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 engi ...

that was designed by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

armaments manufacturer Vickers 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 T-100 and

T-28 The T-28 was a Soviet multi-turreted medium tank. The prototype was completed in 1931, and production began in late 1932. It was an infantry support tank intended to break through fortified defences. The T-28 was designed to complement the hea ...

tanks, the German '' Neubaufahrzeug'' tanks, and the British Medium Mk III and

Cruiser Mk I The Tank, Cruiser, Mk I (A9) was a British cruiser tank of the interwar period. It was the first cruiser tank: a fast tank designed to bypass the main enemy lines and engage the enemy's lines of communication, as well as enemy tanks. The Cruiser ...

(triple turret) tank designs. The Soviet

T-35 The T-35 was a Soviet Union, Soviet multi-gun turret, turreted heavy tank of the interwar period and early Second World War that saw limited production and service with the Red Army. Often called a land battleship, it was the only five-turreted ...

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 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 Gurk ...

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; its V12 air-cooled engine was designed by

Armstrong Siddeley Armstrong Siddeley was a British engineering group that operated during the first half of the 20th century. It was formed in 1919 and is best known for the production of luxury vehicles and aircraft engines. The company was created following t ...

. 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 (MoD). This article contains text from ...

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

and

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

* * * *

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