Comet Tank

The Comet is a British cruiser tank that entered service with the British Army in January 1945 near the end of the Second World War, developed by Leyland Motors as a refined successor to the earlier Cromwell tank. Armed with a 77mm high-velocity gun, a shortened adaptation of the powerful 17-pounder capable of defeating late-war German tanks including the Panther and Tiger, and fitted with a new lower-profile welded turret, the Comet combined the speed of earlier British cruiser tanks with firepower and protection much closer to contemporary German designs. Around 1,200 were built, and the 11th Armoured Division became the only British formation fully equipped with the type before the war's end, after which the Comet remained in British service into the late 1950s.