Cruiser Tank Ram

Like most of the Allied nations at the start of World War 2, Canada saw itself with an outdated armor corps made up of mostly World War 1-era equipment passed on to them by the United States. With Britain firmly entrenched with fighting in Europe, and needing all of their own production efforts while America still sat on the sidelines, it was decided that Canada should take it upon itself to produce a locally-produced tank design to upgrade its fleet. The American M3 series was offered up as a possible product though its sponson-mounted main armament was seen as quite antiquated with the success turreted designs were encountering in Europe. As such, the hull and powerplant of the M3 were instead selected for production with an entirely Canadian turret design on the drawing board.

At this point in the World War, Canada has little production infrastructure to speak of, especially when it came to producing military hardware. The locomotive works of Canada was tabbed to change up its production lines to accept the building of this new machine. The tank was initially required to sport a 75mm main gun - itself a quite powerful caliber for the time though not the standard in the war as of yet - and thusly a simpler 40mm gun (2-pounder) was selected instead with the prospect of updating this armament to a 57mm later on. The first series tank appeared as the "Cruiser Tank Ram Mk 1".

Externally, the Ram was a very textbook design. Some design elements of the M3 hull were still apparent though the cast armor turret gave the Ram its own unique identity. Armor protection was respectable and offered up to 3 and a half inches at its thickest. A crew of five was still needed to work the vehicle's systems and power was derived from a single Continental R-975 radial gasoline engine producing some 400bhp. Two 7.62mm machine guns completed the armament and served as anti-infantry weapons.

The Cruiser Tank Ram Mk II followed shortly thereafter, this particular model sporting a 57mm main gun (6-pounder). The Continental engine provided up to 25 miles per hour on the road while covering some overall 114 miles. The system weighed in at just under 30 tons and offered up decent off-road capabilities.

Unfortunately for the Ram, her tank crews and those putting their time and effort into her design, the Ram was just starting to make itself available when America had entered the war and was firing its factories on all cylinders. M4 Shermans were leaving American factories at such a high rate that Allies Britain, Canada and Australia were soon to see their own. By this time, the M4 was standardized as the Canadian main battle tank, relegating the Ram series to crew training purposes at home and in the UK. As such, no Ram tanks saw gun combat in the war.

Not to be left out to pasture, some Rams were converted into turretless designs as a make-shift armored personnel carrier offering some crew protection with decent road speeds. The Ram chassis also further served as the platform for the 25-pdr Sexton self-propelled gun - one of the more recognizable SPG systems of the war. Another turretless design existed in the form of the "Ram Command" artillery observation post vehicle. In all, some 2,150 Ram tanks made their way off of Canadian assembly lines.

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Last Updated: 7/22/2008