![]() Powered by the same three Cadillac V8 engines as the AC1, they were now mounted radially on a common crank case and geared together to form the "Perrier-Cadillac", a single 17.1 L, 24 cylinder engine, very similar in some respects to the later A57 Chrysler multibank used in some variants of the US M3 and M4 tanks. The hull machine gun and gunner were removed from the design to make room for stowage of the larger 25 pounder ammunition. Mounted in a fully traversable turret larger than that of the AC1 but using the same 54 inch (1372 mm) turret ring, it was slightly cramped for the turret crew but gave the AC3 both armour piercing capability as well as an effective high explosive round. This was quickly redesigned as a tank gun, work that would later prove useful for the design of the Short 25 Pounder. The next step up in firepower available in Australia was the 25 pounder (87.6 mm, 3.45 in) gun- howitzer. The Sentinel was to be succeeded by the AC3, a much improved design with better armour protection, and most importantly increased firepower. Sixty-five production vehicles had been completed by June 1943. The preferred engines suitable to power a 28 tonne tank, a Pratt & Whitney Wasp single row petrol radial, or a Guiberson diesel radial, were not available within Australia, so the Sentinel was powered by the combined output of three Cadillac 346 in³ (5.7 L) V8 petrol car engines installed in clover-leaf configuration (two engines side-by-side to the front and a single to the rear: all three feeding a common gearbox). Two Vickers machine guns were carried as secondary armament, one in the hull and a second mounted coaxially beside the main gun. However none of these were available and the first 65 tanks were built with the 2 pounder. The original vehicle was designed to mount a QF 2 pounder this was later changed to a QF 6 pdr (57 mm, 2.25 in). The hull was cast as a single piece, as was the turret a technique not used on the hull of any other tanks of the era. The design used existing parts where available from other tank designs, simplified where necessary to match the machining capacity present in Australia. ![]() Fabrication was by Sydney's Chullora Tank Assembly Shops with serial production vehicles emerging in August 1942, the premises also being used as a testing ground. The Australian Cruiser tank Mark 1 (AC1) was designated "Sentinel" in February 1942. Watson MC, an artillery officer with many years tank design experience was provided by the UK. By 1942, trying to keep pace with German tanks, the design specification had become more like an American medium tank.ĭue to a lack of home grown experience in tank design a mission was sent to the US to examine the M3 design and Colonel W.D. Like the Canadian Ram the Australian Cruiser was to be based on the engine, drive train, and lower hull of the American M3 Medium tank, mated to an upper hull and turret built closely along the lines of a British Crusader. The AC1 began as a 2 pounder gun-equipped design in November 1940, and was initially intended to be a true Cruiser tank. The few Sentinels that were built never saw action as Australia's armoured divisions had been equipped by that time with British and American tanks. It was the first tank to be built with a hull cast as a single piece, and the only tank to be produced in quantity in Australia. The Sentinel tank was a cruiser tank designed in Australia in World War II in response to the war in Europe, and to the threat of Japan expanding the war to the Pacific or even a feared Japanese invasion of Australia. 303 (7.7 mm) Vickers machine guns, 4,250 rounds ![]() 5 (Commander, Gunner, Loader/Operator, Driver, Hull MG gunner)
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