page_title: British heavy tanks of World War I
section_title: Mark I
hierarchical_section_title: British heavy tanks of World War I / Variants / Mark I
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Een Mark I Tank in Thetford in de camouflage van Solomon English: Mark I series tank and crewman at Thetford in "Solomon" camouflage
context_page_description: British heavy tanks were a series of related armoured fighting vehicles developed by the UK during the First World War.
  The Mark I was the world's first tank, a tracked, armed, and armoured vehicle, to enter combat. The name "tank" was initially a code name to maintain secrecy and disguise its true purpose by making it appear to be a water transport vehicle for bringing water to the troops at the front line. The type was developed in 1915 to break the stalemate of trench warfare. It could survive the machine gun and small-arms fire in "No Man's Land", travel over difficult terrain, crush barbed wire, and cross trenches to assault fortified enemy positions with powerful armament. Tanks also carried supplies and troops.
  British heavy tanks are distinguished by an unusual rhomboidal shape with a high climbing face of the track, designed to cross the wide and deep trenches prevalent on the battlefields of the Western Front. Due to the height necessary for this shape, an armed turret would have made the vehicle too tall and unstable. Instead, the main armament was arranged in sponsons at the side of the vehicle.
context_section_description: Crew: 8
  Combat Weight
  Male: 28 tons (28.4 tonnes)
  Female: 27 tons (27.5 tonnes)
  Armour: 0.23–0.47 in (6–12 mm)
  Armament
  Male: two 6-pounder QF, three Hotchkiss Machine Guns
  Female: four 0.303 in Vickers Machine Guns, one Hotchkiss Machine Gun
  The Gun Carrier Mark I was a separate design, intended to carry a field gun or howitzer that could be fired from the vehicle. In service, it was mostly used for carrying supplies and ammunition. Forty-eight of them were built.
  Initial production of the Mark I was to be by Fosters and Metropolitan: 25 from Fosters and 75 from Metropolitan, which had greater capacity in Wednesbury at the Old Park site of the Patent Shaft Company, a subsidiary of the Metropolitan. Metropolitan also received an order for a further 50 so that the Army would be able to raise six tank companies of 25 tanks each and set up further production under their Oldbury Wagon and Carriage Company. As there were not enough 6-pounder guns available for all 150 tanks, it was decided to equip half of them with just machine guns. A new sponson design with two Vickers machine guns in rotating shields was produced.
  Later in the war when newer tanks came into use some Mark Is were converted to be used for carrying supplies. A few Female Mark Is were used as mobile wireless stations by installation of a wireless transmitter. The radio could only be operated once the tank had stopped and erected a very tall mast that carried the aerial array.
caption: British Mark I tank with the Solomon camouflage scheme
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