british mark iv tank modernized version conecpts

The decision to standardise on the Lewis gun was due to the space available within the tanks.

The Female had five Lewis guns but no 6-pounders. The guns had a 100 degree arc of fire but only the starboard gun could fire straight ahead. The sponsons were not mirror images of each other, as their configuration differed to allow for the 6 pdr's gun-layer operating his gun from the left and the loader serving the gun from the right. The Mark IV Male initially carried three Lewis machine guns – one in the cab front and one in each sponson – and a QF 6 pdr 6 cwt gun in each sponson, with its barrel shortened as it had been found that the longer original was apt to strike obstacles or dig into the ground. One machine gun is visible at the forefront above.

The inside of a Mark IV seen through a peephole on the starboard sponson. Failing to complete development soon enough to start production in time to have 200 tanks ready for the promised date of 1 April 1917, Stern was ultimately forced to take a Mark IV into production in May 1917 that was only slightly different from the Mark I tank. Production of battle tanks was halted until the new design was ready, necessitating the use of the Mark II and III as interim training tanks. The director of the Tank Supply Department, Albert Gerald Stern, first intended to fit the Mark IV with a new engine and transmission. It remained in British service until the end of the war, and a small number served briefly with other combatants afterwards. The Mark IV was first used in mid 1917 at the Battle of Messines Ridge. A total of 1,220 Mk IV were built: 420 'Males', 595 'Females' and 205 Tank Tenders (unarmed vehicles used to carry supplies), which made it the most numerous British tank of the war. The main improvements were in armour, the re-siting of the fuel tank and ease of transport. Introduced in 1917, it benefited from significant developments of the Mark I tank (the intervening designs being small batches used for training). The Mark IV (pronounced Mark four) was a British tank of the First World War.

British mark iv tank modernized version conecpts