Vickers Mk.1
Contents
Description
The Vickers Battle Tank Mk.1 is a rank V British medium tank with a battle rating of 8.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.69 "Regia Aeronautica".
The Vickers MBT is like a sniper, designed to engage with minimal threat to the tank and its crew while still being a major thorn in the enemy's side. Stick to the knowledge of the maps you'll be playing on to enhance your defensive playstyle, grabbing husks of old tanks or tank ditches to your advantage then bursting out of cover to ambush enemies. The tank has a mediocre off-road top speed of 20 mph (stock), yet can do 7 mph in reverse, so don't be afraid to duck back into cover.
That being said, the Vickers has pitiful armour that rarely stands up to any punishment other than SPAA, and even then this is true for the front armour. The ~100 mm frontal armour on the turret is good for stray or hurried shots, although the lack of slopes inhibits your chances of bouncing shots, let the environment do this for you.
General info
Survivability and armour
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour (Hull, Turret roof)
- Cast homogeneous armour (Turret)
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 60 mm (56°) Front glacis 80 mm (32°) Lower glacis |
30 mm Top 30 + 4 mm Bottom |
20 mm (4-5°) Top 19 mm (58°) |
25 mm 5 mm Grills |
| Turret | 80 mm (19°) Turret front 40-100 mm (1-73°) Gun mantlet |
40-60 mm (1-17°) | 40 mm (10°) 60 mm (1°) Turret ring |
25 mm |
Notes:
- Suspension wheels and tracks are 20 mm thick.
Mobility
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 54 | 13 | 38.1 | 942 | 1,160 | 24.72 | 30.45 |
| Realistic | 49 | 12 | 538 | 608 | 14.12 | 15.96 | |
Suspension is quite strong on this tank, and so in AB spaded Vickers Mk.1 can climb mountains, which are supposed to be unreachable by players. As an example, the plateau on 38th Parallel's south - even indestructible stone "guard rails", which were specifically placed to prevent this from happening, cannot stop an experienced Vickers Mk.1 player from going up. It can even tow other tanks up there if their suspension allows it.
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
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Armaments
Main armament
| 105 mm Royal Ordnance L7A1 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 44 | -7°/+20° | ±180° | Two-plane | 26.37 | 36.50 | 44.32 | 49.01 | 52.14 | 6.50 | 5.75 | 5.30 | 5.00 |
| Realistic | 16.48 | 19.39 | 23.55 | 26.04 | 27.70 | ||||||||
Ammunition
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| Shot L28A1 | APDS | 303 | 302 | 296 | 277 | 257 | 252 |
| Shell L35 | HESH | 127 | 127 | 127 | 127 | 127 | 127 |
| Shell details | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile Mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||
| Shot L28A1 | APDS | 1,478 | 4.0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 75° | 78° | 80° |
| Shell L35 | HESH | 730 | 14.85 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 4,780 | 73° | 77° | 80° |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44 | 34 (+10) | 32 (+12) | 30 (+14) | 28 (+16) | 26 (+18) | 1 (+43) | No |
Turret empty: 26 (+18)
Additional armament
The 12.7 mm L21A1 machine gun is specifically used to determine ranging for the main gun. While the game indicates a very short clip of 3 rounds, it is in fact more accurate to say that the MG only fires small bursts of 3 rounds. It is not fired alongside the other machine guns but through the "Fire from secondary guns" option (Controls > Ground Vehicles > Weaponry).
| 12.7 mm L21A1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 600 (3) | 300 | N/A | N/A |
Machine guns
| 7.62 mm L3A1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 3,000 (250) | 500 | N/A | N/A |
Usage in battles
Although it can be done with its excellent reload speed of 5-7 seconds (crew skill depending), mixing ranks with the enemy is ill advised: instead take upon a sniping role. Your gun has only two types of ammo, both stock so research is not required for enhanced destruction. That being said, the APDS is a potent weapon that has 302 mm of pen at 100 m, falling to 252 mm at 2500 m: all ranges can be targeted, with enemies moving towards more manoeuvrability over armour in the high ranks. However, the rounds lack spalling potential, so the damage inflicted on a tank interior must be in the APDS direct path past the penetration. If you aim for the turret weak-spots, the barrel or breech will be your most common hits, incurring 20-30 precious seconds of repair time. If for any reason you're forced to engage while exposed, attempt to disable the enemy's gun or gunner first, before utilizing the excellent reload time to finish the target off.
The HESH shell is a very different story. While this odd round has its uses, it's somewhat limited in effectiveness against many targets. HESH, which stands for High Explosive Squash Head, relies on this so called 'squash head' spreading as much as possible, creating a spalling effect within the targeted vehicle. This means that it's not particularly effective against thick armour; and it should rather be used against lightly-armoured targets or targets which rely on highly angled armour for survivability. Generally, Vickers tankers will learn to prefer their APDS round for most engagements, only resorting to HESH against select targets.
Some enemies that can be rough to deal with:
- The Lorraine 40t will bounce more shots than you care to admit, or your hits will do minor damage. Just out the nature of the reserved play style this tank likes, any fast tanks will be a problem due to their ability to close the gap as you attempt to reach your favourite position. Engine and transmission upgrades will lessen this, in time.
- All Russian tanks are difficult to deal with, yet learning their weak spots will lead you to victory. German tanks are a problem due to their accuracy and fast reload times, however the cheeks of their turrets are prime targets for eagle-eyed gunners.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Stock APDS shell has very high penetration values
- Gun fires APDS shell at over 1,400 m/s
- HESH ammunition is effective against lightly-armoured vehicles
- Has a 12.7 mm L21A1 machine gun which is used for range finding for HESH shells
- Fast reload speed, at best 5 seconds
- Above average reverse speed compared to some British tanks
- Excellent maneuverability, even over rough terrain
- A good counter to Russian heavy tanks (IS-3, IS-6, IS-4) if you know the weak spots
Cons:
- Poor armour, even lower ranked guns are quite a threat
- While top speed is around 49 km/h, you will rarely hit it
- Depression of only -7° which is below average for British tanks
- APDS causes minimal post-penetration damage, meaning that destroying some vehicles can be a challenge
- Many SPAA vehicles can penetrate your sides or back
- The L21A1 machine gun has a very low fire rate (5 rounds/second) and only shoots low-penetration incendiary rounds
- Lacks ammunition choices, only has access to APDS and HESH
History
Vickers-Amstrong Company designed Vickers MBT in the sixties as a cheap and efficient variant of the Chieftain, ready to be exported. In 1961, India purchased the license for development, and Vickers-Armstrong helped to set up the factory. Over the course of its life, many variants were developed, including the Mk.2 and Mk.3. Later, Vickers Valiant(Mk.4) in 1977 and finally Mk.7 MBT. Currently, Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania are the foremost operators.
Media
- Skins
- Videos
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;
- encyclopedia page on the tank;
- other literature.
| Britain medium tanks | |
|---|---|
| Valentine | Valentine I · Valentine IX · Valentine XI |
| Cromwell | Cromwell I · Cromwell V · Cromwell V (RP-3) |
| Cromwell derivatives | Challenger · Avenger · Comet I · Comet I "Iron Duke IV" · Charioteer Mk VII |
| Centurion | Centurion Mk 1 · Centurion Mk.2 · Centurion Mk 3 · Centurion Mk.5 AVRE · Centurion Mk 10 · Centurion Action X · FV4202 |
| Vickers MBT | Vickers Mk.1 · Vickers Mk.3 · Vickers Mk.7 |
| Chieftain | Chieftain Mk 3 · Chieftain Mk 5 · Chieftain Mk 10 |
| Challenger 1 | Challenger Mk.2 · Challenger Mk.3 · Challenger DS |
| Challenger 2 | Challenger 2 · Challenger 2 (2F) · Challenger 2 TES · Challenger 2 OES · Challenger 2E · Challenger 2 Black Night |
| Challenger 3 | Challenger 3 TD |
| Australia | A.C.I · A.C.IV · Centurion Mk.5/1 |
| South Africa | Olifant Mk.1A · Olifant Mk.2 · TTD |
| India | Vijayanta · Bhishma TWMP |
| Israel | ▄Sho't Kal Dalet |
| Jordan | Khalid |
| Sweden | ▄Strv 81 (RB 52) |
| USA | Grant I · Sherman II · Sherman Firefly · Sherman IC "Trzyniec" |
