Hi Guys,
Sorry but this has become a long long post.........
The Centurian in WW2 ?? !!.......I have never heard of that ......as far as I knew it was too late to fight....
Wikipedia says this..
The Centurion, introduced in 1945, was the primary British main battle tank of the post-World War II period. It was a successful tank design, with upgrades, for many decades. The chassis was also adapted for several other roles.
Development of the tank began in 1943 and manufacture of the Centurion began in January 1945,
six prototypes arriving in Belgium less than a month after the war in Europe ended in May 1945.[1]
It first entered combat with British forces in the Korean War in 1950, in support of the UN forces.
The 1. after the quote about the centurian arriving AFTER the end of the European war is from a book.....by.... Dunstan & Sarson, Centurion, p. 8
Then other sites that I found say the same thing......it missed WW2...In Europe and was not sent to the East so it did not fight in WW2
The Centurion first saw action during the Korean War with the British Army.
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/we ... urion.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
the Centurion just failed to see action in WW2. It saw action first time in Korea
http://centuriontank.tripod.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In 1943, after a succession of unfortunate tank designs the British War Office commissioned a new specification calling for a tank with durability, reliability, a weight of 40 tons and the ability to withstand a direct hit from the German 88mm gun. Six prototypes were developed before the end of World War 2, but arrived to late to take part in the war on German soil.
http://www.lancers.org.au/site/Centurion_Tank.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Please corect me if I am wrong but I cannot find a site that says that it made it in time..........
Centurian statistics.....are interesting.....compared to the King Tiger.......
Initially armed with the 17 pounder ( then later the 20 pounder which I guess is the famous 105mm gun )
crew: 4 Length: (hull) 7.8 m (gun forward) 9.85 m, Width: (including skirts) 3.39 m. Height: 3 m . Weight: 51.8 Tonnes: Max Armour thickness 152 mm (Glacis Plate).
Power-plant: Main engine - Rolls Royce Meteor Mk IVB 12 cylinder liquid cooled, petrol engine, developing 650 bhp at 2,550 rpm. Power/weight ratio 13 bhp/ton
Performance: Speed 34.6 kph. Range 190 Km.
Crew 5 Length (Hull)6.4 metres 10.286 metres with gun forward , Width 3.755 metres, Height 3.09 metres Weight 68.5 tonnes Max Armour 180 mm 150mm Glasis
Power plant V-12 Maybach HL 230 P30 gasoline 700 PS (690 hp, 515 kW) Power to weight ratio 8.97 hp/ton)
Performance :- Speed Maximum, road: 41.5 km/h Range Road: 170 km cross country 120 km
88mm Gun against German armour ( However, the German test plates were of
a much better quality than what could normally be expected, and thus the actual results would usually be better than those of the tests. In addition, it should be considered that the German tests were conducted at a 30° angle )
http://www.panzerworld.net/armourpenetration" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
8,8 cm Kw.K.43 L/71
.............................................
100m...... 500m....... 1000m..... 1500m...... 2000m
Pzgr.39-1 ... 10.2 kg ... 1,000 m/s ... 202 mm... 185 mm.... 165 mm... 148 mm... 132 mm
Pzgr.40/43... 7.3 kg... 1,130 m/s .... 237 mm ... 217 mm ... 193 mm... 170 mm... 152 mm
So with the Pzgr.40/43 round against the 150mm Glasis plate of the Centurian it is probably dead from say 1500m...... or 2000m if it got to a point to reduce the centurions glasis angle to 30 degrees
The 17-pounder used two types of anti-tank ammunition. APCBC (Armour Piercing, Capped, Ballistic Capped) and against armour also at 30 degrees acheived these results
........................
457m... 914m... 1371m... 1828m
APCBC... .............140mm... 131mm... 120mm... 111mm
APDS.................. 208mm... 192mm... 176mm... 161mm...
BUT...However, APDS was much less accurate than APCBC ammunition, and did not do nearly as much damage to an enemy tank if it did penetrate. APCBC ammunition was standard; APDS shot was used for about 6% of the average loadout of a 17-pdr equipped British tank.
So with the 17 pounder APDS round 6% of the ammo and a similar reduction in the King Tigers Glasis to 30 degrees it could kill a King Tiger at 1828m...
IF it could hit it bearing in mind the inaccuracy mentioned of the round.
SO the result is the King Tiger is Under Powered but faster once it gets up and running....other than that the 2 are well matched.......The Germans just produced it 2 years earlier with the first King Tiger being produced in 1943 ( Just
)
..................The only odd point on the 17 pounder armour penetration capabilities......is that there are plenty of photographs showing HITS to the King Tigers Glasis plate and obviously some were used as target practice on the Western front, with the photographs being noted accordingly....BUT...there is No account mentioning a frontal penetration. If fact quite the reverse is true with it being categorically stated that the Frontal Armour was NEVER penetrated.
The Centurian DID go on to become a first class fighting tank that was used by the British and successfully sold to a wide variety of countries....as the King Tiger would have undoubtedly been had the 'Outcome' gone the opposite way