Centurion | The most successful British tank

undoubtedly the centurion is the most successful british tank ever in terms of marketing and combat records although this tank was too late to prove itself in the second world war it managed to mark the first cold war it was the hero of many wars and particularly the savior of israel now we're investigating the centurion the legendary knight of the crown please don't forget to subscribe to our channel before we start and give us a thumbs up if you like our video to be notified of our new video please click the bell button [Music] during the first cold war we could see a legendary tank the centurion played a critical role and sealed the fate in many of the major conflicts yes the centurion was a tank of the first cold war but its story began during the second world war the development of the centurion began in 1943 in those years the british army had two types of tanks the infantry tank and the cruiser tank the infantry tanks were being used to support infantry they were highly armored but relatively slow the mission definition of these tanks was to break through the heavily defended areas in the enemy lines in coordination with the infantry units after that the faster but relatively low armored cruiser tanks were rapidly advancing to cut the enemy's supply and communication lines and to search and destroy the enemy's artillery batteries but the german tiger and the panther tanks caused the british army to change its perspective since the beginning of the war the 88 millimeter gun had been one of the most fearsome opponents of the allied tanks now the tiger had this gun also its armor was too thick the panther was a superior tongue in terms of firepower ballistic protection and maneuverability in 1943 the uk already had the 76.2 millimeter 17 pounder gun which was equivalent to the 75 millimeter kwk 42 gun of the panther yet no available british tanks were capable of being fitted with this gun due to the limited size of its turret as an interim solution the uk developed the archer and the achilles but these tank destroyers were not suitable for offensive missions the 17 pounder gun was also fitted onto the m4 sherman tanks this variant called sherman firefly was highly effective in terms of firepower but its protection was not as desired so in 1943 the british army requested the development of a new tank it would also be able to stand 75 and 88 millimeter guns also this tank would have the 17 pounder gun that could penetrate the armor of the latest german panzers the design works of the centurion started immediately the new tank would be equipped with the 20 millimeter pulston gun against the enemy's anti-tank crew it would have the rolls-royce merlin petrol engine this engine was a derivative of the power plant used by the spitfire and hurricane fighters as well as the lancaster bomber the british army had observed that after being hit the ammunition inside the turret could cause a catastrophic explosion therefore the centurion would carry its ammunition for the main gun below the level of the turret ring but the allies were preparing for the invasion of europe the resources had to be used for building up a massive army therefore the development of the centurion proceeded slowly and the tank didn't see a combat in the second world war after a small number of sanctuary and mark 1 had produced the production shifted to up armored mark ii variant the tank became operational in 1946 the tank had the hordsman suspension system this suspension provided better cross-country capability and maneuverability to the centurion than the cruiser tanks also its survivability was superior to the infantry tanks therefore the centurion was able to be used for both roles so it was a universal tank in other words a main battle tank there are many century invariants and derivatives we will talk only about the major ones the century and mark ii didn't have the 20 millimeter posting gun this gun had intended to be operated by the loader but when he concentrated on using the gun the loader couldn't feed the main gun effectively in 1948 production of the century and mark 3 began this variant had an 84 millimeter 20 pounder gun the gun could fire the armor piercing discarding sabo projectile at that time this was an important feature because the western armies needed a tank which could encounter the soviet is-3 tank thanks to this munition the 20-pounder gun could penetrate the highly thick armor of this tank also the mark iii had a turret stabilization system so the tank could engage a target while on the move the new century and variant had two 51 millimeter bomb thrower mark ii mortars these motors could fire white phosphorous munition which was effective against nearby enemy infantries by burning fiercely yet this concept was not effective as expected and the bomb thrower mark ii was eliminated in later variants during the 1956 hungarian uprising the british intelligence gained the chance to examine the soviet t-54 and ran an extensive report about it based on this report the uk developed a 105 millimeter rifled gun called the l7 in 1958 the centurion mark 7 became the first production tank fitted with the l7 one of the most successful western tank guns later many sanctuary and users equipped their tank with this gun also many sanctuary invariants were fitted with a 12.7 millimeter ranging gun in general use this gun was firing a three-round burst of illuminating rounds to determine the enemy's exact location and range until the m60 and the leopard 1 were introduced the centurion had been the best tank available in the west the biggest disadvantage of the centurion was its low range many modifications were made and many variants were developed to overcome this problem however the tank's original production models with the petrol engine never had a satisfactory range besides the united kingdom in a short time australia canada denmark egypt india iraq israel jordan kuwait the netherlands new zealand singapore somalia south africa sweden and switzerland chose this tank the four-person crew of the latest variant of the century had consisted of a commander driver gunner and loader its hull length was 7.82 meters the tank was 9.85 meters long 3.39 meters wide and 3.01 meters high its combat weight was 51.82 tons the 650 horsepower rolls-royce mark 4b petrol engine provided a maximum road speed of 35 kilometers per hour the range of the tank was 190 kilometers the century and mark 13 could negotiate 0.91 meter vertical steps 3.35 meter trenches and it can afford to a depth of 1.45 meters it had a 105 millimeter l7 rifled main gun two 7.62 millimeter and one 12.7 millimeter machine guns many countries modernized their centurion fleets one of the most known upgraded variants of the tank was the israeli shot the israel defense forces equipped its centurions with the 105 millimeter l7 gun the 750 horsepower av ds 1790 2ac diesel engine the allison cd8506 automatic transmission and a new cooling system the engine compartment was enlarged and raised to fit the tank with a new power pack using a diesel engine increased the range and survivability of the centurions besides the ammunition capacity of the shot was increased to 72 after the 1973 yom kippur war some of the shots were equipped with a new turret drive mechanism a new gun stabilizer a new fire control system and the blazer explosive reactive armor packages similarly south africa modernized some of its centurions first eight of these tanks were fitted with a 810 horsepower petrol engine coupled with a new three-speed transmission by the skokien project later south africa started the saml program then south africa equipped the tank with a new suspension new turret drives and new vision equipment this new variant was named olefund the later mark 1a variant of the olefund had a locally built version of the 105 millimeter l7 type rifle gun 81 millimeter smoke grenade launchers night vision equipment for the commander and 750 horsepower diesel engine coupled to a semi-automatic transmission the elephant mark 1b was equipped with new suspensions a 950 horsepower engine the amtra3 automatic transmission laser rangefinder and reinforced floor against landmines it has passive composite armor packages over the frontal glacis plate and turret the elephant mark ii is equipped with a 1040 horsepower continental turbocharged diesel engine an upgraded fire control system and a computerized battle system the tank has the hunter killer capability the centurion was baptized with fire in 1950 during the korean war a british centurion knocked out a cromwell tank which had been captured by north koreans before one year later the tank successfully covered the withdrawal of the 29th brigade of the british army in this battle against the massive chinese forces attack only 5 centurions were lost in the rest of the war these tanks were generally deployed stationary on the high ground and used for fire support missions against motor shell and medium caliber artillery rounds they were waiting in the prepared positions called the elephant house which was fortified with the railway sleepers and sandbags in 1952 the british centurions encountered the chinese heavy artillery storm and got at least 45 direct hits but none of their crews was even injured during the war the tanks repelled many massive chinese offensives especially in the indo-pakistani war of 1965 the indian centurions with 84 millimeter guns made history in the battle of assalutar they knocked out or captured 97 pakistan tanks with only 6 losses so the centurion proved its superiority to the us-made m47 and m48s also indian sources claim that this tank managed to shut down a pakistani oh-13 helicopter with an 84 millimeter round the australian army used its centurions in the vietnam war these tanks were generally deployed to reinforce firebases the australian centurion were respectable adversaries for the north vietnamese soldiers who admitted that this tank was extremely difficult to destroy with the rpg type weapons nevertheless 42 of the 58 australian centurions served in vietnam suffered battle damage at first israeli soldiers had not liked the centurion which was more sophisticated and heavier than the previous m4 shermans and amx-13s during the exercises the tanks suffered many mechanical breakdowns shortly after general israel tall introduced the new field manual for maintenance he also increased the training of gunners the israeli gunners could reach the rate of fire of 15 rounds per minute while the arab gunners only four to five rounds also as we mentioned before the israel defense forces were using the upgraded shot model the result was spectacular in the 1967 six-day war the well-trained israelis prevailed on all fronts the shots proved its ability to continue fighting even after extensive battle damage the israelis who hadn't liked the century and at first were now in love with it in the 1973 yom kippur war 177 shots became the savior of israel at the golan front they encountered nearly 1400 enemy tanks in the first three days every israeli tank at the golan front got hit at least one and a half times the israel defense forces used 100 shots at the last stage of the battle at valley of tears actually these tanks had been knocked out previously but they had been repaired manned by the injured crew and returned to the battlefield these were wounded shots managed to win the battle at the golan front the shots knocked out over 500 syrian t-55s and t-62s yet especially at the sinai front the soviet-made 83 sagar hurt them fiercely even so israel managed to win the battle against the egyptians in 1982 the shots equipped with the blazer explosive reactive armor against the shape-charged anti-tank missiles fought in lebanon still during the war 21 shots were knocked out eight of which were destroyed the south african centurions rarely clashed with the enemy tanks in 1987 the alephones managed to destroy two angolan t-55s some of them were damaged by landmines of course there are many other combat records of the centurion also we could talk about many other details but we had to summarize them to not to exceed our time the centurion was the doubtless protector of the free world's border at the beginning of the first cold war he was the hero of the yuan forces in korea and the nightmare of the pakistani patents the centurion was the savior of israel it was one of the most successful weapon systems of the first cold war undoubtedly the legendary centurion is the pride of british tank history thanks for watching our video and please don't forget to subscribe to our channel and give us a thumbs up if you liked our video to be notified of our new videos please click the bell button

Channel: Weapon Detective

Views: 100,883

Rating: 4.935585 out of 5

Keywords: Centurion tank, Centurion universal tank, British tank, UK tank, Strv 81, Strv 101, Strv 102, First Cold War, Cold War, main battle tank, British Army in Korea, Sho't, Israeli tank, שוט‎, Sho't Kal, Olifant, Olifant tank, Australian army in Vietnam, Skokiaan, Semel, Battle of Asal Uttar, Centurion vs Patton, Valley of Tears

Id: Swch0N3B6wc

Length: 15min 4sec (904 seconds)

Published: Wed May 12 2021