Favourite British Tank

[T. A. Gardner]

I have always thought the epitome of British tank design, that is one reflecting the character of the British people and boffins in general, is the Light Tank Mk VI. Here we have a vehicle obviously built with bits of other vehicles and some original parts in a shed in someone's garden. What better could possibly represent how Britain has done technical things in the 20th century?

[MikB]

Originally Posted by Slipdigit

On an aside, when did the UK quit using spherical projectile weight equivalents (for lack of a better term) for gun size and start using bore diameter itself when descibing large guns? e.g. 6 pdr for a 57mm gun?

'Twasn't spherical equivalent, 'twas actual. A 6 pdr A/T gun threw a 6 lb. shot in APCBC.

Using 4/3 pi r cubed and 7.8 gm/cc, an iron roundshot in 57mm would weigh about a pound and two-thirds.

Regards,
MikB

[Slipdigit]

I understood that the size of a gun in "pounds" derived it's name from the weight of a spherical iron ball that would fit into the gun and was a holdover from the days of sail, when the actually projectile did weigh a given amount. In modern times, it actually had nothing to do with weight of the actual projectile used. Thusly, a round solid ball of iron, 57mm in diameter would weigh approximately 6 pounds and a 40mm, 2 pounds, etc.

Am I incorrect in this assumption? Math and I are not good friends.

[MikB]

Originally Posted by Slipdigit

I understood that the size of a gun in "pounds" derived it's name from the weight of a spherical iron ball that would fit into the gun and was a holdover from the days of sail, when the actually projectile did weigh a given amount. In modern times, it actually had nothing to do with weight of the actual projectile used. Thusly, a round solid ball of iron, 57mm in diameter would weigh approximately 6 pounds and a 40mm, 2 pounds, etc.

Am I incorrect in this assumption? Math and I are not good friends.

No, not correct! The long, pointy APCBC that the 57mm 6 pdr was originally designed to fire really did weigh 6 lb.! A 57mm roundshot really would weigh 1.66 lb .! The 13 pdr, 18 pdr, 17 pdr, 20 pdr guns really were so called after the actual (approx) weight of their actual projectiles. I don't know how to make it any clearer... and I'm not gonna work out all their roundshot weights. I can do the maths, but it hurts for me too...

Regards,
MikB

[MikB]

...Or to add another example:-

24-pounder naval guns of Nelson's day used a roundshot of approx. 5.8" diameter.

25-pounder gun/howitzers of WW2 used a shell weighing about 25 lb. and 3.45" in diameter across the driving bands (so the body would be a bit less - maybe 3.35" or so).

Regards,
MikB

[Slipdigit]

I have been searching long and hard trying to find a source for my assumption about the bore size. I found this one in Wikipeida, but will continue to look for another. I was incorrect, according to this, in that is was weight in lead not iron.

"This leads to certain guns being referred to as 6-pounder, 25-pounder and so forth. However this relationship between calibre and projectile weight changed with the introduction of the cylindrical rifled shell. The gun continued to be named by the weight of projectile it threw although this no longer gave a direct indication of the barrel size"

Caliber - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Slipdigit]

The long, pointy APCBC that the 57mm 6 pdr was originally designed to fire really did weigh 6 lb.!

On this page: Artillery Equipment page
I found this:
6-pdr data
Calibre 57mm/2.24in
Shot type Shell Weight (kg/lb.)
HE 2.7/6
AP 2.7/6
APCBC 3.2/7
APCR 1.8/4
APDS 1.5/3.2

I'm going to move on since this is a thread about favorite UK tanks. Maybe the moderators will transfer this to another thread.

[Desert Dog]

Back to topic: Why was the Crusader not included in the poll?

I voted for the Matilda, but I though that they proved to be problematic during the defence of Greece?

Although the pdr to diameter conversion is definitely an intersting topic

[MikB]

Originally Posted by Slipdigit

6-pdr data
Calibre 57mm/2.24in
Shot type Shell Weight (kg/lb.)
...
AP 2.7/6
APCBC 3.2/7
...

OK, I stand corrected there; it was the original vanilla AP projectile that weighed 6 lb. I had thought that 6pdrs started out with APCBC because they were introduced after Fritz had started case-hardening his armour. There are other figures there, such a APDS shot weight, where I've seen different numbers - but my excuse is that books are still in storage...

Yes, I agree Crusader was an omission. nothing looked more impressive with sand pouring from its tracks, bounding across the desert. Fritz appears to have thought more of it than our own chaps did.

Regards,
MikB

[Owen]

Bombardier Wilson of 5th Royal Horse Artillery, 7th Armoured Division, uses a Cromwell observation post tank to show off the Union Flag that he carried throughout the north-west Europe campaign, 10 May 1945.

I love this photo.
Best of British , eh?
No namby-pamby PC council going to tell him to take that flag down.