Imagine, a tank that was designed to take on the Tigers and Panthers in 1945 was knocking out JS3 and T-54s in 1967 during the six-day war, and wreaking havocs among the T-55s and T-62 in 1973 during the Yom kippur War!! The longevity and distinguished serving record of the Centurion is a testament to its versatility and its excellent design.
So did the Sherman as well. But Danyel is right; the Matilda was not only decent, but one of the best tanks available in 1940, the Valentine was certainly a decent tank for its time, not to mention the Churchill or the Comet.
post subject Centurians should not strictly be in "non WW2" history. Some were delivered to a Guards Armd.Brgd. in April 45 but were too late to go into action.They certainly made up for it since then.
The Centurion was probably the first British tank to be a good all-rounder - gun, armour & mobility. most previous tanks had falled short in at least one area: Matilda - gun & mobility Churchill - gun Valentine - gun & also armour Comet - much better... but armour, maybe...
The fact that so many armies have used the Centurion over the years says a lot about the quality of the tank.
Thank you Ricky, you are the only one who read my mind. If the British tanks were so good, why did they left them all in the Desert of N. Africa when they invade Europe?? You can't put too much faith in the undergunned and ugly/cumbersome Churchil, the Comet really came to late to be a factor.
I think Singapore still has some upgraded Centurions in storage. But most MBTs are a tad too heavy to be used in southeast asia anyway.
During the Indian and Pakistan conflict in 1965, Indian Centurions (20pdr) out proformed Pakistan's M 47 Pottons (90mm). They were much easier to use esp the fire control units.
That's very interesting, Paul. Are you sure the difference didn't lie with the training of the respective troops using the two types?
I think it is more to the credit of superior Isreali crews then to the tank design. The AMX 13 which nobody would say is better then the T 54/55 or T 62 was used as a tank by Isreal in 1967, and so was the Sherman.
The Centurion tank was used by the danish army from 1953-1998 In 1953 the danish army received 216 Centurion MK III as part of the mutual defense aid program, some of them after participating in the Korea war....... In 1964 106 of them was modified with the british 105 mm L7A1 gun and the german MG3 (modified MG42, you know that)........ In 1985 90 of them was modified with laser range finder and night vision equipment (now called Centurion MK V, 2 DK) some of them was also equipped with dozer blades (in the danish army one out of 3 tanks have a dozer blade).... look also here:http://www.armyvehicles.dk/centurion.htm
You mean the Centurion is still in front line service? That's incredible, it's even older than the US B-52 stratofortress. Do you have any pictures of the Centurions serving in the Danish army?
yup, centurion is still used by singapore ( I am a singaporean btw), upgraded and bought from irasel...likely to be used in training in areas like taiwan for the SAF, but, our army said they will be soon decommissioned.
The Centurion is no longer is use by the danish army, phased out in 1998 There are some pics of danish Centurions here: http://www.armyvehicles.dk/centurion.htm