Charioteer (tank)
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The Charioteer Tank, or FV4101 Tank, Medium Gun, Charioteer was a post–World War II British armoured fighting vehicle. It was produced in the 1950s to up-gun units of the
Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the armoured arm of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 and the Warrior tracked armoured vehicle. It includes most of the Ar ...
continuing to use the
Cromwell tank The Cromwell tank, officially Tank, Cruiser, Mk VIII, Cromwell (A27M), was one of the series of cruiser tanks fielded by Britain in the Second World War. Named after the English Civil War–era military leader Oliver Cromwell, the Cromwell was ...
during the early phases of the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
. The vehicle itself was a modified Cromwell with a more powerful gun installed in a relatively lightly armoured two-man turret. Charioteer saw limited use with the
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
, but was used more extensively by overseas nations in Europe and the
Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
. Charioteers saw action in conflicts in the Middle-East.


Development

In the early Cold War during the 1950s, plans to combat a potential invasion from Soviet forces called for a
Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the armoured arm of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 and the Warrior tracked armoured vehicle. It includes most of the Ar ...
formation to be equipped with the Cromwell tank.Charioteer, by David Fletcher, published in Wheels & Tracks magazine (published by After the Battle), Number 60, 1997 Production of Centurion Mk 3 was slower than production of 20-pounder guns, while the larger-gunned Conqueror heavy tank was still under development to take on the primary anti-tank role. A mixed force of Centurion,
Comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...
and Cromwell tanks was retained in service, but the Cromwell's 75mm armament lacked the punch to deal with more modern potential foes. With an increased requirement for anti-tank performance in the interim, an up-gunning of Cromwell was needed. This was to incorporate the same 20 pounder (84 mm) gun as used in the Centurion Mk 3.British Tanks 1946-1970, An illustrated record of the British armoured fighting vehicle; published by The Tank Museum, 2nd edition 1973 Mounting the gun required a new two-man turret to be developed. The resulting vehicle was initially named FV4101 Cromwell Heavy AT Gun, but renamed 'Charioteer' before entering service.


Design

Design focused primarily on anti-tank capabilities, sharing much in common with American WWII-era tank destroyers. This has caused confusion with tank destroyers in many references, although the vehicle was designed for, and remained in, the
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 battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...
role. The new turret used the larger Ordnance QF 20 pounder gun. This was mounted with a co-axial 0.30 in
M1919 Browning machine gun The M1919 Browning is a .30-06 Springfield, .30 caliber medium machine gun that was widely used during the 20th century, especially during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The M1919 saw service as a light infantry, coaxial weap ...
. Smoke grenade dischargers were fitted to both sides of the turret. A flap to the turret rear allowed spent shell casings from the gun to be ejected from the vehicle. Hulls were based on the later Cromwell VII standard, modified with
Comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...
Model B style fishtail exhausts and no hull-mounted machine gun. Most hulls were reworked to Type F standard, and fire extinguisher pulls were re-routed to the two track-side bins. A large armoured telephone box was fitted to the vehicle rear for communication with infantry. Additional defensive armour was welded to the Cromwell hull in keeping with the Cromwell VII standard, but the turret upgrade focused on offensive capability. Weight limitations on the suspension prevented the use of heavier armour on the turret, and whilst sloped to increase the effective protection, the new turret was much thinner armour at 20–30 mm. The turret ring was slightly increased in size to accommodate the larger gun, but the size limitation of the Cromwell hull meant that the new turret would need to be much larger and taller around it. This gave the vehicle a much higher profile. Even with this size increase, stowage for the larger ammunition rounds was severely limited. The hull machine gunner's position was removed to provide additional stowage space for ammunition, but the vehicle still carried only 25 rounds. Some conventional High Explosive (HE) shells were carried, but the primary ammunition was Armour-Piercing Discarding Sabot projectiles (APDS) A mixed collection of Cromwells were upgraded, resulting in a number of variations in design based on the vehicle's previous format.


Production

Building on the remaining Cromwell tanks as a basis, the tanks were converted by Robinson and Kershaw Ltd at their works in Dukinfield,
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
. While an expected production run of 630 was indicated in 1951, the production was cut short and the exact number produced is unclear. The first 200 were expected by March 1953 with a further 200 following in 1954. The actual number produced is believed to be 442. British historian David Fletcher considered it as the fifth-worst British tank produced. His particular criticisms were mostly about the bulky, thin-armoured turret, but also about it being considered as a tank rather than restricted to being an extemporised tank destroyer.


Service

During development and manufacture the British Army went through two re-organisations, resulting in the tanks being reassigned to
Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the armoured arm of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 and the Warrior tracked armoured vehicle. It includes most of the Ar ...
units of the British Territorial Army. These tanks replaced tank destroyers and self-propelled guns transferred from the
Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...
to the RAC during the re-organisation. The number of vehicles required was cut, and only a small number entered service. Manufacturing of the modification was halted with around 440 of 630 vehicles completed. Surplus vehicles were sold to
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
,
Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
,
Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
and
Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
. The tanks were used by a number of forces in the Middle East through instability in the region, such as the
Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...
and the
Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...
. While the vehicle was originally intended to operate with a 3-man crew, the commander's visibility from the turret was restricted during firing. This meant a 4th crew member was added as an external observer, meaning they would get out of the vehicle and relay information to the crew inside. The large size of the turret meant the vehicle was best used in a hull down position, firing over cover.


Operators

; *
Kuwait Army The Kuwait Land Forces (), established in 1949, are Land warfare, land forces and the oldest armed branch among the Kuwait Armed Forces, Armed Forces of Kuwait. Its cavalry and infantry predecessors operated in desert and metropolitan areas in ...
: operated an unknown number of tanks between 1952 and 1962. ; * Austrian Army: used 56 vehicles from 1956 till 1965. Turrets of retired Charioteer tanks were fixed in Austrian
bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...
systems. ; *
Finnish Army The Finnish Army ( , ) is the army, land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces. The Finnish Army is divided into six branches: infantry (which includes armoured units), field artillery, anti-aircraft artillery, Combat engineering, engineer ...
: bought a total of 38 "Charioteer Mk VII Model B", 3 in 1958 and 35 in 1960. They were removed from wartime organisation in 1972, but they remained in training use until 1980. A number were stored until 2007 when 15 were auctioned off. A further 10 were released in 2024, 9 of which were auctioned. ; * Jordanian Army: equipped two squadrons (24 vehicles) of their 3rd Tank Regiment in 1954. Some of the Jordanian Charioteers were sold to
Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
. ; * Lebanese Armed Forces: received 43 vehicles, passed on in 1976 to several Lebanese or Palestinian warring factions. * Army of Free Lebanon: operated an unknown number of tanks between 1976 and 1977. * Lebanese Arab Army: operated an unknown number of tanks between 1976 and 1977. *
Lebanese Forces The Lebanese Forces ( ') is a Lebanon, Lebanese Christianity in Lebanon, Christian-based political party and Lebanese Forces (militia), former militia during the Lebanese Civil War. It currently holds 19 of the 128 seats in Lebanon's Parliamen ...
: operated an unknown number of tanks between 1980 and 1993. *
Al-Mourabitoun The Independent Nasserite Movement – INM () or simply Al-Murabitoun ( lit. ''The Steadfast''), also termed variously Independent Nasserite Organization (INO) or Movement of Independent Nasserists (MIN), is a Nasserist political party in Leban ...
: operated an unknown number of tanks between 1976 and 1978. *
South Lebanon Army The South Lebanon Army or South Lebanese Army (SLA; , ), also known as the Lahad Army () or as the De Facto Forces (DFF), was a Christianity in Lebanon, Christian-dominated militia in Lebanon. It was founded by Lebanese military officer Saad H ...
: operated an unknown number of tanks between 1976 and 1983. * Tigers Militia: operated an unknown number of tanks between 1976 and 1980. ; * Palestine Liberation Organisation: operated several ex-Lebanese Army vehicles against the
Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...
in Southern Lebanon during the
1978 South Lebanon conflict The 1978 South Lebanon conflict, also known as the First Israeli invasion of Lebanon and codenamed Operation Litani by Israel, began when Israel invaded southern Lebanon up to the Litani River in March 1978. It was in response to the Coa ...
. ; * Territorial Army: main operator of the Charioteer tank.


Variants

Production was based on a mixed fleet of Cromwell VI, VII, VIIw and VIII vehicles of mixed hull types. While all were upgraded to VII standard, some hull differences remained based on the vehicle's past. As a result, the vehicle continued to be known as Charioteer, Mks. 6, 7, 7w and 8 with hull types D, E and F. The Ordnance QF 20 pounder was upgraded during production and service, and many vehicles were fitted with the later 20 pounder featuring a symmetrical fume extractor mid-barrel. Those without the fume extractor were dubbed Charioteer VIIA or Model A while those with the upgrade were named Charioteer VIIB or Model B. In Jordanian Army use the vehicle was altered with upgraded electrically driven turret traverse motors, and a larger commander's cupola mounting a .50 calibre machine gun. These traverse-motors were driven from a separate electrical supply. Different radio equipment was also fitted. Beyond the original requirement, further up-gunning was attempted. A single vehicle was upgraded with the
Royal Ordnance L7 The Royal Ordnance L7, officially designated Gun, 105 mm, Tank, L7, is the basic model of the United Kingdom's most successful tank gun. It is a 105 mm L/52 rifled design by the Royal Ordnance Factories, intended for use in armoured fighti ...
105mm gun for trials in 1969. It was intended for export and did not enter service. Finland attempted to carry out the gun upgrade to the L7 on their Charioteers already in the early 1960s, but an export permit for the new gun was not granted at the time. The gun is similar in appearance and based on the original, but can be distinguished by an offset fume extractor (larger at the top). The vehicle was previously in the Shaun Hindle Collection, but it was torn apart in 2019 and converted to a Cromwell ARV.


Survivors

; *An Austrian Charioteer in the Museum of Military History (HGM - ''Heeresgeschichtliches Museum'') in Vienna. ; *A Finnish Charioteer is on outdoor display in the
Parola tank museum Parola Tank Museum, officially Armoured Vehicle Museum (Finnish language, Finnish ''Panssarimuseo'', Swedish language, Swedish ''Pansarmuséet'') is a Museum#military museum, military museum located 110 kilometres north of Helsinki in Parola (Hat ...
. *Another Finnish Charioteer is on outdoor display near the main entrance of Army Academy in
Lappeenranta Lappeenranta (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of South Karelia. It is located in the southeastern interior of the country and in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lappeenranta is approximately , while the Lappeenranta sub-r ...
. *A Finnish Charioteer is on outdoor display also in Valkeala inside Karelia Brigade garrison, however it can only been seen when grounds are open to public. ; *A Charioteer is on outdoor display in Yad la-Shiryon Museum in Latrun. *A Charioteer is on outdoor display in Israel Defense Forces History Museum in
Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...
. ; *A Jordanian Charioteer is on display at the Royal Tank Museum in
Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...
. ; *A Charioteer is on display at The Tank Museum in
Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...
, UK.FV4101 Tank Medium, Charioteer (E1965.3)
/ref> *A Charioteer turret with the later version 20pdr with the fume extractor is on display (rather poor condition) at Fort Paull near Hull in the UK.


See also

*
List of FV series military vehicles The following is a partial listing of FV ("fighting vehicle") numbers as used by the British Army. Some vehicles do not have FV numbers (e.g. the AS-90). 0–999 *FV100: Series of vehicles based on heavy chassis **FV101: Heavy assault tank **FV ...
* FV4201 Tank, Medium Gun, no.2, later known as the Chieftain tank. *
Centurion Tank The FV4007 Centurion was the primary main battle tank of the British Army during the post-World War II period. Introduced in 1945, it is one of the most successful post-war tank designs, remaining in production into the 1960s, and seeing comba ...
, the Cruiser (medium) tank sharing the same weapon. *
Cromwell Tank The Cromwell tank, officially Tank, Cruiser, Mk VIII, Cromwell (A27M), was one of the series of cruiser tanks fielded by Britain in the Second World War. Named after the English Civil War–era military leader Oliver Cromwell, the Cromwell was ...
, the Cruiser (medium) tank the Charioteer was based on. *, a tank with similar armour characteristics, design commencing around the same time (1956).


Notes


References


Bibliography

*Major James Bingham, ''AFV Profile No. 25: Cromwell and Comet'', Profile Publications Ltd., Windsor, Berkshire UK 1971. *Samer Kassis, ''Véhicules Militaires au Liban/Military Vehicles in Lebanon 1975-1981'', Trebia Publishing, Chyah 2012. *Steven J. Zaloga, ''Armour of the Middle East Wars 1948-78'', Vanguard series 19, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1981. *Tom Cooper & Sergio Santana, ''Lebanese Civil War Volume 1: Palestinian diaspora, Syrian and Israeli interventions, 1970-1978'', Middle East@War No. 21, Helion & Company Limited, Solihull UK 2019. *Paul Jureidini, R. D. McLaurin, and James Price, ''Military operations in selected Lebanese built-up areas, 1975-1978'', Aberdeen, MD: U.S. Army Human Engineering Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Technical Memorandum 11–79, June 1979. *Philipe Naud, ''La Guerre Civile Libanaise - 1re partie: 1975-1978'', Steelmasters Magazine No. 113, August–September 2012, Histoire & Collections, Paris, pp. 8–16. (in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Charioteer Tank Cold War tanks of the United Kingdom Military vehicles introduced in the 1950s