The "Male" tank was a category of

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful ...

prevalent in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. As opposed to the five machine guns of the female version of the

Mark I tank British heavy tanks were a series of related armoured fighting vehicles developed by the UK during the First World War. The Mark I was the world's first tank, a tracked, armed, and armoured vehicle, to enter combat. The name "tank" was initial ...

, the male version of the Mark I had a

QF 6 pounder 6 cwt Hotchkiss The Ordnance QF 6-pounder 6 cwt Hotchkiss Mk I and Mk II was a shortened version of the original QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss naval gun, and was developed specifically for use in the sponsons of the later Marks of British tanks in World War I, from Ma ...

and three

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles ...

Ernest Swinton Major-General Sir Ernest Dunlop Swinton, (21 October 1868 – 15 January 1951) was a British Army officer who played a part in the development and adoption of the tank during the First World War. He was also a war correspondent and author of sev ...

, instrumental in developing the British tank and co-creator of the term "tank" (originally a code word), is credited with inventing these gender-related terms, thinking that the best tank tactics would have the two types attacking in consort. * Combat weight: 28 tons (28.4 tonnes)

References

World War I tanks History of the tank Military vehicles introduced in the 1910s World War I tanks of the United Kingdom Tanks of the United Kingdom {{Mil-vehicle-stub