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The following Crusader Mark II had a maximum armour of 49 mm (1.9 in). The main armament for the Crusader Mark I and IIs was a 40 mm Ordnance QF 2-pounder gun; the following Crusader Mark III was fitted with a 57 mm Ordnance QF 6-pounder gun at the expense of one member of the crew in the
These medium-sized cruiser tanks were the mainstay of British armoured units during the war. Weighing 10-35 tonnes, they were fast and mobile, and were designed to operate independently of the slow-moving infantry and their more heavily armoured infantry tank support.
The Crusader tanks became the main British tank, the A15 Crusader Mark I and II variants had QF 2 pounder (40mm) main gun, but the 'Crusader III' was fitted with an Ordnance QF 6 pounder (57mm) main gun. It used the same main turret as the A13 Mk III Covenanter designs, and over 5,000 tanks were manufactured.
The British cruiser tank series started in 1938 with the A9 and A10 cruiser tanks, followed by the A13, A13 Mark II, the A13 Mark III Covenanter in 1940 and the A15 Crusader which entered service in 1941. The Crusader was superseded by the A27 Cromwell in 1944.
Tank gun versions of the 6-pounder were used in the Crusader Mark III, Cavalier, Centaur Mk I and II, Cromwell Mk I to III, Valentine Mk VIII to X and Churchill Mk III and IV, and also in the Canadian Ram Mk II and the prototype American Light Tank T7E2. The Deacon wheeled and the experimental Alecto Mk II self-propelled guns also mounted the 6 ...
Secondly by a descriptive name, as with other equipment in the British Army – e.g. "Tank, Infantry, Mark II". This reflected the type and model of tank, i.e. "Tank, Infantry, Mark II" is a different tank to "Tank, Infantry, Mark III". The scheme was introduced during the First World War but not always applied to earlier designs.
The Tank, Cruiser, Mk II (A10), was a cruiser tank developed alongside the A9 cruiser tank, and was intended to be a heavier, infantry tank version of that type. In practice, it was not deemed suitable for the infantry tank role and was classified as a "heavy cruiser". It served briefly in World War II.
The A13 was never available in sufficient numbers and a typical armoured brigade would have a mixture of relatively slow 10–20 mph (16–32 km/h) Mk I and Mk II cruisers with faster 30–40 mph (48–64 km/h) Mark IVs and Light Tank Mk VI (the latter acting as cruiser tanks), this caused tactical and supply difficulties.