Comet (tank)

The Comet tank or Tank, Cruiser, Comet I (A34) was a British cruiser tank that first saw use near the end of the Second World War, during the Western Allied invasion of Germany. The Comet was developed from the earlier Cromwell tank and mounted the new 17 pdr High Velocity (HV) (3 inch; 76.2 mm – sometimes referred to as "77 mm") gun, in a lower profile, partly-cast turret. This gun was effective against late-war German tanks, including the Panther at medium range, and the Tiger. The Comet rendered the Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger obsolete, and led to the development of the Centurion tank. When firing APDS rounds, the 77 mm HV was superior in armour penetration capability to the 75 mm KwK 42 gun of the equivalent Axis tank, the Panther. The Comet entered active service in January 1945 and remained in British service until 1958. In some cases, Comets sold to other countries continued to operate into the 1980s. Cromwell tank development Combat experience against the Germans in the Western Desert Campaign demonstrated to the British many shortcomings with their cruiser tanks. Hence a request was made in 1941 for a new heavy cruiser tank that could achieve battle superiority over German models. For reasons of economy and efficiency, it had to use as many components as possible from the current A15 Mk VI Crusader tank. The initial designs for the new Cromwell tank evolved into the A24 Mk VII Cavalier tank and the A27L Mk VIII Centaur tank, both powered by the Nuffield Liberty. Design progressed through the Mk VII (A27M) Cromwell, a third parallel development to the Cavalier and Centaur, sharing many of the same characteristics. Under the newer A27M specification, Cromwell integrated a number of advanced features. The Meteor engine proved to be very reliable and gave the tank good mobility but some problems appeared based on the vehicle's shared heritage and significant jump in engine power. The tank was prone to throwing its tracks if track tension was not maintained properly or if it turned at too high a speed or too sharply.