Mark VIII (tank)
| Mark VIII | |
|---|---|
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| General properties | |
| crew | 10 - 12 |
| length | 10.40 m |
| width | 3.81 m |
| height | 3.12 m |
| Dimensions | 37.6 - 44.7 t |
| Armor and armament | |
| Armor | 6 - 16 mm |
| Main armament | 2 × 6pdr QF cannons (57 mm / L23, 208 rounds of ammunition supply) |
| Secondary armament | 5 Hotchkiss or 7 × Browning machine guns 7.92 mm |
| agility | |
| drive | Liberty V 12 water-cooled aircraft engine (US version),
Rolls-Royce (1st UK version), two 150 PS Ricardo engines (2nd UK version) |
| Top speed | 10.4 km / h |
| Power / weight | 6.0 kW / t (8.1 HP / t) |
| Range | 80 km |
The Mark VIII is a heavy tank of the First World War . It was also known as the Liberty Tank .
history
In 1916, US General John Pershing ordered the establishment of a first tank unit for the US Army , and thus the establishment of the US tank weapon . Major James Drain was entrusted with the execution of this order, and for this purpose he contacted Lieutenant Colonel Albert Stern, head of the Royal Naval Landship Committee, in London. Initially, an order for 600 Mark VIs was placed, but in September 1917, on the recommendation of Major Drain, it was changed to the Mark VIII, which was then in the development phase. On November 11, 1917, the then British Minister of Munitions, Winston Churchill, was presented with a draft treaty which provided for the British and American options to be taken into account when building this new tank. This contract stipulated that the British would deliver the armored hull with the drive and the Americans would deliver the engine and gearbox. The assembly was to take place in a factory to be built by Great Britain in France under French control. This factory should produce around 300 vehicles per month. After Churchill had agreed to this contract in December, the Mechanical Warfare Supply Department of the US Defense Department under the project leadership of Lieutenant GJ Rackham was commissioned with the design work. On December 4, 1917, the first meeting of the Allied Tank Commission took place, at which, among other things, it was decided to increase production of the Mark VIII from the originally planned 300 units to 1200 units per month.
Due to the German March offensive in 1918 and the associated huge losses of British material (the lost gun material, for example, had to be replaced as a matter of priority), the production of the tank did not get underway. There were also serious errors in the logistics of the US engine production, which initially made it impossible to manufacture the required number of engines. After the end of the war in November 1918, France immediately withdrew from the project, of which only parts for 100 vehicles were in England and the USA had in the meantime produced around 1,400 engines. In the UK only 7 vehicles were completed. The plan was to build a total of 2950 vehicles that would spearhead the breakthrough battles planned for 1919. In all likelihood, they would have fully met these requirements.
In 1919 the US bought the unfinished tank hulls from Great Britain and produced 100 vehicles in the Rock Island Arsenal, with which the 67th Tank Regiment was then equipped. The vehicles remained in service until 1932 and were then mothballed. In 1940 about 90 pieces were sold at scrap price to Canada, where they were used up for training purposes.
One device is now in the Royal Armored Corps Tank Museum in Bovington Camp, Wareham, Dorset , and another in Fort Meade , Maryland .
description
The nightmare of the wide battle trenches prompted the designers to provide for ever greater trench crossing capabilities. Again with the Mark VIII a vehicle with the characteristic rhomboid shape was developed. The hull was riveted from tempered steel plates, and for the first time the engine compartment was separated from the fighting compartment by a bulkhead. Improved ventilation resulted in overpressure in the fighting compartment, which greatly improved the air quality, as the haze and exhaust gases could now be kept out of the engine compartment. Since a mechanic still had to do his job in the engine compartment, he was the only one who had no part in this improvement. The transmission control developed by Major WG Wilson ensured that the power of the motor was distributed to the drive wheels as needed when steering movements, instead of simply braking them as before. The engine cooling was not fully developed, so that the top speed could not be maintained for a longer period of time. It was not until 1929 that efforts were made to improve engine cooling . The tank had two bay windows that were equipped with cannons . These oriels should be moved inwards during transport by train to reduce the width of the vehicle. In addition to the two cannons, there were five to seven machine gun positions with spherical shutters.
| Mark VIII | |
| Supplementary data | |
| First use | 1919 |
| Climbing ability | 1.30 m |
| Trench crossing ability | 4.30 m |
| Climbing ability | k. A. |
User states
Trivia
In the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade , a replica of a Mark VIII can be seen built from a crawler excavator. In the film, a turret with a gun was added to the tank. The original never had this.
