[烛光生存狂]-澳大利亚AC1“哨兵”巡洋坦克简介

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Soon after the outbreak of the Second World War it was foreseen that Australia would have to rely on her own resources rather than on supplies from Britain. On the first mention of a tank being built in Australia, there was a great deal of disbelief, as Australia had never developed a tank before and so had no experiance to work with. The lack of expertise in this regard was made up by the loan of Colonel W.D.Watson a senior member of the Mechanisation Board from Britain.

The urgency of this program was increased with the collapse of France and the evacuation from Dunkirk. In November 1940 the General Staff issued the specification of the tank. One weighing between 16 and 20 tons, mounting a 2 pdr gun with 1 or 2 machine-guns. A speed of 30 m.p.h. and a armour thickness 50 mm.

The design that emerged as the Australian Cruiser Mark 1 (AC1), was a blend of American automotive practices with British ideas and a low silhouette. The AC1 used a modified M3 Grant transmission, which was simpler in design so as to be easily produced in Australia. Because of initial problems with this transmission a second prototype known as AC2 was started. This was to use a truck transmission and engines. The draw back to this design was that the weight would have to be kept below 18 tons to give it satisfactory performance.

As it would happen this vehicle was never needed as the problems with the AC1 were overcome. The power for this tank would be provided by 3 Cadillac V8 petrol engines which were installed two abreast and the third behind. With, the redesign of the final drive and the bogies, it would be possible to build the tank in Australia. The track was to be the same design as the American M3 medium tanks' T51 track. The problem of rolled armour plate was solved by the use of cast armour similar to that used on French tanks, this may have been influenced by the arrival in Australia of the French engineer, R. Perrier. He had been working in Japan for the French Government but, had left that country in a hurry when the situation in the pacific deteriorated in 1941.

The first cast hull was successfully manufactured in October 1941, and the prototype AC1 was complete by January 1942. This was a great achievement for Australian industry as nothing this complex had been built there before. Three prototypes were built being named E1, E2, and E3. After trials some modifications were made to the prototypes and production began. The first vehicles rolled of Chullora tank assembly Shops, New South Wales, in August 1942. The Chullora Shops had been built especially to produce these tanks and had been designed using the American tank arsenals as a guide. They were managed by, New South Wales State Railways.

A second tank assembly plant was being built at the same time at Geelong, Victoria and was to be managed by Ford motor Co (Australia) and would have been used to build the AC1 had production not been cancelled. The development vehicles were known as the "E" series of which there were three vehicles. These vehicles were used as test beds for all the development work. A total of 66 AC 1's were built before orders were cancelled in July 1943. They were numbered in the range 8001 to 8065. This was due to the changing situation were America was able to supply all vehicles to equip the 1st Australia armoured Division. The AC1s were used for training and never saw combat. This is a shame as I am sure that had even one went to troop trials in the desert then there would have been a lot more interest shown in this tank.

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