Tank Cruiser, Ram Mk II | |
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Early production Ram Mk II at CFB Borden |
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Type | Medium tank |
Place of origin | Canada |
Service history | |
Used by | Canada |
Wars | Second World War |
Production history | |
Designed | 1941 |
Produced | 1941–43 |
Specifications | |
Weight | 29.5 m |
Length | 5.79 m |
Width | 2.67 m |
Height | 2.9 m |
Crew | 5 (Commander, gunner, loader, driver, co-driver/hull gunner) |
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Armour | 87 mm |
Main armament |
Mk III QF 6 pdr (92 rds.) |
Secondary armament |
2 × .30 cal machineguns (4,440 rds.) |
Engine | Continental R-975 9-cyl radial gas 400/340 hp (298/254 kW) |
Suspension | Vertical volute spring |
Operational range |
232 km |
Speed | 25 mph (40 km/h) |
The Tank Cruiser, Ram was a cruiser tank designed and built by Canada in the , based on the U.S. M3 Medium tank. Due to the entrance of the United States into the war and the superior design of the American Sherman, it was used exclusively for training purposes and was never used in combat.
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Due to the loss of the majority of the United Kingdom's tank force in France, tank production in the UK at the start of the war was insufficient to supply Canada as well, so it was decided to manufacture locally. The Montreal Locomotive Works, which was a subsidiary of the American Locomotive Company, was designated the Canadian Tank Arsenal. Initial production was of Valentine tanks, many of which would be supplied to the USSR. Although the Valentine used a number of US produced parts, limitations in the availability of armour plate affected Valentine production. The Canadians were interested in production of the M3 Medium, and the British Tank Mission contributed a tank expert to design a new hull that could take a larger turret while retaining the lower hull of the M3.[1] The new hull was cast rather than welded or rivetted and lower than that of the M3.
Canadian engineers however ran into several problems when developing the tank. The Ram tank was developed with a turret which could traverse in mind, a full cast iron hull for reinforced protection, a lower ride height, and good reliability.[2] Many Canadian engineers however did not know how to produce such equipment. Canada had never produced a tank before. Along with the lack of knowledge, supplies were not within Canadian factories and Canada relied heavily on United States and British materials to complete the construction of the Ram.[3]
Although the ability to mount a large 75 mm gun was suggested, the turret was built to take the QF 6 pounder. As it was not immediately available, early production (55 tanks) were fitted with the two pounder gun. [4]
A prototype Ram was completed in June 1941. General production of the Ram I began in November of the same year. This was fitted with side doors in the hull and an auxiliary machine gun turret in the front - these features would be discarded in later modifications. By February 1942, production had switched to the Ram II model with a 6-pounder gun and continued until July 1943, when a decision was made to adopt the Sherman tank for all British and Canadian units. By that point 1,948 vehicles, including 84 artillery observation post vehicles, had been completed. The official Canadian history of the war states that, in retrospect, it would probably have been better for the United States to produce more tanks, and for Canada to have focused on manufacturing more transport vehicles such as the successful Canadian Military Pattern truck.[5]:513-514
As built, the Ram was never used in combat as a tank, but for crew training in Great Britain up to mid 1944. The observation post vehicles and conversions of the Ram did see active service in Europe. The tanks were rebuilt in army workshops near the front line.
In 1945 the Royal Netherlands Army got permission from the Canadian government to take possession for free of all Ram tanks in army dumps on Dutch territory. Those not already converted into Kangaroos were used to equip the 1st and 2nd Tank Battalion (1e en 2e Bataljon Vechtwagens), the very first Dutch tank units. These had a nominal organic strength of 53 each. However it proved to be impossible to ready enough tanks to attain this strength, as the vehicles were in a very poor state of maintenance. In 1947 the UK provided 44 Ram tanks from its stocks, that were in a better condition. Forty of these had been rebuilt with the British 75 mm gun; four were OP/Command vehicles with a dummy gun. This brought the operational total for that year to just 73, including two Mark I's. In 1950 only fifty of these were listed as present. The Ram tanks (together with the Sherman tanks of the three other tank battalions, in part simply taken without permission) were replaced by Centurion Tanks leased by the U.S. Government in 1952. Some Ram tanks were used in the fifties as static pillboxes in the IJssel Line, their hulls dug in and embedded within two feet of concrete. One Dutch Ram tank, an OP/Command vehicle, survives at the Dutch Cavalry Museum in Amersfoort.
Ram tanks can also be seen at the Canadian War Museum, in Worthington Park at Canadian Forces Base Borden, in front of the Beatty Street Armoury in Vancouver, and at the Bovington Tank Museum (Ram and Kangaroo).
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British armoured fighting vehicle production during World War II |
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