Cruiser tank

Cruiser tank
Crusader I with auxiliary turret
Type	Armoured fighting vehicle
Place of origin	Britain
Service history
In service	1937–1945
Used by	British Army
Wars	Second World War
Specifications
Main armament	2-Pounder gun
Secondary armament	7.9 mm machine-gun

The cruiser tank (also called cavalry tank or fast tank) was a British tank concept of the interwar period for tanks designed to function as modernised armoured and mechanised cavalry. Cruiser tanks were developed after the Royal Armoured Corps were not satisfied with many of the medium tank designs of the 1930s. The cruiser tank concept was conceived by Giffard Le Quesne Martel, who preferred many small light tanks to swarm to enemy, instead of a few expensive medium tanks. There were two main types of cruiser tanks, "light" cruiser tanks and "heavy" cruiser tanks. "Light" cruiser tanks were lightly armoured and relatively fast (for example, the Cruiser Mk I), while "heavy" cruiser tanks were more heavily armoured and slightly slower than "light" cruiser tanks (for example, the Cruiser Mk II).

The British cruiser tank series started in 1938 with the A9 and A10 cruiser tanks, followed by the A13, A13 Mark II, and A13 Mark III "Covenanter" in 1940, and the A15 Crusader entering service in 1941. The Crusader was superseded by the A27 Cromwell reaching service in 1944. The A34 Comet - a better-armed development of Cromwell - entered service in lesser numbers in late 1944. The Centurion tank introduced in 1946 became the "Universal tank" of the United Kingdom, transcending the cruiser and infantry tank roles and becoming one of the first main battle tanks (MBT).

Dissatisfaction with experimental medium tank designs of the mid-1930s, led to the development of specialised fast cruiser tanks where armour thickness was sacrificed for speed and infantry tanks in which speed was sacrificed for heavier armour. Financial constraints had made it impossible to produce a vehicle suitable for close support and for exploitation. The thinking was behind several tank designs which saw action during the Second World War. British armoured operations theory flowed from the decision to build two types of tank in parallel and use them to equip two types of unit and formation. Cruisers were operated by armoured regiments of the Royal Armoured Corps established on 4 April 1939 in armoured divisions, some regiments coming from the Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) and some from cavalry regiments converted during the war. Infantry tanks went to Army Tank Battalions, sometimes grouped administratively into Army Tank Brigades of the RTR. Small, fast, lightly-armed tanks like the Light Tank Mk VI operated as reconnaissance vehicles.