Vickers A1E1 Independent

The Vickers A1E1 Independent was a multi-turreted British tank that Vickers designed between the First and Second World Wars. Planning began in December 1922 when the General Staff drew up a specification, and the General Staff chose the multi-turreted design Vickers had offered over a turretless one; the prototype was delivered to the War Office in 1926. It had a central turret with a 3 pounder gun and four subsidiary turrets with machine guns, a crew of eight, and a 35.8-litre V12 air-cooled engine designed by Armstrong Siddeley. Only a single example was built and it was never used in combat, but its design may have influenced the Soviet T-28 and T-35, the German Neubaufahrzeug tanks and the British Medium Mark III. Its plans reached the Soviet Union through espionage. The tank was retired in 1935 and is preserved at the Bovington Tank Museum.