Comet (tank)

The Comet, officially Tank, Cruiser, Comet I (A34), was a British cruiser tank that entered service in January 1945, near the end of the Second World War. Leyland began the design in early 1943 after being confirmed as design parent for the Centaur and Cromwell line, developing the Cromwell hull with a larger turret ring and a lower, partly cast turret. It mounted the new 77 mm HV gun, a smaller version of the 17-pounder firing the same 76.2 mm shot, which could deal with late-war German tanks including the Panther and the Tiger. The hull was fully welded with armour of 32 to 74 mm, the turret was electrically traversed, the suspension was strengthened, and top speed was limited to 32 mph (51 km/h) to spare components. The Comet made the Challenger and the Sherman Firefly unnecessary and was an interim design until the Centurion arrived. Tanks were built by several British firms led by Leyland, and 1,200 had been produced by the end of the war. It served with the British army until 1958 and in some other countries into the 1980s.