>>7402293Being the first of its kind, it was a machine with a lot of unique quirks. First of all, the engine was placed in the middle of the tank, not separated from the crew. This meant that the heat produced by the engine running at full speed to move the thing would bleed into the compartment, along with fumes and exhaust gas, making the air almost unbreathable. Crewmembers had to work in shifts of just a few hours to make this more manageable. And speaking of crewmembers, there's a lot of people inside a tank like this : the actual number may vary, but it was usually around 8 men being crammed inside one of these. And it was not a very pleasant ride either : since the tank hd no suspension whatsoever, every bump could be felt, and the men inside had to wear padded helmet to prevent injuries.
But the british were indeed the first to deploy a tank. In total, only a handful of Mark I tanks were built : after field testing, designers realized many of the flaws of the machine, including long guns that could easily get stuck, a very weak engine that broke down frequently, and a frontally mounted fuel tank that made the tank very dangerous indeed. So this version was eventually replaced by the Mark II, then III, up to V, which became, with the Mark IV the most produced british tank of WWI.
There's a lot more I could say about this, but this is about it for now. I don't want to bore you too much. Tell me if you found this interesting and you wish to know more.
