Covenanter tank

Covenanter tank. The Tank, Cruiser, Mk V, Covenanter (A13 Mk III) was a British cruiser tank developed during the early years of the Second World War. Designed to meet a War Office specification for a faster, lighter cruiser, it entered production in 1940 but was plagued by severe mechanical unreliability, particularly with its cooling system. As a result, despite being produced in large numbers, it was never deployed in combat and was used primarily for training within the United Kingdom and in home defence roles.

Development and design

The Covenanter emerged from the War Office's 1939 specification A16 for a new cruiser tank to succeed the Cruiser Mk IV. The design contract was awarded to the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), which produced a vehicle with a notably low profile to reduce its silhouette. It utilized the Meadows DAV flat-12 engine and an innovative Wilson epicyclic pre-selector gearbox, mounted alongside the driver in the front hull. The tank retained the standard armament of the period, the QF 2-pounder gun, in a fully rotating turret, co-axially mounted with a Besa machine gun. Its armour protection, ranging from 7 to 40 mm, was considered adequate against contemporary anti-tank rifles and light cannon. However, the compact layout, dictated by the low silhouette, led to an extremely cramped fighting compartment and, most critically, an inadequate cooling system for the engine, a flaw that would prove fundamental to its failure.

Production and variants

Production of the Covenanter was undertaken from 1940 to 1943 by a consortium of manufacturers including London Midland and Scottish Railway, English Electric, and Leyland Motors, with a total of 1,771 units built. Several marks were produced in an attempt to rectify its persistent overheating issues. The initial Covenanter I was followed by the Covenanter II, which introduced an improved engine cooling system and an external oil cooler. The Covenanter III had a redesigned radiator system, while the Covenanter IV combined the improvements of the II and III. Specialized variants were also developed, including the Covenanter CS (Close Support) armed with a 3-inch howitzer, the Covenanter Bridgelayer equipped with a Scissors bridge, and the Covenanter OP (Observation Post) and Command tanks used by Royal Artillery and headquarters units. Despite these modifications, the core cooling problem was never fully resolved.

Operational history

The Covenanter's operational history was one of profound disappointment. Its chronic mechanical unreliability, especially the persistent engine overheating, rendered it unfit for frontline combat service overseas. Consequently, not a single Covenanter was deployed to theatres such as the Western Desert Campaign or the Italian Campaign. Its entire service was confined to the United Kingdom, where it was issued to various British Army armoured units for training purposes. Many were held in reserve with the Home Forces and formed part of the mobile defence preparations against a potential German invasion. Some were later used as hard targets for gunnery practice. Its failure accelerated the development and fielding of its more successful contemporary, the Crusader tank, and its ultimate replacement, the Cromwell tank.

Operators

The sole operator of the Covenanter was the British Army. No Covenanter tanks were supplied to other Allied nations under programmes like Lend-Lease, unlike other British designs such as the Valentine tank or the Matilda II. Within the British Army, it was used by numerous training regiments and home defence formations, including elements of the Royal Armoured Corps and the Guards Armoured Division during their early training phases.

Surviving vehicles

Very few Covenanter tanks survive today, a reflection of their extensive use as target practice and general scrap after the war. One of the most complete survivors is a Covenanter III on display at the The Tank Museum in Bovington Camp, Dorset. This vehicle was restored to running condition in the 1990s. Other partial hulls and wrecks are known to exist in various states of disrepair, often recovered from former military ranges, such as those on Salisbury Plain. These remains are primarily held by private collectors and specialist vehicle restoration groups.

Category:Tanks of the United Kingdom Category:World War II tanks of the United Kingdom Category:Cruiser tanks