From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Centurion
Specifications
Weight	52 tonnes (51 long tons)
Length	7.60 m (25 ft)
Width	3.39 m (11 ft 1 in)
Height	3.01 m (9 ft 10.5 in)
Crew	4 (commander, gunner, loader, driver)
Armour	152 mm (6 in)
Primary armament	105 mm L7 rifled gun
Secondary armament	co-axial .30 cal Browning MG
Engine	Rolls Royce Meteor 650 hp (485 kW)
Power/weight	13 hp/tonne
Suspension	Horstmann
Operational range	450 km (280 miles)
Speed	34 km/h(21 mph)

The Centurion was the primary British Main Battle Tank of the immediate post-war era, and considered by many to be one of the best British tank designs of all time. Designed during the Second World War it served in Europe, but arrived several months too late for combat. It went on to provide excellent service during the Korean War where it outperformed both US and Soviet designs by a wide margin. It then further went on to see service with Australian forces in the Vietnam war, mostly in the support role. It would go on to be one of the most widely used tank designs, equipping armies around the world, with small numbers still in service until the 1990s. In fact, as recently as the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, the Israel Defense Forces still employed heavily modified Centurions, as armoured personnel carriers and combat engineering vehicles.

Contents 1 History 2 Combat Service 3 Variants 3.1 UK variants 3.2 UK specialist variants 3.3 Non-UK variants 4 Operators 5 Combat history 6 References 7 Notes 8 See also 9 External links

In 1943, the Department of Tank Design was asked to produce a new design for a heavy cruiser tank under the designation A41. After a series of fairly marginal designs in the A series in the past, and bearing in mind the threat posed by the German 88 mm gun, the War Office demanded a major revision of the design requirements, specifically: increased durability, reliability, a maximum weight of 40 tons, plus the ability to withstand a direct hit from the German 88 mm gun.

Tank Design responded by extending the long-travel 5-wheel suspension used on the Comet with the addition of a 6th wheel and an extended spacing between the 2nd and 3rd wheels. The Christie suspension with internal vertical spring coils was replaced by a Horstmann suspension with external horizontal springs. The hull was redesigned with welded sloped armour, and featured a partially cast turret mounting the highly regarded 17 pounder main gun and a 20 mm Polsten cannon. With a Rover-built Rolls-Royce Meteor engine, a version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin, the new design would have excellent performance.

Shortly after the programme commenced, it became clear that the requirement to withstand 88 mm artillery would be impossible to fill with the given weight requirements. The original specification had been set so that the A41 could be carried on the existing Mark I and Mark II transport trailers, both of which were limited to a 40 ton load. In one of the few instances on record of creative thinking, the War Ministry decided it would be more wise to build new trailers than hamper what appeared to be a superb design. Even before prototypes of the original 40 ton design were completed, the design of a heavier version was well underway. The new version carried armour equal to the heaviest infantry tanks, and cross-country performance superior to even the early cruisers. The A41 was the first British tank that could "do it all", leading to the new designation, universal tank.

Prototypes of the original 40 ton design, the Centurion Mark I, had 76 mm of armour in the front glacis, thinner than the then current infantry tank designs like the Churchill which had 101 mm, but the that glacis plate was highly sloped and so the effective thickness of the armor was very high - a design feature shared by other effective designs such as the German Panther tank and Soviet T-34. The turret was extremely well armoured at 152 mm. It was, however, extremely mobile and able to easily outperform the Comet in most tests. The uparmoured Centurion Mark II soon arrived, featuring a new 118 mm thick glacis and the sides and rear increased from 38 mm to 51 mm. Only a handful of Mk.I's had been produced when the Mk.II replaced it on the production lines, which were soon expanded to include Leyland, the Royal Ordnance Factories at Leeds and Woolwich, and Vickers at Elswick.

Soon after introduction, Royal Ordnance finished work on the extremely powerful 20 pounder tank gun. By this point the usefulness of the 20 mm had been called into question, so it was replaced with a BESA machine gun in a completely cast turret. The new Centurion Mark III also featured a fully automatic stabilization system for the gun, allowing it to fire accurately while on the move, dramatically improving battlefield performance. The Mk.III was so much more powerful than the Mk.I and Mk.II that the earlier designs were removed from service as soon as new Mk.III's arrived, and converted into the Centurion ARV Mark 1 armoured recovery vehicle for REME use.

The 20 pounder gun was used only for a short time before the Royal Ordnance Factories introduced the now famous 105 mm L7 gun. All later variants of the Centurion, from Mark 5/2 on, used the L7. A total of 24 variants and sub-variants were produced.

The Centurion was used as the basis for a range of specialist equipment, including engineering variants with a 165 mm demolition gun. It is one of the longest serving designs of all time from the Korean War to the First Gulf war.

Thirteen basic marks of the Centurion tank were produced between 1945/46 and 1961/62.

Reportedly, during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, over the course of 30 hours, two damaged Israeli Centurions fought against 160 Syrian T-62s, the equivalent of an armoured division, and destroyed 60 of them, the equivalent of an armoured brigade. This was reported on the Military Channel show Top Ten: Tanks.

• FV4007 Centurion Mk 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8/1, 8/2
• FV4011 Centurion Mk 5
• FV4012 Centurion Mk 7/1, 7/2
• FV4015 Centurion Mk 9
• FV4017 Centurion Mk 10
• Conway - prototype with a larger calibre gun.

• A41 [20mm] - Centurion prototype with coaxial Polsten cannon
• A41 [Besa] - Centurion prototype with coaxial BESA MG
• 40 ton Centurion - Used to develop various concepts subsequently used in Chieftain

• Centurion [Low Profile] - Variant with Teledyne Low-profile Turret
• Centurion [MMWR Target] - Cobbled together radar target tank.
• Centurion Marksman - Fitted with Marksman air defence turret
• Centurion Ark - Assault Gap Crossing Equipment
• Centurion ARV Mk I - Armoured Recovery vehicle
• Centurion ARV Mk II - Armoured Recovery Vehicle with superstructure
• Centurion AVLB - Dutch armored vehicle laying bridge
• Centurion AVRE 105 - Combat Engineer Version armed with 105mm gun
• Centurion AVRE 165 - Combat Engineer Version armed with 165mm gun
• Centurion BARV - Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle
• Centurion Bridgelayer - Class 80 bridgelayer

• Centurion Mk 1 - 17pdr armed version
• Centurion Mk 2 - Fully cast turret
• Centurion Mk 3 - Fitted with 20pdr, 2 stowage positions for track links on glacis
• Centurion Mk 4 - Projected close-support version with 95mm CS howitzer
• Centurion Mk 5 - Browning MGs fitted to coax and commanders cupola, stowage bin on glacis
• Centurion Mk 5/1 aka FV4011 - Increased glacis armour
• Centurion Mk 5/2 - Upgunned to 105mm
• Centurion Mk 6 - Upgunned and uparmoured Mk 5
• Centurion Mk 6/1 - Mk 6 fitted with IR equipment
• Centurion Mk 6/2 - Mk 6/1 fitted with ranging gun
• Centurion Mk 7 aka FV4007 - Revised engine decks
• Centurion Mk 7/1 aka FV4012 - Uparmoured Mk 7
• Centurion Mk 7/2 - Upgunned Mk 7
• Centurion Mk 8 - Resilient mantlet and new commanders cupola
• Centurion Mk 8/1 - Uparmoured Mk 8
• Centurion Mk 8/2 - Upgunned Mk 8
• Centurion Mk 9 aka FV4015 - Upgunned and uparmoured Mk 7
• Centurion Mk 9/1 - Mk 9 with IR equipment
• Centurion Mk 9/2 - Mk 9 with ranging gun fitted
• Centurion Mk 10 aka FV4017 - Upgunned and uparmoured Mk 8
• Centurion Mk 10/1 - Mk 10 with IR equipment
• Centurion Mk 10/2 - Mk 10 with ranging gun fitted
• Centurion Mk 11 - Mk 6 fitted with IR equipment and ranging gun
• Centurion Mk 12 - Mk 9 fitted with IR equipment and ranging gun
• Centurion Mk 13 - Mk 10 fitted with IR equipment and ranging gun

• FV4010 aka Heavy Tank Destroyer G.W. Carrier - Malkara ATGM launcher vehicle

• FV4003 Centurion Mk 5 AVRE 165 (1963) - AVRE (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers) vehicle with 165 mm demolition gun and a hydraulically-operated dozer blade. Can carry a fascine bundle or a roll of metal Class 60 Trackway; and tow the Giant Viper mine-clearance equipment. The vehicle was used in the Gulf War (1991).
• Centurion Mk 12 AVRE 105 - Ex-Forward Artillery Observer vehicles converted to AVRE role.
• FV4019 Centurion Mk 5 Bulldozer (1961) - Centurion Mk V with a dozer blade identical to that of the Centurion AVRE. One such tank was usually given to every Centurion-equipped squadron.
• FV4016 Centurion ARK (1963) - Armoured Ramp Carrier. Can span a gap of up to 75 feet, can bear up to 80 tons.
• FV4002 Centurion Mk 5 Bridgelayer (1963) - Mk 5 chassis with a No 5 Tank Bridge. The bridge can be launched in less than two minutes, can span a gap of 45 feet and can bear up to 80 tons.
• FV4013 Centurion ARV Mk 1 (1952) - Based on Mk 1 / Mk 2 hull. Turret replaced by a superstructure housing a winch driven by a 72 hp Bedford QL truck engine. About 180 units were built, some of them were used in the Korean War. After 1959 were used as training vehicles only.
• FV4006 Centurion ARV Mk 2 (1956) - Mk 1 / Mk 2 / Mk 3 hull with turret replaced by a superstructure housing a winch. The winch is powered by an auxiliary engine and is capable of pulling of up to 90 tons using a system of blocks. Armed with single .30 inch machine gun on the commander's cupola.
• FV4018 Centurion BARV (1963) - Beach armoured recovery vehicle. The last Centurion variant to be used by the British Army. As of 2003, one vehicle was still in use by the Royal Marines. Now being replaced by the Hippo based on Leopard 1 chassis.

• Olifant - Centurion tanks modernised by South Africa.
  • Semel (1974) - 810 hp fuel-injected petrol engine, three-speed semi-automatic transmission.
  • Olifant Mk 1 (1978) - 750 hp diesel engine, semi-automatic transmission.
  • Olifant Mk 1A (1985) - Mk1 with upgraded optics and fire control system.
  • Olifant Mk 1B (1991) - Torsion bar suspension, redesigned hull floor, additional armor on the glacis plate and turret, V-12 950 hp diesel engine, computerised fire control system, laser rangefinder.
  • Olifant Mk 2 - redesigned turret, new fire control system. Can mount LIW 105 mm GT-8 rifled gun or 120 mm smooth bore gun.
• Tempest - Operated by Singapore, modernised by unknown source.
• Sho't - An Israeli designation of the Centurion.
  • Sho't Meteor - Centurion tanks with the original Meteor engine.
  • Sho't Kal Alef/Bet/Gimel/Dalet - Modernised Centurion tanks with a new powerpack (the Continental AVDS-1790-2A diesel engine and the Allison CD850-6 transmission). Entered service in 1970; by 1974 all Israeli Centurions were upgraded to Sho't Kal. Subvariants indicate upgrades received by Sho't Kal tanks during their operational life, including a new turret rotating mechanism, a new gun stabilizer, a new fire-control system and preparations for the installation of the Blazer ERA.
• Nagmashot/Nagmachon/Nakpadon - Israeli heavy armoured personnel carriers based on Centurion tank's chassis.
• Puma - Israeli combat engineering vehicle on Centurion tank chassis.
• Eshel ha-Yarden - a quadruple tubular launcher for 290 mm ground-to-ground rockets mounted on Centurion tank chassis. The project was cancelled after a single prototype was built. Both this vehicle and an earlier version based on Sherman chassis are often referred to as MAR-290.
• Stridsvagn 81 - Swedish Army designation for its Mk 3 Centurions.
• Stridsvagn 101 - Swedish Army designation for its Mk 10 Centurions.
• Stridsvagn 102 - Swedish Army designation for its Mk 3 Centurions modernised to Mk 10 standard.
• Stridsvagn 104 - Swedish Army designation for its modernised (along the same lines as the Israeli Shot Kal) Stridsvagn 102.

• Australia
• Austria (fixed in bunkers)
• Canada (replaced by Leopard 1C2)
• Denmark
• Egypt
• India
• Iraq
• Israel
• Kuwait
• Jordan
• The Netherlands (replaced by Leopard 2)
• New Zealand
• Singapore[1]
• Somalia^[1]
• South Africa
• Sweden (Replaced by Stridsvagn 122)
• Switzerland (replaced by Leopard 2)
• United Kingdom

• Korean War - United Kingdom, Canada
• Suez Crisis- United Kingdom
• War of 1965 - India
• Six Day War - Israel
• Liberation of Bangladesh/War of 1971 - India
• Yom Kippur War - Israel
• Vietnam War - Australia
• Angolan Civil War - South Africa
• Operation Motorman - United Kingdom (165mm AVREs with dozer blades were used to destroy barricades set up by the IRA, the 165mm demolition guns were pointed to the rear and covered up).
• Falklands War - United Kingdom single Centurion BARV
• Gulf War - United Kingdom as Centurion AVRE's

• Dunstan, S., Badrocke, M. & Sarson, P. (2003). Centurion Universal Tank 1943-2003. Osprey Publishing Ltd (New Vanguard 68). ISBN 1-84176-387-X. 

• Eastbourne Redoubt Home of an example of a Mark III Centurion Tank

• British Imperial War Museum
• Centurion at Military.cz
• Israeli Centurions
• Australian Centurions
• Centurion outside the New Zealand Army Museum, Waiouru
• Redoubt Fortress Museum Home of an example of a Mark III Centurion Tank
• Eastbourne Redoubt

Modern (post WW2) UK armoured fighting vehicles
Wheeled vehicles
Ferret Scout Car | Fox Reconnaissance Vehicle | Saladin Armoured Car | Saracen APC
FV1611 "Pig" | Saxon | Mastiff PPV
Armoured personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles
FV432 | Warrior | FV103 Spartan | Stormer | FV104 Samaritan | FV105 Sultan
Light tanks and anti-tank vehicles
FV101 Scorpion | FV107 Scimitar | Sabre | FV102 Striker | FV438 Swingfire
Self-propelled artillery
FV433 Abbot | AS-90
Main battle tanks
Centurion | Conqueror | Chieftain | Challenger 1 | Challenger 2
UK unarmoured or non-fighting vehicles