A-13 (tank)

Last updated March 05, 2019

The A-13 was a specification of British Cruiser tanks produced by the General Staff Directorate of Tank Design before and during the Second World War.

Cruiser tank British tank concept of the inter-war period

The cruiser tank was a British tank concept of the interwar period for tanks designed to function as modernised armoured and mechanised cavalry. Cruiser tanks were developed after the Royal Armoured Corps were not satisfied with many of the medium tank designs of the 1930s. The cruiser tank concept was conceived by Giffard Le Quesne Martel, who preferred many small light tanks to swarm the enemy, instead of a few expensive medium tanks. There were two main types of cruiser tanks: "light" cruiser tanks and "heavy" cruiser tanks. "Light" cruiser tanks were lightly armoured and relatively fast, while "heavy" cruiser tanks were more heavily armoured and slightly slower than "light" cruiser tanks.

The A13 specification was produced prior to the second world war, calling for the development of a new cruiser tank. This was the first specification of British cruiser tank to be based on the Christie suspension design.

The Christie suspension is a suspension system developed by American engineer J. Walter Christie for his tank designs. It allowed considerably longer movement than conventional leaf spring systems then in common use, which allowed his tanks to have considerably greater cross-country speed. The system was first introduced on his M1928 design, and used on all of his designs until his death in 1944.

The specification was revised over time, and lead to the development of three different vehicles:

A13 Mark I produced the Cruiser Mk III based on the original specification;
A13 Mark II produced the Cruiser Mk IV a revision based on up-armouring of the original specification;
A13 Mark III produced the Covenanter tank based on the final version, a complete reworking of the specification.

The Tank, Cruiser, Mk III, also known by its General Staff specification number A13 Mark I, was a British cruiser tank of the Second World War. It was the first British cruiser tank to use the Christie suspension system, which gave higher speeds and better cross-country performance; previous cruiser tank models had used triple wheeled bogie suspension.

The Cruiser Tank Mk IV was a British cruiser tank of the Second World War. It followed directly on from the Tank, Cruiser, Mk III. The first Mk IVs were Mk IIIs with extra armour fitted to the turret. Later Mk IVAs were built with the complete extra armour. The tank was used in France in 1940 and in the early part of the war in North Africa, before being withdrawn from service. In total, 955 of these tanks were built.

The Cruiser tank Mk V or A13 Mk III Covenanter was a British cruiser tank of the Second World War. The Covenanter was the first cruiser tank design to be given a name. Designed by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway as a better-armoured replacement for the Cruiser Mark IV, it was ordered into production in 1939 before pilot models were built. Problems with the design became apparent only after production was under way.

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