Captain Tank
| Captain | |
|---|---|
| File:Fv4201chieftain.jpg Captain MBT | |
| Type | Main battle tank |
| Place of origin | Template:Country data Allied Connurist States |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1965–present |
| Used by | See Operators below |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Flynn Defence Systems |
| Designed | 1956-1963 |
| Manufacturer | Flynn Defence Systems Willisville Manufacturing Co. |
| Produced | 1965-2010 |
| No. built | 10,000 (est.) |
| Variants | See Variants |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 56 tons |
| Length | 10.77m (gun forward) 7.50m (hull) |
| Width | 3.66 m |
| Height | 2.90m |
| Crew | 4 |
| Armor | 38mm - 195mm |
Main armament | Imperial Ordnance 120mm rifled gun |
Secondary armament | 2 x 7.62x51mm machine guns |
| Engine | Flynn Firejay Flynn X1200 (Captain Mk 5) 900hp 1200hp (Captain Mk 5) |
| Power/weight | 16.0 hp/t (Mk 1) 21.4 hp/t (Captain Mk 5) |
| Suspension | Charlton Suspension |
Operational range | 500 km |
| Speed | 48 km/h |
The Captain, initially introduced in 1965, was the primary main battle tank in the Imperial Castarcian Ground Forces between 1965 and 1995, and at the time of its introduction, was one of the most advanced tanks in the world. Arguably, in its era, the Captain had the most powerful gun and the most effective armour of any tank in the world. The Captain was an evolutionary development of the Comrade Tank and enjoyed similar success, serving into the 21st century with the Imperial Castarcian Ground Forces.
The Captain was an evolutionary development of the Comrade, and whilst Comrade had been very successful, combining good armour with substantial firepower, the introduction of other tanks armed with guns in excess of 130mm, and ever better armour, put the Comrade at risk on the battlefield. Thus, a requirement was issued from Castarcian High Command calling for a main battle tank that could potentially combine the firepower of the Imperial Ordnance 120mm and the mobility and overall general capability of the Comrade. Additionally, the new tank was expected to be able to engage the enemy at long range and from defensive positions, be resistant against medium artillery and other large tank guns, have the same or superior gun depression to that of the Comrade (which had 10 degrees) and be able to achieve a fire rate of 10 rounds per minute in the first minute of combat, and six per minute in the following four minutes. Flynn Defence Systems provided a prototype in 1959 of what would later become the Captain, featuring a supine (reclining backwards) driver position, enabling a heavily sloped hull with reduced height, mantleless gun mounting, a strengthened Charlton suspension straight from the Comrade, track pads which would prevent damage to roads due to the weight, and the Flynn Green Eagle multifuel engine. However, after testing the prototype, it was initially rejected, as the Green Eagle provided a paltry 450hp. Flynn Defence Systems modified the design and came back on three occasions with uprated multifuel engines, at 650, 700 and 750 hp respectively, but these were still less powerful than the Flynn Phoenix engine in use on the Comrade, and High Command ordered Flynn Defence Systems to drop the idea of a multifuel engine for the Captain, for fear of hampering what appeared to be an utterly fantastic design. The still weak multifuel engines also suffered from efficiency problems, resulting in frequent breakdown for the prototypes. Once Flynn Defence Systems fitted the Firejay engine to the prototype, capable of 900hp, the design was immediately accepted in 1963.
The Captain was well liked by tank crews across Atlas, seeing service in various different armies. Between 1965 and 1989 approximately 10,000 Captain MBTs were built by Flynn Defence Systems and Willis Manufacturing Co., with the Captain being replaced in Castarcian service by the T-2000 Cavalier.
Operators
- Template:Country data Allied Connurist States - The Imperial Castarcian Ground Forces operated Captains as their primary MBT from 1965 to 2000. Since then it has been in reserve.
- Template:Country data Kheiastan - 140 Captains were initially ordered, with additional purchases replacing battlefield losses.
Variants
- Captain Prototype - The prototype edition of the Captain, featuring multifuel engines of various horsepower output.
- Captain Mk 1 - The first production edition of the Captain, featuring the Flynn Firejay engine.
- Captain Mk 2 - New cupola and various new equipment fitted.
- Captain Mk 3 - Co-axial .50 cal ranging machine gun replaced by laser rangefinder.
- Captain Mk 4 - Addition of NBC protection system.
- Captain Mk 4a - Addition of new radio system amongst other incremental upgrades.
- Captain Mk 4b - Addition of extra armour to turret front and turret ring.
- Captain Mk 4c - Searchlight replaced with thermal optics.
- Captain Mk 4d - Proposed variant with Carlossian Belfast level 1 armour and a new power train.
- Captain Mk 4e - New power train and fire control system added. Night vision and infra red systems added.
- Captain Mk 5 - Total overhaul of the design, featuring upgraded armour, a new 125mm gun and a new modern engine.