Centurion Mk.5/1

2021-03-11T17:01:02Z

U108495282: i updated the usage in battle and the pros and cons list

{{About
| about = British medium tank '''{{PAGENAME}}'''
| usage = other versions
| link = Centurion (Family)
}}
{{Specs-Card
|code=uk_centurion_mk_5_raac
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_Centurion Mk.5-1.jpg}}
}}

== Description ==

The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a premium gift rank {{Specs|rank}} British medium tank {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced during [[Update "Hot Tracks"]] as a reward for [[Battle Pass: Season II, "Steel Centurion"]].

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Tank-Armour}}


'''Armour type:'''

* Rolled Homogeneous Armour - hull, turret roof, external fuel tank
* Cast Homogeneous Armour - turret (except roof)
* Structural Steel - fenders and stowage boxes
* Structural Steel of Chassis - suspension
* Gun Steel - main gun and machine guns
* Tracks

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! '''Armour''' !! '''Front (Slope angle)''' !! '''Sides''' !! '''Rear''' !! '''Roof'''
|-
| Hull || 76.2 + {{annotation|50.8|Appliqué armour}} mm (58°) ''Upper glacis'' 76.2 mm (47°) ''Lower glacis''
| 50.8 mm|| 38 mm || 29 mm ''Crew compartment'' 8-14 mm ''Engine compartment'' 5 mm ''Radiator vents''
|-
| Turret || 89-152 mm ''Turret front'' {{annotation|Up to 300 mm|Variable thickness armour}} + {{annotation|100 mm|Hidden in mantlet}} ''Gun mantlet'' || 89 mm || 89 mm || 29-50.8 mm
|-
| Cupola || 152 mm || colspan="2" | 90 mm || 29 mm
|-
|}

'''Notes:'''

* Road wheels - 20 mm, tracks - 20 mm
* Main gun - 20 mm, machine guns - 5 mm
* External fuel tank - 12.7 mm
* Fenders and stowage boxes - 4 mm

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Tank-Mobility}}


{{tankMobility|abMinHp=1,007|rbMinHp=575}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armaments ==
{{Specs-Tank-Armaments}}
=== Main armament ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|1}}

{{main|20pdr OQF Mk.I (84 mm)}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[20pdr OQF Mk.I (84 mm)|84 mm 20pdr OQF Mk.I]] || colspan="5" | Turret rotation speed (°/s) || colspan="4" | Reloading rate (seconds)
|-
! Mode !! Capacity !! Vertical !! Horizontal !! Stabilizer
! Stock !! Upgraded !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
! Stock !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
|-
! ''Arcade''
| rowspan="2" | 62 || rowspan="2" | -10°/+20° || rowspan="2" | ±180° || rowspan="2" | Two-plane || 19.0 || 26.4 || 32.0 || 35.4 || 37.7 || rowspan="2" | 8.19 || rowspan="2" | 7.25 || rowspan="2" | 6.68 || rowspan="2" | 6.30
|-
! ''Realistic''
| 11.9 || 14.0 || 17.0 || 18.8 || 20.0
|-
|}

==== Ammunition ====
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
! colspan="8" | Penetration statistics
|-
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
! rowspan="2" | Type of warhead
! colspan="6" | '''Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)'''
|-
! 10 m !! 100 m !! 500 m !! 1,000 m !! 1,500 m !! 2,000 m
|-
| Shot Mk.1 || APCBC || 232 || 229 || 216 || 201 || 187 || 173
|-
| Shell Mk.1 || HE || 15 || 15 || 15 || 15 || 15 || 15
|-
| Shot Mk.3 || APDS || 285 || 283 || 262 || 239 || 218 || 198
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
! colspan="10" | Shell details
|-
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
! rowspan="2" | Type of warhead
! rowspan="2" | Velocity (m/s)
! rowspan="2" | Projectile Mass (kg)
! rowspan="2" | Fuse delay (m)
! rowspan="2" | Fuse sensitivity (mm)
! rowspan="2" | Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
! colspan="3" | Ricochet
|-
! 0% !! 50% !! 100%
|-
| Shot Mk.1 || APCBC || 1,000 || 9.1 || N/A || N/A || N/A || 48° || 63° || 71°
|-
| Shell Mk.1 || HE || 600 || 7.5 || 0 || 0.1 || 1,130 || 79° || 80° || 81°
|-
| Shot Mk.3 || APDS || 1,400 || 3.2 || N/A || N/A || N/A || 75° || 78° || 80°
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan="7" | Smoke shell characteristics
|-
! Ammunition
! Velocity (m/s)
! Projectile Mass (kg)
! Screen radius (m)
! Screen deploy time (s)
! Screen hold time (s)
! Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
|-
| 20pdr Shell SS Mk.1 || 250 || 9.3 || 13 || 5 || 20 || 50
|-
|}

==== [[Ammo racks]] ====


{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Full ammo
! 1st rack empty
! 2nd rack empty
! 3rd rack empty
! 4th rack empty
! 5th rack empty
! 6th rack empty
! Visual discrepancy
|-
| '''62''' || __ ''(+__)'' || __ ''(+__)'' || __ ''(+__)'' || __ ''(+__)'' || __ ''(+__)'' || __ ''(+__)'' || __
|-
|}

=== Machine guns ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|2}}
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|3}}
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|4}}

{{main|M2HB (12.7 mm)|L3A1 (7.62 mm)}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="50%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[M2HB (12.7 mm)|12.7 mm M2HB]]
|-
! Mount !! Capacity (Belt) !! Fire rate !! Vertical !! Horizontal
|-
| Coaxial || 3,000 (200) || 577 || N/A || N/A
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="50%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[L3A1 (7.62 mm)|7.62 mm L3A1]]
|-
! Mount !! Capacity (Belt) !! Fire rate !! Vertical !! Horizontal
|-
| Pintle || 1,000 (250) || 500 || -10°/+50° || ±120°
|-
| Coaxial || 3,600 (250) || 500 || N/A || N/A
|-
|}

== Usage in battles ==
The best thing you can do in this tank is to snipe from long distances and take advantage of your good gun depression of -10° and powerful 20Pdr cannon'''''.''''' If you want to play close quarters it would be best to play as a light tank and use cover as much as possible since your armor is something you shouldn't rely upon; though your upper front glacis plate may bounce a shell or two, but since all the side skirts have been removed It means that HEATFS, and HESH rounds become much more effective as there is only 50.8 mm of RHA on the sides. One of the many luxuries of this vehicles is a two-plane stabilizer which means you can get the shot off faster than most tanks at that BR. Another one of its luxuries is night vision, which is a big bonus on top of the two-plane stabilizer. One tank that plays very similar to this is the Caernarvon as there near identical in terms of armor thickness and fire power.

=== Pros and cons ===
'''Pros:'''

Very punctual APDS round at its BR

decent maneuverability

very accurate cannon

Has Two-plane stabilizer

has a decent reverse speed

*

'''Cons:'''

All solid shot rounds i.e no explosive filler

weak side armor

ammo storage in the front on the left of the tank (can be fixed be bringing less that 30 rounds)

*

== History ==

The Royal Australian Armoured Corps (RAAC) received Centurion Mark 3 tanks in 1955. The Mark 3 Centurion introduced the 20-pounder (84 mm) gun in the completely cast turret of the Mark 2. It was the first Centurion to include a new gunsight and a two-plane stabilization system for the main gun, as well as to have replaced the coaxial 20 mm Polsten gun with a 7.92 mm BESA machine gun. Additionally, the Mark 3 introduced a more powerful version of the Meteor engine - producing 650 horsepower. The RAAC upgraded their Mark 3 tanks to the Centurion Mark 5/1 standard. The Mark 5 replaced the coaxial BESA machine gun with a 7.62 mm L3 machine gun, a version of the American M1919 Browning, and added a second L3 machine gun on the commander's cupola; a 12.7 mm L6A1 machine gun (based on the American M2HB Browning) was mounted coaxial for ranging of the 20-pounder main gun. A layer of armour was added to the upper glacis to increase frontal protection.

Australian Centurion Mk 5/1 tanks of the C Squadron, 1st Armoured Regiment were deployed to Vietnam in February 1968. They were mainly used in the infantry support role due to a lack of enemy armour in the theatre. The Australian Centurions proved to have a high level of mobility during the conflict but were too heavy for most South Vietnamese bridges. Notable combats involving RAAC Centurions included defensive actions at the Coral and Balmoral firebases where RAAC Centurions were instrumental in the Australian victory. RAAC Centurions had been withdrawn from Vietnam by August 1971 and were replaced in the RAAC by the German Leopard 1 soon after. During their time in Vietnam 42 out of 58 Centurions took combat damage, of which six were irreparable. Despite this, only two Centurion crew members were killed in the conflict.

While in Vietnam, Australian tank crews removed the sideskirts from around the suspension in order to prevent a buildup of muck in the suspension. A 100 gallon fuel tank was bolted onto the rear of the hull in order to increase the very limited range of the Centurion. The standard ammunition loadout for Centurions deployed in Vietnam was 62 rounds of 84 mm ammunition, 4,000 rounds of 12.7 mm ammunition, and 9,000 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition. Some Australian Centurions had their smoke grenade launchers removed while in Vietnam.

=== [[wt:en/news/7070-development-battle-pass-vehicles-centurion-mk-5-1-raac-en|Devblog]] ===
Since 1951, the Royal Australian Armoured Corps has been replenished with Centurion Mk.3 and Mk.5 tanks, arriving both from the United Kingdom and other British-controlled regions. By the end of the 60s, all Centurion tanks were upgraded to the Mk.5/1 modification - among other works, the modernisation involved the installation of new sighting and commander machine guns, as well as the welding of additional armour plates, which were 50.8 mm thick, to the upper front plate of the hull.

In 1965, Australia announced the introduction of its military contingent into Vietnam. For this mission, Centurion tanks were additionally equipped with night vision devices: a removable IR searchlight appeared on the front of the tower, and the driver’s, gunner's, and commander's sights all received infrared night vision devices. The final standardisation of all available Centurions took place in 1973 after the return of the Australian troops from Vietnam. The Centurion Mk.5/1 was the main battle tank of the Australian Royal Tank Corps until the 1980s, later replaced by Leopard 1 tanks.

== Media ==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150">
File:Centurion Mk 5-1 RAAC WTWallpaper 01.jpg|
File:Centurion Mk 5-1 RAAC WTWallpaper 02.jpg|
File:Centurion Mk 5-1 RAAC WTWallpaper 03.jpg|
File:Centurion Mk 5-1 RAAC WTWallpaper 04.jpg|
</gallery>

== See also ==

''Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:''

* ''reference to the series of the vehicles;''
* ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.''

== External links ==

''Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:''

* ''topic on the official game forum;''
* ''other literature.''

{{Britain medium tanks}}
{{Britain premium ground vehicles}}

War Thunder Wiki - User contributions [en]

Centurion Mk.5/1