Inside the Covenanter - Britain's Worst Tank Ever

Inside the A13 Mk III Covenanter — widely branded the worst tank Britain ever built. It looked sleek, fast, and modern, with sloped armor and a low profile that made it appear deadly. It wasn't. More than 1,700 were produced, yet almost none ever saw combat. In this video we break down the inner workings of the Covenanter: its armor, its 2-pounder gun, its troubled engine, and the bizarre design flaw that doomed it before it ever fired a shot in anger. What made the Covenanter such a disaster? Why did its radiators end up bolted to the front of the tank? And why did Britain keep building over 1,700 of them long after the flaws were obvious? The answers lie inside one of the most infamous machines ever built. ───────────────────────────── 🛡️ ABOUT THE COVENANTER The Tank, Cruiser, Mk V, Covenanter (A13 Mk III) was a British cruiser tank of the Second World War — and the first British tank ever given a proper name. Designed in 1939 by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, it was rushed "off the drawing board" into mass production before a single prototype had even been tested, because Britain desperately needed tanks as war loomed. The fatal mistake was its engine. The flat-12 Meadows engine was so wide that there was no room for cooling radiators in the engine bay, so they were mounted at the front of the hull instead — an arrangement that never worked. The Covenanter overheated constantly, making it unfit for service in hot climates like North Africa, exactly where British tanks were needed most. Relegated to home defense and training in the UK, it never saw frontline combat. By 1943 it was declared obsolete, and nearly all 1,771 built were eventually scrapped. This is the story of the Covenanter: a tank that looked the part, cost a fortune to build, and was beaten not by the enemy, but by its own design. ───────────────────────────── 🔔 SUBSCRIBE for more inside looks at legendary weapons, tanks, aircraft, and warships — from World War II to the modern battlefield. ───────────────────────────── ⚠️ DISCLAIMER This video is intended solely for historical, technical, and educational purposes. It does not glorify war or any political regime. All animations are reconstructions based on publicly available historical sources. ───────────────────────────── #Covenanter #BritishTanks #WW2Tanks #TankHistory #MilitaryHistory