Crocodile Armoured Personnel Carrier
| Crocodile Armoured Personnel Carrier | |
|---|---|
|
no image Crocodile TCV | |
| Type | Armoured personnel carrier |
| Place of origin |
 Rhodesia |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1977 - present |
| Used by |
Rhodesia Zimbabwe |
| Wars |
Rhodesian Bush War 1981 Entumbane Uprising Mozambican Civil War Second Congo War |
| Specifications | |
| Length | 7.65 m |
| Width | 2.25 m |
| Height | 3.1 m |
| Crew | 2+16 |
|
| |
| Armor | 10 to 40 mm |
Main armament | one 7.62 mm, 12.7 mm or 14.5 mm machine guns |
Secondary armament | personal weapons through gunports |
| Engine |
Standart Nissan 6.54 litre diesel 160 hp |
| Power/weight | hp/ton hp/tonne |
| Suspension | wheels, 4 × 4 |
Operational range | 600 to 700 km |
| Speed | 90 km/h |
The Crocodile Armoured Personnel Carrier or “Croc” is a Rhodesian armoured personnel carrier first introduced in 1977 and based on Japanese commercial trucks’ chassis. It remains in use with the Zimbabwe National Army.
General description
Built on a Nissan, Toyota or Isuzu 5-tonne truck chassis, the Crocodile consisted of an open-topped hull or ‘capsule’ faceted at the sides, which were designed to deflect small-arms’ rounds, and a flat bottom or 'deck' reinforced by a v-shaped ‘crush box’ meant to deflect landmine blasts. Three inverted U-shaped high ‘Roll bars’ were fitted to protect the fighting compartment from being crushed in case the vehicle turned and roll over after a mine detonation.
Protection
The hull was made of ballistic 10mm mild steel plate; front windscreen and side windows had 40mm bullet-proof laminated glass.
Armament
Rhodesian “Crocs” were usually armed with a FN MAG-58 7.62mm Light Machine Gun (LMG), sometimes installed on a locally-produced one-man MG armoured turret to protect the gunner. Vehicles assigned to convoy escorting duties (‘E-type’) had a Browning M1919A4 7.62mm medium machine gun mounted on an open-topped, cylinder-shaped turret (dubbed ‘the dustbin’) whilst those employed on ‘externals’ received a tall, square-shaped and fully enclosed MAG turret mounted on the roof over the commander’s seat. The Zimbabwean vehicles after 1980 sported pintle-mounted Soviet-made 12.7mm and 14.5mm Heavy Machine Guns (HMG) instead.
Combat history
They were employed by the ZNA forces in Mozambique guarding the Mutare-Beira oil pipeline in 1982–1993, and served with Zimbabwe troops in the United Nations’ peacekeeping mission in Somalia (UNOSOM I) from 1992 to 1994. During that assignment, a few "Crocs" were loaned to the U.S. Marines contingent for convoy escort and security duties in the Mogadishu area.
Variants
- Troop-Carrying Vehicle (TCV) – is the standard IFV/APC fully protected version, armed with either a single LMG (Rhodesian SF 1978–79) or HMG (ZNA 1980–present) and capable of accommodating 16 infantrymen.
- Convoy escorting version – designated ‘E-type’, this is a basic IFV/APC version fitted with a turret, either the ‘dustbin’ with Browning MG or the ‘box’ variant with MAG-58 LMG.
- Light TCV version – standard IFV/APC version with scaled-down armour.
- Jackal – unarmed civilian version employed by the Rhodesian PTC.
Operators
- Rhodesia – several hundreds in service with the Rhodesian Security Forces in 1977–1980 passed on to successor state.
Zimbabwe – About 40 vehicles still in service with the ZNA.
United States – Unknown number in service with the U.S. Marines in Somalia 1992–94.
Notes
See also
- Bullet TCV
- Hippo APC
- MAP45 Armoured Personnel Carrier
- MAP75 Armoured Personnel Carrier
- Mine Protected Combat Vehicle - MPCV
References
- Laurent Touchard, Guerre dans le bush! Les blindés de l’Armée rhodésienne au combat (1964-1979), Batailles & Blindés Magazine n.º 72, April–May 2016, pp. 64-75. ISSN 1765-0828 (in French)
- Peter Gerard Locke & Peter David Farquharson Cooke, Fighting Vehicles and Weapons of Rhodesia 1965–80, P&P Publishing, Wellington 1995. ISBN 0-473-02413-6
- Peter Stiff, Taming the Landmine, Galago Publishing Pty Ltd., Alberton (South Africa) 1986. ISBN 9780947020040
- Robert K. Brown, The Black Devils, Soldier of Fortune Magazine, January 1979.
External links
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