page_title: British heavy tanks of World War I
section_title: Mark VIII
hierarchical_section_title: British heavy tanks of World War I / Variants / Mark VIII
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: When Stern was removed from his post following disagreements with the War Office, he was sidelined by appointment to a new department to work on a cooperative design between the Allies – assembly in France, hulls, guns and their ammunition from the UK and other components (principally the engines) from the USA.
  American involvement in the development of the tank design led to the Mark VIII, also known as "Liberty" or Anglo-American tank (though initially the French were partially involved).
  The engine was compartmentalised from the crew, and the cupola structure included forward and rear firing machine guns. Of a planned (shared production) of 1,500 each, a single British prototype was finished by the end of the war. The British built just 24, the Americans completed 100 between September 1918 and 1920, at the Rock Island Arsenal, at a cost of $35,000 [£8,750] apiece ($430,000 [£226,000] in 2006). About 40 hulls for the U.S Liberty were produced by the Manchester Tank Syndicate, 11 British Type Mark VIII by the North British Locomotive Co.
  They were used and upgraded until the 1930s, when they were given to Canada for training; some M1917s were sold to the Canadians at nominal scrap value. The tank itself was over 34 feet (10 m) long, and there had been an even longer 44-foot (13 m) version planned but never made (the Mark VIII*). The tank was outdated by the 1930s due to its speed (under 6 mph/10 km/h) and armour (16–6 mm), but it did have one of the longest independent trench crossing capabilities of any armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) ever made. Modern main battle tanks and AFVs rely on bridge laying tanks for crossing large deep trenches.
  Crew: 12 (later 10)
  Weight 37 tons (37.6 tonnes)
  Length/Height/Width : 34 ft 2 in by 10 ft 3 in by 12 ft 4 in (10.4 m by 3.1 m by 3.8 m) (Mark VIII* length 44 ft/13.4 m)
  Engine: Ricardo 330 hp (250 kW) petrol (UK), Liberty V12 300 hp (220 kW) (U.S.).
caption: The Allied Mark VIII (Liberty) tank
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