Manufacture of Tank Mk V systems produced some 400 examples of which 200 were built exclusively as males and 200 as females. Male versions carrier cannon armament and machine guns while Female versions were given solely machine guns for the defense of the Males - this in line with armored warfare doctrine of the day. As in the Tank Mk IV series, the Tank Mk V line was also produced in two distinct forms - "Male" and "Female". The Tank Mk V was more or less a direct improved form of the preceding Tank Mk IV line of 1917 with an integrated communications system, commander's cupola and drive controls to managed by one person (as opposed to the four required of earlier types). Armor protection was 16mm at its thickest (front) with 12mm allocated to the sides. The vehicle was crewed by no fewer than eight personnel and main armament was managed through two side sponson assemblies as in earlier marks. The Tank Mk V incorporated several improvements over previous British landships yet it retained the general rhomboidal shape common to many of these early engineering efforts. Such vehicles were critical in breaking the trench warfare stalemates that arose along the Western Front during World War 1 and would become the centerpiece of national armies in the decades following the conflict. The Mk I was followed by the trainer-minded Tank Mk II which was pressed into combat and the dedicated trainer Tank Mk III models before arrival of the definitive Tank Mk IV combat-centric landship. The Tank Mk V was a further evolution of the British "tank" - then known as "landship" - which began with the original Tank Mk I of 1916.
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