Filament wound thin-wall CFRP and GFRP composite tubes were tested under uniaxial (longitudinal) tensile loading up to failure. Elastic and strength properties as well as failure mechanisms were evaluated as related to the wall lay-up configuration. Angle-ply lay-ups of different (± θ), orientations were compared with tubes having the same thickness but where internal and external θ plies were replaced by hoop (90) layers. Results showed that this replacement improved axial ultimate tensile strength as compared with the angle-ply reference. The three directional specimens with the hoop layers failed gradually at stress levels beyond the predicted first ply failure (FPF) as compared with angle-ply references whose behavior was highly affected and became nonlinear above FPF. Analytical prediction for elastic behavior and strength as functions of fiber orientation agreed well with experimental trends and demonstrated the advantage of three directional configuration as compared with angle-ply tube. This was attributed to the transverse stabilizing effect of the hoop layers which was manifested by a significant reduction of the Poisson ratio.