NEW WAR MACHINE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXI, Issue 304, 8 December 1931, Page 11

NEW WAR MACHINE

TANK THAT CAN SWIM. AN AMPHIBIOUS BATTLESHIP. London, Nov, 6. The tank has long been called the land-battleship. We must now drop the prefix land, for we have a tank that can not only move but fight afloat as well as ashore. This tank is able to swim across a wide and deep river, climb out of it up steep bank or marshv edge, and then race across the level at over 40 m.p.h. That is the vision shown at VickersArmstrong’s, who are producers of this amphibious marvel. It blots out the vision of the bloodstained trenches of Gallipoli. Instead of hapless Infantry trying to wade ashore through barbed wire entanglements under a pitiless hail of bullets, armoured reptiles may be belched forth from the stomach of the naval “whale,” to crawl ashore, with bullets spattering harmlessly on their steel scales, and overrun the defenders of the beaches. . INFANTRY'S LAST HOPE GONE. But this Carden-Loyd light amphibious tank also robs the infantry of their best chance, and hitherto only sure hope, of shielding themselves from deadly tank attacks. If they could find a rivor as a barrier they could till now count on being immune for a time at least. The water-barrier ensured a breathing-space until the tanks could find an unguarded crossing high upstream or far down-stream, and come round in a wide circuit against their flanks. But this hope fades. The tanks can now swim across the river, pelting the defenders of the bank with bullets as it comes. No need to wait till a crossing has been forced at heavy cost by cruelly exposed infantry, and bridges then built. The dream of mechanised warfare enthusiasts is realised in this practical machine. LIKE A TERRIER. While one watched this futuristic film of actual performance the tank raced down the shelving bank of the Thames near Chertsey Bridge, plunged into the river with a. splash, shook itself free of the water like a terrier, and then with head and forepaws—turret and front edge of the two float-inudguards—only emerging, chug-chugged its way across the wide river. It kept its direction despite the current. It turned upstream and made its way against both wind and current, spraying the opposite bank with bullets. Finally it swam ashore, shook itself in terrier fashion, and plunged inland, there to show over rough ground and up precipitous hills that it vied in performance with the purely land-going light tank. BULLET-PROOF. In appearance it is almost indistinguishable, save for the float-liko mudguards of special wood. In weight—--2 tons Ificwt. —and in armouring it is almost the same. Its nine millimetres of special plate in front, equivalent to 13 mi. imet.es of ordinal} plar.e make if proof aeainst rifle bullets at pointblank range, and against armour-pierc-ing bullets at 150 yards range. Thirteen feet long itself, and 6ft. high, it can cross a ditch sft. wide. Travelling at over 40 m.p.h. on the road, it still keeps up 6 m.p.h. when climbing the sheer face of a 1 in 3 hill. Its water speed is 6 knots, and the motive force comes from a small propeller. This is protected, unlike the rudder. One wondered whether the rudder might be damaged in climbing over ground obstacles, but in fact it was not, its position evidently sheltering it. And it could if necessary be shipped. SCORNED IN 1917. In this hour of realisation it is worth while to recall that the idea of an amphibious tank was proposed by Col. Fuller, the tank warfare expert, in December, 1917, and persevered with in face of scornful opposition, as a means of enabling us to cross the Rhine. In October, 1918, he put his convictions to the test by embarking on the Welsh Harp in an experimental machine. By 1922 the first really floatable tank was tested on Fleet Pond. Here some time later it sank, its defect being a tendency to spring a leak after rough cross-country usage. It is claimed that, by special elastic water-tight joints, such a risk is overcome in the new Carden-Loyd amphibian. And it was certainly tested over the roughest going before and in between its many trips across the Thames.