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ossie · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Aug 20, 2006 Posts: 81

Hi all
I have been asked this question so much recently that I am posting this on this website as well. This list gives you the basic MARKS of UK tanks but these marks were used by other nations or they carried out modifications but left them with the old designation.
Centurion Tank Family

This is a list of known Centurion Variants or Prototypes that have served or are serving today in forces around the world.

Basic Gun Tank Marks

A41 Mk 1:- built 1944 â€“ 1948, Armed 17 Pdr Mk 6 (76.2mm) 20mm Polsten replace
later on by 7.92mm Besa. 100 built.

A41A Mk 2:- built 1945 â€“ 1948, Armed 17 Pdr Mk 6 (76.2mm) 7.92mm Besa. 250 built.

Mk 3:- built 1948 â€“ 1946, Armed 20 Pdr 6 (83.4mm). 7.92mm Besa. 2833 built.

A41T Mk 4:- not produced but was planned to have a 95mm Howitzer gun.

FV4011 Mk 5:- built 1956 â€“ 1958, Armed 20 Pdr Mk 1 (83.4mm) .30 browning. 221 built. New turret design
Mk3 Fitted with Browning CO-AX Machine Gun Became an Mk 5
FV4011 Mk 5/1:- Mk 5 up armoured to Glacis plate
FV4011 Mk 5/2:- Mk 5 with 20 Pdr replaced by 105mm L7A1. No up armoured to Glacis plate fitted.

FV4011 Mk 6:- Mk 5 Up armoured and fitted with 105mm L7A1
FV4011 Mk 6/1:- Mk 6 Fitted with Infa Red Equipment, Rear Stowage basket.
FV4011 Mk 6/2:- Mk 6 Fitted with .50 Ranging Gun and not fitted with Infa Red Equipment, Rear Stowage basket fitted.
LR:- if Mk 3,5.6 Fitted with a 100Gallon bolt on fuel tank at the rear then it would be Mk 3LR,5LR,5/1LR,5/2LR, 6 LR,6/1LR& 6/2LR

FV4007 Mk 7:-built 1953 â€“ 1960, new designed hull Armed 20 Pdr Mk 1 (83.4mm).30 browning. 775 built new turret design
FV4012 Mk 7/1:- Mk 7 up armoured to Glacis plate
FV4012 Mk 7/2:- Mk 7 with 20 Pdr replaced by 105mm L7A1. No up armoured to Glacis plate.

FV4012 Mk 8:- built 1956 â€“ 1960 Mk 7 Hull, contra-rotating cupola and resilient mantel Armed 20 Pdr Mk 1 (83.4mm).30 browning. 108 built new turret design
FV4012 Mk 8/1:- Mk 8 up armoured to Glacis plate
FV4012 Mk 8/2:- Mk 8 with 20 Pdr replaced by 105mm L7A1. No up armoured to Glacis plate.

FV4015 Mk 9:-1959 only one built was an Mk 7 Up armoured and fitted with 105mm L7A1 Gun.
Mk 7:- up armoured and fitted with 105mm L7A1 Gun became FV4015 Mk 9.

FV4015 Mk 9/1:- Fitted with Infa Red Equipment, Rear Stowage basket
FV4015 Mk 9/2:- Mk 9 Fitted with .50 Ranging Gun. Not fitted with Infa Red Equipment, Rear Stowage basket fitted.

FV4017 Mk10:- built 1959-1960 Mk8 with up armoured to Glacis plate, 105mm L7A1. But has new chevron type louvered engine & gearbox decks. Last tank built was 03DA03 30/03/1962. New turret designs MK 10 Builds have the front extra add on armour added when built. 155 supplied to Sweden and designated Strv 101.

FV4017 Mk11:- is a Mk 5 with Infa Red Equipment, Rear Stowage basket, Fitted with .50 Ranging Gun, up armoured to Glacis plate & 20 Pdr replaced by 105mm L7A1.

FV4017 Mk12:- is a Mk 7 with Infa Red Equipment, Rear Stowage basket, Fitted with .50 Ranging Gun, up armoured to Glacis plate & 20 Pdr replaced by 105mm L7A1.

FV4017 Mk13:- is a Mk 8 with Infa Red Equipment, Rear Stowage basket, Fitted with .50 Ranging Gun, up armoured to Glacis plate & 20 Pdr replaced by 105mm L7A1 or a
Mk 10 with Infa Red Equipment, Rear Stowage basket, Fitted with .50 Ranging Gun.

UK Variants based on Centurion Tank

FV4002 Bridgelayer: - Converted Mk 5 Hull modified to carry & launch a No6 bridge 52 ft long. 32 built.

FV4003 AVRE (Armoured Engineer Vehicle Royal Engineers)165mm:- converted Mk 5 Centurion .fitted with a 165mm Demolition Gun, Hydraulic Dozer Blade, Fascine cradle and able to tow a AVRE 71/2 ton trailer or Giant Viper trailer. Last used in the 1992 Gulf war. 40 were converted.

Centurion Mk 12 H AVRE 105 mm FV4203:- to meet the demands of more AVREâ€™s Mk12 105mm Gun tanks were converted by fitting the 4BH meteor engine and the Pearsonâ€™s Dozer blade. Also Fascines fascine cradles and the AVRE trailer tow hook. They also could fit Pearsonâ€™s Mine plough. Some were not fitted with the Dozer blade equipment and could only fit the Mine plough.

Centurion Mk 13 AVRE 105mm 04CC85 this was used for the mine plough trials then became a Driver training tank at Bovington

FV4004 Conway Tank Destroyer: - Mk 5 hull fitted with a roll plate turret & armed with a 120mm L1A1 Gun. One built and is at Bovington Tank Museum.

FV4005 Heavy Sp A/T Gun: - This was a Mk 3 hull fitted with a 183 mm Gun. Stage one limited traverse, automatic loader.
Stage Two this version had a lightly armoured splinter proof turret.

Centurion Tower / Tug: - this was a Centurion MK 1, 2 or 3 which had its turret removed and a capstan fitted to the Turret ring to enable the stowage of a 300 foot 20 ton SWL wire rope. This was turned either by hand or the power traverse.

Centurion ARV Mk 1:- this was a stop gap ARV which was produced by the REME workshops in Aldershot. Approximately 180 were produced. It had the spade to the rear based on that of the Churchill ARV. The winch which had an 18 SWL was housed in side a slab-side armoured structure.

FV4006:- ARV Mk 2 (Armoured Recovery Vehicle):- centurion hull fitted with a superstructure in place of its turret which housed internal a winch and its engine. The winch had a straight pull of 30 tons. Normal winched over the rear. A purpose built recovery spade was fitted at the rear. In a 3-1 ratio it could pull 90tons.

FV4016 ARK (Armoured Ramp Carrier):- Based on an Mk 5 chassis .it could open ramps from a deck to form a bridged span of 22.8 meters. Believed 13 built.

Centurion DD FV4008:- this was numerous equipment in which were used to transferring tanks from LCT to shore under there own steam which including trunking to snorkels and ridged screens. A version was used successfully on the Suez Crises consisting of trunking which could be jettisoned using Cortex Charges

FV4018 BARV (Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle):- Designed to work in 8 ft of water. To push landing craft off the beach & recovery of drowned vehicles. Only 12 built. This is the last vehicle of the Centurion Range still in service with the British Army.

FV4019 Mk 5 Dozer: - Centurion Gun tank Mk 5 fitted with a hydraulically operated Dozer blade. By the installation of a 4BH engine and the fitting of the hydraulic operating rams & Dozer Blade.
Mk 5/2:- 20 Pdr replaced by 105mm L7A1. No up armoured to Glacis plate fitted.
Mk5/3:- Fitted with .50 Ranging Gun. No Infa Red Equipment, Rear Stowage basket fitted.

FV3802 SP 25Pdr:- shortened Mk7 hull by twenty inches by removal of one wheel station. 25Pdr gun was housed within a superstructure that was fired over the engine decks. Three were built.

FV3805 SP 5.5 inch: - Mk7 hull with a 5.5 inch gun was housed within a superstructure that was fired over the engine decks. P2 was used by Shoeburyness Ranges for sometime minus its gun. It then went to Duxford and from there to a Private collector.

Vickers Modified Centurion: - Standard centurion which was fitted with a modified final drives. New power pack with a General motors Diesel Engine and a David brown Gearbox. Modernised Gun control equipment, plus other changes including the fitting of a NBC pack.

Centurion Target Tanks: - Three centurions were specially armoured to be used as moving targets for the training of anti tank crew firing inert projectiles from Milan & Carl Gustav Weapons.

Centurion Cranes: - These were centurions which had a Crane fitted instead of a turret. One served at the tank Ranges at Kirkcudbright, the other being an AVRE 07ZR21 and used at Shoeburyness.

Centurion Flame Thrower: - a Churchill Crocodile flame equipment was mounted on 03ZR71 a Mk 3 gun tank for trail purposes. This take now resides in the Tank Museum Bovington.

Centurion Wedge: - this was three Centurion Arks which had there super structure removed and then used by the R.E Wing. D&M school Bovington for the use of Driver training.

Swing fire Centurion:- British Aircraft Corporation fitted a mock up[ system to a Mk 5 Centurion Comprising of twin missile launchers either side of the turret and two stowed in the rear basket.

FV4202 40Ton Centurion.- this is really not a Centurion but used towards the Chieftain Program with Five road Wheels. This is on display at Bovingtons Tank museum.

Action X :- during the development of Chieftain 84BA86 was a Mk 7 which was fitted with a mantle less Cast Turret.

Other Nations uses Centurions Tanks
Most countries who used or use Centurions either upgraded the engines or other changes to suit there needs.
The only Centurion Gun Tank which is still in front line service with any nation is the South African Ofilant. At time of writing this it has just been announced that it is to have an upgrade to bring it to currant AFV standards. Centurion variants are still being used by Israel, gun tanks in reserve mainly Mk 7 in Jordan and also Singapore have a number upgraded but so little is known of these tanks.

hope you all find this usefull
OSSIE

Roy_A_Lingle · Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 7:10 am Post subject: Re: Centurion Tanks

Hi Ossie! Hi Folks!

- ossie

Centurion Flame Thrower: - a Churchill Crocodile flame equipment was mounted on 03ZR71 a Mk 3 gun tank for trail purposes. This take now resides in the Tank Museum Bovington.

Super list Ossie, thank you very much!

Churchill Crocodile flame equipment?

Does that mean I can take the flame equipment from Tamiya's Crocodile kit and add it to their Centurion kit and it would be close?

Sounds like a very interesting conversion job that wouldn't take a lot of time. Would be one h..l of a converstion starter at a club meeting or contest!
Sgt, Scouts Out!

L.Delsing · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Feb 10, 2006 Posts: 960

The Netherlands used the following Centurions;

Centurion mk.3 592 (at least 435 tanks paid by the US (MDAP))
343 of these were modified with a L7 gun and redesignated mk.5/2. Also 592 monotrailers were bought.

In 1956 all tanks were modified to mk.5 standard with two types of barrel (Type A and Type B-barrel)

Of these tanks, one mk.5/2 and one mk/7/2 were modified by 574 tank workshop with a Diesel engine (Continental AVDS-1970-2)

66 Centurion mk.2 ARV

70 Centurion mk.7 (also MDAP)
19 of these were modified with a L7 gun an redesignated mk.7/2

34 Centurion mk.5 were rebuilt to Bridgelayer (with a US bridge) and engineer tank. The engineer tanks had Sherman dozerblades which were modified to fit the bigger Centurion)

Also 66 Centurion mk.2 ARV were bought.

AFAIK all tanks were paid for through the MDAP and were returned to the US except for a few museum, monument tanks and a few on the range.

The US sold/donated some of these Centurions to Israel and Austria of which the last installed the turrets in fortifications and scrapped the hulls.

A lot of this information is from the Historical Section of the Royal Netherlands Army Museum.

Hope this helps,
Regards,
Lesley

toadmanstankpictures · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Jan 24, 2006 Posts: 704

Thank you both Ossie and Lesley. With all of the different mods that the Centurion underwent, I'm going to have a tough time deciding how I will build my AFV Club kit.

Jim_Coles · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Jan 24, 2006 Posts: 56

Thanks, Ossie!

Dirk · Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:14 am Post subject: Re: Centurion Tanks

- ossie

The only Centurion Gun Tank which is still in front line service with any nation is the South African Ofilant. At time of writing this it has just been announced that it is to have an upgrade to bring it to currant AFV standards.

Rumor has it that someone in South Africa is working on a book about the Olifant (Elephant) MBT.

Will keep AFV News up to date with this regard.

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