Tankopedia
InterwarMediumMedium TankUnited Kingdom

Vickers Medium Mark I

In service 1924 - 1938

The world's first genuinely mass-produced tank with a fully rotating turret and sprung suspension.

Built byVickers

Photograph pending. No clearly licensed photograph of this vehicle was found.

Development history

The Medium Mk I ended the rhomboid era. Its turret traversed a full circle, its suspension was sprung, and at 24 km/h it could keep up with motorised troops - qualities that let the British Army spend the 1920s inventing mechanised manoeuvre with the Experimental Mechanized Force on Salisbury Plain. Thin armour and a weak gun made it obsolete by the mid-1930s, but the doctrine written around it shaped every armoured force that followed.

Variants

One canonical record, 3 recorded variants.

  1. Medium Mark I

    1924

    Original 3-pdr armed production version

  2. Medium Mark IA

    1925

    Thicker armour, revised turret and cupola

  3. Medium Mark II

    1925

    Improved suspension skirts, better gun mount

Notable actions

  • Experimental Mechanized Force exercises (1927-28)