Cruiser Mk-I / Mk-ICS

Cruiser tankin ensimmäinen protyyppi valmistui vuonna 1936, tyyppi nimi A9E1.
Mark-I A9 valmistuksessa käytettiin ylisesti kaupan olevia osia, kuten linja-autoissa jo käytössä olevaa AEC moottoria, jota oli jo käytetty Light Mk.III tankissa.

Cruiser Mk-I oli ensimmäinen panssarivaunu, joka käyttää täysin hydraulisesti toimivaa torni kääntöä, malli Nash & Thompson järjestelmä jota käytetty keskitettynä järjestelmänä Wellington pommikoneiden konekivääri torneissa.

Telirakenne oli myös keskitetty ja järjestelmässä käytetyt telapyörät olivat erikokoisia.
Ensimmäinen ja takana oleva olivat suurempia kuin keskellä olevat neljä telapyörää.
Tällä rakenteella oli pyritty vähentämään osien valmistukseen menevää työaikaa sekä myös säästämään huoltokustannuksia pitkällä aikavälillä.

Toisin kuitenkin kävi ja suunnittelu ratkaisu osoittautui erittäin huonoksi valinnaksi.
Runko oli valmistettu pultatuista teräs levyistä, koska niistä oli helpompi suunnitella tasainen runko. Panssari oli ohut vain 14 mm (0,5 tuumaa) syynä pitää teho-paino suhde riittävän korkealla ja saavuttaa hyvä matkanopeus. 

Ohjausjarrut oli kiinnitetty takahammasrattaiden ulkokehälle joiden avulla tapahtui myös jarrujen jäädyttäminen. Rungon ulkopuolella telakoneiston takana oli myös apumoottori jota käytettiin akkujen lataamiseen ja antamaan virtaa taistelu-osaston jäähdytys tuulettimelle. 

Cruiser Mk-I oli varustettu vakiomallisella 2 paunan QF 40 mm tykillä jonka tuliteho oli
riittävä lähes kaikkia tuohon aikaan käytettyjä panssarivaunuja vastaan. Tämä sama
tykki oli kaikkien englantilaisten panssarivaunujen ja jalkaväen vakio aseena pitkään.
Tykin kanssa saman suuntaisesti oli torniin asennettu yksi v

ickers 0.303 konekivääri.

Kevyt tykki säästi myös vaunun painoa eikä rakenteissa tarvinnut erottaa taistelutilaa
ja ohjaamotilaa toisistaan. Lisäaseistuksena vaunussa oli kaksi konekivääriä, jotka oli asennettu vaunun etuosaan, ohjaamon molemmille puolille, kumpikin omaan torniin.
Konekiväärit oli vesijäähdytteisiä Vickers 0.303 kaliiperin aseita.
Vanun runko oli johdettu melkein suoraan Independent A1E1 panssarivaunusta ja tämä malli pysyi jonkin aikaa Vickers panssarivaunujen tavaramerkkinä.

Vaunun kaksi konekivääri tornia edustivat vanhaa tyyli suuntaa ja lisäksi niiden tila vaati itselleen ahtaasta kuuden miehen taistelutilasta suuren osan ja Mathilda tankin miehistöön verraten tuntui suurelta, joten vaunun vaatimaa miehistö tarvetta haluttiin vähentää ja tämä tapahtui jo seuraavassa, A10 mallissa.
-------------------------------------------------
               
Type: Cruiser tank
Place of origin: United Kingdom
Service history: In service 1938–1941
Used: British Army
Wars: Second World War
Designer: Sir John Carden
Manufacturer: Vickers
Produced: 1936–1941
Number built: 125
Weight: 12 tons
Length: 19 ft (5.8 m)
Width: 8 ft 4 in (2.5 m)
Height :8 ft 8 in (2.65 m)
Crew: 6 (Commander, gunner, loader, driver, 2x MG gunners)
Armour: 6 - 14 mm
Armament: QF 2-pdr / 100 rounds + 3 x 0.303 Vickers machine gun / 3,000 rounds
Engine: AEC 179 6-cylinder petrol 150 hp (110 kW)
Suspension: Sprung triple wheel bogie
Range: 150 miles (240 km)
Speed: 25 mph (40 km/h)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Tank, Cruiser, Mk I (A9) was a British cruiser tank of the interwar period. It was the first cruiser tank: a fast tank designed to bypass the main enemy lines and engage the enemy's lines of communication, along with enemy tanks. 

            
The Cruiser Mk II was a heavier armoured adaptation of the Mark I developed at much the same time.

In 1936, the British War Office designated two different kinds of tanks for future development: heavily armoured infantry tanks to be used in close co-operation with infantry during attacks, and fast mobile cruiser tanks designed to make forays deep into enemy territory.

In 1934, Sir John Carden of Vickers-Armstrong was asked to provide a "reasonably cheap tank" as a replacement for some of the mediums then in use. The pilot model of his design was finished in 1936 and given the designation A9E1.

It incorporated the best features of the earlier Mk III Light Tank, and was powered by a commercial petrol engine. However, this was still in the time of the Great depression and the tank had a number of cost-cutting measures applied. It was the first British tank to have a centrally located turret and to have powered traverse. The system was by Nash & Thompson and similar to that being introduced on the Vickers Wellington bomber aircraft. The armour was light, with a maximum of 14 mm thickness. Many armour faces were vertical, and there were numerous shot traps, but it could achieve 25 mph and carried the new high velocity 2pdr gun.

The driver's compartment and the fighting compartments were not separated. As well as the turret armament, which consisted of a QF 2-pounder (40 mm) gun and a coaxial Vickers machine gun, there were two small turrets either side of the driver's compartment, each sporting one more machine-gun. 

Both these smaller turrets were permanently manned, which gave the tank a total crew of 6 (Commander, gunner, loader, driver and two machine-gunners).

The A9E1 was tested against other designs and -although lacking in some areas - it was accepted in 1937 as an interim design until a Christie suspension cruiser tank could be delivered. An order was placed for 125. Seventy-five were built by Harland and Wolff, and the other 50 were built by Vickers. Originally, a Rolls-Royce car engine was used, but this proved underpowered and was replaced by an AEC bus engine.

The later Valentine Infantry tank essentially used the same lower hull and suspension, though with considerably more armour.

The A9 weighed 12 tons, was 5.8 metres long, 2.65 metres high, 2.5 metres wide, and had a top speed of 25 mph on road and 15 mph off. Its maximum road range was 150 miles. The ammunition load was 100 2-pounder rounds and a total of 3,000 rounds for the three Vickers machine guns.

A damaged Cruiser Mk I CS abandoned in Calais, 1940.
The Mark I cruiser began to be delivered in January 1939.

The Cruiser was an effective tank in the French, Greek and early North African campaigns. The 2 pdr gun was lethal against the early Italian tanks encountered during the North African campaign and could hold its own against Rommel's early Panzer IIs and IIIs. The A9's 2-pounder gun could also breach the 20 – 30 mm of protective steel on later opponents, such as the Panzer III ausf D and the Panzer IV ausf D variants. It was effective until the Germans introduced the more thickly armoured Panzer IV ausf E variant to the desert in the Spring of 1941. 

However, the minimal armour made the A9 an easy kill for most Axis anti-tank weapons. Also problematic was the lack of High Explosive shells for the 2 pdr gun and even worse the lack of AP for the 95 mm gun on the Close Support version. Another issue was that the areas around the front machine gun turrets created a frontal surface that was more vulnerable to enemy fire than it would have been had it been a flat plate, let alone a sloped glacis.

The mechanical unreliability of the Cruiser was also a disadvantage. 
In particular, tracks were easily slewed causing difficulties.

The trainee driver of a Cruiser Mark I in 1940.

Mark I (A9) 
Used by the 1st Armoured Division in the Battle of France (1940). 

Used by the 2nd and 7th Armoured Divisions in North Africa until 1941.
Mark I CS

Had a 3.7 inch (94 mm) /L15 breech-loaded mortar instead of the 2-pounder gun. 
40 rounds, mostly smoke, were carried.