Comet tank

Tank, Cruiser, Comet I (A34)
Comet tank in the Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr
Type	Cruiser tank
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Service history
In service	December 1944 - 1958 (UK)
Used by	see Operators
Wars	World War II Korean War
Production history
Designed	1943
Manufacturer	Leyland Motors Ltd
Produced	September 1944
Number built	1,186[1]
Specifications
Weight	33 long tons (33.53 tonnes)
Length	21 ft 6 in (6.55 m) excluding gun
Width	10 ft 1 in (3.04 m)
Height	8 ft 6 in (2.67 m)
Crew	5 (Commander, gunner, loader, driver, co-driver)
Armour	4 in (102 mm) maximum
Main armament	77 mm HV 61 rounds
Secondary armament	2 x 7.92 mm Besa MG 5,175 rounds
Engine	Rolls-Royce Meteor V12 petrol 600 hp (447 kW)
Power/weight	17 hp/ton (18 hp/tonne)
Suspension	Christie
Ground clearance	18 in (0.5 m)
Fuel capacity	about 120 Imperial gallons
Operational range	155 miles (250 km)
Speed	32 mph (50 km/h)

The Tank, Cruiser, Comet I (A34) was a British cruiser tank that first saw use near the end of World War II. It was designed to provide greater anti-tank capability to Cromwell tank squadrons. It was armed with a 77mm HV, a derivative of the 17 pounder, with the result it was one of the few British tanks with the firepower to challenge late war German designs. Seeing post World War II combat during the Korean war, the Comet remained in British service until 1958. Comets sold to other countries continued in some cases to operate into the 70s.

Design and development

Background

Combat experience against the Germans in the Western Desert Campaign demonstrated to the British many shortcomings with their cruiser tanks. Hence a request was made in 1941 to the Nuffield Organisation and Leyland Motors Ltd for a new heavy cruiser tank that could achieve battle superiority over German models. For reasons of economy and efficiency it had to use as many components as possible from the current A15 Cruiser tank Mk VI Crusader tank.

The initial designs submitted were the A24 Cruiser Tank Mk VII Cavalier tank from Nuffield powered by a Nuffield-Liberty L-12 engine and the A27L Cruiser tank Mk VII Centaur tank from Leyland which was also powered by the Liberty L-12 but would be able to use the more powerful Rolls-Royce Meteor when it became available.

The Cruiser tank Mk VII A27M Cromwell was the third parallel development to the Cavalier and Centaur. The Cromwell's Meteor engine proved to be very reliable and gave the Cromwell good mobility but some problems did appear. The tank was prone to throwing its tracks if track tension was not maintained properly or if it turned at too high a speed or too sharply. There were also some problems with suspension breakage, partly due to the Cromwell's high speed.

With the Cromwell a 17 pounder version, the A30 Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger tank was under development. To handle the large gun the Cromwell hull had to be lengthened and a large turret set on top. Due to the slow production of Challenger, the Sherman Firefly (a Sherman tank fitted with the 17 pounder gun) conversion received official support. Until the Challenger was available one Firefly would be issued to each Cromwell troop (giving three Cromwells and one Sherman Firefly) but this was unstatisfactory due to the different maintenance requirements and associated supply complication of two tank models as well as the performance difference between Cromwell and Sherman.

A34

With the A34 (the General Staff specification), later named Comet, the tank designers opted to correct some of Cromwell flaws; the track shedding and broken suspension problems and enhance the Cromwell's main strengths, low height and high speed. Originally it had been expected that the tank would use a new gun from Vickers: the "High Velocity 75mm". As designed though the gun would not fit into the turret size available. So the gun was changed to a different gun, the "77mm HV". This gun used the same calibre (76.2 mm) projectile as the 17-pounder but the shell casing was from the older QF 3 inch 20 cwt gun loaded to higher pressures. The resulting round was completely different to 17-pounder ammunition. It had a lower muzzle velocity than the 17-pounder but the ammunition was much more compact and more easily stored and handled within the tank. This made it possible to mount the gun on a smaller turret ring; the Challenger turret had been so large to allow space for two loaders. Several other improvements were made on the Cromwell, armour protection was increased, the hull and turret were welded^[2] with a cast gun mantlet, ammunition was stored in armoured bins, the suspension was strengthened, return rollers were added and the turret was electrically traversed (a design feature taken from the earlier Churchill tank), with a generator powered by the main engine.

Armour on the Comet ranged from 32 mm to 74 mm on the hull, while the turret was from 57 to 102 mm.

The Comet tank's top speed was limited, from the Cromwell's 40+ mph to a slower but respectable 32 mph (51 km/h) to preserve suspension and engine components and to reduce track wear.

The prototype was ready in February 1944 and production models began to be delivered by September 1944. Intended to be in service by December 1944, crew training was delayed by the German Ardennes Offensive. By the end of the war, 1,200 had been produced.

Service history

Second World war

The 11th Armoured Division was the first to receive the new tanks in December 1944 and the only division to be completely refitted by the end of the war. Because of its late arrival, the Comet did not participate in any major battles though it did see combat against the Germans. The Comet was involved in the crossing of the Rhine and the later Berlin Victory Parade in July 1945. The Comet's maximum speed of 32 miles per hour was greatly exploited on the German Autobahns.

Cold War

During the following Korean War, the Comet served alongside the heavier Centurion, a successor tank introduced in the closing days of World War II on an experimental basis, but too late to see combat. The Centurion was formally adopted in 1949 and was partly based on the Comet's design. The Comet remained in British service until 1958, when the remaining tanks were sold to foreign governments; up until the 1980s, it could be found in the armies of various nations such as South Africa.

41 Comet Mk I Model Bs were also used by Finnish Defence Forces armoured brigade until 1970. The tanks were stored until 2007, when four of them were auctioned out.

Four Comets were delivered to the Irish Army in 1959 and a further four in 1960. Severe budget cutbacks were to severely harm the service lives of the Comets, as not enough spares were purchased. The Comet appealed to the Irish Army as it was cheap to buy and run, had low ground pressure, and good anti-tank capability. However, faulty fuzes meant the withdrawal of the HE ammunition, limiting the tank's role to an anti-tank vehicle. With stocks of 77 mm ammunition dwindling in 1969, the army began an experiment to prolong the life of the vehicle. It involved replacing the turret with an open mounting with a 90 mm Bofors Pv-1110 recoilless rifle. Lack of funds saw a cancellation of the project. The last 77 mm Comet shoot occurred in 1973 and the tanks were withdrawn soon afterwards. One is preserved in the Curragh Camp and two more survive in other barracks.

Operators

•  Cuba
•  Finland
•  Ireland
•  South Africa
•  United Kingdom
•  Myanmar

FV4401

The Comet was used as the basis for the experimental FV4401 Contentious, a self-propelled anti-tank gun mounting a 105mm L7 gun in an open mounting on the shortened hull of a Comet, and using the vehicle's hydraulic suspension system to adjust elevation, similar to the method used on the Swedish S-Tank. The vehicle was intended to be air transportable, but the design was cancelled with only one or two built.^[3]

Notes

1. ^ Finnish Defence Forces sale of used equipment
2. ^ some Cromwell production was welded
3. ^ http://arcaneafvs.com/fv4401contentious.html

References

• The Illustrated Directory of Tanks of the World: From World War I to the Present Day
• Tanks of World War II
• WWII Vehicles

External links

Tank portal

• Detailed Comet specifications and performance data
• Comet Walk Arounds on Prime Portal
• OnWar specifications
• Bolton IPMS (Comet pictures)
• Model Book British Cruiser Tank A34 Comet

v · d · e	British Commonwealth armoured fighting vehicles of World War II

British armoured fighting vehicle production during World War II