Copyright 2008 by Brandon Cope
 
 

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Alecto self-propelled gun

In 1942 the British Army looked to design a tracked carrier for their new 95mm howitzer. In the end, the decision was made to modify the Harry Hopkins light tank (p.W:MP59). The turret was replaced by a small superstructure and the howitzer centrally mounted in the upper hull, with the commander and loader on either side. One unusual feature was that the driver was located in a raised seat behind the gun. After some trails starting in late 1944, it was decided to cancel the project. The primary reason was that the Alecto was sure to attract a great deal of enemy fire in combat, but a vehicle so devoid of armor would not survive for long. Additionally, the war in Europe was over and there was no need for the Alecto in Asia.

Had the war lasted longer, however, the Alecto may have entered service anyway with airborne forces, as a thinly-armored support gun is better than nothing. "Alecto" is Greek and translates as "the implacable" and was one of the Erinyes (Furies).

The Alecto Mk I had a crew of three: driver/gunner, commander and loader. The Alecto used 5.5 gallons of fuel per hour at routine usage.

Subassemblies: Small Tank chassis +2, Medium Weapon superstructure +1, two tracks +2.
Powertrain: 123-kW gas engine with 123-kW tracked transmission and 54-gallon self-sealing fuel tank; 8,000-kWs batteries
Occupancy: 2 CS Body, 1 CS Both.  Cargo: 2 Body, 2 Superstructure.

Armor

Hull: F 4/25, R,L 4/25, B 4/25, T 4/15, U 4/15
Superstructure: F 4/25, R,L 4/25, B 4/25, T 4/15, U 0/0
Tracks: 4/35

Weaponry
95mm Short Howitzer [Superstructure:F] (20). 

Statistics
Size: 14'x7'x6' Payload : 0.6 tons Lwt: 8.88 tons
Volume: 40
 Maint.:  80 hours Price: $6,300

HT: 11
HP: 1000 [body], 120 [turret], 400 [each track]
 
 
gSpeed: 30
 aAccel: 3
 aDecel: 10 aMR: 0.25 aSR: 4
Low Ground Pressure. 2/3 Off-Road Speed.

Design Notes
Design speed was 37 mph. Design weight was reduced 1%. The empty space should probably be ignored (if that much space was available, the ammo load certainly would have been higher.

No AA machinegun was mounted on the prototypes, but a Bren gun (Ground LMG) with 300 rounds could easily have been fitted on a simple pintle mount next to the commander's hatch.

<>Variants
In the initial design, the gun faced to the rear (like the Archer tank destroyer) and the superstructure was open-topped.

The Mark II was armed with a 6-pdr anti-tank gun (57mm Medium Tank Gun).

The Mark III and Mark IV (which never were built) were to have been armed with a 25-pdr and 32-pdr, respectively.