page_title: Cruiser tank
section_title: Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: Cruiser tank / History / Second World War
caption_attribution_description: A Crusader II tank in the Western Desert
context_page_description: The cruiser tank was a British tank concept of the interwar period for tanks designed as modernised armoured and mechanised cavalry, as distinguished from infantry tanks. Cruiser tanks were developed after medium tank designs of the 1930s failed to satisfy the Royal Armoured Corps. The cruiser tank concept was conceived by Giffard Le Quesne Martel, who preferred many small light tanks to swarm an opponent, instead of a few expensive and unsatisfactory medium tanks. "Light" cruiser tanks carried less armour and were correspondingly faster, whilst "heavy" cruiser tanks had more armour and were slightly slower.
  The British cruiser tank series started in 1938 with the A9 and A10 cruiser tanks, followed by the A13, A13 Mark II, the A13 Mark III Covenanter in 1940 and the A15 Crusader which entered service in 1941. The Crusader was superseded by the A27 Cromwell in 1944. The A34 Comet, a better-armed development of Cromwell, began to enter service in late 1944. The Centurion tank of 1946 became the "Universal tank" of the United Kingdom, transcending the cruiser and infantry tank roles and becoming one of the first main battle tanks.
context_section_description: The Tank, Cruiser, Mk VI, called Crusader, was used in large numbers in the Western Desert Campaign. The contemporary Covenanter was unreliable and was retained in the UK for training use. The Cavalier, Centaur and Cromwell tanks were the planned successors to the Covenanter and Crusader. Intended to be in production by 1942, the project was delayed and the Crusader was up-gunned as an interim measure with the Mk.III 6-pounder gun; the Cavalier was a development of Crusader. Centaur and Cromwell tanks were an alternative design using the Cavalier engine and the new Rolls-Royce Meteor respectively - the three vehicles were all similar in appearance. Orders for the Cavalier were cutback while the similarity between Centaur and Cromwell meant some Centaurs were finished as Cromwells. Cavalier was used for training while Centaur and Cromwell went into action at the Invasion of Normandy.  The Comet entered service in North West Europe in 1945 but neither Cromwell nor Comet were in sufficient numbers to replace American tanks n the British Army.
  During the war, the development of much more powerful engines and better suspension enabled cruiser tanks to increase in size, armour, and firepower while retaining their speed and mobility.  With "cruiser" tanks now nearly-equal in armour to the heavier, slower infantry tanks, the concept of cruiser vs. infantry tank became obsolete. The Centurion tank was designed to satisfy the "Heavy Cruiser" criterion, by combining the mobility of a cruiser tank and armour of an Infantry tank in one chassis, which evolved into the "Universal tank" concept. The Centurion transcended its cruiser tank origins and became the first modern British main battle tank.
caption: 2-pounder armed Crusader in the desert.
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