Centurion tank 169041 survives a nuclear test, kind of funny story (17 Photos)

The test was codenamed Operation Totem, and was one of a number of British atomic tests carried out in remote areas of Australia during the 1950s. While the primary focus of these tests was the performance of the atomic weapons, there was also the opportunity to measure the blast effects on various types of military equipment.
Although Centurion Mark 3 tanks had only been in service with the Australian Army since September 1951, and there were plenty of obsolescent Second World War tanks available, it was decided that an expensive current issue Centurion tank only a year old would be provided. With every expectation that the damage would be so severe as to effectively destroy the vehicle, the provision of a Centurion was certainly a measure of the importance placed on the atomic tests by the Australian Government.
At Woomera, the tank was stowed with a complete issue of ammunition, including grenades and 2-inch smoke bombs, before the convoy commenced the 300 mile move across rough desert tracks, Spinifex and sand dunes to Emu Field.
The tank was in position at the test site by early August, and over the next two months was subjected to various inspections and measurements. It was also fitted with sensors and makeshift dummy crewmen.
Positioned to face the low-yield atomic blast head on, 169041 was less than 500 yards from the epicentre.
During the few hours leading up to detonation on 15 October 1953, the Centurion’s main and auxiliary generator engines were started and the various electrical systems switched on. All hatches were then closed.
Surprisingly, the blast caused less damage than expected. The tank stayed upright, but was pushed back over 5 feet and skewed slightly to the left. Most of the heavy transmission deck covers were thrown open and ended up resting on the rear of the turret. Surfaces facing the epicentre were all sandblasted and the glass lenses on the optical equipment were badly pitted. The heavy side plates were all torn off and deposited up to 200 yards away, while the track guards and side bins were badly distorted but remained on the vehicle. Lighter items such as the aerials were carried away, and canvas components like the mantlet cover were burned off. Interestingly, the report concluded that the most vulnerable part of a Centurion tank caught in an atomic blast was the crew!
When first observed by a survey party only 60 minutes after the blast, the engine was not running, but investigations later ascertained that it had simply run out of fuel a few minutes after the blast.
When started three days later, it ran smoothly and was driven from the site towards Woomera. A laden 5-ton trailer was towed for the first 31 miles of the journey, and then a 3-ton trailer was added as well for the next 109 miles. During this time, a 1-ton 4x4 truck was assisted over the sand hills on several occasions.
Late 1962 saw the tank again issued to 1st Armoured Regiment at Puckapunyal, where it was used for training until late 1966, when it went for its second base overhaul. The overhaul included another upgrade to what is commonly known as Mk5/1(Aust) standard. This included the addition of a .50-inch Ranging Machine Gun, different sights, fitting for the Infra Red night fighting illumination system, appliqué armour on the upper glacis plate and a 100-gallon fuel tank at the rear.
The Vietnam Conflict had been raging for some years by the time the Australian Government committed a Centurion tank squadron to the fray in early 1968. Centurion 169041 was sent to join the squadron’s 4 Troop in September, 1968. It was initially the Troop Corporal’s tank with the call sign 34B.
In May 1969, during a fierce firefight 169041 call sign 24C was penetrated by an RPG. The turret crew were all wounded by shrapnel as the RPG entered the lower left side of the fighting compartment, travelled diagonally across the floor and lodged in the rear right corner. The operator, Trooper R. Carter, was medevaced while the others remained on duty. Nothing vital was hit, however, and the tank remained battleworthy.
By the end of 1969, 169041 had covered nearly 2500 miles on operations, and was ready for yet another rebuild. Replaced in the squadron in January 1970, 169041 spent its final days in South Vietnam with 2 AOD at Vung Tau while awaiting space on a transport ship.
November 20 1976 would be the last all-Centurion Cambrai Day parade, as arrival of the replacement tank, the German Leopard AS1, was imminent. 169041, call sign 11A commanded by Sergeant Peter Blackwood and driven by Trooper John Atkinson, was one of around 60 Centurion vehicles, including ARVs, Bridgelayers and a dozer tank, that participated in this historic occasion. Resplendent in an unofficial drab olive and pink-brown camouflage scheme, 169041 took its place with a number of other veterans of combat operations in South Vietnam for this final parade.
Although other tanks have been exposed to atomic testing, amongst them a couple of British Centurion tanks deployed within the Maralinga, South Australia target area during the Buffalo series of atomic tests in the latter half of the 1950s, 169041 is the only tank known to have withstood atomic tests and subsequently gone on for another 23 years of service, including 15 months on operational deployment in a war zone.
Source

The test was codenamed Operation Totem, and was one of a number of British atomic tests carried out in remote areas of Australia during the 1950s. While the primary focus of these tests was the performance of the atomic weapons, there was also the opportunity to measure the blast effects on various types of military equipment.
Although Centurion Mark 3 tanks had only been in service with the Australian Army since September 1951, and there were plenty of obsolescent Second World War tanks available, it was decided that an expensive current issue Centurion tank only a year old would be provided. With every expectation that the damage would be so severe as to effectively destroy the vehicle, the provision of a Centurion was certainly a measure of the importance placed on the atomic tests by the Australian Government.
At Woomera, the tank was stowed with a complete issue of ammunition, including grenades and 2-inch smoke bombs, before the convoy commenced the 300 mile move across rough desert tracks, Spinifex and sand dunes to Emu Field.
The tank was in position at the test site by early August, and over the next two months was subjected to various inspections and measurements. It was also fitted with sensors and makeshift dummy crewmen.
Positioned to face the low-yield atomic blast head on, 169041 was less than 500 yards from the epicentre.
During the few hours leading up to detonation on 15 October 1953, the Centurion’s main and auxiliary generator engines were started and the various electrical systems switched on. All hatches were then closed.
Surprisingly, the blast caused less damage than expected. The tank stayed upright, but was pushed back over 5 feet and skewed slightly to the left. Most of the heavy transmission deck covers were thrown open and ended up resting on the rear of the turret. Surfaces facing the epicentre were all sandblasted and the glass lenses on the optical equipment were badly pitted. The heavy side plates were all torn off and deposited up to 200 yards away, while the track guards and side bins were badly distorted but remained on the vehicle. Lighter items such as the aerials were carried away, and canvas components like the mantlet cover were burned off. Interestingly, the report concluded that the most vulnerable part of a Centurion tank caught in an atomic blast was the crew!
When first observed by a survey party only 60 minutes after the blast, the engine was not running, but investigations later ascertained that it had simply run out of fuel a few minutes after the blast.
When started three days later, it ran smoothly and was driven from the site towards Woomera. A laden 5-ton trailer was towed for the first 31 miles of the journey, and then a 3-ton trailer was added as well for the next 109 miles. During this time, a 1-ton 4x4 truck was assisted over the sand hills on several occasions.
Late 1962 saw the tank again issued to 1st Armoured Regiment at Puckapunyal, where it was used for training until late 1966, when it went for its second base overhaul. The overhaul included another upgrade to what is commonly known as Mk5/1(Aust) standard. This included the addition of a .50-inch Ranging Machine Gun, different sights, fitting for the Infra Red night fighting illumination system, appliqué armour on the upper glacis plate and a 100-gallon fuel tank at the rear.
The Vietnam Conflict had been raging for some years by the time the Australian Government committed a Centurion tank squadron to the fray in early 1968. Centurion 169041 was sent to join the squadron’s 4 Troop in September, 1968. It was initially the Troop Corporal’s tank with the call sign 34B.
In May 1969, during a fierce firefight 169041 call sign 24C was penetrated by an RPG. The turret crew were all wounded by shrapnel as the RPG entered the lower left side of the fighting compartment, travelled diagonally across the floor and lodged in the rear right corner. The operator, Trooper R. Carter, was medevaced while the others remained on duty. Nothing vital was hit, however, and the tank remained battleworthy.
By the end of 1969, 169041 had covered nearly 2500 miles on operations, and was ready for yet another rebuild. Replaced in the squadron in January 1970, 169041 spent its final days in South Vietnam with 2 AOD at Vung Tau while awaiting space on a transport ship.
November 20 1976 would be the last all-Centurion Cambrai Day parade, as arrival of the replacement tank, the German Leopard AS1, was imminent. 169041, call sign 11A commanded by Sergeant Peter Blackwood and driven by Trooper John Atkinson, was one of around 60 Centurion vehicles, including ARVs, Bridgelayers and a dozer tank, that participated in this historic occasion. Resplendent in an unofficial drab olive and pink-brown camouflage scheme, 169041 took its place with a number of other veterans of combat operations in South Vietnam for this final parade.
Although other tanks have been exposed to atomic testing, amongst them a couple of British Centurion tanks deployed within the Maralinga, South Australia target area during the Buffalo series of atomic tests in the latter half of the 1950s, 169041 is the only tank known to have withstood atomic tests and subsequently gone on for another 23 years of service, including 15 months on operational deployment in a war zone.
Source

The test was codenamed Operation Totem, and was one of a number of British atomic tests carried out in remote areas of Australia during the 1950s. While the primary focus of these tests was the performance of the atomic weapons, there was also the opportunity to measure the blast effects on various types of military equipment.
Although Centurion Mark 3 tanks had only been in service with the Australian Army since September 1951, and there were plenty of obsolescent Second World War tanks available, it was decided that an expensive current issue Centurion tank only a year old would be provided. With every expectation that the damage would be so severe as to effectively destroy the vehicle, the provision of a Centurion was certainly a measure of the importance placed on the atomic tests by the Australian Government.
At Woomera, the tank was stowed with a complete issue of ammunition, including grenades and 2-inch smoke bombs, before the convoy commenced the 300 mile move across rough desert tracks, Spinifex and sand dunes to Emu Field.
The tank was in position at the test site by early August, and over the next two months was subjected to various inspections and measurements. It was also fitted with sensors and makeshift dummy crewmen.
Positioned to face the low-yield atomic blast head on, 169041 was less than 500 yards from the epicentre.
During the few hours leading up to detonation on 15 October 1953, the Centurion’s main and auxiliary generator engines were started and the various electrical systems switched on. All hatches were then closed.
Surprisingly, the blast caused less damage than expected. The tank stayed upright, but was pushed back over 5 feet and skewed slightly to the left. Most of the heavy transmission deck covers were thrown open and ended up resting on the rear of the turret. Surfaces facing the epicentre were all sandblasted and the glass lenses on the optical equipment were badly pitted. The heavy side plates were all torn off and deposited up to 200 yards away, while the track guards and side bins were badly distorted but remained on the vehicle. Lighter items such as the aerials were carried away, and canvas components like the mantlet cover were burned off. Interestingly, the report concluded that the most vulnerable part of a Centurion tank caught in an atomic blast was the crew!
When first observed by a survey party only 60 minutes after the blast, the engine was not running, but investigations later ascertained that it had simply run out of fuel a few minutes after the blast.
When started three days later, it ran smoothly and was driven from the site towards Woomera. A laden 5-ton trailer was towed for the first 31 miles of the journey, and then a 3-ton trailer was added as well for the next 109 miles. During this time, a 1-ton 4x4 truck was assisted over the sand hills on several occasions.
Late 1962 saw the tank again issued to 1st Armoured Regiment at Puckapunyal, where it was used for training until late 1966, when it went for its second base overhaul. The overhaul included another upgrade to what is commonly known as Mk5/1(Aust) standard. This included the addition of a .50-inch Ranging Machine Gun, different sights, fitting for the Infra Red night fighting illumination system, appliqué armour on the upper glacis plate and a 100-gallon fuel tank at the rear.
The Vietnam Conflict had been raging for some years by the time the Australian Government committed a Centurion tank squadron to the fray in early 1968. Centurion 169041 was sent to join the squadron’s 4 Troop in September, 1968. It was initially the Troop Corporal’s tank with the call sign 34B.
In May 1969, during a fierce firefight 169041 call sign 24C was penetrated by an RPG. The turret crew were all wounded by shrapnel as the RPG entered the lower left side of the fighting compartment, travelled diagonally across the floor and lodged in the rear right corner. The operator, Trooper R. Carter, was medevaced while the others remained on duty. Nothing vital was hit, however, and the tank remained battleworthy.
By the end of 1969, 169041 had covered nearly 2500 miles on operations, and was ready for yet another rebuild. Replaced in the squadron in January 1970, 169041 spent its final days in South Vietnam with 2 AOD at Vung Tau while awaiting space on a transport ship.
November 20 1976 would be the last all-Centurion Cambrai Day parade, as arrival of the replacement tank, the German Leopard AS1, was imminent. 169041, call sign 11A commanded by Sergeant Peter Blackwood and driven by Trooper John Atkinson, was one of around 60 Centurion vehicles, including ARVs, Bridgelayers and a dozer tank, that participated in this historic occasion. Resplendent in an unofficial drab olive and pink-brown camouflage scheme, 169041 took its place with a number of other veterans of combat operations in South Vietnam for this final parade.
Although other tanks have been exposed to atomic testing, amongst them a couple of British Centurion tanks deployed within the Maralinga, South Australia target area during the Buffalo series of atomic tests in the latter half of the 1950s, 169041 is the only tank known to have withstood atomic tests and subsequently gone on for another 23 years of service, including 15 months on operational deployment in a war zone.
Source