Cruiser Mk VIII (Centaur III) General Details Specifications Manufacture Date(s) 1943 Quantity Produced 0 Weight unknown Crew 5 M.G's small 1 M.G's large(>10mm) 0 Length 6.40 mtr Width 2.92 mtr Height 2.49 mtr Engine Details/Performance Max Road Speed 27 mph Max Cross Country Speed 14 mph Range Road 165 miles Range Cross Country 0 miles Fuel Type Unknown Fuel Capacity 0 gal Horse Power 395 hp Power/Weight unknown General Information The Centaur tank was designed as a heavy cruiser tank that could rapidly move and provide good A/T performance, in appearance it looked like the Cavalier. The vehicle was designed for the Rolls Royce Meteor engine producing 600hp, but until this became available in the Cromwell the Centaur had a Liberty engine of 395hp driving the tracks, towards the main front idler over the 5 large road wheels, round the idler and back under the roadwheels in the standard Christie style. The Centaur III was armed with the 75mm gun and many were converted to Cromwells with the upgrade to the Meteor engine. Armour Details Turret Front 76mm@0°(76mm) Side 63mm@0°(63mm) Rear 57mm@0°(57mm) Top 20mm@81°(20 mm) Superstructure Front 63mm@0°(63mm) Side 32mm@0°(32mm) Rear 32mm@0°(32mm) Top 20mm@90°(20 mm) Hull Front 57mm@0°(57mm) Side 32mm@0°(32mm) Rear 32mm@0°(32mm) Top 20mm@90°(20 mm) Armour (x)mm @ (y)° (Effective mm @ 0°) Effective Armour - Maximum 76 mm - Minimum 20 mm Weapon Details Ordnance Q.F. 75mm History This was a temporary fix to the problem of 6pdr guns not having a powerful enough HE shell. It was created by boring out the British 57mm 6pdr to take the American 75mm AP/HE shells, which reduced the Anti Tank performance but provided HE support. Manufactured 1943 - 1945 Calibre 75mm Length L/32   Ammunition Details Name/Id Calibre Weight MVelocity Quoted Penetration   AP(AP) 75mm 6.58Kg   618M/Sec Range(Mtr) 100 200 400 800 1200 1600 2000 2400 Flight Time(Secs) 0.16 0.33 0.68 1.45 2.31 3.29 4.41 5.71 Penetration(mm) 79 78 76 71 67 63 59 54 Hit Probability(%) 98 98 98 88 54 25 15 3

Hit probability is based on a static 2 x 2.4 metre panel at 0 degrees(vertical) at the range specified.

The data that has been used to create these records has come from Wikipedia, The Lone Sentry, The Bundes Archive and numerous books and websites that have provided the detailed information that has not been available anywhere else. The information we use to calculate the penetration tables, flight times and the hit probability comes from the Gun Calibre, the Shell Mass(Kg) and the muzzle velocity, plus range reductions to allow for gravity and wind resistance. This calculation originally came from a pre-war Krupp calculation which has been modified, and seems to fit the actual test results.

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