The Centurion Sho't of Israel
The Israelis designated their Centurions as the Sho't. This included the Sho't Meteor to signify this Mk V's use of the original Rolls-Royce Meteor engine and several modernization attempts that spawned the Sho't Hal Alef, Bet, Gimel and Dalet. The Nagmashot, Nagmachon and Nakpadon were armored personnel carrier conversions of the base main battle tanks. The Puma designated combat engineering vehicles while the Eshel ha-Yarden was a proposed Centurion development fitting 4 x 290mm launch tubes for battlefield rockets.
Swedish Centurions
The Swedish Army operated the Centurion under its own in-house designations as the Stridsvagen 81, 101, 101R, 102, 102R, 104, 105 and 106. The Bargningsbandvagn 81 was the armored recovery vehicle.
Centurion: Ultimate War Tank
The Centurion series went on to become one of the most successful Cold War tank designs in the history. British allies were quick to take the excellent post-war tank into their inventories and the tank - once in action - did not disappoint. The British Army themselves fielded their Centurions for the first time in the Korean War (1950-1953) in support of UN actions against the communist North Korean invasion into the South and against subsequent Chinese involvement in the theater. The Centurion saw further deployment in the Suez Crisis of 1956, the Indo-Pak War of 1965 (with the Indian Army), the Six Day War fighting for both Israel and Jordan, the Liberation War of Bangladesh of 1972 (with the Indian Army), the Yom Kippur War for both Israel and Jordan, the Vietnam War with the Australian Army, in the Angolan Civil War (South African Army), Operation Motorman (British Army anti-IRA operations in Northern Ireland), the Falklands War of 1982 (single BARV example only) and in the 1991 Gulf War during Operation Desert Storm (AVREs with the British Army).
British Centurions in the Korean War
After North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950, beginning the three-year long Korean War on the Korean Peninsula, the Centurion was called into play with the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars of the British Army fighting under a coalition UN force. While the air war was of particular historical note - it featured the first aerial combat between jet fighters - the war would still be hard fought on the ground across unforgiving terrain and environments. Three Centurion squadrons arrived at Pusan and were forced to operate in the Korean temperature extremes - particularly the cold, frozen winters that created havoc on most any mechanical device. At least five Centurion tanks were lost in the retreat of friendly forces during the Battle of Imjin River but the tanks proved critical in providing cover for friendlies. By the time the UN had recovered from the North's invasion and pushed back across the 38th Parallel, the Centurion was put up against the Chinese who had become involved on the side of the beaten North. In either case, the Centurion left a positive and lasting impression of her first true combat involvement and made a name for herself for decades to come as a proven, go-anywhere main battle tank system in the new age of modern warfare.
Australians, Centurions and the Vietnam War
During the Vietnam War, the Centurion was called into combat but this time with the Royal Australian Armored Corps. After their American-made M113s failed to do much in the thick Vietnamese jungles, the Australian government committed their powerful Centurion tanks into the fray. Centurion tanks with their 84mm main guns arrived in the region in February of 1968. After some practice, the side armor skirts were removed to prevent the buildup of torn vegetation and mud on the tank tires. External fuel stores were also added to help increase cross-country operational distances. Success found Centurion crews once more as Australian combined actions with supporting infantry netted at least 265 enemy deaths as well as the capture of hundreds of enemy weapons while covering firebase Coral and Balmoral. In all, some 58 total Centurion tanks participated in the counter-communist actions during the conflict.
Israeli Centurions as the Sho't - Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War
Israel received outdated Centurions in a package deal with Britain to help fund the development of the new and upcoming Chieftain main battle tank. The Centurion was relabeled as the Sho't in Israeli Army service and nearly 385 tanks were in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) stable at the outbreak of the Six Day War of 1967 against Arab states. Similarly, Jordan was fielding the British Centurion tank against Israel in same conflict but lost 30 of these (out of 44) to the IDF during combat - further increasing the Centurion count in the IDF inventory.
The Sho't was forced back into action at the beginning of the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Despite facing a Syrian armored force numbering some 500 tanks (made up primarily of Soviet T-55 and T-62 systems), less than 100 Sho't tanks succeeded in turning the tables on the Arabs once again, this through superior tactics and training and forever solidifying the expertise of the Israelis in modern mechanized ground warfare. Israeli Sho'ts earned their keep after the Battle of the Valley of Tears in the Golan Heights. The Israeli Army also took the design a step further and modified Centurion hulls to become specialized armored personnel carriers which served actively as recently as 2006.
Last Centurion Actions - Operation Desert Storm
The last notable use of the Centurion was in its armored engineer form during Operation Desert Storm in early 1991 with British Army forces.
End of the Road
In Australian, Canadian, Danish and Dutch army service, the Centurion was replaced by the Leopard 1 tank from Germany. Austria set their outdated Centurions as defensive fixed gun emplacements. Egypt took on deliveries of newer American M60 Pattons and (later) M1 Abrams as well as Soviet T-55s and T-62s to replace their outdated Centurions. India, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, New Zealand all retired their World War 2-era Centurions with other comparable modern types. In Swiss Army service, the tank was eventually given up for good for the newer German Leopard 2 series. In British Army service, the Centurion eventually gave way to the aforementioned Chieftain main battle tank.
Centurion Production
Production of all Centurion marks ended by 1962 to which some 4,423 example had been delivered. In all, manufacturing was tackled by Leyland Motors out of Leyland, the Royal Ordnance Factory of Leeds, Vickers of Elswick and the Royal Ordnance Factory of Woolwich - all based in the United Kingdom.
Centurion Tank Walk-Around
If taking the Centurion Mk III as our focus, the type weighed in at 52 tons, notably well above the original 40-ton specification. She maintained a running length of 25 feet with a width of just over 11 feet and a height of 9 feet, 10.5 inches. The tank was crewed by a standard grouping of four personnel made up of the driver, commander, gunner and loader. Main armament was supplied by the 105mm L7 rifled main gun which proved a drastic upgrade over the original's 17-pounder (76.2mm) mounting (and later, the 20-pounder/84mm). Self-defense was supplied via a coaxially-mounted Browning 7.62mm machine gun for anti-infantry duties where the main gun could be considered "overkill". Power was supplied by a Rolls-Royce Meteor Mk IVB 12-cylidner, liquid-cooled gasoline engine of 650 horsepower at 2,550rpm. The engine exhausted through a pair of exhaust systems mounted to each side of the engine compartment roof. Both the engine and transmission system were fitted to the rear of the vehicle. This supplied the chassis with a maximum speed of 21 miles per hour and an operational range within 280 miles.
Design of the Centurion yielded a rather modern appearance in comparison to other previous British World War 2 tank design attempts even the late-war Comet cruiser tank). The design was characterized by its six large road wheels to a track side. The idler was fitted to the front of the hull with the drive sprocket to the rear. Track return rollers were present. The track sides were most often covered over in side skirting armor. The hull featured no superstructure and made use of a low profile with a sloped glacis plate and slightly raised engine compartment. The turret was fitted to the middle of the hull roof and sported sloping armor for inherent ballistics protection. 2 x 6 smoke grenade dischargers were mounted to the turret front sides for self-defense as were external stowage boxes. A large stowage box was identifiable at the turret rear face as well. The driver maintained a position in the front right of the hull with a personal hatch for entry/exit. The commander sat under a cupola access fitting on the turret right side roof. The lower left side face of the turret featured a circular hatch to accept additional projectiles by the loader from a nearby ammunition carrier. Overall, armor protection for the crew and critical systems totaled 6 inches (about 150mm) at its thickest levels.
Centurion Tank Armament
The main gun extended out over the hull front and was protected with a thick armored mantlet, the gun mounting its own non-centric fume extractor and - more often fitted than not - a thermal sleeve. The main gun featured an elevation of -10 to +20 degrees with a fully traversing, 360-degree turret design. The weapon was designed to fire a variety of ready-to-fire projectiles that included APFSDS (Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot), APDS (Armor-Piercing Discarding Sabot), HESH (High-Explosive Squash Head) and standard smoke rounds. Beyond the 7.62mm coaxial machine gun fitting, future Centurions also made good on mounting trainable 7.62mm machine guns at the commander and loader hatches for improved anti-infantry and anti-aircraft defense to which one of these could also be changed out to a 12.7 heavy machine gun type. 64 x 105mm projectiles were carried aboard for the main gun as were up to 600 x 12.7mm ammunition for the heavy machine gun when equipped. The 7.62mm machine gun was afforded up to 4,750 x 7.62mm rounds of ammunition.
The Centurion Tank Today
As it stands, the Centurion still maintains a presence (albeit limited) in the modern world. Her derivatives are still in play which promote the original Centurion hull as a superior and successful design. Service of all systems utilizing the Centurion hull essentially ran from 1945 to about the 1990s, covering over 60 years of faithful service and clearly marking her as one of the best of her time.
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