Gun Turret - Combat Vehicles

Combat Vehicles

Various early armoured cars such as the Lanchester and Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars of 1914 were fitted with turrets, but the first tracked combat vehicles did not have them, and it was not until late in World War I that the French Renault FT-17 light tank introduced the single fully rotating turret carrying the vehicle's main armament that continues to be the standard of almost every modern main battle tank and many self-propelled guns.

In the 1930s, several nations produced multi-turreted tanks—probably influenced by the British Vickers A1E1 Independent of 1926. Those that saw combat during the early part of World War II performed poorly and the concept was soon dropped. Combat vehicles without turrets, with the main armament mounted in the hull, or more often in an integral armored casemate as part of the main hull, saw extensive use by German and Russian forces during World War II as Tank destroyers and assault guns. However, post-war, the concept fell out of favour due to its limitations, with the Swedish Stridsvagn 103 'S-Tank' and the German Kanonenjagdpanzer being exceptions.

In modern tanks, the turret is armoured for crew protection and rotates a full 360 degrees carrying a single large-calibre tank gun, typically in the range of 105 mm to 125 mm calibre. Machine guns may be mounted inside the turret. On modern tanks, the turret houses all the crew except the driver—two or more crewmen, typically a tank commander, gunner, and often a gun loader.

For other combat vehicles, the turrets are equipped with other weapons dependent on role. An infantry fighting vehicle may carry a smaller calibre gun or an autocannon, or an anti-tank missile launcher, or a combination of weapons. A modern self-propelled gun mounts a large artillery gun but less armour. Lighter vehicles may carry a one-man turret with a single machine gun.

The size of the turret is a factor in combat vehicle design. One dimension mentioned in terms of turret design is "turret ring diameter" which is the size of the aperture in the top of the chassis.