The Cruiser Mk. I was designed by John Carden in 1934, and entered production in 1936. It was the first British tank to have powered traverse for its turret. A pair of machine gun turrets were on either side of the driver at the front of the hull; they were hated by crews (they tended to fill with smoke when the MG was fired) and some tanks had them removed in the field. The Mk. I was underarmored and, by 1941, undergunned. While generally reliable for its day, it often broke down. The tank was used in France and the early part of the North Africa campaign, but was pulled out of service by the end of 1941.
The crew consisted of a commander and gunner in the turret, a loader in turret and body, a driver and two machine gunners in the smaller bow turrets. The Cruiser Mk. I uses 3.4 gallons per hour at routine usage.
Subassemblies: Small Tank chassis +3, full rotation Small AFV
turret #1 +2, two limited rotation Medium Weapon Turrets #2 & #3 +1,
tracks +3
P&P: 75 kW gasoline w/tracked drivetrain, 108 gallons gasoline
(fire chance: 10) in standard tanks
Occ: 1 CS Body, 2 CS Body/Small Turrets, 1 CS Body/Main Turret,
2 CD Turret
Cargo: 0
| Armor | F | R/L | B | T | U |
| Body | 4/45 | 4/40 | 4/40 | 4/20 | 4/25 |
| Turret | 4/45 | 4/40 | 4/45 | 4/15 | 0/0 |
| Tracks | 4/35 | 4/35 | 4/35 | 4/35 | 4/35 |
Weaponry
2-pdr Medium Tank Gun/OQF [Turret#1:F] (100 rounds)
Ground LMG/Vickers [Turret#1:F] (1000 rounds)
Ground LMG/Vickers [Turret#2:F] (1000 rounds)
Ground LMG/Vickers [Turret#3:F] (1000 rounds)
Equipment
Turret: Medium radio reciever/transmitter
Body: Traversing gear for turret
Statistics
| Size: 19'x9'x8' | Payload: 1.17 tons | Lwt: 13.9 tons |
| Volume: 55 | Maint.: 80 hours | Price: $6300 |
HT: 9
HP: 1000 [body], 400 [each track], 150 [turret #1], 75 [turrets
#2 & #3]
| gSpeed: 25 | gAccel: 2 | gDecel: 20 | gMR: 0.25 | gSR: 5 | GP: very low (4/5) |
Design Notes
Design top speed was 23 mph; the historical speed is listed. One hundred
and ten rounds were purchased for the main gun; the historical load was
used. Weight was increased 15% to better match historical weight.
The A9 was a very tight design, with not enough space for all the components. Since the next largest chassis is far too big, this was ignored. Like most tanks, crew equipment could be carried externally.
Although the armor is angled in several areas, there are also a large number of shot traps. Therefore, also given the lack of space, the armor has been given no sloping bonus.
Variants
The Mk. I CS replaced the 2-pdr with a 3.7" howitzer (95mm Short Howitzer)
and 40 rounds of ammo.
The "heavy" Cruiser Mk. II A10 (1939) was a similar, but heavier, design,
built as an infantry support version of the A9. The two MG turrets were
removed (but a hull MG and hull MG gunner was added), armor on the hull
front was increased to DR 100 and sides to DR 85 and turret armor was increased
to DR 90 front and back and DR 80 on the sides. Top speed dropped to 16
mph. Total built was 175, plus 30 close-support variants (3.7" howitzer
with 40 rounds). Like the Mk. I, the Mk II saw use in France and early
in North Africa.