Cavalier (char)

The Tank, Cruiser, Mk VII Cavalier (A24) was an interim design of British cruiser tank during the Second World War. It was derived as a follow on from the Nuffield's A15 Crusader tank as it was expected to enter production in 1942. A parallel effort under Leyland Motors and Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company to the same specification resulted in the A27 Cromwell and Centaur tanks which was accepted for service in preference to the Cavalier. Cromwell tank development Development of the Cavalier initially started as development of the Cromwell tank. In mid-1940, the British were considering which tank should follow on from the new cruiser tanks then being developed. A specification was drawn up by the Directorate of Tanks and Transport which included the 57 mm QF 6 pounder gun. This led to General Staff specification A23 for a cruiser version of the A22 Churchill tank from Vauxhall, and A24 from Nuffield Mechanization & Aero Limited based upon their Crusader tank design. Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company (BRC&W) also submitted a design based on the Crusader. The Nuffield design used an uprated -- Liberty engine which was expected to give a top speed of . Armour would be from at the front, and the 6 pounder gun would be in a turret on a turret ring. The Tank Board meeting in January 1941 decided that as the tank needed to be in production by early 1942 it should be based upon an existing design to avoid the need for prototypes. Six tanks of the A24 Nuffield design were ordered that month, and the tank was given the name "Cromwell". Rolls-Royce's design team, working with Leyland's engineers, produced the Meteor engine from their Merlin aero-engine. This gave a higher output than the Liberty for a similar size. Initially intended to be fitted to the A24, the new engine was not acceptable to Nuffield. Working with Rolls-Royce and Leyland, BRC&W were able to produce a prototype of their version of the Cromwell design using the Meteor. This spawned a new specification for Cromwell, A27, using a new Leyland transmission.