Cromwell I frontal turret armour

[Cross]

Don,

I'm not trying to nit pick here, I just wouldn't be a grognard if I wasn't concerned about these things. You guys have put together the best WWII OOB I've seen.

The front turret armour on the Cromwell I is currently rated as 6 but apparently it should be 8.

Here's a quote from my source:

The Cromwell's armour was generally rolled homogenous plate, initially the hull front was 64mm thick, the turret 76mm thick and the turret sides 64mm, some sources list the turret front as only being 64mm this is most likely due to them forgetting to include the 12.7mm carbon manganese backing plate attached to the front 64mm of rolled plate, in later versions this was a single plate of 76mm thickness.

http://www.wwiiequipment.com/cromwell.aspx

This is an excellent website BTW, lots of useful info.

The Cromwell I icon is 125 if that helps.

cheers,
Cross

[CharlesM]

It was originally 76mm thick, but from Mk VII onwards this was raised to 102mm (4"), and some parts of the driver's plate (the flat bits) had applique added to make 4" too.

[DRG]

I've made a note to look into this. We may be shortchanging all versions of the Cromwell in this regard.

Don

[DRG]

OK. I dug around a bit and confirmed the 76mm figure for the turret. However. What I am finding in both my home sources and internet inquiries is a 101mm figure for frontal armour applique. The turret armour appears to stay at 76@0°. For reference I'm looking at a Profile Publication Profile on the Cromwell and http://www.wwiivehicles.com/unitedki...-viii-a27m.asp both of which mention 101 mm for Hull Front for the later versions but no mention of additional armour on the turret. Was there an applique for the turret as well ?

Don

[Brummbar]

Thank's for that great link Cross.

[DRG]

OK, I had a closer look at the info in the Armour in Profile I have on the Cromwell and it says the...

"Cromwell VII, VIII are mainly distinguished by extra armour plate fixed to the hull and turret front, nose and rear"

so it looks like those two should have turret front armour of 10 and not the 9 we have now.

Don

[Cross]

Sounds good.

Thanks for research Don

[CharlesM]

Other sources include the later Armour in Profile on Cromwell and Comet, and David Fletcher and Richard Harley's Osprey New Vanguard # 104 on the Cromwell series. This, and an article appearing in Tankette many years ago emphasise the rather haphard upgrading of Centaurs and earlier Cromwells into later marks. Not all Cromwells in NW Europe were armoured to later Mk VII standards.

Let me know if you want anything further.

[CharlesM]

This site states that the problems with the British 75mm were not cured until early 1944; in fact special firing trials were held as late as October 1944 and crews much preferred the US 75mm. One of the main problems was not being able to load rounds quickly without them fouling something inside the vehicle and the non-electric firing system being unreliable.