Misplaced Pages

#181818

20-757: Following discussions by Captain Murray Sueter of the Royal Naval Air Service and Bramah Diplock of the Pedrail Transport Company, the machine was designed by the British engineer Colonel R.E.B. Crompton on behalf of the Landship Committee . The brief was for a vehicle that could carry a unit of troops - a "trench storming party of 50 men with machine guns and ammunition"- under protection across No Man's Land . Crompton's design as presented to

40-671: A member of the Anti-Waste League and was co-sponsored by them and the Independent Parliamentary Group for the 1921 Hertford by-election which he won. He went on to join the Conservative Party and contested the 1923 general election for them, winning election in Hertford . He went on to hold the seat until his retirement in 1945. During the 1930s he was one of a number of Members of Parliament to become active in

60-559: A naval background, he entered the Royal Navy as a cadet on Britannia in 1886 before serving as a midshipman with HMS Swiftsure . In 1894 he was promoted to lieutenant and in 1896 he was posted to HMS Vernon to become a specialist in torpedo warfare, afterwards serving on the staff. In 1899 he became Torpedo Officer on HMS Jupiter . In May 1902 Sueter moved to Reginald Bacon 's submarine tender HMS Hazard , where he distinguished himself by aiding injured crew members of

80-621: The Admiralty responsible for the procurement of naval ordnance of the Royal Navy . The department was managed by a Director, supported by various assistants and deputies; it existed from 1891 to 1958. Before 1855 the supply of guns and ammunition to the Royal Navy was the responsibility of the Ordnance Board , which was also concerned with supplying ordnance to the Army and which tended to concentrate on

100-636: The Anglo-German Fellowship . Along with several other members of the group, including a number of parliamentarians, he accepted an invitation from Joachim von Ribbentrop to attend the 1936 Nuremberg Rally . He died in Watlington, Oxfordshire . Naval Ordnance Department The Naval Ordnance Department , also known as the Department of the Director of Naval Ordnance , was a former department of

120-538: The Naval Ordnance Department of the Admiralty and in 1909 he supervised the construction of airship Mayfly , a new avenue of naval development. As inspecting captain of airships he oversaw the failure of the experiment but was nonetheless given command of the Navy's Air Department in 1912. In this role he oversaw the creation of the Royal Naval Air Service . Sueter continued his aerial innovations during

140-529: The Sea Lords and he was relieved of command. He was given no work from 1918 to 1920 when he was retired as a rear-admiral . After his naval service he worked with airmail provision and published a number of books, notably Airmen or Noahs (1928) an autobiography and critique of current naval practices and The Evolution of the Tank (1937). He was knighted in 1934. After his naval service Sueter entered politics as

160-507: The submarine A.1 after an explosion aboard. Sueter's book, The Evolution of the Submarine Boat, Mine and Torpedo (1907), was the result of his close work with submarines during this time. He married Andrew Clarke 's daughter, Elinor Mary "Nell" de Winton, in 1903, a year before his promotion to commander (he was made a captain in 1909). Elinor Sueter died on 15 December 1948. Murray Sueter's technical skills saw him brought into

180-589: The Admiralty also took over responsibility from the War Office for inspecting naval ordnance when a Chief Inspector of Naval Ordnance was appointed. The Royal Ordnance Factories , under the control of the War Office, continued, however, to manufacture naval ordnance though a large proportion, including most of the heaviest guns, was let to private contract. From 1917 until the department was responsible for mines and torpedoes. Between 1918 and 1923 and again from 1939 there

200-606: The Director of Torpedoes and Mining was created. After the Second World War in 1946 this became the Underwater Weapons Department . The Bragg laboratory, so-called from 1938, continued unchanged until 1968, when its chemical analysis work became part of the Army Department's Directorate of Chemical Inspection at Woolwich. From 1941 to 1945 there was a Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development . In 1958

220-564: The building of a single Pedrail was cancelled by the authorities. In July 1916 the machine was transferred to Stothert & Pitt in Bath , for completion as a mobile flamethrower . The finished chassis was handed over to the Trench Warfare Department in August, and sent for trials to the government research centre at Porton Down . It was deemed too heavy to be practical, and at the end of

SECTION 10

#1733085804182

240-579: The committee used two sets of continuous tracks in a vehicle around 40 feet (12 m) long, weighing around 25 tons and armed with a 12-pdr gun. Protection was 8 mm (0.31 in) of armour to the sides and 6 mm (0.24 in) on top. Two 46 hp (34 kW) Rolls-Royce engines drove the machine. This led to an order for twelve machines being placed with the Metropolitan Carriage and Wagon Company in Birmingham. The Committee realised

260-521: The design as supplied would not be able to readily manoeuvre through French villages and it was reworked to articulate it in the middle. At the same time the armour protection was increased to 12 mm (0.47 in). The original order for 12 was reduced to one, and then Metropolitan asked to be removed from the project to concentrate on other war work. The task of finishing the single vehicle went to William Foster and Co. at Lincoln but with other, more promising, armoured vehicle projects coming along, even

280-487: The early stages of World War I including the launching of torpedoes from aircraft and in 1915 he was promoted commodore first class and appointed superintendent of aircraft construction. He sat on the government's " Advisory Committee for Aeronautics ", located at the National Physical Laboratory , under the chairmanship of Richard Glazebrook and presidency of John Strutt, Lord Rayleigh . He promoted

300-666: The latter function, although naval officers served on the board and on the Ordnance Select Committee which succeeded it. The Ordnance Board was abolished in May 1855, its responsibilities for naval ordnance passed to the War Office , where a naval officer was appointed Naval Director-General of Artillery within the Artillery Branch . He retained that title from 1858 to 1868, when he was also Director of Stores, War Office  ; he

320-689: The two were re-united as divisions of the Weapons Department , under the Director General of Weapons (Director General, Weapons from 1960 to 1964). Bragg continued as the Naval Ordnance Inspection (later Service) and Metallurgical Unit (NOIMU, later NOSMU) until 1984 when it was closed and its work transferred to Woolwich. Caerwent laboratory continued investigating propellants until 1971. Included: Included: Included: Included: Included: Note: At various times were under

340-546: The use of armoured cars for the defence of airfields in France. After the stalemate of the trenches developed the cars were sent to Russia and Egypt. His interest in the armoured car led to involvement in tank development. In 1917, he clashed with the Admiralty and was posted to command the RNAS in Italy. While in Italy, Sueter sent a letter to King George which incurred the displeasure of

360-589: The war was taken to Bovington Camp , where it was eventually scrapped. Background: History of the tank , Tanks in the British Army Murray Sueter Rear-Admiral Sir Murray Fraser Sueter CB (6 September 1872 – 3 February 1960) was a Royal Naval officer who was noted as a pioneer of naval aviation and later became a Member of Parliament (MP). Sueter was born in Alverstoke . Coming from

380-512: Was a separate Armament Supply Department .The Naval Ordnance Inspection Department was set up in 1922 to control quality in the manufacture and testing of weapons and ammunition for the fleet. Chemical and metallurgical analysis was carried out at its laboratories at Sheffield (the Bragg laboratory) and Caerwent. During the First World War the directorate was divided, and a separate Department of

400-532: Was also the Vice-President of the Ordnance Select Committee . A Director-General, subsequently Director of Naval Ordnance, in the Controller's Department of the Admiralty was first appointed in 1866, but he did not take over procurement of naval ordnance from the War Office until 1888 or custody and supply until 1891, when a Naval Ordnance Department was finally established at the Admiralty. By stages from 1908

#181818