Centurion Mk.5 AVRE
| This page is about the British medium tank Centurion Mk.5 AVRE. For other variants, see Centurion (Family). |
Contents
Description
The Centurion Assault Vehicle, Royal Engineers Mk.5, or simply the Centurion Mk.5 AVRE, is a premium gift rank V British medium tank with a battle rating of 8.0 (AB) and 7.0 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.79 "Project X".
General info
Survivability and armour
Overall, the armour on the AVRE is similar to that on the Centurion Mk 3 gun tank with three major differences: ROMOR-A ERA, composite side skirts and a dozer blade. The ERA provides additional protection (300mm HEAT, 30mm KE) on key areas of the tank, namely the turret face and upper glacis plate, but this has little impact against most opponents due to the majority of shells at this rank being of the kinetic energy (KE) variety. It also changes the visible profile of the turret, obscuring the weak points beneath the standard Centurion turret. The composite side skirts provide a significant increase in protection against small calibre HEAT and auto-cannon fire, increasing it to the point where rounds can no longer penetrate the side armour. They do not change the effect of MBT rounds however as the additional protection simply isn't enough to stop them. The dozer blade may seem unimportant at first glance as it consists of 70mm of structural steel, not RHA, but this is not the case. The blade acts as spaced armour against most rounds aimed at the hull, adding around 60mm against KE and 200mm against HEAT. This can also be added to by the ERA on the front plate, overall providing greater than 400mm of protection against HEAT rounds.
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 | 39 | 14 | 52.2 | 1,007 | 1,240 | 19.29 | 23.75 |
| Realistic | 35 | 13 | 575 | 650 | 11.02 | 12.45 | |
Modifications and economy
2 × 130 / 200 / 220 % 2 × 196 / 196 / 196 % | Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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|
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Armaments
Main armament
| 165 mm ORD BL 6.5in L9A1 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 53 | -10°/+18° | ±180° | N/A | 19.0 | 26.4 | 32.0 | 35.4 | 37.6 | 27.7 | 24.5 | 22.6 | 21.3 |
| Realistic | 11.9 | 14.0 | 17.0 | 18.8 | 20.0 | ||||||||
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 | ||
| L33A1 | HESH | 203 | 203 | 203 | 203 | 203 | 203 |
| 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% | |||||||
| L33A1 | HESH | 259 | 30.6 | 0.1 | 4 | 20,310 | 73° | 77° | 80° |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53 | 50 (+3) | 36 (+17) | 22 (+31) | 8 (+45) | 1 (+52) | No |
Notes:
- Shells are modeled individually and disappear after having been shot or loaded.
- Bottom racks 2 to 4 deplete from left to right.
- Packing 22 (+31) shells (racks 1 to 3 emptied) is a good compromise to have enough shells in combat while minimizing the number of shells onboard.
Machine guns
| 7.62 mm L3A1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Pintle | 1,250 (250) | 500 | -10°/+80° | ±180° |
| Coaxial | 3,250 (250) | 500 | N/A | N/A |
Usage in battles
The Centurion Mk.5 AVRE, despite the additional armour, is still essentially a Centurion in terms of survivability and mobility. The tank must be driven carefully to take full advantage of the environment and avoid being shot until it is able to close in to the enemy and take full advantage of its 165 mm gun. Its relatively low speed for a medium tank is not ideal with flanking, so simply getting into a safe position and ambushing unaware enemy tanks often leads to success. Your long reload speeds and lack of stabilizer limits your ability to advance and fire at the same time, and so coupled with your relatively weak armour means you should only advance when the area is clear, so that you can move to a new ambush position. A Mk.5 AVRE that ambushes a lone enemy will almost always win, assuming your first shot connects.
While the rangefinder can be used in conjunction with gun-sight range adjustment, the tank will struggle in medium to long distant combat, as the HESH shells lack any semblance of accuracy past around 400 meters, with shells arcing such that shell placement becomes quite difficult along with shell travel time becoming increasingly high. However, against a completely static target and with good rangefinding crew skill, it is not impossible to land a direct hit up to 800 meters. However, if you miss, your long reload speed means you may completely miss your chance at destroying your target, which can easily manoeuvre away without threat of damage, or simply return fire freely.
The tank is best played as a support tank in conjunction with the rest of your team. Becoming isolated while playing the Mk.5 AVRE is extremely dangerous, as your long reload speed, low speed, and weak armour means that you cannot withstand an attack by anything more than a single tank. If you fire at an enemy tank and are then caught by another tank, you are most likely done for. Additionally, failing to instantly destroy a target with your first shot is also extremely dangerous, whether you missed or have damaged an enemy. In that situation, you will want an allied tank to cripple the enemy or finish them off until you are able to either reload or retreat with your two smoke grenade barrages. The extra crew member over the other Centurion models may allow you to survive an extra shot, but an isolated Mk.5 AVRE is a dead Mk.5 AVRE. At the same time, the Mk. 5 AVRE's ability to help teammates repair increases its usefulness as a support tank.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Has a powerful 165 mm gun that fires shells with the explosive mass of 15.87 kg, equal to 20.31k g TNT, one hit can always deal serious damage to the enemy vehicles
- ROMOR-A ERA equivalent protection against 30 mm kinetic energy munitions and 300 mm chemical energy munitions
- The dozer blade in front it can provide additional protection, especially protect the lower glacis
- Low muzzle velocity can allow the trajectory to hit some enemies hide behind the slope, especially in AB
- Composite side skirts
- Acceptable reload time
- Can help repair teammates, regardless of them being in your squad - this is because the AVRE is a Royal Engineers vehicle
- Very useful in the close range combat, especially in urban warfare
- Good reverse speed
- Smoke grenade can be released twice
- A five-man crew, unlike other Centurion designs
Cons:
- Terrible muzzle velocity makes this vehicle not very useful in the open area, especially in RB
- Low top speed
- Centurion is a large tank = larger target
- Side armour is still very weak
- Based on Centurion Mk 5, which is similar as the Centurion Mk 3, so it has the similar weak spots as the Centurion Mk 3 (like the turret ring)
- Top of the engine deck can be easily penetrated by planes
- HESH is inherently unreliable, a hit to a wrong spot on a certain enemy tank chassis or armour may do no damage at all despite the shell's potential, while a close miss might annihilate the enemy tank regardless
History
In the 1960s, the British army felt the need for a modern multi-functional engineering vehicle. They chose the Centurion Mk 5 main battle tank base to replace the outdated engineering tank, which used a Churchill chassis. Since the engineering vehicle's tasks were rather specific, the Centurion chassis was given special equipment: the tank received a bulldozer scoop, a device was mounted above the scoop for laying fascines, the altered rear armour plate was equipped with a tow hitch, and a seat was installed next to the driver's seat for a new, fifth crew member – a navigator. The engineering vehicle, which was called the Centurion AVRE (abbreviated from Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers) was designed to carry a special engineering gun capable of destroying fortifications, pillboxes and other fortified defensive positions. That gun was the short-barreled L9, a 165 mm caliber cannon with low recoil. The vehicle received an ammunition complement of 53 shots with high-explosive squash head (HESH) shells with huge destructive force – each charge contained almost 16 kilograms of explosives. The Centurion AVRE became the standard engineering vehicle for the British Army and participated in several armed conflicts, including the 1991 Gulf War. In the 80's, Centurion AVRE's were modernized, receiving additional armour including ROMOR reactive armour - this modification was used in operation "Desert Storm". The vehicle was retired in 1993.
- From Devblog
Media
- Skins
- Videos
See also
- Vehicles equipped with the same chassis
External links
- [Devblog] Centurion AVRE: Engineer at War
- [Wikipedia] Centurion
- [Tanks Encyclopedia] FV4003 Centurion AVRE
| Britain medium tanks | |
|---|---|
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|---|---|
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