EuropeUnited KingdomCold WarMain battle tank
Centurion Mk 3 / Mk 13
Centurion
Parent of the L7 105 mm — the West’s default Cold War gun.
Specifications
- Crew
- 4
- Combat weight
- 51 t
- Engine
- 650 hp
- hp / tonne
- 12.7
- Road speed
- 35 km/h
- Range
- 100 km
- Main gun
- 20-pounder, then 105 mm L7
- In service
- 1946–1990s (UK; longer abroad)
Rolls-Royce Meteor, 650 hp
Armor: Welded hull, 118 mm glacis; well-sloped turret on later marks
Secondary: Coaxial Besa, then Browning
Briefing scores
Relative 1–10 for teaching, not a wargame rating.
- Firepower
- 7/10
- Protection
- 7/10
- Mobility
- 4/10
- Awareness
- 6/10
- Logistics
- 6/10
Ammunition natures
APDSHESHSmoke
History
Missed WWII by weeks. In Korea the Mk 3 earned a reputation for climbing and hitting. The L7 105 mm, born for the Centurion, became the NATO standard gun. Israel, Sweden, Switzerland, India, and South Africa rebuilt it for decades.
Doctrine
Britain’s first true MBT: one hull to replace cruiser and infantry tanks. Designed for a 1946 invasion of Germany that never came, then became the West’s most-exported Cold War tank.
Strengths
- Gun and fire control
- Upgradeable armor
- Crew layout
Limits
- Short range on Meteor petrol
- Slow
- Weight growth
Related hulls
11 of 25 in the atlas