The T18 Boarhound was an American heavy armoured car produced in small numbers for 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 ...

during 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 ...

History

In July 1941, the

United States Army Ordnance Corps The United States Army Ordnance Corps, formerly the United States Army Ordnance Department, is a sustainment branch of the United States Army, headquartered at Fort Lee, Virginia. The broad mission of the Ordnance Corps is to supply Army comb ...

issued specifications for a heavy armored car (along with another specification for a medium armored car, which resulted in the

T17 Deerhound The T17 Armoured Car, sometimes referred to as the M5 medium armoured car and by the British as the Deerhound, was an American six-wheeled armored car produced during the Second World War. The T17 lost out to the T17E design for British use bu ...

and

T17E1 Staghound The T17E1 Armoured Car was an American armored car design produced during the Second World War. It saw service with British and other Commonwealth forces during the war under the name Staghound, but was never used on the front line by US force ...

) to be built for supply to the British. The prototype was developed in 1942 by the Yellow Coach Company. It was a large 8x8 (eight wheels, all driven; called an "eight-by-eight") vehicle with four front wheels used for steering. Thick armor brought the weight to 26 tons, about the weight of contemporary

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 ...

s. Initial armament consisted of a 37 mm gun M6 in a turret with a coaxial .30 inch machine gun and another .30 inch MG in the bow mount. By then, it was clear that the anti-tank performance of the 37 mm gun was insufficient and the production version, the T18E2, which was named Boarhound by the British, received the 57 mm gun M1, the US-manufactured variant of the British

QF 6 pounder 6-pounder gun or 6-pdr, usually denotes a gun firing a projectile weighing approximately . Guns of this type include: *QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss, a 57 mm naval gun of the 1880s; a similar weapon was designed by Driggs-Schroeder for the US Navy ...

T18 Boarhound Armoured Car Tank Museum Bovington

The

United States 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, cla ...

had only shown minimal interest in the vehicle and retained the first 3 production vehicles. The

placed an order for 2,500 units, but high production costs and poor cross-country performance led to cancellation of the order with only 27 being delivered to North Africa. The T18 was never used widely in combat; however, a number were made use of by defending bases of operation in North Africa, with a few even taking part in convoy operations. There are accounts that a limited few were refitted for special duties in the rear echelon as well. Late in 1942, orders were issued for upwards of some eight Boarhounds to be assigned to the Eighth Army, which used them sparingly as supporting armored vehicles and, to some extent, in reconnaissance roles. None are said to have seen heavy action.General Orders pursuant to Armoured Actions - North Africa - Reference: Available Armoured Stockpiles-1942-7-12 and 1942-7-23 - The National Archives (TNA) at Kew, West London The only surviving vehicle is displayed in

The 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 collection ...

, Bovington, United Kingdom.

Variants

*T18 - original version with 37 mm gun. *T18E1 - six-wheeled version. Development stopped January 18, 1943 *T18E2 - version with 57 mm gun.

Notes

References

*SNL G133 *George Forty - ''World War Two Armoured Fighting Vehicles and Self-Propelled Artillery'', Osprey Automotive. *Haugh, Davi
T18E2 data sheet
Warwheels.net *R.A.C Technical Situational Reports No 7

External links

{{WWIIBritishAFVs World War II armoured cars World War II armored fighting vehicles of the United States Armoured cars of the United States Military vehicles introduced from 1940 to 1944

History

Variants

See also

Notes

References

External links