Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle - Centurion BARV

Centurion BARV

The Centurion BARV FV 4018 was the replacement for the Sherman. Twelve were originally built for use by the Royal Marines. It had a crew of four; two of the crew were members of the Royal Engineers, one of whom was a qualified diver. The Centurion BARV's were built to provide the essential role for the LPD's HMS Fearless & HMS Intrepid as part of the Beach Assault Squadrons.

The Assault Squadrons were initially a mix of Royal Marines and Army serving aboard the ships. The transition to this being all Royal Marines was seen to be essential. The crew for the BARV's would be handed to the Royal Marines with a sergeant, two corporals and marine all qualified vehicle mechanics, responsible for driving and maintaining the tank. The training for the crew would take place at Bovington for driver training and at the home of the BARV, Instow in North Devon, the Royal Marines amphibious testing centre.

The Centurion BARV was basically a Centurion body with built up sides to accommodate wading in water up to 11 feet. The design was functional yet crude with sloped armour built above the tank hull. The tracks for the BARV were reversed so they had better grip biting in reverse. The Centurion tank used the Rolls-Royce Meteor engine, a 27,000cc petrol power plant which was derived from the Merlin engine used in aircraft.

There were many occasions when the BARV would break down or get stuck. In 1981 the BARV from Fearless was to be lost at sea off Browndown beach to end up fully submerged. The following year both BARVs would see service during the Falklands War, being the largest land vehicles ashore, with the BARV from Fearless breaking its drive chain whilst working Blue Beach and spending most of the war not turning a cog.

All the Centurion-derived BARV's have now left service and have been sold to collectors and museums around the world. Centurion BARVs are on display at the Bovington Tank Museum (UK), at Yad La-Shiryon - the IDF tank museum - and at the IDF History Museum (Batey ha-Osef) (Tel-Aviv, Israel).

AeroVenture in Doncaster, UK has a Centurion BARV on display as part of its Falklands War Collection. This is one of the first Centurions built being part of the first contract built, from 1944–46, exact date of build unknown except for between these dates. This is BARV 02 ZR 77 and is the longest serving armoured vehicle in the British forces, leaving service in 2005 after taking part in both Gulf conflicts. BARV on display in Doncaster UK. This was one of the BARVs that supported the landings at San Carlos from HMS Fearless.