Model-137 'Cavalier' Light Tank (Obsolete version)

In the nineteen-thirties, the Imperium completely lacked any form of armoured vehicle, a situation utterly intolerable to the Vetokite Army's General Staff in the face of the threat from the armed forces of the neighbouring states to the security of Vetok, and was believed to be in need of a desperate remedy. Accordingly, throughout 1934-1938, the General Staff ordered and conducted tests on numerous foreign vehicles, such as the LT vz. 35 and the Vickers Mark E. Despite the adequate nature of the designs, they were decommissioned after testing in favour of an indigenous design. The specifications were based on what was seen as the primary attributes of a tank; speed and armour. Firepower, though welcome, was regarded as less-than-necessary, with the belief that massed infantry guns and artillery battalions could overcome what a tank could not.The result was the Model-137 'Cavalier' Light Tank.

Equipped with a 2-pounder in a mid-hull turret, the Cavalier was produced in large quantities from the moment the design was approved. The decision to focus on the tank's attributes of speed and protection meant that a dedicated loader for the gun was left out, the job instead allocated to the commander. Meanwhile the rear-orientation of the turret, designed to allow the driver and radioman an adequate escape through a hull hatch, precluded the turret from mounting a machine-gun with the result that a ball-mounted machine-gun was placed in the fore hull for use by the radioman. The awkward positioning necessitates a stooped posture, a common source of complaints with the crews. The necessity of a radioman/machinegunner was justified by the head of the Tank Corps on the basis that while cavalry could use bugles, they were impractical in the confines and noise of a tank, and led to the astonishing decision, in the eyes of signalmen and procurement officials alike, to give each and every Cavalier a radio. From 1937-1942, over nine-hundred Cavalier's were built, and the design served as the basis for most armoured vehicle designs of Vetok during the rest of the 1930's and 1940's, with the last derivative variant only pulled out of service in 1948.

Height: 8.2ft (2.49 metres)
Length: 17.38ft (5.3 metres)
Width: 6.88ft (2.1 metres)
Weight: 10 (long) tons.
Crew: 4x (Commander, Gunner, Machine-gunner/Radioman, Driver)
Engine: Siddley-Puma 98hp petrol engine
Armour: 6-12mm
Main Armament: 2-pounder gun
Ammunition: 80x rounds (AP)
Secondary Armament: 1x 303. machine-gun
Ammunition: 400x rounds

Made for myself in my Vetok account for Nationstates. Please do not use without permission.