Vickers Mk.1

Vickers Mk.1

FV4202

Vickers Mk.3

Vickers Mk.1

FV4202

Vickers Mk.3

Britain

V Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
8.0	8.0	8.0

Class:

Medium tank

Research:105 000

Purchase:300 000

Show in game

Description

The Vickers Battle Tank Mk.1 is a rank V British medium tank with a battle rating of 8.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.69 "Regia Aeronautica".

The Vickers MBT is like a sniper, designed to engage with minimal threat to the tank and its crew while still being a major thorn in the enemy's side. Stick to the knowledge of the maps you'll be playing on to enhance your defensive playstyle, grabbing husks of old tanks or tank ditches to your advantage then bursting out of cover to ambush enemies. The tank has a mediocre off-road top speed of 20 mph (stock), yet can do 7 mph in reverse, so don't be afraid to duck back into cover.

That being said, the Vickers has pitiful armour that rarely stands up to any punishment other than SPAA, and even then this is true for the front armour. The ~100 mm frontal armour on the turret is good for stray or hurried shots, although the lack of slopes inhibits your chances of bouncing shots, let the environment do this for you.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour (Hull, Turret roof)
• Cast homogeneous armour (Turret)

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	60 mm (56°) Front glacis 80 mm (32°) Lower glacis	30 mm Top 30 + 4 mm Bottom	20 mm (4-5°) Top 19 mm (58°)	25 mm 5 mm Grills
Turret	80 mm (19°) Turret front 40-100 mm (1-73°) Gun mantlet	40-60 mm (1-17°)	40 mm (10°) 60 mm (1°) Turret ring	25 mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheels and tracks are 20 mm thick.

Mobility

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	54	13	38.1	942	1,160	24.72	30.45
Realistic	49	12		538	608	14.12	15.96

Suspension is quite strong on this tank, and so in AB spaded Vickers Mk.1 can climb mountains, which are supposed to be unreachable by players. As an example, the plateau on 38th Parallel's south - even indestructible stone "guard rails", which were specifically placed to prevent this from happening, cannot stop an experienced Vickers Mk.1 player from going up. It can even tow other tanks up there if their suspension allows it.

Armaments

Main armament

105 mm Royal Ordnance L7A1					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	44	-7°/+20°	±180°	Two-plane	26.37	36.50	44.32	49.01	52.14	6.5	5.7	5.3	5.0
Realistic					16.48	19.39	23.55	26.04	27.70

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
Shell L35	HESH	127	127	127	127	127	127
Shot L28A1	APDS	303	302	296	277	257	252

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Normalisation at 30° from horizontal	Ricochet
								0%	50%	100%
Shell L35	HESH	730	14.85	0.4	0.1	3,827	+0.0°	73°	77°	80°
Shot L28A1	APDS	1,478	4.0	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	75°	78°	80°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the Vickers Mk.1

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
44	34 (+10)	32 (+12)	30 (+14)	28 (+16)	26 (+18)	1 (+43)	No

Turret empty: 26 (+18)

Optics

Vickers Mk.1 Optics
	Default magnification	Maximum magnification
Main Gun optics	X4.9	X6.0
Comparable optics	___

Machine guns

12.7 mm L21A1
Mount	Capacity (Belt capacity)	Rate of fire (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
Coaxial	600 (3)	300	N/A	N/A

7.62 mm L3A1
Mount	Capacity (Belt capacity)	Rate of fire (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
Coaxial	3,000 (250)	500	N/A	N/A

Usage in battles

Although it can be done with its excellent reload speed of 5-7 seconds (crew skill depending), mixing ranks with the enemy is ill advised: instead take upon a sniping role. Your gun has only two types of ammo, both stock so research is not required for enhanced destruction. That being said, the APDS is a potent weapon that has 302 mm of pen at 100 m, falling to 252 mm at 2500 m: all ranges can be targeted, with enemies moving towards more manoeuvrability over armour in the high ranks. However, the rounds lack spalling potential, so the damage inflicted on a tank interior must be in the APDS direct path past the penetration. If you aim for the turret weak-spots, the barrel or breach will be your most common hits, incurring 20-30 precious seconds of repair time. If for any reason you're forced to engage while exposed, attempt to disable the enemy's gun or gunner first, before utilizing the excellent reload time to finish the target off.

The HESH shell is a very different story. While this odd round has its uses, it's somewhat limited in effectiveness against many targets. HESH, which stands for High Explosive Squash Head, relies on this so called 'squash head' spreading as much as possible, creating a spalling effect within the targeted vehicle. This means that it's not particularly effective against thick armour; and it should rather be used against lightly-armoured targets or targets which rely on highly angled armour for survivability. Generally, Vickers tankers will learn to prefer their APDS round for most engagements, only resorting to HESH against select targets.

Some enemies that can be rough to deal with:

• The Lorraine 40t will bounce more shots than you care to admit, or your hits will do minor damage. Just out the nature of the reserved play style this tank likes, any fast tanks will be a problem due to their ability to close the gap as you attempt to reach your favourite position. Engine and transmission upgrades will lessen this, in time.
• All Russian tanks are difficult to deal with, yet learning their weak spots will lead you to victory. German tanks are a problem due to their accuracy and fast reload times, however the cheeks of their turrets are prime targets for eagle-eyed gunners.

Modules

Tier	Mobility		Protection	Firepower
I	Tracks		Parts	Horizontal Drive
II	Suspension	Brake System	FPE	Adjustment of Fire
III	Filters		Crew Replenishment	Elevation Mechanism	Smoke grenade
IV	Transmission	Engine		Artillery Support	NVD

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Stock APDS shell has very high penetration values
• Gun fires APDS shell at over 1,400 m/s
• HESH ammunition is effective against lightly-armoured vehicles
• Has a 12.7 mm L21A1 machine gun which is used for range finding
• Fast reload speed, at best 5 seconds
• Above average reverse speed compared to some British tanks
• Excellent manoeuvrability, even over rough terrain
• A good counter to Russian heavy tanks (IS-3, IS-6, IS-4) if you know the weak spots

Cons:

• Poor armour, even lower ranked guns are quite a threat
• While top speed is around 49 km/h, you will rarely hit it
• Depression of only -7° which is below average for British tanks
• APDS causes minimal post-penetration damage, meaning that destroying some vehicles can be a challenge
• Many SPAA vehicles can penetrate your sides or back
• The L21A1 machine gun has a very low fire rate (5 rounds/second) and only shoots low-penetration incendiary rounds

History

Vickers-Amstrong Company designed Vickers MBT in the sixties as a cheap and efficient variant of the Chieftain, ready to be exported.

In  1961, India purchased the license for the development, and Vickers-Amstrong helped to set up the factory.

Over its course of life, many variants were developed, including Mark. 2 and Mark.3. Later, Vickers Valiant(Mark.4) in 1977 and finally Mark.7 MBT. 

Currently, Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania are the foremost operators.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

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• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the tank;
• other literature.