The
Marmon-Herrington
The Marmon-Herrington Company, Inc. is an American manufacturer of axles and transfer cases for trucks and other vehicles. Earlier, the company built military vehicles and some tanks during World War II, and until the late 1950s or early 1960s wa ...
Combat Tank Light Series were a series of American
light tank
A light tank is a tank variant initially designed for rapid movements in and out of combat, to outmaneuver heavier tanks. It is smaller in size with thinner armor and a less powerful main gun, tailored for better tactical mobility and ease of ...
s/
tankette
A tankette is a tracked armoured fighting vehicle that resembles a small tank, roughly the size of a car. It is mainly intended for light infantry support and scouting. s that were produced for the export market at the start of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The CTL-3 had a crew of two and was armed with two .30 cal (7.62 mm)
M1919 machine gun
The M1919 Browning is a .30 caliber medium machine gun that was widely used during the 20th century, especially during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The M1919 saw service as a light infantry, coaxial, mounted, aircraft, and ...
s and one .50 cal (12.7 mm)
M2 Browning machine gun
The M2 machine gun or Browning .50 caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed towards the end of World War I by John Browning. Its design is similar to Browning's earlier M1919 Browning machine gun, w ...
. They were originally designed to be amphibious light tanks. They were rejected by the
U.S. Marine Corps in 1939, but after the
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
they were exported and used as an emergency light tank.
It primarily served in
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
and the
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
, while small numbers were used in the U.S. as guard tanks stationed along the U.S. coast. A total of about 700 examples were produced, and although it was declared obsolete by the Allies in 1943, it was used by the newly created Indonesian Army after the end of the Second World War, remaining in Indonesian service until 1949.
Design and development
In the mid-1930s, the
U.S. Marine
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...
s required a light tank that could be used in
amphibious operations
Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducted ...
. After trials with
Christie amphibious tanks,
Marmon Herrington produced a light, turretless tank with a 0.5 in (12.7 mm)
M2 machine gun
The M2 machine gun or Browning .50 caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed towards the end of World War I by John Browning. Its design is similar to Browning's earlier M1919 Browning machine gun, wh ...
and two .30 cal (7.62 mm)
M1919 machine gun
The M1919 Browning is a .30 caliber medium machine gun that was widely used during the 20th century, especially during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The M1919 saw service as a light infantry, coaxial, mounted, aircraft, and ...
s. This was the first light tank to meet USMC standards when it was designed.
[ With a crew of two, consisting of the driver and gunner,][ and protected by up to 0.5 in (12.7 mm) of ]armor
Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or fr ...
, it was named the Combat Tank Light 3 (CTL-3). All three machine guns were mounted on ball mounts on the front hull.[
Fitted with bogie leaf suspension, the tank was wide, long, with a height of . It weighed , and was powered by a Lincoln V-12, Hercules 6-cylinder ]gasoline
Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...
engine, providing . It was capable of speeds of up to , and had a range of .[ Five prototypes were produced in 1936 to be tested. Five more were produced in 1939. Tests continued until 1940,][ after which the Marine Corps deemed it obsolete because of the goals to make it amphibious which left it with fragile tracks and weak armor.][ The Marine Corps thus relegated it to training use only.][
]
Service history
American use
A small number were used by the US Marine Corps' 1st Tank and 1st Scout Companies prior to the war. Some were employed on Western Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...
. None of those tanks saw action. After the attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
, the Ordnance Committee determined that a few CTLS-4TAC and 4TAYs would be dispersed to the U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
and employed in the Aleutian Islands campaign. Under Ordnance Committee Minutes (OCM) 18526,[ these examples were subsequently designated as the Light Tank T16 and Light Tank T14 respectively.][Hunnicutt (1992), p. 112.]
Foreign use
Several hundred CTMS tanks were ordered by the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army
The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army ( nl, Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger; KNIL, ) was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia. The ...
. Of these, a small number were delivered to Java, just in time to see combat in the Dutch East Indies campaign
The Dutch East Indies campaign of 1941–1942 was the conquest of the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) by forces from the Empire of Japan in the early days of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Forces from the Allies attempted u ...
following the Japanese invasion in early 1942,[ and then some of them were captured by ]Imperial Japanese Army
The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...
. 149 from this order were diverted to Australia where they were used for training. 600 CTLS-4TACs and 4TAYs were delivered to China under Lend-Lease after Pearl Harbor.[ But supplying China with heavy equipment quickly proved a logistical nightmare, and having already been promised several hundred M2A4s and M3 Stuarts, China rejected the design. This left the US Army with 240 tanks it had paid for, but China didn’t want to be supplied with.] After the war, the Indonesian Army is reported to have used several captured Japanese vehicles, which were captured from the Dutch, with the type remaining in Indonesian service until 1949 amidst the Indonesian National Revolution
The Indonesian National Revolution, or the Indonesian War of Independence, was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during Aftermath of WWII, postw ...
.[Bradford (2009), p. 9.]
Variants
*CTL-1 – Designed by Marmon-Herrington to be shipped to the Polish Army
The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stret ...
, but it was rejected by them. Only one was ever produced.[Zaloga (2012), p. 7.]
*CTL-2 – A CTL-1 with slightly thicker armor.[
*CTL-3 – A ]tankette
A tankette is a tracked armoured fighting vehicle that resembles a small tank, roughly the size of a car. It is mainly intended for light infantry support and scouting. , fitted with one 12.7 mm (.50 cal) M2 Browning machine gun and two .30 cal (7.62 mm) M1919 machine guns. It was only a prototype. Five were produced in 1936, while another five were produced in 1939. All of them were upgraded to CTL-3M standard in 1941. Two tank platoons were assigned the CTL-3. All of the vehicles were scrapped in 1943.[Estes (2012), p. 15.][Green (2014), p. 134.]
*CTL-3A – An improved version of the CTL-3. The only difference was improved suspension.[
*CTL-3M – An improved version of the CTL-3. All of the CTL-3s were upgraded to this standard in 1941.]
*CTL-3TBD – An upgraded version of the CTL-3, although the only differences were improved tracks, suspension and the addition of an M2 machine gun. The two M2 machine guns were mounted in a turret. Only five were produced and all of them were scrapped in Samoa in 1943.[
*CTLS-4TAC – Designed for export under ]Lend-Lease
Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...
, a total of 420 were produced, originally intended for China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. Six hundred 4TACs and 4TAYs were sent to China after Pearl Harbor.[ The remaining 240 were dispersed for emergency situations, like in ]Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
. The armor was doubled and the armament consisted of three 7.62 mm (.30 cal) machine guns, one of which was mounted in a 240° traverse, hand-cranked turret. Under OCM 18526, the CTLS-4TAC was labeled Light Tank T16. All vehicles were scrapped in 1943.[Hunnicutt (1992), p. 215.]
*CTLS-4TAY – A CTLS-4TAC with the driver and the turret sitting on the left side of the hull. 420 were produced.[Green (2014), p. 161.]
*CTL-6 – The CTL-6 was an improved version of the CTL-3. The only differences were better tracks and suspension. Only 20 were produced. They served in two tank platoons, which were sent to Samoa. All of them were scrapped there in 1943.[
]
Branching projects
Two other tank designs were produced by Marmon-Herrington that branched directly from the CTLS. They were both intended to be shipped to the Dutch, but were taken over by the Ordnance Department
The United States Army Ordnance Corps, formerly the United States Army Ordnance Department, is a Combat service support (United States), sustainment branch of the United States Army, headquartered at Fort Lee (Virginia), Fort Lee, Virginia. The ...
.[
]
CTMS-1TB1
The CTMS-1TB1 project was started in 1941 as private design to produce a light tank with a crew of three. It was armed with a automatic cannon and coaxial M1919 machine gun. That same year, Dutch authorities ordered 194 of these vehicles for service in the Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
(later Indonesia) with Dutch East Indies Army
The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army ( nl, Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger; KNIL, ) was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia. The ...
(''KNIL'') cavalry platoons. However, none of these vehicles had left the United States by the time that Dutch forces surrendered and the Dutch East Indies was officially occupied by Japan (8 March 1942).
The US government later commandeered 62 vehicles that had been manufactured for the ''KNIL''. During early 1943, two were tested at the US Army's Aberdeen Proving Grounds
Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) (sometimes erroneously called Aberdeen Proving ''Grounds'') is a U.S. Army facility located adjacent to Aberdeen, Harford County, Maryland, United States. More than 7,500 civilians and 5,000 military personnel work at ...
. As more robust light tanks were already being produced in sufficient numbers, the US Army officially declined the CTMS-1TB1, in May 1943.[Hunnicutt (1992), p. 217.]
Free Dutch forces received 26 of the tanks declined by the US Army; these were shipped to Dutch Guiana (present-day Suriname
Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...
). They served with a detachment of the ''Prinses Irene Brigade'' until its deactivation in January 1946. These tanks returned to service with Dutch forces in Dutch Guiana in mid-1947. Due to their worsening technical condition only 16 were operational by 1950. The last CTMS-1TB1 in Dutch service was retired in 1957.[
The US government also leased a few dozen examples of the CTMS-1TB1 to Latin American countries, including Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador and Cuba. The last of these were retired by the ]Cuban Army
The Cuban Revolutionary Army ( es, Ejército Revolucionario) serve as the ground forces of Cuba. Formed in 1868 during the Ten Years' War, it was originally known as the Cuban Constitutional Army. Following the Cuban Revolution, the revolutiona ...
during the 1960s.[
]
MTLS-1G14
The MTLS-1G14 project was started at the same time as the CTMS-1TB1 to produce a four-man medium tank
A medium tank is a classification of tanks, particularly prevalent during World War II which represented a compromise between the mobility oriented light tanks and the armour and armament oriented heavy tanks. A medium tank's classification is ...
for the Dutch Army. It was armed with two 1.5 in (37 mm) automatic cannons. It also was equipped with five M1919 machine guns, three of which were mounted on the hull, one mounted coaxially, and one mounted on the top of the turret. The armor was bolted
The BOLT Browser was a web browser for mobile phones including feature phones and smartphones that can run Java ME applications. The BOLT Browser was offered free of charge to consumers and by license to mobile network operators and handset manu ...
on and measured between thick. The design was soon taken over by the Ordnance Department and was tested at Aberdeen in April 1943. It was rejected by the U.S. Army because it was deemed unsatisfactory in almost every respect.The Worst Tank You Never Heard Of
/ref>
See also
*List of U.S. military vehicles by supply catalog designation
This is the Group G series List of the United States military vehicles by (Ordnance) supply catalog designation, — ''one'' of the alpha-numeric "Standard Nomenclature Lists" (SNL) that were part of the overall List of the United States Army w ...
*T-40
The T-40 amphibious scout tank was an amphibious light tank used by the Soviet Union during World War II. It was armed with one 12.7 mm (0.5 in) DShK machine gun. It was one of the few tanks that could cross an unfordable river without ...
— a comparable Soviet design
Notes
References
Bibliography
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External links
Marmon-Herrington tanks at overvalwagen.com
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017
World War II light tanks
World War II tanks of the United States
Light tanks of the United States
Military vehicles introduced in the 1930s
CTLS
History of the tank