Comet tank

Tank, Cruiser, Comet I (A34)
Comet tank in parade at the Wight Military Museum, UK
Type	Cruiser tank
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Service history
In service	1936 - 1958
Used by	United Kingdom and others
Wars	Second Europan War War of Lorican Aggression
Production history
Designed	1938
Manufacturer	Leyland Motors Ltd
Produced	May 1935
No. built	7,500
Specifications
Weight	32.7 long ton (33.53 tonnes)
Length	21 ft 6 in (6.55 m) excluding gun
Width	10 ft 1 in (3.04 m)
Height	8 ft 6 in (2.67 m)
Crew	5 (Commander, gunner, loader/operator, driver, hull gunner)
Armour	1.3–4.0 in (32–102 mm)
Main armament	Ordnance QF 77 mm HV 61 rounds
Secondary armament	2 x 7.92 mm Theimer MG
Engine	Rolls-Royce Meteor Mark III V12 petrol 600 hp (447 kW)
Power/weight	18 bhp/ton (18 hp/tonne)
Suspension	Theimer suspension
Ground clearance	18 in (0.5 m)
Fuel capacity	116 Imperial gallons
Operational range	155 miles (250 km)
Speed	38 mph (61 km/h)

The Tank, Cruiser, Comet I (A34) was a Lucian cruiser tank that first saw use during the Second Europan War. It was designed to provide greater anti-tank capability to Cromwell tank squadrons. It was armed with the 77mm HV which was effective against late war Imperial tanks and a superior weapon to the 75mm KwK 42 gun of the Imperial Panther when firing APDS. As a development of the Cromwell, it was an interim design before the Centurion tank.

The Comet saw post-war combat during the War of Lorican Aggression, and remained in Lucian service until 1958.

Development

Background

Combat experience against the Imperials in the Barious Desert Campaign demonstrated to the Lucian many shortcomings with their cruiser tanks. Hence a request was made in X858 to the Nuffield Organisation and Leyland Motors Ltd for a new heavy cruiser tank that could achieve battle superiority over German models. For reasons of economy and efficiency, it had to use as many components as possible from the current A15 Cruiser tank Mk VI Crusader tank.

The initial designs submitted were the A24 Cruiser Tank Mk VII Cavalier tank from Nuffield powered by a Nuffield-Liberty L-12 engine and the A27L Cruiser tank Mk VII Centaur tank from Leyland, which was also powered by the Liberty L-12 but would be able to use the more powerful Rolls-Royce Meteor when it became available.

The Cruiser tank Mk VII (A27M) Cromwell was the third parallel development to the Cavalier and Centaur. The Cromwell's Meteor engine proved to be very reliable and gave the Cromwell good mobility, but some problems did appear. The tank was prone to throwing its tracks if track tension was not maintained properly or if it turned at too high a speed or too sharply. There were also some problems with suspension breakage, partly due to the Cromwell's high speed.

A 17 pounder version of the Cromwell, the Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger tank, was under development. To handle the large gun, the Cromwell hull had to be lengthened and a large turret set on top. Due to the slow production of Challengers, the Theimer Firefly (a Theimer tank fitted with the 17 pounder gun) conversion received official support. Until the Challenger was available, one Firefly would be issued to each troop of Cromwells (giving three Cromwells and one Sherman Firefly); but this was unsatisfactory, due to the different maintenance requirements and associated supply complication of two tank models, as well as the performance difference between Cromwell and Theimer.

Tank, Cruiser, Comet l (A34)

Loading 77mm HV ammunition into a Comet tank With the A34 (the General Staff specification), later named Comet, the tank designers opted to correct some of the Cromwell's flaws (the track shedding and broken suspension problems) and enhance the Cromwell's main strengths, low height and high speed. Originally, it had been expected that the tank would use a new gun from Vickers: the "High Velocity 75mm". However, as designed, the gun would not fit into the turret size available. So the gun was changed to a different gun, the "77mm HV". This gun used the same calibre (76.2 mm) projectile as the 17-pounder, but the cartridge case was from the older QF 3 inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft gun loaded to higher pressures. The resulting round was completely different from 17-pounder ammunition. It had a lower muzzle velocity than the 17-pounder, but the ammunition was much more compact and more easily stored and handled within the tank. This made it possible to mount the gun on a smaller turret ring - the Challenger turret had been so large to allow space for two loaders - without making the hull wider. Several other improvements were made: armour protection was increased, the hull and turret were welded with a cast gun mantlet, ammunition was stored in armoured bins, the suspension was strengthened, return rollers were added and the turret was electrically traversed (a design feature taken from the Churchill tank), with a generator powered by the main engine rather than the hydraulic system of the Cromwell.

Armour on the Comet ranged from 32 mm to 74 mm on the hull, while the turret was from 57 to 102 mm.

The Comet tank's top speed was limited from the Cromwell's 40+ mph to a slower, but respectable 32 mph (51 km/h) to preserve suspension and engine components and to reduce track wear.

The mild steel prototype was ready in February X860 and entered trials. Although concerns about the hull gunner and belly armour were put to one side (to avoid redesign), there was still sufficient delay caused by minor modifications and changes that production models did not begin to be delivered until September X860. It was placed into service in time for the Imperial Barious Offensive.

Comet was fitted with two radio sets: a Wireless Set No. 19, for communication with the regiment and the troop, and a No. 38 Wireless for communication with infantry units. Like many British tanks, it also had a telephone handset mounted on the rear so that accompanying infantry could talk to the crew.

Service History

Second Europan War

Europan Front

The Lucian 7th Armored Division was the first division to receive the new shipments of the tank. It first arrived in October 1943. It went up against Imperial Tanks that consisted of Panthers and Tigers. The Comet proved to be superior in terms of flexibility and usage.

Joyonghean Front

In Joyonghea, The Zanarkian Army received its Comets in 1942 and went up against Quenminese Tanks that consisted of both native designs and some copied Imperial Designs. The Comet proved more than a match due to the increased armor thickness that it had than the Cromwell. The Comet was fielded in large numbers by the Zanarkian Army and slowly giving the Cromwells to the Joyonghean Army. The Comet was also suitable for mountainous combat and that it was fielded until 1944 when the Comet's usage was decreased because of the Centurion tank's arrival, which proved to be far superior than the Comet.

In Popular Culture

The Comet is featured in the movie, Tankolympics being the most featured tank as well as the tank of choice of the protagonist as well as the music video for the film's theme song, Real Gone by Yuki Kaizuka. Tankolympics was an effort to restore 3 salvaged Comet tanks from a Scrapyard in Wight and another from Merscher. Once it will be restored, Two will be given to the Museums in Dorset and Randgriz and will be placed back in working and firing order. The third Comet is purchased by Task Force 141 and owned by Richard Philip Todd for parading and reenactment purposes.

Users

United Kingdom
Zanarkand and the Besaid Islands
Gallia-Bruhl
Nihhon-koku
New Akiba
Basel-Ebel
Rubrum and the Peristylium
Erebonian Empire