Crusader

Design and development

In 1938, Nuffield Mechanizations and Aero Limited produced their A16 design for a heavy cruiser tank based on Christie suspension. Looking for a lighter and cheaper tank to build, the General Staff requested alternatives from British industry. To this end, the A13 Mk III cruiser tank, which was to enter service as the "Tank, Cruiser Mk V" (known as the Covenanter), was designed by London Midland and Scottish. Nuffield was, in 1939, offered the opportunity to take part in the production of the Covenanter.

Nuffield preferred to work on its own version of the A13, though it still provided design work for the Covenanter's turret. This new tank was adopted as "Tank, Cruiser, Mk VI Crusader", under General Staff specification A15. Although Crusader is often referred to as an improved version of the Covenanter, it was a parallel design. Both tanks were ordered "off the drawing board" without prototypes. Despite a later start, the pilot model of the Crusader was ready six weeks before the first Covenanter.

Unlike earlier "Christie cruisers" (the A13 Mark III and Mark IV tanks and the Mark V Covenanter) that were built with four road wheels, Crusader had five road wheels each side to improve weight distribution in a tank that weighed almost 20 long tons (20 t) instead of the 14 long tons (14 t) of the previous cruisers. The 32 in (810 mm)-diameter wheels were of pressed steel with solid rubber tyres. The hull sides were built up of two separated plates, with the suspension arms between them.

It had a different engine from the Covenanter, different steering system and a conventional cooling system with radiators in the engine compartment. Covenanter used a new engine design and Crusader adapted the readily available Liberty engine to fit into a lower profile engine compartment. At the left side of the front hull—a place occupied by the engine radiator in the Covenanter—was mounted a small hand-traversed auxiliary turret armed with a Besa machine gun. The auxiliary turret was awkward to use and was often removed in the field or remained unoccupied.

The A13 Mk III Covenanter and the A15 Crusader designs used the same main turret. The turret was polygonal—with sides that sloped out then in again—to give maximum space on the limited turret ring diameter. Early production vehicles had a "semi-internal" cast gun mantlet, which was quickly replaced in production by a better protected larger cast mantlet with three vertical slits for the main gun, a coaxial Besa machine gun, and the sighting telescope. There was no cupola for the commander, who instead had a flat hatch with the periscope mounted through it.

Further development

Crusader III

When it was understood that there would be delays in the introduction of successor heavy cruiser tanks (the Cavalier, Centaur and Cromwell) and the need for cruiser tanks, the Crusader was up-gunned with the 57 mm 6-pounder, the first British tank to mount this gun. Design work for a new turret started in March 1941, but Nuffield was not involved until late in the year, when they adapted the existing turret with a new mantlet and hatch.

The turret also received an extractor fan to clear fumes from the firing of the gun. The larger gun restricted turret space, so the crew was reduced to three, with the commander also acting as gun loader, a role previously performed by the wireless operator. The auxiliary turret space was given over to ammunition stowage.

Crusader III also saw the introduction of the Mk. IV Liberty engine, fixing many of the reliability issues previously encountered. This featured the Mk. III engine's later updated water pumps along with a shaft drive replacing chain drive for the cooling fans.

Production started in May 1942 and 144 were complete by July. The Crusader III first saw action, with about 100 participating, at the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942.

The Crusader was converted to a mobile armoured observation post for direction of artillery. The turret was fixed in place, the gun was removed and a dummy barrel fitted to give it the same outward appearance of a regular tank. With no requirement for ammunition, the interior was given over to the radios, two No. 19 radios and No. 18 radio, map boards and related equipment. The Royal Artillery could then operate the OP tank up front among the fighting units directing artillery fire in their support.

Crusader AA tanks

The Crusader III was also used to create self propelled anti-aircraft guns. First was the Crusader III, AA Mk I which replaced the 6-pounder in the enclosed turret with a Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun with an autoloader and powered mounting in an open-topped turret. The crew numbered four: gun commander, gun layer, loader, and driver. It was intended for use by organic AA units in armoured formations.

After trials, it was superseded by the Crusader III, AA Mk II, which was armed with twin Oerlikon 20 mm guns for anti-aircraft use. The prototype appeared from Morris Motors in the summer of 1943, the pilot model being issued for testing in June. The armor thickness in the turret was 30 mm at the front and 14 mm on the sides and 17 mm on the rear. The guns were housed in a small, multi-sided polygonal turret with heavy armour, but poor situational visibility for spotting approaching aircraft. The crew numbered four: the commander/gunner, two loaders, and driver. The tank carried 600 rounds of ammunition, in 60-round magazines.

After evaluations, the tank was urgently redesigned as the Crusader III, AA Mk III. The Mk III differed from the Mk II:

An improved turret with raised "lips" in the turret aperture, and a narrower aiming frame.

An additional single .303 (7.7 mm) Vickers K machine gun in an armoured jacket, between the 20mm guns.

The position of the radio, which was moved to the hull in order to free some space inside the turret. The driver now also acted as the radio operator, instead of the commander.

After the failure of the Crusader AA Mk I, the Royal Artillery created a new project based on the Crusader chassis, officially called 40 mm SP AA Gun (Tracked). The design was a 40 mm Bofors gun mounted directly on a Crusader III hull top with its standard shield. Another similar project was the 20 mm SP AA Gun (Tracked), which mounted three 20 mm Oerlikons instead of the Bofors. Both were produced in very limited quantities, and were for used by LAA (SP) regiments. They were intended as a stop gap to ensure AA cover in the immediate landings of D-day but were retained in the beach head until late 1944. After the Crusader chassis had worn out, the AA mountings were transferred to trucks.

Gun Tractor

The Crusader gun tractor came out of a need for a tracked vehicle that could tow the heavy 76.2 mm QF 17-pounder anti-tank gun, which resulted in the Crusader II, Gun Tractor Mk I. It was a Crusader tank hull with a simple boxy superstructure replacing that of the gun tank. The 14 mm (0.55 in) thick structure protected the driver and the gun crew of six. The tractor also carried ammunition on the rear and within the crew area.

Although nearly as heavy as the gun tank, it was still capable of high speed and was officially limited to 27 mph (43 km/h). This was still hard on the towed 17-pdr guns. They were used in northwest Europe from the Normandy landings of 1944 to the end of the war in 1945.

Other developments

Crusader tanks could be fitted with an Anti-Mine Roller Attachment (AMRA) Mk Id, a mine clearing device consisting of four heavy rollers suspended from a frame. Weight of the rollers could be increased by filling them with water, sand etc.

Crusaders were used for experimentation such as a flotation kit, consisting of two pontoons attached to hull sides, special blades attached to tracks to propel the vehicle in water and a cowl over engine air intakes and cooling louvres.

Performance

Initial performance of the Crusader was found to be better than the comparable M3 Stuart light tanks. Despite reliability problems, the tanks formed the primary unit for British cruiser tank armoured regiments, while the Stuart was used for reconnaissance.

The Crusader suffered from chronic reliability problems in desert use. Tanks arriving in North Africa were missing many of the essential tools and servicing manuals needed to maintain operation; these had been stolen or lost in transit. As tanks broke down, the lack of spare parts meant that many components were replaced with worn parts recovered from other tanks. When the tanks were returned to the base workshops upon reaching service intervals, many were serviced with components that had already reached their design lifespan. A rapid increase in manufacturing output caused quality problems as inexperienced workers began assembling tanks. This placed further pressure on the receiving base workshops that had to carry out overhauls.

The new tanks also had a number of design flaws that needed to be worked out. The reconfiguration of the Mk. III Liberty engine into a flatter format to fit into the Crusader engine compartment had badly affected the tank's water pumps and cooling fan arrangements, both of which were critical in the hot desert temperatures. Several official and unofficial local modifications were applied to improve reliability and conserve water, which otherwise had to be prioritised on keeping the vehicles running. Rectification of these issues took a very long time, by which time confidence in the Crusader had been lost. Calls were made at various points for the vehicles to be replaced with the Valentine infantry tank or US-made M3 Grant tank.

More and more Crusaders were returned to base workshops, leading to a shortage of battle-ready tanks and a massive backlog of repair works to be completed. The number of operational vehicles dwindled, and US-made replacements were brought in.

While the 2-pounder gun had good performance when the tank was introduced, ammunition supply was focused on solid armour-piercing (AP) rounds. When German tanks moved to face-hardened armour, effective Armour-piercing, capped, ballistic capped (APCBC) ammunition was not available. By the time it was, German tanks had adapted specifically to counter it. Delays in producing the next generation of cruiser tanks meant the Crusader was up-armed with the 57mm 6-pounder gun, that had much better anti-tank performance.

Service history

North Africa

With the Axis forces in North Africa having pushed the British back to the Egyptian border and the remaining British armour being a mixed force of older tanks with a few Matilda infantry tanks, tanks were hurriedly shipped via the Mediterranean in Operation Tiger and Operation Splice, arriving on 12 May 1941. There were sufficient Crusaders to equip the 6th Royal Tank Regiment (6th RTR) which with the older cruiser tanks of 2nd Royal Tank Regiment (2nd RTR) formed the 7th Armoured Brigade. The rest of the tanks were Matilda infantry tanks for the 4th Armoured Brigade giving the 7th Armoured Division four tank regiments.

Although there was pressure from London for the 7th Armoured Division to go into action, outfitting for the desert and training delayed the first use of Crusaders until Operation Battleaxe, an attempt to relieve the siege of Tobruk in June. As the brigade swept round the flank, the Crusaders were caught by concealed anti-tank guns and lost 11 tanks. The 6th RTR lost further tanks to action and defects in the fighting withdrawal during the next two days. The 7th Armoured Brigade was re-equipped with more Crusaders but as the brigade had been expanded by the addition of 7th Hussars, there were not sufficient Crusaders to replace the older cruiser tanks.

The 22nd Armoured Brigade comprising three inexperienced armoured regiments equipped with Crusaders, transferred to North Africa to bring the 7th Armoured up to a strength of three armoured brigades. The 8th Hussars was added to the 4th Armoured Brigade but these had to be equipped with M3 Stuart light tanks as there were still insufficient cruisers. The 22nd Armoured Brigade was able to take part in Operation Crusader in November 1941.

In Operation Crusader, the two British corps were disposed such that they could not support each other but it was expected that, as the British outnumbered the German and Italian forces in tanks, the tank against tank battles would be decided in their favour. In the fighting, Rommel did not put his tanks en masse into action against the British ones, and the large numbers of German anti-tank guns working offensively with the tanks and infantry proved effective. The Germans were mostly equipped with the PaK 38, a long-barrelled 50 mm gun with a range of 1,000 yd (910 m). The Crusader's 2-pounder (40 mm) gun was as effective as the short-barrelled 50 mm of the Panzer III, although it was out-ranged by the short-barrelled 75 mm of the Panzer IV. The Italians were mostly equipped mostly with 47 mm anti-tank guns and the M13/40 tanks armed with this gun performed well against the Crusader. At the First Battle Of Bir El Gobi the Italians destroyed 52 Crusaders.

Other use

After the completion of the North African Campaign, the availability of better tanks, such as the Sherman and Cromwell, relegated the Crusader to secondary duties, such as anti-aircraft mounts or gun tractors. In these roles, it served for the remainder of the war. The Crusader, along with the Covenanter, equipped regiments at home; particularly those of the 11th Armoured Division. A Crusader bulldozer was developed but not used operationally. One of these bulldozer tanks was converted for removing munitions following a fire at Royal Ordnance Factory Kirkby.

The Crusader anti-aircraft guns were designed for use in North-West Europe but given Allied air superiority, none of the AA versions saw much action against aircraft but a few (specially with the 1st Polish Armoured Division) were used against ground targets (mainly soft targets and/or infantry). The AA troops (attached to HQ squadrons) were disbanded after the Normandy landings.

An AA Crusader wireless operator/gun loader recounted arriving in Normandy in Crusaders in Mid July 1944 but were switched to Cromwell fairly quickly:

We had arrived originally in Normandy as a troop of Crusader anti-aircraft tanks, each one equipped with a couple of Oerlikon 20 mm cannon. We waited with H.Q. Squadron, wondering if indeed we were ever going to get moving - who needed tanks as anti-aircraft cover anyway? There wasn't an enemy aircraft to be seen! The only time we saw any aircraft action was when we were attacked by low-flying 'friendly' American fighter planes - but that's another story.The situation must eventually have registered with someone, somewhere, because after a week or so we turned our useless Crusaders in, were given Cromwells and became an operational troop with 'A' Squadron of the Regiment.

The Crusader gun tractors operated with 76.2 mm Ordnance QF 17-pounder anti-tank gun regiments attached to armoured divisions and with XII Corps. One such unit was 86 Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery, part of XII Corps. In 86, the Crusader gun tractor replaced earlier Morris C8 gun tractors in two out of the four batteries. Unit veterans reported that the Crusader was popular with the crews and were often driven by former Armoured Corps drivers seconded to the Royal Artillery because of their driving experience. Some veterans of regiment 86 claimed they removed the 'governors' that normally limited tank speeds and credited an empty Crusader with speeds up to 55 mph (89 km/h). They also claimed to be able to outrun Military Police motorcycles, which were limited to a wartime speed of 50 mph (80 km/h) due to low grade petrol.

Reliability and trials

The Crusader entered production after only limited pre-service reliability testing, while early development trials identified problems involving engine cooling, oil scavenging, steering and the transmission lubrication system. The first production Cruiser Mk VI, T15646, was delivered to the Mechanisation Experimental Establishment on 31 October 1940 with 20 mi (32 km) recorded on its odometer. It subsequently completed a 112.9 mi (181.7 km) road run through heavy rain, sleet and congested traffic. The trial was stopped because of traffic conditions near Oxford rather than a mechanical failure. The vehicle averaged 22.58 mph and returned a fuel consumption of 1.8 imperial miles per gallon. Peter M. Knight described this run as the only pre-service test that approached an official reliability trial before the Crusader entered service in the Western Desert.

A report dated 4 January 1942 concerning the cruiser tanks of the 22nd Armoured Brigade stated that their designed mileage before a complete overhaul was required was 1,200 mi (1,900 km). According to the report, 90 per cent of the tanks had already exceeded this figure before the brigade's most recent battle and approach march. Most had accumulated more than 1,200 miles and many had exceeded 1,500 mi (2,400 km). The report attributed a large proportion of the resulting mechanical casualties to wear-related failures of water pumps, air compressors and the main cooling-fan drive sprockets. Shortages of new components also resulted in the cannibalisation of parts from other vehicles, but many of the reused components had already accumulated approximately the same operating time as the assemblies they replaced. The remaining mechanical life of tanks fitted with such parts could therefore not be estimated with confidence.

Workshop records from Operation Crusader further illustrate the type and frequency of faults encountered in service. Between 18 November and 26 December 1941, the workshops of the 7th Armoured Division received 134 Crusaders, of which 95 were repaired and 39 were evacuated to rear workshops. The report recorded 114 mechanical faults involving the type. Common repair entries included 29 failures of the main fan drive sprocket, 16 leaks from the engine's main oil-gallery pipe, 15 leaking water pumps and 12 compressor failures. Other recorded work involved engine oil filters, cooling hoses and gaskets, fan-idler components, steering and gearbox controls, and front suspension levers.

Manufacturing and inspection standards also affected the condition in which Crusaders reached operational units. Of 41 Crusader tanks inspected in North Africa during February 1943, 30 required up to 300 man-hours to correct production faults, while the remaining 11 required between 300 and 500 man-hours before they were considered battleworthy. For comparison, Mechanization & Aero required approximately 6,050 man-hours to assemble a Crusader in 1943. Benjamin Coombs calculated that the additional workshop effort represented approximately five per cent of the total assembly time and cautioned that its scale should therefore not be overstated.

Variants

Crusader I (Cruiser Mk VI) — Original production version. The auxiliary turret was often removed in the field, eliminating the hull machine gunner position.

Crusader I CS (Cruiser Mk VI CS) — Mounted a QF 3-inch (76.2 mm) howitzer in the turret instead of the 2-pounder.

Crusader II (Cruiser Mk VIA) — Had increased armour on hull front and turret front. As with the Mk I, the auxiliary turret was often removed.

Crusader II CS (Cruiser Mk VIA CS) — Mounted a QF 3-inch (76.2 mm) howitzer in the turret.

Crusader II Command — fitted with dummy gun and two No. 19 radios.

Crusader II, Gun Tractor Mk I — Crusader II tank hull with a simple boxy superstructure replacing that of the gun tank, which protected the driver and the gun crew of six. The tractor also carried ammunition on the rear and within the crew area, and officially limited to 27 mph (43 km/h). It was used to tow the 76.2 mm QF 17-pdr anti-tank guns.

Crusader III (Cruiser Mark VIB) — Up-gunned to the 57 mm QF 6-pdr gun, crew reduced to 3, and the auxiliary turret was removed entirely.

Crusader III, AA Mk I

Crusader III, AA Mk II

Crusader III, AA Mk III

Crusader ARV Mk I — Armoured recovery vehicle based on turretless Crusader hull. One prototype was built in 1942.

Operators

Argentina – Some Crusader gun tractors sold after the war were converted to self-propelled guns, with French 75 mm or 105 mm gun installed in a large, boxy superstructure.

Australia

One squadron of the 9th Division Cavalry Regiment; North Africa (1941–43)

At least one Crusader was trialled in Australia (1941) by the 1st Armoured Division

Canada

Egypt – 2 Battalions (around 60 tanks) of the Egyptian Army Cavalry and Armoured Corps used it till the early 1960s. Along with 1 Battalion of Crusader AA as Anti-Aircraft Artillery from 1944 till the late 1960s. Saw action in the Suez War in Anti-aircraft role.

Free French Forces

Germany – Captured vehicles used in the 15th Panzer Division. Designated Kreuzer Panzerkampfwagen Mk VI 746 (e).

Italy – Captured vehicles used in the 133rd Littorio Armoured Division.

Netherlands

Poland – Used by the 1st Armoured Division

South Africa

United Kingdom

Surviving vehicles

Around 21 tanks survive in various degrees of preservation, ranging from running-condition museum vehicles to wrecks. Eight survive in various collections in South Africa.

Examples include the Crusader III in running condition at The Tank Museum in the United Kingdom. The Musée des Blindés in France preserves a Mk III anti-aircraft Crusader and the Overloon War Museum in the Netherlands owns a gun-tractor variant.