The Independent A1E1 is a multi- turreted

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful e ...

that was designed by the British armaments manufacturer

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in ...

between the First and Second World Wars. Although it only ever reached the prototype stage and only a single example was built, it influenced many other tank designs. The A1E1 design can be seen as a possible influence on the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

T-100 and T-28 tanks, the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

'' Neubaufahrzeug'' tanks, and the British

Medium Mk III The Medium Mark III was a medium tank developed in the United Kingdom during the Interwar period. The prototypes of the Medium Mark II were the three A6 also known as "16-tonner" tanks. From the tests of the A6, three Mark IIIs were built a ...

and Cruiser Mk I (triple turret) tank designs. The Soviet T-35 tank was heavily influenced by its design.

Design

The Independent was a multi-turret design, having a central gun turret armed with the 3 pounder (47 mm) gun, and four subsidiary turrets each armed with a 0.303 inch

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 ...

. The subsidiary turrets were mounted two at the front and two to the rear of the turret (about halfway along the hull). The gun of the left rear turret was able to elevate to engage aircraft. The tank was designed to have heavy firepower, self-defence capability, and superiority to enemy weapons. It had a crew of eight, the commander communicating with the crew through an intercom system. The Independent was never used in combat, but other armies studied it and a few adopted designs derived from it.

History

Planning for the A1E1 began in December 1922 when the General Staff of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

drew up a specification. This was for a turret-less tank with at least of trench crossing ability. On receiving the specification Vickers began design work on a vehicle that followed the General Staff's ideas and also a multi-turreted design of their own. The two designs were offered to the General Staff which opted for the Vickers multi-turreted design. An order for a prototype was formally placed on 15 September 1926 but some work appears to have begun before this date. The tank was largely designed by

Walter Gordon Wilson Major Walter Gordon Wilson (21 April 1874 – 1 July 1957) was an Irish mechanical engineer, inventor and member of the British Royal Naval Air Service. He was credited by the 1919 Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors as the co-inventor of the ...

; its V12

air-cooled Air-cooled engines rely on the circulation of air directly over heat dissipation fins or hot areas of the engine to cool them in order to keep the engine within operating temperatures. In all combustion engines, a great percentage of the heat ge ...

engine was designed by Armstrong Siddeley. It also incorporated a new hydraulic braking system which had to be specially developed due to its weight and speed. The prototype was delivered to the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence (MoD ...

in 1926, and displayed to the premiers of the Dominions that year. In 1928, the rear of the tank was modified to strengthen it. At the same time, a new design of brake-block was fitted. The tank was the subject of industrial and political espionage, the plans ending up in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, where they may have influenced the design of the T-28 and T-35 tanks. Norman Baillie-Stewart, a British army lieutenant, was court-martialled in 1933 and served five years in prison for providing the plans of the Independent (among other secrets) to a German contact. It remained in use for experiments until 1935, when it was worn out and retired, now with the

Bovington Tank Museum The Tank Museum (previously The Bovington Tank Museum) is a collection of armoured fighting vehicles at Bovington Camp in Dorset, South West England. It is about north of the village of Wool and west of the major port of Poole. The collecti ...

, where it is preserved.Fletcher (2014)

References

Bibliography

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External links

A1E1 Vickers Independent
* {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Interwar tanks of the United Kingdom Heavy tanks of the United Kingdom Multi-turreted tanks Vickers Abandoned military projects of the United Kingdom History of the tank Trial and research tanks of the United Kingdom