Valiant
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Valiant
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[Client Values; Actual values in
1,500  Cost |
| 800160 HP Hit Points |
| 27.34/28.513.56/28.5 t Weight Limit |
- Commander (Radio Operator)
- Gunner
- Driver
- Loader
| 210210 hp Engine Power |
| 19/10 km/h Speed Limit |
| 3535 deg/s Traverse |
| 7.6815.49 hp/t Power/Wt Ratio |
| NoNo Pivot |
| // mm Hull Armor |
| 114/75/75114/75/75 mm Turret Armor |
AP/APCR/HE
AP/APCR/HE Shells |
56/2800/56
56/2800/56 Shell Cost |
| 110/110/175110/110/175 HP Damage |
| 91/144/3891/144/38 mm Penetration |
|
14.29 r/m ▲
14.29 r/m Standard Gun ▲ Rate of Fire Standard Gun |
|
1571.9 ▲
Standard Gun
▼
Standard Gun
▲
1571.9 Standard Gun ▲
Standard Gun
▼
Standard Gun
▲ Damage Per Minute Standard Gun |
|
0.41 m ▲
0.41 m With 50% Crew: 0.508 m ▲ Accuracy With 50% Crew: 0.508 m |
| 2.5 s 2.5 s Aim time |
| 3333 deg/s Turret Traverse |
| 360° Gun Arc |
| -13°/+20°-13°/+20° Elevation Arc |
| 7575 rounds Ammo Capacity |
| 1515 % Chance of Fire |
| 340 m 340 m View Range |
| 400 m 400 m Signal Range |
V
1500
The Valiant is a British tier 5 premium medium tank.
Work on this tank started in 1943. This project further developed the Valentine by enhancing firepower and armor protection. By 1944, two prototypes with different engines and suspensions had been manufactured. In 1944, all work on the project was discontinued due to the approaching end of the war and the successful development of the more modern Centurion.
In real life, the A38 Valiant was known as one of the worst tanks to ever be designed due to several technical problems; the in-game Valiant, however, is essentially a what-if version without its infamously terrible ergonomics.
The Valiant was given free to all players during the fifth stage of the 10 year anniversary campaign.
Modules / Available Equipment and Consumables
Modules
Guns
| Tier | Gun | Penetration (mm) |
Damage (HP) |
Rate of fire (rounds/minute) |
Dispersion (m/100m) |
Aiming time (s) |
Weight (kg) |
Price (  )
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| V | 75 mm Gun Mk. V | 91/144/38 | 110/110/175 | 14.29 | 0.41 | 2.5 | 500 | 45000 |
Engines
| Tier | Engine | Engine Power (hp) |
Chance of Fire on Impact (%) |
Weight (kg) |
Price ( )
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| V | GMC | 210 | 15 | 1080 | 13500 |
Suspensions
| Tier | Suspension | Load Limit (т) |
Traverse Speed (gr/sec) |
Rmin | Weight (kg) |
Price ( )
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| V | А38 | 28.5 | 35 | B/2 | 8200 | 9500 |
Radios
| Tier | Radio | Signal Range (m) |
Weight (kg) |
Price ( )
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VI | N19 | 400 | 40 | 15000 |
Compatible Equipment
Compatible Consumables
Player Opinion
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Fast firing gun with enough penetration to hurt most poorly armored tanks
- Tied with Matilda Black Prince and Matilda IV for highest HP pool of all tier 5 mediums (800)
- Frontal armor is effective against most guns with sub-100mm penetration
- Side armor is surprisingly strong and can be used for sidescraping
- Relatively small profile
- 12.5 degrees of depression, combined with the base turret front thickness and rounded "mantlet", very comfortable to play in a hull-down setup
- Surprisingly good concealment values for a medium, at Tier V only the Pz. IV Ankou has better
Cons:
- Second slowest tank in the game after TOG II (19km/h), will struggle to climb most slopes and hills
- Upper glacis, despite having a decent pike nose, can be easily penetrated by any guns with 120mm+ penetration
- Extremely thin roof armor (only 10mm at the engine deck and 20mm at the turret top), combined with its horrible mobility means it's extremely vulnerable against SPGs due to possibilities to get full damage by penetrating hits
- 91mm base penetration is still severely lacking against heavies at the same tier and some medium tanks
- No preferential matchmaking: had a chance to face a tier 7 opponents, all of which is equipped with a gun that can easily penetrate your tank while your gun is pretty much useless against them unless you're using gold ammo
- Weak ammo rack located in the hull's shoulder and the upper side armor directly below the turret; expect to see this tank blow up semi-frequently.
Performance
On paper the Valiant looks like an up-armored version of the Valentine, and similar to the Matilda Black Prince and Matilda IV in terms of stats, with a slightly better (but still mediocre) gun. However the tank suffers from a lot of severe drawbacks. Firstly, courtesy of a bad armor layout, the 114mm of hull armor only exists at the front of the driver's hatch and lower glacis while the rest is only 60mm thick, which means this tank is heavily reliant on 50/50 RNG to block shots. The next thing is speed; the Valiant is currently the second-slowest tank in the game after the infamous TOG II while lacking the TOG's gigantic HP pool and the famed 17-pounder to compensate for its incredible vulnerability against SPG's. On top of that the Valiant has no preferential matchmaking, which means it can face Tier VII opponents who can easily beat it to death while you can do very little to no scratches on them at all unless you're using "special" ammo.
On the plus side, the Valiant is surprisingly effective against poorly-armored medium tanks, as its armor and penetration is somewhat sufficient to protect itself and deal damage to the enemy. This remains true as long as you have a support to cover your flank and you're not being targeted by SPGs.
Early Research
Premium tank, none required
Gallery
Historical Info
Design and development
The Valiant, under General Staff specification A38, began as a candidate for an assault tank, with the thickest armour on the lowest possible weight, for use in the Far East. It was to be similar in intention to the 40-ton A33 Excelsior although far lighter. As the Valiant managed the same 114 mm frontal armour with only 27 tons, it managed to achieve its primary goal, but only by making unacceptable compromises elsewhere. At a time when British tank design was already at its nadir, this "terrible price for the weight concession" led to what is probably the worst British tank of the war.
The design brief of December 1943 called for three prototypes of a small, heavily armoured tank for the Far East. Speed across open country was less important, as was performance against armour. Design work started with Vickers, but they soon passed it to Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon, then finally Ruston & Hornsby, who built the single prototype in 1944. Vickers' original intention may have been to use parts of their Valentine infantry tank where possible, but this did not survive the production choices of the other manufacturers, nor was the running gear of the far lighter Valentine compatible with the needs of such heavy armour. The largest point of commonality was the choice of engine, the 210 bhp General Motors 6004 two-stroke diesel, as used in later marks of Valentine.
Construction was like that of the Matilda infantry tank – large cast armour pieces bolted together. Suspension was by six equally sized wheels on each side, with independent wishbone suspension units for each, rather than bogies. Concern was expressed about the possible fragility of these units in combat, but Valiant was never taken seriously off-road to test them. The drivetrain was to the rear, from a 210 bhp diesel. This low power limited the tank to a predicted top speed of 12 mph, although this was still acceptable to both the infantry tank and assault tank concepts.
Following from the later Valentine VIII and XI models, the turret was to accept either the QF 6 pounder or the QF 75 mm, with space for a turret crew of three (commander, gunner, loader). This was achieved at the cost of a large heavy turret with near-vertical faces and a massive cast front face with distinctively prominent bolts. The mantlet was internal and a weak point against accurate fire at close range. Unlike the late model Valentines it had a co-axial machine-gun.
The Valiant's suspension was tested by the Fighting Vehicle Proving Establishment (FVPE) at Chertsey in May 1945. The first day gave minor problems and was abandoned after only 13 miles (21 km) of easy on-road driving. However, the driver was already exhausted by this time, finding that the steering levers needed his full weight to operate and that the seat, footbrake and gear lever all carried risk of physical injury in using them. The Officer in Charge decided to abandon the trials there and then as it was impossible and unsafe to continue, reporting that "in his view the entire project should be closed". There were also issues with weight distribution and the ground clearance of only 9 inches, and by that point of the war there was no longer a need for the tank. The Valiant project was terminated.
Variants
A Valiant II was mentioned in late 1943, but little more was heard of it. In February 1944 there was more detailed discussion of a "Heavy Valiant", which may have been the same and has been reported as such in some sources.
The Heavy Valiant was a substantially different vehicle, only using the turret and driver's compartment of the Valiant on a hull derived from the A33 Excelsior and its T1 suspension. This gave armour of 9 (hull front) and 10 inches (turret) thickness. Weight was now estimated at 42 tons, which is comparable with the original Excelsior despite almost doubling the armour thickness, and so this must have been a much smaller tank. Power was doubled to cope with the weight, using the new and compact 400 bhp Rolls Royce Meteorite engine (a cut-down V8 Meteor) and an improved transmission. The mistake of the Valentine was to be repeated, where the turret was up-gunned to the 95mm howitzer of the Centaur IV at the cost of forcing the commander to take over the loader's task in a two-man turret. There is a record of a prototype having gone to the ranges at Lulworth Cove for trials in January 1945, but no other record of what it looked like.
Present day
The sole Valiant was retained by the School of Tank Technology, where students were treated to an inspection of it at the end of their course and invited to find fault. David Fletcher wrote of this: "One hopes they started early in the morning."
The Valiant can now be seen at The Tank Museum.
Historical Gallery
Historical Accuracy Errata
Valiant had 6 pounder gun, not QF 75 mm
