Upon completion and initial testing, the pilot vehicle was handed over to British military authorities in 1926 for formal evaluations. However, the project's death proved swift amidst rising costs and shrinking development budgets. As such, only the single prototype vehicle would ever be completed. It was never to see saw combat service despite the onset of another World War in Europe.
The story of the Independent did not end there, however, for the design was reportedly stolen by the Soviets which reconstituted the vehicle as their own T-28 medium tank (503 produced) and the later T-35 heavy system (61 produced). Unlike the British design, these two Soviet designs actually saw combat service heading into World War 2 (1939-1945). Additionally, British Army officer Norman Baillie-Stewart was imprisoned for five years after being convicted of selling the Independent plans to Britain's future enemy - Germany. This would explain the arrival of the 26-ton, multi-turreted Neubaufahrzeug heavy tank appearing across five examples from 1934 to 1936. However, these vehicles served more as propaganda tools for the emerging Nazi government though a few were fielded through active service during the Norway campaign of 1940.
The concept of the multi-turreted tank was eventually proven unsound, particularly in the armored warfare actions prior to, and during, World War 2. The single-turreted tank remained the undisputed king of the battlefield and was personified in such classic instances as the German Panzer types, the Soviet T-34 and American M4 Sherman. The multi-turret concept never arose as a viable battlefield implement ever again.
The sole Independent pilot vehicle completed actually survived the test of time (and the fighting of World War 2 as well as the Cold War decades) and remains a protected museum showpiece under the roof of the Bovington Tank Museum in southwest U.K. today. Physically seeing the vehicle, one immediately appreciates the size of the monstrous creation - a product of its unsettled times and, in several ways, a very influential tank design in its own right.
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