The AC4 (Australian Cruiser Tank Mk. 4) was a
cruiser tank designed in Australia in World War II as the intended successor to the
AC3 Thunderbolt. Like its predecessors the AC4 was to have a one piece cast hull and turret. The AC4's most important characteristic would be the use of a
17 pounder tank gun.
History
Reservations about the utility of the
25 pounder
The Ordnance QF 25-pounder, or more simply 25-pounder or 25-pdr, was the major British field gun and howitzer during the Second World War. Its calibre is 3.45-inch (87.6 mm). It was introduced into service just before the war started, comb ...
in the AC3, and the 25 pounder's limited ability to pierce armour led to experimentation with a 17 pounder mounted on an Australian cruiser.
A turret was built and mounted on one of the earlier development vehicles to assess the vehicle's ability to mount the foremost
Allied anti-tank gun of the day – the British 17 pounder (76 mm, 3 in). This was achieved by mounting two 25 pounder gun-howitzers which when fired together would significantly exceed the recoil of a 17 pounder. In this configuration the tank was tested on 2 November 1942. It fitted with a 17 pounder and after successful gunnery trials on 17 November 1942 the 17 pounder was selected for the AC4 design. For the AC4 the 17 pounder was to be mounted in a new and larger turret, attached by a 70-inch (1778 mm) diameter turret ring, the space for which was accommodated by changes to the upper hull permitted by the compact nature of the "Perrier-Cadillac".
A design for the tank had been established, however it was subject to a redesign to alter the internal stowage, and include new features not previously considered such as removal of the turret basket, addition of a gyro-stabiliser, and swapping a hydraulic traverse for the electrical system, and torsion bar suspension for the volute spring used up until that point.
The programme was authorised to build a total of 510 AC4 tanks.
Of these 510 tanks, 110 were to be the "A" variant fitted with a 25 pounder tank gun instead of the 17 pounder.
While the AC4 did not receive a formal name the Director of AFV Production, Alfred Code, had the name "
Woomera" in mind for the tank.
The design was not yet finalised when the programme was terminated in July 1943.
Variants
*AC4A
**one 25 pounder gun
**one
Vickers machine gun
The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more men to move and o ...
See also
;Tanks of comparable role, performance, and era
* Australia
Thunderbolt
A thunderbolt or lightning bolt is a symbolic representation of lightning when accompanied by a loud thunderclap. In Indo-European mythology, the thunderbolt was identified with the 'Sky Father'; this association is also found in later Hel ...
* British
Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...
* Canadian
Grizzly I
* German
Panzer IV
The ''Panzerkampfwagen'' IV (Pz.Kpfw. IV), commonly known as the ''Panzer'' IV, was a German medium tank developed in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 161.
The Pan ...
* Hungarian
Turán III
* Italian
Carro Armato P 40
* Japanese
Type 3 Chi-Nu
was a medium tank of the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. Like the Type 1 Chi-He, this tank was an improved version of the Type 97 Chi-Ha. It incorporated a Type 3 75 mm tank gun, one of the largest Japanese tank guns during the war.
Th ...
* Soviet
T-34
The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank introduced in 1940. When introduced its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was less powerful than its contemporaries while its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against anti-tank weapons. The C ...
* Swedish
Stridsvagn m/42
* United States
M4 Sherman
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The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most widely used medium tank by the United States and Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively cheap to produce, and available in great numbers. It ...
Notes
;Footnotes
;Citations
References
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Cruiser tank Mk IV
Cruiser tanks of Australia
World War II tanks of Australia
Military vehicles introduced from 1940 to 1944