The Covenanter Cruiser Tank (A.13 Mk III)

In 1938 the War Office announced requirements for a heavy cruiser tank, this demand was met by Nuffields with their A16 but this proved to be too expensive and so a cheaper alternative was required. The specifications called for a tank mounting a 2pdr gun, at least 1 machine gun and a 30mm armour standard, the resulting tank was the Cruiser Mk V, known as the Covenanter. Later it was requested to increase the armour basis on the front of the vehicle to a 40mm basis, due to the political situation it was decided to order the vehicles before the prototype had been delivered. The first prototype was delivered and tested in mid 1940 and was found to be fast but engine overeating was a serious issue.

The Covenanter used a composite armour layout similar to that of the Crusader but instead of using a machineable quality front plate a homogeneous hard plate was used. The armour was also thinner than that of the Crusader and doesn\'t seem to have been improved throughout each Mark as was done with the Crusader. Armament consisted of a 2pdr gun and a Besa machine gun, CS versions of the tank replaced the 2pdr with a 3" howitzer. The turret ring of the Covenanter was even smaller than that of the Crusaders and was not upgunned to carry a 6pdr as the Crusader did.

 The Covenanter suffered from severe engine overheating trouble and even by November 1941 the General Staff stated "these tanks could no be used in operations abroad". A program to rework Covenanters and incorporate substantial modifications was scheduled to start in February 1942 but did not commence until May, by then rising Crusader production together with increased availability of U.S. tanks made it unnecessary to use Covenanters in North Africa. Capacity for Covenanters was transferred to other vehicles and so the Covenanter was not used in action.

Production of Covenanter Tanks by year (UK Only) 

Sources - AVIA 46 188, AVIA 22 456-514, WO 194