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Cyklus07 — British Tanks desktop by-nc-nd

Published: 2013-08-28 21:52:39 +0000 UTC; Views: 13994; Favourites: 67; Downloads: 80
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Description Historical line of British tanks from 1915 to present. The years are either of first production or first entry into service. This consists of tanks that actually entered service and mostly saw action even if it was very little or not put into service in time to make a difference.

Although the MkII/MkIII tanks from WW1 were really training tanks, it gave the British Army a chance to look into organization. This would lead up to the formation of what is known as the Royal Tank Regiment and the Royal Armoured Corps.

The British War Office decided to raise 6 tank companies, each with 4 sections. The 4 sections had 6 tanks each consisting of 3 "male" and 3 "females" plus 1 spare tank per company. 2 Companies (C and D) of Heavy Section, Machine Gun Corps; a further 10 tanks were retained in reserve (though some were immediately replaced that had broken down during training).

A special training ground, isolated from public gaze, had been established on a large shooting estate in Thetford in Norfolk (England) and it was here that newly recruited men to the Heavy Section, Machine Gun Corps, first encountered the tanks. For basic gunnery training on the 6pdr, troops went to the Royal Navy's gunnery school.

The War Office announced it was to expand the tank Companies to Battalions in January 1917. C and D Battalions were to form the 1st Tank Brigade, a HQ Section of 4 tanks, 3 fighting sections with 4 tanks each and reserve section. 25 Battalions in total were created. The Heavy Section, Machine Gun Corps was re-organized in July 1917 into the Tank Corps. A and B Battalions were to create the 2nd Tank Brigade, etc.

In 1923, the Tank Corps was given the "Royal " designation, renaming it the Royal Tank Corps.

In 1939, the Royal Tank Corps became the Royal Tank Regiment and under the umbrella that is The Royal Armoured Corps.

The Royal Armoured Corps being made up of 8 Royal Tank Regiments (regular army) and 12 Royal Tank Regiments (Territorial Army) and 4 'hostilities-only' Royal Tank Regiments. Also Cavalry that had been "mechanized" (horses swopped for tanks) in the inter-war period (1919-1939) had been absorbed into what would be the Royal Armoured Corps.

This is the list of the 203 WW2 regiments under the Royal Armoured Corps, though some of these regiments were formed and disbanded between 1939-1945:
1) 1st King's Dragoon Guards
2) 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays)
3) 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales's Dragoon Guards)
4) 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards
5) 3rd The King's Own Hussars
6) 4th Queen's Own Hussars
7) 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards
8) 7th Queen's Own Hussars
9) 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars
10) 9th Queen's Royal Lancers
11) 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own)
12) 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own)
13) 12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's)
14) 13th/18th Royal Hussars
15) 14th/20th King's Hussars
16) 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars
17) 16th/5th Lancers
18) 17th/21st Lancers
20) 3rd Cavalry Training Regiment – Edinburgh, closed 1940
21) 4th Cavalry Training Regiment – Colchester, closed 1940
22) 6th Cavalry Training Regiment – Maidstone, closed 1940
23) 1st The Royal Dragoons
24) Royal Scots Greys
25) 22nd Dragoons
26) 23rd Hussars
27) 24th Lancers
28) 25th Dragoons
29) 26th Hussars
30) 27th Lancers
31) Derbyshire Yeomanry
32) Royal Gloucestershire Hussars
33) Lothian and Border Horse
34) Fife and Forfar Yeomanry
35) Northamptonshire Yeomanry
36) East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry
37) 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters)
38) 4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters)
39) North Irish Horse
40) Inns of Court Regiment
41) Westminster Dragoons (2nd County of London Yeomanry)
42) Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry
43) Warwickshire Yeomanry
44) Yorkshire Hussars
45) Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry
46) Staffordshire Yeomanry
47) Cheshire Yeomanry
48) North Somerset Yeomanry
49) 1st Royal Tank Regiment
50) 2nd Royal Tank Regiment
51) 3rd Royal Tank Regiment
52) 4th Royal Tank Regiment
53) 5th Royal Tank Regiment
54) 6th Royal Tank Regiment
55) 7th Royal Tank Regiment
56) 8th Royal Tank Regiment
57) 9th Royal Tank Regiment
58) 10th Royal Tank Regiment
59) 11th Royal Tank Regiment
60) 12th Royal Tank Regiment
61) 37th Royal Tank Regiment
62) 38th Royal Tank Regiment
63) 39th Royal Tank Regiment (Dummy tanks)
64) 60th Royal Tank Regiment (Dummy tanks)
65) 62nd Royal Tank Regiment (Dummy tanks)
67) 65th Royal Tank Regiment (Dummy tanks)
68) 101st Royal Tank Regiment (Dummy tanks)
69) 102nd Royal Tank Regiment (Dummy tanks)
70) 118th Royal Tank Regiment (Dummy tanks)
71) 124th Royal Tank Regiment (Dummy tanks)
72) 40th (The King's) Royal Tank Regiment converted from 7th Bn KIng's Regiment (Liverpool)
73) 41st (Oldham) Royal Tank Regiment converted from 10th Bn Manchester Regiment
74) 42nd (7th (23rd London) Bn, The East Surrey Regiment) Royal Tank Regiment
75) 43rd (6th (City) Bn, The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers) Royal Tank Regiment
76) 44th Royal Tank Regiment converted from 6th Bn Gloucestershire Regiment
77) 45th (Leeds Rifles) Royal Tank Regiment converted from 7th Bn West Yorkshire Regiment
78) 46th (Liverpool Welsh) Royal Tank Regiment duplicate of 40th RTR
79) 47th (Oldham) Royal Tank Regiment duplicate of 41st RTR
80) 48th Royal Tank Regiment duplicate of 42nd RTR
81) 49th Royal Tank Regiment duplicate of 43rd RTR
82) 50th Royal Tank Regiment duplicate of 44th RTR
83) 51st (Leeds Rifles) Royal Tank Regiment duplicate of 45th RTR
84) 1st Armoured Delivery Regiment RAC
85) 1st Armoured Reinforcement Regiment RAC
86) 2nd Armoured Delivery Regiment RAC
87) 21st Training Regiment RAC – 1944–45
88) 51st Training Regiment RAC – Cavalry Depot, Catterick, closed 1945
89) 52nd Training Regiment RAC – RTR Depot, Bovington, closed 1945
90) 53rd Training Regiment RAC – Tidworth, closed 1945
91) 54th Training Regiment RAC – Perham Down (Barnard Castle from 1943)
92) 55th Training Regiment RAC – Farnborough, closed 1945
93) 56th Training Regiment RAC – Catterick, closed 1945
94) 57th Training Regiment RAC – Warminster (Catterick from 1943)
95) 58th (Young Soldiers) Training Regiment RAC – Bovington, closed 1945
96) 59th Training Regiment RAC – Armoured Cars, Tidworth[6]
97) 60th Training Regiment RAC – Tidworth, closed 1945
98) 61st Training Regiment RAC – Tidworth
99) 62nd Training Regiment RAC – Recce Training Centre, Catterick
100) 200th Armoured Delivery Regiment RAC
101) 107th Regiment RAC (King's Own) from 5th Bn King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster)
102) 108th Regiment RAC (Lancashire Fusiliers) from 1/5th Bn Lancashire Fusiliers
103) 109th Regiment RAC (Lancashire Fusiliers) from 1/6th Bn Lancashire Fusiliers
104) 110th Regiment RAC (Border Regiment) from 5th Bn Border Regiment
105) 111th Regiment RAC (Manchester Regiment) from 5th Bn Manchester Regiment
106) 112th Regiment RAC (Foresters) from 9th Bn Sherwood Foresters – armoured cars
108) 141st Regiment RAC from 7th Bn Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)
109) 142nd (Suffolk) Regiment RAC from 7th Bn Suffolk Regiment
110) 143rd Regiment RAC (Lancashire Fusiliers) from 9th Bn Lancashire Fusiliers
111) 144th Regiment RAC from 8th Bn East Lancashire Regiment
112) 145th Regiment RAC (8DWR) from 8th Bn Duke of Wellington's Regiment
113) 146th Regiment RAC from 9th Bn Duke of Wellington's Regiment
114) 147th Regiment RAC from 10th Bn Hampshire Regiment
115) 148th Regiment RAC from 9th Bn Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire)
116) 149th Regiment RAC from 7th Bn King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
117) 150th Regiment RAC from 10th Bn York and Lancaster Regiment
118) 151st Regiment RAC from 10th Bn King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster)
119) 152nd Regiment RAC from 11th Bn King's Regiment (Liverpool)
120) 153rd Regiment RAC from 8th Bn Essex Regiment
121) 113th Regiment RAC from 2/5th Bn West Yorkshire Regiment
122) 114th Regiment RAC from 2/6th Bn Duke of Wellington's Regiment
123) 115th Regiment RAC from 2/7th Bn Duke of Wellington's Regiment
124) 116th Regiment RAC from 9th Bn Gordon Highlanders
125) 154th Regiment RAC from 9th Bn North Staffordshire Regiment
126) 155th Regiment RAC from 15th Bn Durham Light Infantry
127) 156th Regiment RAC from 11th Bn Highland Light Infantry
128) 157th Regiment RAC from 9th Bn Hampshire Regiment
129) 158th Regiment RAC (SWB) from 6th Bn South Wales Borderers
130) 159th Regiment RAC from 10th Bn Gloucestershire Regiment
131) 160th Regiment RAC from 9th Bn Royal Sussex Regiment
132) 161st Regiment RAC from 12th Bn Green Howards
133) 162nd Regiment RAC from 9th Bn Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment
134) 163rd Regiment RAC from 13th Bn Sherwood Foresters
135) 1st Scorpion Regiment RAC (equipped with Scorpion flail tanks) converted from 41st Royal Tank Regiment
136) 49th Armoured Personnel Carrier Regiment (equipped with Kangaroo APCs) converted from 49th Royal Tank Regiment
137) 1st Reconnaissance Regiment RAC
138) 2nd Reconnaissance Regiment RAC
139) 3rd (Royal Northumberland Fusiliers) Reconnaissance Regiment RAC
140) 4th Reconnaissance Regiment RAC
141) 5th Reconnaissance Regiment RAC
142) 15th (Scottish) Reconnaissance Regiment RAC
143) 38th (Welsh) Reconnaissance Regiment RAC
144) 43rd (Wessex) Reconnaissance Regiment (The Gloucestershire Regiment) RAC
145) 44th Reconnaissance Regiment RAC
146) 45th Reconnaissance Regiment RAC
147) 46th Reconnaissance Regiment RAC
148) 49th (West Riding) Reconnaissance Regiment RAC
149) 52nd (Lowland) Reconnaissance Regiment RAC
150) 53rd (Welsh) Reconnaissance Regiment RAC
151) 54th Reconnaissance Regiment RAC
152) 56th Reconnaissance Regiment RAC
153) 59th Reconnaissance Regiment RAC
154) 61st Reconnaissance Regiment RAC
155) 63rd Reconnaissance Training Centre (became 62nd Training Regiment RAC)
156) 80th Reconnaissance Regiment RAC (Holding and training regiment)
157) 81st (West African) Reconnaissance Regiment RAC
158) 82nd (West African) Reconnaissance Regiment RAC
159) 161st (Green Howards) Reconnaissance Regiment RAC (converted from 161st Regiment RAC)
200) 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron
201) 6th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment RAC
202) 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry
203) GHQ Liaison Regiment (Phantom)


At present the Royal Armoured is made up of 16 regiments:
1) The Household Cavalry
2) The Queen's dragoon Guards
3) The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
4) The Royal Dragoon Guards
5) The Light Dragoons
6) The Queen's Royal Hussars
7) The King's Royal Hussars
8) The 9th/12th Lancers
9) The Queen's Royal Lancers
10) The 1st Royal Tank regiment
11) The 2nd Royal Tank Regiment
12) The Royal Yeomanry
13) The Queen's Own Yeomanry
14) The Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry
16) The Royal Wessex Yeomanry
- Armoured Centre, Bovington - Tank School
(A few of these regiments may disappear with amalgamations, 16 is due to become 14 regiments)

Though some tanks that never saw service, they made an impact on other tanks or armies. These could be called experiments, prototypes, test rigs.

For example

The first ever operational amphibious tanks were Carden Loyds Type 31 light tanks, they never entered British service but actually saw service with the Soviet Union. Though they changed the 1 man turret (of British design) with a 7.7mm machine gun with a 1 man turret (of Russian design) with 7.62 machine gun and dubbed the light tank "T-37".

The TOG and TOG II - TOG is the initials “The Old Gang” which referred to the group of experienced British Tank designers bought together to develop the vehicle. The first prototype appeared in October 1940 and was known as the TOG 1. TOG 2 was the second prototype which built in Feb/March 1941. Both vehicles completed a number of trials. As an infantry tank it was very well armoured and reportedly could withstand a frontal hit of a 105mm High Explosive round at 100 yards. It was the first British tank to be fitted with a 17 pdr (76mm) main gun. However it proved difficult to steer and didn’t enter production as the Churchill Infantry Tank proved more capable in trials.

The A38 Valiant was a proposed upgraded of the Valentine Infantry Tank. The upgrade included a large turret, partially constructed from cast steel that could be fitted with a 57mm 6pndr main gun or 75mm. It had a modified Spitfire Meteor engine called the Meteorite by Rolls-Royce. Originally designed by Vickers in 1943, development was passed on to Birmingham Carriage & Wagon who in turn passed it on to Ruston & Horton who completed the first pilot vehicle in mid-1944, but by this stage the War was coming to an end and the project ended in 1945.

The A39 Tortoise was a monster vehicle who’s development during World War 2 was a result of a junior Minster who had seen the effect the more high powered Tiger I tank had over Allied Tanks in the North African Campaign. The vehicle never entered service with the British Army, but 6 prototypes were built but not delivered to the Army until around 1946.

The A43 Black Prince was, basically, a heavier, wider and slower version of the A22 Churchill. It weighed 49 tons, was 2 feet wider than the Churchill, had a slower top speed of 11mph and was armed with the famous 17 Pounder OQF Anti-Tank Gun. Only 6 prototypes were ever built before the project was cancelled. The Centurion Mk I was found to be a much superior tank and was put into production instead of the Black Prince.


The MBT-80 (Main Battle Tank of the 80s), Though the Chieftain had strutted its stuff along the border between West & East Germany through out the 60’s and 70’s as a true Main Battle Tank, its replacement was scheduled for the mid 80’s to take on the might of the Soviet Armies MBT’s like the T-72 and T-80, which had to be capable of being fitted with Chobham armour. It was expected that the FV4211 aka the “Aluminium Chieftain” would full fill this role, which was a new MBT developed in the UK with a 120mm calibre Length 55 main gun and Chobham armour. However it was cancelled prior to Regimental field trials, possibly due to the UK recession from the 1973 oil crisis. So the UK sought a new joint development program to save on costs. The US & German MBT-70 project had collapsed and thou Germany was working on its new tank (the Leopard 2) it started the FMBT programme with the UK in 1974. No design was finalised nor prototype built and the project ended, still leaving the UK with out a replacement for the Chieftain. A new program started after the cancellation of FMBT, which is known as the MBT80. The design of the vehicle was never finalized nor working prototypes built, though there were two test rigs built used for experimenting and testing systems/equipment that would have been used on the MBT80 if it had entered production. The MBT80 project was cancelled in 1980 as it was projected the production cost of each new tank would be too high and that its service entry date would exceed the date set for the Chieftains replacement of 1985. The Challenger 2 was the eventual replacement of the Chieftain, with the Challenger 1 (which was a modified Shir-2) serving as a temporary stop-gap whilst the Challenger 2 was developed.
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Comments: 10

plovestrains [2015-12-13 04:57:38 +0000 UTC]

wheres the blue one?

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

SIERRA-116 [2015-01-05 03:46:51 +0000 UTC]

A lot of US tanks in there.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Cyklus07 In reply to SIERRA-116 [2015-01-05 13:50:19 +0000 UTC]

well out of 37 tanks 4 of them are US built, most were modified and some were dubbed "Hobarts Funnies" after Major General Percy Hobart who came up with the first concepts of specialist vehicles. The MKVIII International tank or Liberty tank was designed by Britain and the US and France were given licences to build them. But for the most part, they are British. Out of the M3 Grant/Lee came the Sexton SPG, the Kangaroo and some Canadian built modified M4s but never saw action. The Sherman VC Firefly is another modification. These US made tanks were given to RAC regiments whilst the infantry got what was left. The reason being the obsolete tanks that landed in France in 1939 were not adequate to take on Panzer IIIs. A lot of tanks were left on the beaches of Dunkirk 1940.

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GibOilPlox [2014-09-29 23:40:53 +0000 UTC]

Awesome! This shows British Pride to anyone living in the UK.

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Enrico1946 [2014-03-01 05:32:37 +0000 UTC]

I thought the MK8 was US tank? 

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Cyklus07 In reply to Enrico1946 [2014-03-01 09:47:18 +0000 UTC]

It was built under license.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Cyklus07 In reply to Enrico1946 [2014-03-01 09:39:03 +0000 UTC]

Nope built in France, a little later it was produced in the US and it was designed in Britain, the first tank to be exported internationally (hence the term "International tank"). It was meant to equip France, Britain and the US. The US dubbed it "Liberty" because of the US tanks had the L-12 Liberty aero piston engine, the British MkVIIIs had the Ricardo V-12 engines. The British dubbed it the "international tank" and France called it Char2. It never saw action because when Vickers developed the "Independent" A1E1 with 1 large central turret and its 4 smaller machine gun turrets (I know it sounds crazy and it looks it too). Designs fell in favour towards a singular turret. The A1E1 was the first step in that direction. In 1940, Canada didn't even have a tank force so Britain handed some MkVIIIs over to train on. The MkVIII was a product of lessons learnt after 1918. Things were to develop faster from that point. The British did most of the research into armour and armoured warfare. Heinz Wilhelm Guderian was heavily Influenced by the British on theory of armoured warfare. They were Major General J. F. C. Fuller and theorist Sir Basil Liddell-Hart (who was an English Soldier). Germany watched and took notes on the technology, thats partly why they managed to get ahead of us. But they never saw "Hobart's funnies" coming lol.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Enrico1946 In reply to Cyklus07 [2014-03-01 12:57:53 +0000 UTC]

ahhh very tru my friend, I completely forgot that it was joint work by France and Europe and under Lisence built in the US since they didn't have that many so called 'tanks' during the great war

👍: 0 ⏩: 2

Cyklus07 In reply to Enrico1946 [2014-03-01 14:16:34 +0000 UTC]

Well by this I mean from the A1E1. The US studied the tanks that were built form them and eventually came up with the M2 Stuart as a short term answer. Also the Vickers MkI/II came out of the A1E1 because of the turret but Britain was going through financial strains so had to make do updated and modified MkI/II right into 1940. Thats where we learnt a very harsh lesson about armour. Not the fault of the British Army itself, but the fault of the Treasury. We had the money to modify and upgrade what we had but never a new tank. So when the MkVI/A/B or C tanks came up against Pz. IIIs, our armour had it. in 1940 and the great retreat of Dunkirk was a bitter lesson learnt. The British vowed to never fall behind again. When 1945 came around, the Centurion even surpassed the King Tiger. 

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Cyklus07 In reply to Enrico1946 [2014-03-01 14:05:51 +0000 UTC]

Well the US wasn't really into interfering with other affairs at the time. The US only sent 10,000 troops to the Western Front in WW1. The US did make the Holt Gas Electric tank, kind of the US's answer to "little Willie". But from this came the Vickers Mki/II and the M2 Stuart.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0