Carden Loyd tankette

Infobox Weapon
name= Carden Loyd Tankette


caption= A Carden-Loyd tankette towing a howitzer.
origin= United Kingdom
type= Tankette
is_vehicle=yes
is_UK=yes
service=
used_by=see text
wars=Chaco War, French-Thai War, World War II
designer= Carden-Loyd Tractors Ltd.
design_date=
manufacturer= Vickers-Armstrong
unit_cost=
production_date=1927-1935
number= 450
variants=
length=2.46 m
width=1.75 m
height=1.22 m
weight=1.5 tonnes
crew=2
primary_armament=0.303 inch Vickers machine gun
armour=6 mm - 9 mm
engine=Ford Model T petrol 4 cylinder
engine_power=40 hp
pw_ratio=
transmission=
fuel_capacity=
pw_ratio=
suspension=Bogie
clearance=
vehicle_range=144 km
speed=40 km/h (road)

The Carden Loyd tankettes were a series of British pre-World War II tankettes, the most successful of which was the Mark VI, the only version built in significant numbers. It became a classic tankette design worldwide, was license-built by several countries and became the basis of several designs produced in several different countries. It was not so much a light tank as a tracked machine gun carrier.

Development

The Carden Loyd tankette came about from an idea started, as a private project, by the British military engineer and tank strategist Major Giffard LeQuesne Martel. He built a one-man tank in his garage from various parts and showed it to the War Office in the mid 1920s. With the publicization of the idea, other companies produced their own interpretations of the idea. One of these was "Carden-Loyd Tractors Ltd", of John Carden and Vivian Loyd. Besides one-man vehicles they also proposed two-man vehicles which turned out to be a more effective and popular idea. Vickers-Armstrong manufactured and marketed it worldwide.

Considered a reconnaissance vehicle and a mobile machine gun position, the Mark VI was the final stage of development of Carden Loyd series of tankettes.

Production

Production started in 1927 and lasted until 1935. From 1933 to 1935 production was by Royal Ordnance. Some 450 were made in all. The British Army used at least 325 Mark VI tankettes (other data: 348) in several variants, mostly as machine gun carriers, but also as light gun tractors, mortar carriers or smoke projector vehicles.

In 1929, Poland bought 10 or 11 Mark VI tankettes with a licence and used them for development of their own TK tankette series, which was in turn the predecessor of the Polish TKS tankette.

Czechoslovakia also bought three Mark VI tankettes in 1930 with a licence, and then improved the design, producing 74 of Tančik vz. 33 tankettes in the ČKD (Praga) works (the original British construction was evaluated as unusable in modern warfare).

The Soviet Union bought 20 Mark VI tankettes (designated K-25 in Russia) as well as a license. However, the final project was significantly modernised and the license was dropped. Instead, the "Bolshevik" works in Leningrad started the production of the T-27 tankette, a modernised and enlarged variant of the British design. A total of 3,228 T-27 tankettes were built between 1931 and 1933.

Japan also bought six Mark VIb tankettes and later developed its own Type 94 Te Ke design that was based on them. Similarly, Italy bought a number of Carden Loyd Mark VIs and built a small number of licence copies designated CV-29, and then developed this design further into the L3/35 tankette.

A number of Carden Loyd tankettes were purchased by Belgium and converted into the T15 (machine gun carrier) and the T13 tank destroyer. These "tanks" saw action during the German invasion of Belgium in 1940 and the 47mm anti-tank gun of the T13 was judged to be an effective weapon.

In addition, the Carden Loyd tankettes were also supplied in small numbers to Canada, France, India, Italy, the Netherlands (5), and Siam. The 5 Dutch tankettes were involved in fighting German parachute troops during the May 1940 invasion of the Netherlands. The French unarmed Renault UE carrier was based on the Carden Loyd design. Bolivia had two Mark VIb tankettes and used them during the Chaco war. In addition to this, the design of the German Panzer I light tank was influenced by the Carden Loyd tankette.

Operators

*flag|Belgium
*flag|Bolivia - small number used durng Chaco War
*flag|Canada
*flag|Chile
*flag|Republic of China
*flag|Czechoslovakia
*flag|Finland (Mk. IVs and Model 33s)
*flag|France
*flag|Greece - small number acquired prior to 1935
*flag|India
*flag|Italy
*flag|Japan
*flag|Poland
*flag|Portugal
*flag|Thailand - about 60 used in the French-Thai War
*flag|USSR - used to develop T-27 tank
*flag|United Kingdom

External links

* [http://www.wwiivehicles.com/unitedkingdom/tankette/carden-loyd-vi.asp WWII Vehicles]
* [http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/GreatBritain/BritishTankettes.html British tankettes]