M1917 Light Tank

The M1917 was the first tank mass-produced in the United States. It was a licence-built near copy of the French Renault FT, ordered so that American forces in France would have light tanks, but American industry failed to deliver any in time for the First World War. Of 4,440 ordered, about 950 were completed after the war by the Van Dorn Iron Works, the Maxwell Motor Company and the C.L. Best Company, and they went to the Tank Corps. Most carried a machine gun, 374 became gun tanks with a French 37 mm infantry cannon, and 50 were unarmed signal tanks. The M1917 never took part in combat. It was used at home to quell riots and in 1932 against the Bonus Army, and in 1940 the Canadian Army bought surplus examples as scrap to train its armoured crews. The type was phased out during the 1930s.