Specification Crew : 5 Engine power : 340 bhp Combat weight :20,085 kg (44,287 lb) Max speed : road , 43 km/h (26.70 mph) Length : 5.94 m (19.67 ft) Range : 200 km (124.2 miles) Width : 2.64 M (8.67 ft) Main gun : 6-pounder(57 mm) Height : 2.23 m (7.33 ft) Armour : 7 mm (0.28 in) to 49 mm (1.93 in)

While the sorry saga of the Covenanter unfolded,Nuffields were working on their own A13 improvement programme.They retained the Liberty engine and lengthened the Christre suspension by an extra road wheel to create theA15,Cruiser Mark VI,or Crusader.The first of them entered service in 1941 and were shipped to North Africa. Another British tank rushed into production without thorough testing,the Crusader Mark I was mechanically unreliable.Its 2-pounder(40 mm) was well outclassed by 1941 and for some reason it had a machine gun in a small turret on the front hull.The latter was removed on the Crusader Mark II but only on the Mark III was the main armament at last up-gunned to a 57 mm 6-pounder which allowed it to fight German armour on fairly equal terms.There was also a Crusader IICS armed with a 3-inch(76.2 mm)close support howitzer. The Crusader formed the main equipment of the armored divisions fighting the Desert Campaigns;over 5,300 were produced.Once withdrawn,Crusaders were used for a variety of special purposes including observation post and command tank,ARVs,and mine-clearing.Turretless Crusaders were used as 17-pounder(76.2 mm)anti-tank guns tractors and air defence models with either a single 40 mm (1.58 in)Bofors Gun or twin or triple 20 mm(0.79 in)cannon.