The tank was improved in several aspects over the Mark IV, chiefly the new steering system, transmission and 150 bhp engine, but it fell short in other areas, particularly its insufficient ventilation leading to carbon monoxide poisoning for the crew.

A further unarmed development was the Mark IX tank, one of the first armoured personnel carriers, which saw limited use in Britain after the war.

[1] Production of the Mark V started at Metropolitan Carriage & Wagon at the end of 1917; the first tanks arrived in France in May 1918.

[5] The use of Wilson's epicyclic steering gear in the Mark V meant that the driver could control all aspects of the transmission: three extra crew members had been required in previous versions of the tank, two gearsmen to change low and high gears on either side of the tank, and the commander who operated the brakes and skid steering.

[8] There was much more space at the rear after the removal of the massive differential gear (originally designed for the Daimler-Foster agricultural tractor) fitted to all the earlier tanks.

On the roof towards the rear of the tank, behind the engine, was a second raised cabin, with hinged sides that allowed the crew to attach the unditching beam without exiting the vehicle.

[5][10] The Mark V had a new, more powerful six cylinder engine (also ordered by Stern) designed by Harry Ricardo, displacing 19 litres and developing 150 bhp (110 kW).

[11] According to J. F. C. Fuller, the Ricardo engine was of a "somewhat unorthodox design", but it was highly efficient and, with proper care and attention, gave very little trouble.

[5] The only ventilation for the crew compartment, other than the driver and gunner view-ports, located on all sides of the tank, was a roof-mounted Keith fan.

An extra sliding shutter was later fitted which drew foul air out of the fighting compartment, which is thought to have made some improvement.

[18] This in turn caused Major Philip Johnson of the Central Tank Corps Workshops to devise a plan of his own in early 1918.

He cut a Mark IV in half and inserted three extra panels, lengthening the entire hull by six feet.

Retired from active service in 1930, they were kept in storage to have heavy tanks to discard in case the Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments requested it.

[24] In the north, four Mark Vs had been delivered to White Russian forces in Archangelsk in 1919, and four to Tallinn, Estonia along with two Renault FTs.

[6] In the defence of Tallinn by the Red Army against German forces in August 1941, the four Mk Vs previously operated by Estonia were planned to be used as dug-in fortifications.

Photographic evidence indicates that these were survivors of the Russian Civil War and had previously been displayed as a monument in Smolensk, Russia, before being brought to Berlin after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.

The majority are in Russia or Ukraine and are survivors of the tanks sent there to aid the White forces during the Russian Civil War.