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The Centurion, introduced in 1945, was the primary British main battle tank of the post-World War II period. It is widely considered to be one of the most successful post-war tank designs,〔Robert Jackson, ("101 Great Tanks" ), Rosen Publishing Group, 2010〕〔Anthony Tucker-Jones, ("Armoured Warfare in the Korean War" ), Casemate Publishers, 2013, p. 61.〕〔Simon Dunstan, ("Centurion Universal Tank 1943-2003" ), Osprey Publishing, 2003, p. 3.〕〔J. H. Joiner, ("One More River To Cross" ), Pen and Sword, 1990〕〔Chris Bishop, ("The encyclopedia of modern military weapons" ), Barnes & Noble Books, 1999, p. 30.〕〔Carter Malkasian, ("The Korean War 1950-1953" ), Taylor & Francis, 2001, p. 52.〕 remaining in production into the 1960s, and seeing combat in the front lines into the 1980s. The chassis was also adapted for several other roles, and these have remained in service to this day. 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.〔Dunstan & Sarson, Centurion, p. 8〕 It first entered combat with the British Army in the Korean War in 1950, in support of the UN forces. The Centurion later served in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, where it fought against US-supplied M47 and M48 Patton tanks and it served with the Royal Australian Armoured Corps in Vietnam. Israel used Centurions in the 1967 Six Day War, 1973 Yom Kippur War, and during the 1978 and 1982 invasions of Lebanon. Centurions modified as armoured personnel carriers were used in Gaza, the West Bank and on the Lebanese border. The Royal Jordanian Land Force used Centurions, first in 1970 to fend off a Syrian incursion within its borders during the Black September events and later in the Golan Heights in 1973. South Africa deployed its Centurions in Angola during the South African Border War. It became one of the most widely used tank designs, equipping armies around the world, with some still in service until the 1990s. As recently as the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict the Israel Defense Forces employed heavily modified Centurions as armoured personnel carriers and combat engineering vehicles. The South African National Defence Force still employs over 200 Centurions, which were modernised in the 1980s and 2000s as the ''Olifant''. Between 1946 and 1962, 4,423 Centurions were produced,〔Dunstan & Sarson, Centurion, p. 22〕 consisting of 13 basic marks and numerous variants. In British Army use it was replaced by the Chieftain. ==Development== In 1943, the Directorate of Tank Design, under Sir Claude Gibb, C.B.E., F.R.S., was asked to produce a new design for a heavy cruiser tank under the General Staff designation A41. After a series of fairly mediocre designs in the A series in the past, and bearing in mind the threat posed by the German 88 mm gun, the War Office demanded a major revision of the design requirements, specifically: increased durability and reliability, the ability to withstand a direct hit from the German 88 mm gun and providing greater protection against mines, while remaining within a maximum weight of 40 tons. A high top speed was not important, while agility was to be equal to that of the Comet. A high reverse speed was also required. The department produced a larger hull by adapting the long-travel five-wheel suspension used on the Comet with the addition of a sixth wheel, and extending the spacing between the second and third wheels. The Christie suspension, with vertical spring coils between side armour plates, was replaced by a Horstmann suspension with three horizontally sprung, externally mounted two-wheel bogies on each side. The Horstmann design did not offer the same ride quality as the Christie system, but took up less room and was easier to maintain.〔Robert Bud and Philip Gummett (), "Cold War, Hot Science: Applied Research in Britain's Defence Laboratories", p. 142.〕 In case of damage by mines, individual suspension and wheel units could be replaced relatively easily. The hull was redesigned with welded, sloped armour and featured a partially cast turret with the highly regarded 17 pounder as the main gun and a 20 mm Polsten cannon in an independent mounting to its left. With a Rover-built Rolls-Royce Meteor engine, as used on the Comet and Cromwell, the new design would have excellent performance.〔 Shortly after the programme commenced, it became clear that the requirement to withstand 88 mm weapons would be impossible to meet within the permitted weight. The original specification had been set so that the A41 could be carried on the existing Mark I and Mark II transport trailers, which were limited to a 40-ton load. The War Ministry decided it would be wiser to build new trailers, rather than hamper what appeared to be a superb design. Even before prototypes of the original 40-ton design were completed, the design of a heavier version was well under way. The new version carried armour equal to the heaviest infantry tanks, while improved suspension and engines provided cross-country performance superior to even the early cruiser tanks. Fletcher states, "But was Centurion, after all, a Universal Tank? The answer has to be a qualified negative." The design mockup built by AEC Ltd was viewed in May 1944. Subsequently, 20 pilot models were ordered with various armament combinations: ten with a 17-pdr and a 20 mm Polsten gun (of which half had a Besa machine gun in the turret rear and half an escape door), five with a 17-pdr, a forward Besa and an escape door, and five with a QF 77 mm gun and a driver-operated hull machine gun.〔Norman p. 2〕 Prototypes of the original 40-ton design, the Centurion Mark I, had 76 mm of armour in the front glacis, which was thinner than that on the then current infantry tanks (the Churchill), which had 101 mm. However, the glacis plate was highly sloped, and so the effective thickness of the armour was very high—a design feature shared by other effective designs, such as the German Panther tank and Soviet T-34. The turret was well armoured at 152 mm. The tank was also highly mobile, and easily outperformed the Comet in most tests. The uparmoured Centurion Mark II soon arrived; it had a new 118 mm-thick glacis and the side and rear armour had been increased from 38 mm to 51 mm . Only a handful of Mk I Centurions had been produced when the Mk II replaced it on the production lines. Full production began in November 1945 with an order for 800〔Munro, Centurion, p. 40〕 on production lines at Leyland Motors, Lancashire the Royal Ordnance Factories at Leeds and Woolwich, and Vickers at Elswick. The tank entered service in December 1946 with the 5th Royal Tank Regiment.〔Munro, Centurion, p. 46〕 Soon after the Centurion's introduction, Royal Ordnance finished work on the Ordnance QF 20 pounder (84 mm)〔Starry, Mounted Combat in Vietnam, p. 113〕 tank gun. By this point, the usefulness of the 20 mm Polsten had been called into question, it being unnecessarily large for use against troops, so it was replaced with a Besa machine gun in a completely cast turret. The new Centurion Mark III also featured a fully automatic stabilisation system for the gun, allowing it to fire accurately while on the move, dramatically improving battlefield performance.〔("Big British Tank Aims on the Run." ) ''Popular Mechanics'', April 1952, pp. 142-143.〕 Production of the Mk 3 began in 1948.〔Munro, Centurion, p. 48〕 The Mk 3 was so much more powerful than the Mk 1 and Mk 2, that the earlier designs were removed from service as soon as new Mk 3s arrived, and the older tanks were then either converted into the Centurion Armoured Recovery Vehicle (ARV) Mark 1 for use by the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers or upgraded to Mk 3 standards. Improvements introduced with the Mk 3 included a more powerful version of the engine and a new gunsight and gun stabiliser.〔 The 20 pounder gun was used only for a short time before the Royal Ordnance Factories introduced the 105 mm L7 gun. All later variants of the Centurion, from Mark 5/2 on, used the L7.〔 Design work for the Mk 7 was completed in 1953, with production beginning soon afterwards.〔Munro, Centurion, p. 62〕 The Centurion was used as the basis for a range of specialist equipment, including combat engineering variants with a 165 mm demolition gun Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE). It is one of the longest-serving designs of all time, serving as a battle tank for the British and Australian armies from the Korean War (1950–1953) to the Vietnam War (1961–1972), and as an AVRE during the Gulf War in January–February 1991. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Centurion tank」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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