Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
U.S. also supplied 17,184 Sherman tanks to Great Britain
It would take considerable time for Rover to make ready production lines for the Meteor, and it was not until a few months later, in January 1943, that sufficient Meteor engines were available and the A27M Cromwell began production. The Centaur production design allowed for the later conversion to the Meteor engine and many Centaurs would be converted to Cromwells before use.
The allies had several hundred LCT's that could haul up to 3- 50 ton tanks.
How much does Ceturion Weigh ? 50-60 tons ?
And then there's LST's, but you wouldn't risk them in the early part of a beach assault.
Yes, my brother has hearing difficulties due to Centurion/Chieftan driving. Ear defence was seen as non-macho in those days.A neighbour of mine was a Cent driver - and as you said Shortround - short and stocky, now partially deaf as well. Don't know if the latter is due to his service or not - but suspect it must have been a factor?
Could WWII era tank landing craft carry a tank as heavy as the Centurion? I suspect not. However the Centurion would have been very useful for post D-Day offensives such as Operation Goodwood.
I have read from Wiki that the Soviets sent a T34 to the Aberdeen testing grounds for evaluation. This was probably a bit late to affect tank designs before D Day?
If the Soviets had maybe shared their prototype T34 from early 1940, the US and UK may well have been able to produce a better medium tank ready for D Day?
Well if we could have a choice, a Centurion available for D Day would have been a real boost!
I appreciate that the philosophy for D Day was get as many tanks as possible landed - makes a lot of sense and hence the emphasis on the Sherman getting priority over new possible designs.
350hp engine which powered Churchill tank would work until a more powerful engine becomes available.
I think this is the real reason.
M4 Sherman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lend Lease shipments of Sherman tank removed British incentive to build similiar size Comet tank. I'm surprised the project wasn't cancelled entirely. Then British tank development could concentrate entirely on the more advanced Centurion design, giving Britain a weapon which could compete with German Panther and Soviet T-44 (which became post-war T-54).