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Mark 2
FV214 Conqueror
General characteristics
Crew	4
Length	11.9 m (39 ft)
Width	4.0 m (13 ft 1 in)
Height	3.2 m (10 ft 5 in)
Weight	66 tonnes (65 long tons)
Armour and armament
Armour	178 mm
Main armament	L1 120 mm rifled gun
Secondary armament	2×7.62 mm machine Guns
Mobility
Power plant	Rolls-Royce Meteor M120 810 hp (300 kW)
Suspension	Horstmann
Road speed	34 km/h
Power/weight	12 hp/tonne
Range	65 km

The FV214 Conqueror, also known as "Tank, Heavy Gun No 1 120mm Conqueror" was a British Main Battle Tank of the post-war era, sometimes classified as a heavy tank. It was developed as a response to the Soviet Josef Stalin IS-3 heavy tanks and carried a larger 120 mm gun compared to the contemporaneous Centurion's 83.4 mm.

The gun design was American; with separate charge and projectile, as would also be the case in the Chieftain that followed. The charge was not bagged but in a brass cartridge, which offered some safety advantages, but reduced shell capacity to 35.

The armour was very heavy for the time, especially in the front, where it was seven inches (178 mm) in the horizontal plane. Unfortunately, this, along with the weight of the huge turret required to house the large gun and the very large hull volume, made the vehicle very heavy, giving it a relatively low top speed and making it mechanically unreliable. Also, few bridges could support its weight. However, rather like the WWII Churchill tank, the Conqueror had good terrain handling characteristics and would frequently outrun the lighter (and on paper slightly faster) Centurion on the tank ranges.

One feature of particular note was the rotating commander's cupola, which was at the heart of the Conqueror's fire control system, advanced for its time. The commander could align the cupola on a target independently of the turret, measure the range with a coincidence range finder, and then direct the gunner on to the new lay mechanically indicated to him by the cupola. In theory, when the gunner traversed to the new lay he would find the target already under his sights, ready to be engaged. Meanwhile, the commander was free to search for the next target.

The system may have been inspired by a similar device, without range finder, installed in WWII German Panzers which was apparently highly successful, but was not repeated in subsequent tanks until an updated electronic version of the same idea appeared in the M1 Abrams and Challenger 2 tanks.

The chassis was from the A45 Infantry Support Tank, started in 1944 shortly after that of the A41 Centurion. After the war the project was relocated to that of the "Universal Tank" design of the FV200 series. The 200 series was to have used a common hull for all uses (self-propelled artillery, armoured personnel carrier, three varieties of tank, etc.). One tank type was to be the heavy FV 201 of 55 tonnes, armed with a 83.4 mm gun.

In 1949 it was decided to bring the armament up to 120 mm. As this delayed the project, in 1952 the FV201 hull was combined with a Centurion turret to give the FV 221 Caenarvon. The FV 221 may originally have been intended to be the "Main Battle Tank" member of the FV201 series, but with the success of the A41 Centurion such a vehicle was no longer required. In either event, the Caenarvon was only used for chassis development work. In 1955 the first Conqueror Conqueror was produced. 20 Mark 1 and 165 Mark 2 Conquerors were built.

The FV222 Conqueror ARV Mk II

• FV222 Conqueror Armoured Recovery Vehicle (ARV) Mk 1
  • 8 Produced
• FV222 Conqueror ARV Mk II (right)
  • 20 Produced
  • Weight: 57 tons
  • Winch capacity: 45 tons

• United Kingdom 1955-1966. Deployed in West Germany only.

• None

• Photo gallery at svsm.org
• [1]
• Conqueror Mk.1 and Mk.2 photo gallery
• REME MUSEUM of TECHNOLOGY: Conqueror Armoured Recovery Vehicle Mark 2
• Conqueror ARV photo gallery