guns (a cannon originally designed for anti-aircraft service but soon finding a home as the most powerful tank weapon of the war). The original 40-ton design was revised to fulfill this requirement and the resulting A41 prototypes - now dubbed "Centurion" - became one of the largest main battle tanks ever built. Initial prototype models were fitted with a 17-pdr main gun and appeared as soon as 1945. The first limited-production series arrived as the Centurion Mk 1 just as World War 2 had drawn to a close. These were followed by the Centurion Mk 2 which featured improvements in armor protection while the Centurion Mk 3's offered up a fully-automated gun stabilizer. The Centurion Mk 3 series featured the adequate 20-pdr main gun though these were eventually replaced by the more capable 105mm rifles.

At its core, the Centurion was a tank weighing in at over 50 tons. It eventually grew into its standard 105mm L7 main gun and was supplemented by a heavy caliber 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun, a coaxial 7.62mm machine gun and an additional anti-infantry 7.62mm machine gun. Ammunition storage was around 64 projectiles with 600 rounds for the 12.7mm machine gun and 4,750 rounds for both 7.62mm machine guns. 2 x 6 smoke grenade dischargers were available and nightvision equipment became optional. Road speed was an impressive 34 Kilometers per hour.

Production of the Centurion was well underway by the time of the Korean War. The system was fielded in the conflict by the British Army though its reach proved somewhat limited in that the tank was simply too large and heavy for Korean bridges, structures not inherently designed to carry 50 ton rumbling loads. The Australians fielded the Centurion in the Vietnam War - proving successful against dug in yet unarmored Viet Cong forces - while India showcased it against Pakistan in the Indo-Pak wars.

The Centurion became a favorite of the open market, seeing purchases from Australia and North America (Canada) through Europe and inevitably the Middle East. It would be the battlegrounds in the Middle East that would ultimately prove the Centurion's worth for the system would see active combat with Israel (as the Sho't), Jordan and Egypt in the Arab-Israeli wars and with Britain in the Persian Gulf War.

Production of the Centurion ceased in 1962 and was handled by a variety of British firms including the Royal Ordnance Factory, Leyland Motors and Vickers. Centurions continued on in other roles for the British Army even though the gun tank version was replaced by the Chieftain. In other armies across the globe, the Centurion soldiered on in modified forms thanks to its stellar design. The ability for the chassis to accept additional armor, ammunition, main guns, fire-control systems, range finders, powerplants and a host of computerized internal sub-systems no doubt played a role in both its on-field potency and its overall historical reach.

History text ©2003-2010 www.MilitaryFactory.com • All Rights Reserved • No Reproduction Without Permission • Corrections / Comments to MilitaryFactory at Gmail dot com

Last Updated: 11/21/2009 • Special Thanks to Lyall M.

Image Courtesy of the United States Department of Defense.