Terrapin (amphibious vehicle)

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Terrapin
Terrapin (to the left) during the Battle of the Scheldt in the Netherlands, 1944.
General characteristics
Crew	2
Length	7.01 m
Width	2.67 m
Height	2.92 m
Weight	7 tonnes
Armour and armament
Armour	mm
Main armament	none
Secondary armament	none
Mobility
Power plant	2 x Ford V8 190 hp ( kW) in total
Suspension
Road speed	24 km/h 5 mph in water
Power/weight	hp/tonne
Range	240 km

The Terrapin "4-ton amphibian" was a British manufactured, amphibious armoured transport of the Second World War. It was first used at Antwerp in 1944, and to great effect during the Battle of the Scheldt.

The Terrapin served with the assault teams of Royal Engineers as part of the 79th Armoured Division. They were used to carry infantry units (Canadian and British) over the rivers.

[edit] Design

Some 500 Terrapin Mark 1, were built by Morris Commercial, the commercial vehicle side of the Morris Motor Company but the design was by Thornycroft

The Terrapin was a high open topped vehicle; high because of the size of the tyres. The steering position was in the middle and troops could ride in the front and the rear. The vehicle had full drive to all 8 wheels powered by two Ford V8 engines each motor driving one side. The leading pair of wheels were clear of the ground on level surfaces but would give a better grip when the vehicle reached the opposite river bank. However, it used lever steering, which made it very difficult to handle in rough water. The 4 ton of the name indicated that it could carry a load of 4 long tons but the physical size of the load was limited as the load space was split into a front and rear area - the engines having been placed in the centre of the vehicle for stability. A Mark 2 Terrapin with a number of improvements was designed but the war ended before it was needed.

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

DUKW
Landing Vehicle Tracked known as Buffalo in British service.

British and Commonwealth armoured fighting vehicles of World War II
Light tanks
Vickers 6-Ton \| Mk II \| Mk III \| Mk IV \| Mk V \| Mk VI \| Mk VII Tetrarch
Cruiser tanks
Mk I \| Mk II \| Mk III \| Mk IV \| Mk V Covenanter \| Mk VI Crusader \| Mk VII Cavalier Mk VIII Centaur \| Mk VIII Cromwell \| Challenger \| Comet \| Sherman Firefly Ram (Canada) \| Sentinel (Australia)
Infantry tanks
Mk I Matilda \| Mk II Matilda \| Mk III Valentine \| Mk IV Churchill
Self-propelled artillery	Armoured personnel carriers
Bishop \| Sexton \| Deacon \| Archer	Universal Carrier \| Loyd Carrier \| Kangaroo \| Terrapin
Scout Cars and Armoured cars
Daimler Dingo \| Dingo (Australia) \| Humber Scout Car \| Lynx Scout Car (Canada) \| Humber LRC Morris LRC \| Otter LRC (Canada) \| AEC Armoured Car \| Daimler Armoured Car Fox Armoured Car (Canada) \| Guy Armoured Car \| Humber Armoured Car Lanchester Armoured Car \| Marmon-Herrington Armoured Car (South Africa) Morris CS9 \| Rolls-Royce Armoured Car \| ACV-IP (India) \| AEC ACV \| Guy Lizard ACV
Other armoured cars
Experimental vehicles
Avenger \| Black Prince \| Centurion \| Excelsior \| TOG 1 \| TOG 2 Tortoise \| Valiant \| Harry Hopkins \| Alecto \| Thornycroft Bison
Unarmoured vehicles
British armoured fighting vehicle production during World War II