Valentine XI
| This page is about the British medium tank Valentine XI. For other versions, see Valentine (Family). |
Contents
Description
The Tank, Infantry, Valentine XI is a rank II British medium tank with a battle rating of 3.0 (AB) and 2.7 (RB/SB). It was released along with the initial British tree line in Update 1.55 "Royal Armour".
General info
Survivability and armour
Rank 1 guns will have difficulty penetrating this tank, because their penetration is generally around 60mm or below, and the Valentine XI's frontal armour is 60-65mm. Sometimes vehicles with a larger calibre gun (eg. Na-To, Marder III H) will make short work of this tank by simply shooting through the driver's hatch, turret, or with overpressure. The hull side of the Valentine XI is also reduced to 50mm comparing to the Valentine I's 60mm which worsens its protection against vehicles whose penetration is between 50-60mm, for example Chi-Ha and Pz.35(t). This leads to the Valentine XI's armour only being effective against low tier tanks and some SPAAs. If in possession of a gun unable to penetrate the Valentine XI from the front, flanking around to the sides or rear could also work. Once towards the Valentine's rear, repeat this process by running circles around this vehicle and setting it on fire again and again until it burns down.
The Valentine's crew is also low in number (3) and closely sat, reducing its survivability further more against all penetrating shots. The Valentine XI does have access to 2 smoke grenade launchers, so use them to conceal yourself if your armour seems to not hold up.
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour
- Cast homogeneous armour (Gun mantlet)
| Armour | Front | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 60 mm Front plate 30 mm (66-68°) Front glacis 20 mm (72°), 60 mm (22°) Lower glacis |
50 mm (57-58°) Top 20 mm (65°), 60 mm Bottom |
17 mm | 20 mm |
| Turret | 65 mm (0-66°) Turret front 65 mm (0-62°) Gun mantlet |
60 mm | 65 mm (1-57°) | 20 mm |
Note:
- Suspension wheels and bogies are 15 mm thick, while tracks are 20 mm thick.
- Belly armour is 20 mm thick.
Mobility
Having played the previous Valentine I, the player can very much predict the mobility of the Valentine XI. The top speed is very limited at 25 km/h. This speed can only be reached after accelerating on flat, hard ground for quite a long while. Any hill or imperfect road condition will reduce the speed to around 20 km/h which is only comparable to heavy tanks like B1. Medium counterparts such as Pz.IV E and Strv m/41 will easily overtake you on any terrain. The speed drops significantly when turning on the move.
The hull traverse speed is awful especially when stock: the tank must move forward or backward a bit in order to really turn the hull. The reverse speed might be the slowest in game, at only -2 km/h. This of course will not let you get out of any danger quickly, and you will either be saved by your armour or get destroyed. Overall, the low speed, slow acceleration, poor traverse and reverse all make the Valentine XI bad at getting to places, repositioning, or escaping in time, greatly limiting its flexibility on the battlefield.| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 27 | 4 | 18 | 256 | 315 | 14.22 | 17.5 |
| Realistic | 25 | 3 | 146 | 165 | 8.11 | 9.17 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
| 75 mm OQF Mk.V | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 45 | -12°/+20° | ±180° | N/A | 15.2 | 21.1 | 25.6 | 28.3 | 30.1 | 6.50 | 5.75 | 5.30 | 5.00 |
| Realistic | 9.5 | 11.2 | 13.6 | 15.0 | 16.0 | ||||||||
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 | ||
| M72 shot | AP | 91 | 88 | 78 | 67 | 57 | 49 |
| M61 shot | APCBC | 103 | 100 | 89 | 77 | 66 | 57 |
| M48 shell | HE | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| 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% | |||||||
| M72 shot | AP | 619 | 6.3 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 47° | 60° | 65° |
| M61 shot | APCBC | 618 | 6.53 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 48° | 63° | 71° |
| M48 shell | HE | 463 | 6.3 | 0 | 0.1 | 666 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| 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) |
| M89 | 259 | 3 | 13 | 5 | 20 | 50 |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45 | 37 (+8) | 28 (+17) | 19 (+26) | 10 (+35) | 1 (+44) | Yes |
Optics
| Valentine XI Optics | ||
|---|---|---|
| Which ones | Default magnification | Maximum magnification |
| Main Gun optics | x1.85 | x3.5 |
| Comparable optics | M4A1 | |
Machine guns
| 7.92 mm BESA | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 1,574 (225) | 600 | N/A | N/A |
The small calibre of the BESA machine gun makes it largely ineffective against all armoured vehicles but the ones with an open compartment. It still can be used to ping targets as a rangefinding help or to mow down minor obstacles blocking your line of sight.
Usage in battles
Two features dictate the Valentine's playstyle: its mobility, and its armour. The Valentine is defended by a reasonably-effective armour setup, with a strong armour setup in the turret. But, the armour around the chassis is lacking. It's reasonably well-sloped, and angling can greatly increase its protective capabilities, but it is still not perfect. The lower glacis is particularly poorly protected. This means that a hull-down playstyle can be very effective in this vehicle, since it hides the tank's weak spots while only exposing the stronger turret armour.
Such a passive playstyle is also helped by the tank's cannon. It does good damage, and has a reasonable reload rate. However, it does not have access to APHE shells, so one-shot kills are rare. Again, this bodes poorly for close-up one on one combat. At range, on the other hand, the gun can focus on gradually destroying key components in enemy vehicles while retaining its good penetration values. Finally, the tank's small profile makes it even harder to hit at long range, and the weakspots in particular are very hard to hit accurately.
Of course, a long-range sniping playstyle isn't the end all and be all for this tank. It is certainly possible to fight closer to the enemy. When doing this, it is important to keep three things in mind. Firstly, since the gun usually won't kill enemy tanks in one shot, focus on disabling the enemy's gun before aiming for anything else. This will give the player time to destroy the enemy without worrying about return fire. Secondly, this vehicle only has three crew members; it is very likely that a penetrating shell will destroy the vehicle outright. Therefore, be cautious of exposing this tank in areas without cover, and when there are few teammates nearby. Lastly, like many British tanks, the Valentine has poor mobility. It is often too slow to flank around the enemy, and its slow top speed can leave it stuck in messy situations with no way out. The tank's reverse speed is especially lacking--be sure that the way is clear before advancing, or else you may find yourself coming under fire with no way out.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Good gun with a fast reload
- Good hull and turret armour
- Rear-mounted transmission
- Strong in low-rank games
Cons:
- Small three man crew
- Quite slow
- Frontal driver viewport is a weak point
History
Development
The experiences taken from the development of the A9, A10 cruiser tanks and the A11 infantry tank prompted Vickers-Armstrong to begin development of a new tank. As a private venture, the design did not receive any designations from the British General Staff during its creation. The designing of the tank focused on the tank having the weight of a cruiser, but with the armour comparable to the infantry tanks. The basis was to have the vehicle with 60 mm of frontal armour and a 2-pounder gun in a two-man turret. To make it as light as possible, it was small and featured a cramped interior. The design used features taken from the A9 and A10 tanks so the design was easier to produce and cheaper to make. Vickers unveiled the design to War Office at February 10, 1938. While they initially viewed it unfavourably for its tiny two-man turret, they took it in April 1939 due to the growing tense situation in Europe with Nazi Germany, with the first order coming in May 1940 after the losses suffered by the British Expeditionary Forces in the Battle of France. The name Valentine was given to the tank sometime between its introduction to War Office and its adoption. The origin of the name is disputed, some say it was due to its introduction on February 14 in 1938 or 1940, other say it was the middle name of Sir John V. Carden, who helped design the Valentine's predecessors. Other sources say it is a name from the Vickers' company full name (Vickers-Armstrong Ltd Elswick & [Newcastle-upon] Tyne), and David Fletcher from Bovington Tank Museum say that "Valentine" was a code name used by the company for its development.
The Valentine was put into service as quickly as possible under the designation Tank, Infantry, Mk.III. Vickers, Metropolitan-Cammell Carriage & Wagon, and Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company were all involved in the construction of this vehicle. During World War II, Canada was also contracted to build the Valentine to build up their own tank forces. The United Kingdom produced a total of 6,855 Valentines during the war between the three company while Canada built 1,420 Valentine tanks in their factories, for a total of 8,275 tanks produced, making the Valentine the most produced British tank in the entire war.
Variants
The Valentine is one of the most modified British tank in World War II, up to eleven variants were made during its entire production life.
- Mark I: The first one, it was built with a rivet construction, a 135 hp petrol engine, and a 2-pounder, but was not sent to combat due to mechanical problems.
- Mark II: Uses a 131 hp diesel engine and has an auxiliary fuel tank added to the left hull.
- Mark III: Has a slightly thinner side armour (60 mm to 50 mm) and a modified turret design, giving room for a loader in the tank, freeing the commander to do his job.
- Mark IV A modified Mk.II using an American 138 hp GMC diesel engine and an American-produced transmission, making the tank more reliable.
- Mark V: The same as Mk.IV, except using the Mk.III as the basis.
- Mark VI: A Canadian built Valentine, using Canadian and American parts and a GMC diesel engine, plus later switching the BESA machine gun into a Browning machine gun.
- Mark VII: A Canadian Mk.VI with a new radio set and a modified interior. Another Mk.VII named the Mark VIIA has jettisonable fuel tanks and new tracks, oil cooler, and headlights.
- Mark VIII: Uses a British AEC diesel engine and a modified turret to use the 6-pounder. The modification eliminated the coaxial machine gun from the design.
- Mark IX: A Mk.V modified to take the 6-pounder as well, but with an armour reduction. Later version also had a stronger 165 hp GMC diesel engine installed.
- Mark X: Features another modified turret design using the 6-pounder, but made it able to use a coaxial machine gun again and still uses the 165 hp diesel engine. Uses a welded construction
- Mark XI: The Mk.X using the QF 75 mm gun instead of a 6-pounder, with the 210 hp diesel engine. However, these tanks only served as a command tank in the battlefield. Uses a welded construction
Combat usage
The Valentine mostly saw service in the North African Campaign, where the crew reported on it very favourably as a reliable and well-protected tank. The first unit who saw action with the Valentine was the 8th Royal Tank Regiment in Operation Crusader, where it was in the process of replacing the Matilda II. The reliability is expressed when some Valentine were reported to have travelled a distance of 4,800 kilometers by the time the British reached Tunisia. The Valentine tanks soon saw wide-spread use by mid-1941 when they were issued out widely to armoured regiments due to the lack of cruiser tanks available to fill in the ranks.
However, the biggest weakness of the Valentine tank is the lack of high-explosive rounds for the 2-pounder, a weakness suffered by every other tank using the 2-pounder. This and the 2-pounder's growing deficiency against tank armour was remedied by the usage of the 6-pounder on the Valentine after the Mark VIII version, and then the QF 75 mm gun. However, these larger guns were harder to mount on the small Valentine turret and made for a cramped interior, even removing the established loader's position made in an enlarge turret for the 2-pounder. By the time these larger guns were introduced for the tank, better tanks were being introduced, such as the Churchill heavy tanks from Britain and the M4 Shermans from the Americans. Despite the better tanks, the Valentine's low height is able to exploit small cover on the battlefield and take up a good hull-down position behind hills.
Some Valentines were sent to the Soviet Union as part of the Lend-Lease program, most of the Valentines came from Canada's production lines. The Valentines saw use from the time of Battle of Moscow in 1941 all the way until the end of the war, though the Valentines saw use more as a second-line tank due to its relative weakness. It was criticized for its slow speed and weak gun, but was liked for its small size, reliability, and armour protection and thus the Soviet Supreme Command continue asking for it and its production to continue until the end of the war.
By 1944, the Valentine is mostly taken out from the front-line services and replaced by the newer tanks. A few were retained for special purposes and command vehicles for Archer units, which is a tank destroyer based off the Valentine chassis. The tank continue to see use in the Pacific in limited numbers until May 1945 in the 3rd New Zealand Division, some had their armaments changed to the larger 3-inch howitzer to use it stronger high-explosive ammunition against the Japanese. New Zealand kept the normal and modified Valentines all the way until 1955. The last known combat usage of the Valentine was on Cyprus in early 1960s when a turret-less Valentine was used by the Greek militia, added with a make-shift armour and a machine gunner position with a Bren gun.
Survivors
About forty Valentines and vehicles based off the Valentine chassis exist in various conditions in the world. Valentines in running condition exist in the Bovington Tank Museum and in private hands in New Zealand and United Kingdom. The Valentines survivors can be seen in UK, Canada, Belgium, France, Russia, Australia, and New Zealand.
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
| Vickers-Armstrongs Limited | |
|---|---|
| Ships | |
| Tribal-class | HMS Eskimo · HMCS Haida |
| Invincible-class | HMS Invincible* |
| Kongō-class | IJN Kongo** |
| Tanks | |
| Light Tanks | VFM5*** · Vickers Mk.11*** |
| Light Tank Mk VI | Light AA Mk I |
| Light Tank Mk VII | Tetrarch I |
| Light Tank Mk VIII | Alecto I |
| Tank, Infantry, Valentine | Valentine I · Valentine IX · Valentine XI · Archer |
| Vickers MBT | Vickers Mk.1 · Vickers Mk.3 · Vickers Mk.7*** |
| Heavy Tanks | Independent**** |
| Export | ▂МК-IX "Valentine" · Vickers Mk.E**** |
| See also | Vickers-Armstrongs Aircraft Limited |
| *Previously Armstrong Whitworth | |
| **Built for Japan | |
| ***Vickers Defence Systems | |
| ****Previously Vickers Limited | |
| 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" |
