The World’s only surviving complete Valentine amphibious DD tank - Stourbridge High Street - 9/11/24

The Tank, Infantry, Mk III, Valentine was an infantry tank produced in the United Kingdom during World War II. More than 8,000 Valentines were produced in eleven marks, plus specialised variants, accounting for about a quarter of wartime British tank production. The variants included riveted and welded construction, petrol and diesel engines and increases in armament. It was supplied in large numbers to the USSR and built under licence in Canada. It was used by the British in the North African campaign. Developed by Vickers, it proved to be strong and reliable.
Name
There are several proposed explanations for the name Valentine. According to the most popular one, the design was presented to the War Office on St Valentine's Day, 14 February 1940, although some sources say that the design was submitted on Valentine's Day 1938 or 10 February 1938. White notes that "incidentally" Valentine was the middle name of Sir John Carden, the man responsible for many tank designs including that of the Valentine's predecessors, the A10 and A11. Another version says that Valentine is an acronym for Vickers-Armstrongs Limited Elswick & (Newcastle-upon) Tyne. The "most prosaic" explanation according to author David Fletcher is that it was just an in-house codeword of Vickers with no other significance.
DD or duplex drive tanks, nicknamed "Donald Duck tanks", were a type of amphibious swimming tank developed by the British during the Second World War. The phrase is mostly used for the Duplex Drive variant of the M4 Sherman medium tank, that was used by the Western Allies during and after the Normandy Landings in June 1944.
DD tanks worked by erecting a canvas 'flotation screen' around the tank, which enabled it to float in water. 'Duplex drive' refers to the fitted propellers allowing propulsion through water, which supplemented the usual track propulsion used when the flotation screens were lowered upon landing to fight as an ordinary tank.
The DD tanks were one of the many specialized assault vehicles, collectively known as Hobart's Funnies, devised to support the planned invasion of Europe.

[@captiannemo1587]

Nice to see it open up. The engines sound great.

[@AOD_AnkGrooger]

Very nice to see the Amphibious Valentine.
Such a shame it suffered from the same issues as every British tank... NSE.
No Suitable Engine.

[@johnpearson6423]

What engine do you think it has or should have? In fact it has the original 1943 made GMC supercharged 2 stroke deisel which still runs perfectly after 81 years.

[@AOD_AnkGrooger]

@@johnpearson6423 Yeah, its a decent engine... until you realise the tank weighs over 18 tonnes.
Every british tank suffered from NSE.
Churchill, the sherman firefly, cromwells.
Britain always failed to develop a better engine. It would just use the current one they had and failed to innovate.
Thankfully, with the production of the centurion tank, they did begin to innovate... until the chieftain. 0.o

[@johnpearson6423]

​@@AOD_AnkGroogerCromwell and Centurion used the same engine, the Rolls Royce Meteor. Strangely, the poor Chieftain engine apparently had a good reputation in railway use. No complaints about the Challenger engine.
I was once told by a veteran that the Valentine was the fastest tank in North Africa which seemed bizarre but he explained that if you were 300 miles from the nearest water, the other "faster" tanks had to be kept to very slow speeds due to possible breakdown and then death by dehydration. The Valentines legendary reliability enabled it to go almost flat out all of the time.

[@AOD_AnkGrooger]

@@johnpearson6423 Crusader 2 & 3 were both used in north africa, a faster vehicle than the valentine, and didnt have issues.
You seem to be talking out of your ass

[@johnpearson6423]

@AOD_AnkGrooger my ass has driven all types of Valentine engine (AEC 189 petrol, AEC 190 diesel and GMC 6.71) and also the Liberty engined Crusader III. Has yours? During WW2, the British Army used MIH (miles in the hour) instead of mph to measure actual speed capability over distance. Advance speed (MIH) expected of Matilda was 8 mph although max was 15mph, Crusader was about 10 or 11 despite max speed being about 23, Valentine was 13.5 MIH although governed max was 15. Some 40 RTR Valentines managed 3,500 miles on one set of tracks, wheels and engines. Valentine was the ONLY western tank that Stalin was grateful for and demanded as many as possible be shipped to him, largely because of reliability. I was reporting a veterans personal observations, not expressing an opinion. I think it is your ass (arse?) that is doing the talking.