The Churchill Crocodile is a variant of the Churchill Mk.VII with a hull-mounted flamethrower instead of the hull-mounted machine gun. Apart from the flamethrower, it is almost identical to the tech-tree variant, with the only exception being its weight, which is 45.2 tons compared to 41 tons. The gun is still the same mediocre 75mm OQF Mk.V, and mobility is even worse because of the extra weight.
| Pros: | Cons: |
| Good armor | Abysmal mobility |
| Decent reload speed | Big turret roof weakspot |
| Unreliable post-penetration damage | |
| Inaccurate main cannon with low penetration and poor ballistics | |
| Trailer can get stuck very easily | |
| Additional weakspots when angling | |
| Big muzzle brake that makes your gun easier to destroy | |
| Short flamethrower range | |
| Flamethrower trailer is completely unarmored and can be destroyed by MG fire |
Main Armament
The main armament of the Churchill Crocodile is the 75mm OQF Mk.V, a fast-reloading 75mm cannon that comes with a limited selection of ammunition, and often not enough to deal with many threats even at your own Battle Rating. The cannon is inaccurate, has a low muzzle velocity, and low penetration, making it almost useless beyond a few hundred meters, so it is advisable to close the distance and use your very good armor profile.
- M61 Shot — Your main anti-armor shell. If you have played any of the M4 Sherman tanks, you will be very familiar with the ballistics of this round and know what weakspots it can go through. On the M4 Sherman it features really good post penetration damage because of its decent HE filler, however this variant has no HE filler.
- M48 Shell — Your main high-explosive shell. This shell features even lower muzzle velocity than the M61 Shot and only has 666 grams of TNT which is just enough to overpressure open-top vehicles with a direct hit.
- M89 — A smoke shell with very low muzzle velocity. Can be fired over obstacles and can be used to obstruct line of sight of enemies in order to let your team advance through chokepoints. However it only has a tiny 9-meter radius so more than one shell will be needed to effectively cover any significant movement.
The flamethrower can be useful from time to time when coming across any open-topped vehicles. As long as they remain stationary for a few seconds and you manage to hit them with the flame for long enough, you might catch yourself an extra kill without even having to use your main gun! Be careful however, because even if you light them on fire, it is not enough to incapacitate their crew and you have to keep setting them on fire for a few seconds before the enemy vehicle gets destroyed. The flamethrower also has very low range compared to the main gun, about 100 to 150 meters so be careful who you choose to engage with it.
Armor and Survivability
The Churchill Crocodile is very well armored. The front of the vehicle has over 150mm of armor, enough to stop almost any shell fired at it from any other vehicle at its own battle rating. The sides of the tank are also very well armored, with 95mm of armor on both the hull and turret side, enough to even stop some smaller cannons from going through your armor at close range, even when directly side on.
The rear armor of the tank however, at just 51mm, is quite thin, thin enough to be penetrated by some higher caliber autocannons. However be careful as the roof of your turret is also really thin at 20mm of thickness and can be penetrated by some AP shells and result in your entire turret crew being knocked out. While playing the Churchill Crocodile, you do not have to always angle since that does expose some weakspots but when coming up against more powerful cannons it is advised to do so with caution.
In terms of survivability, most penetrating hits will knock out your entire turret or hull crew because of how cramped the vehicle is. Additionally it is quite easy to hit ammo racks so the chance of an ammorack explosion is quite high.
Mobility
The mobility of the Churchill Crocodile is abysmal. The tank is equipped with a 350 horsepower engine with an empty weight of 45 tons thus having a hp/t ratio of 7.7, with a max forward speed of 20 km/h and a max reverse speed of only 2.5 km/h. Keep in mind however that the tank is a lot heavier than 45 tons when fully loaded because of all the fuel for the flamethrower, being a lot closer to 50 tons, so your mobility is even worse than you may think. Because of the really poor mobility, it is advised to plan your routes beforehand and avoid any routes that may result in you getting flanked since it is very difficult for you to turn your vehicle to respond to such a threat. Additionally, you will often reach positions much later than other vehicles, both enemy and friendly so you may get caught off-guard in an area you thought was safe.
Conclusion
The Churchill Crocodile is basically a bunker on rails. Its cannon is very weak, its mobility is pretty poor, but its armor is amazing. It can single-handedly push an enemy position and hold off enemies so your team can pick them off one by one. It’s best used alongside medium or light tanks that can take out enemies while you draw their fire and make sure your friendlies don’t die. The gun of the Churchill Crocodile can reliable take out tracks of enemy vehicles, and using the smoke shells, you are able to push tight corridors and show up right in front of enemies where you are able to aim for their weakspots without having to worry about how inaccurate your gun is.
