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N0KFQ > TODAY 06.09.14 15:39l 56 Lines 2553 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Sep 6
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Sep 6, 1915:
First tank produced
On this day in 1915, a prototype tank nicknamed Little Willie
rolls off the assembly line in England. Little Willie was far
from an overnight success. It weighed 14 tons, got stuck in
trenches and crawled over rough terrain at only two miles per
hour. However, improvements were made to the original prototype
and tanks eventually transformed military battlefields.
The British developed the tank in response to the trench warfare
of World War I. In 1914, a British army colonel named Ernest
Swinton and William Hankey, secretary of the Committee for
Imperial Defence, championed the idea of an armored vehicle with
conveyor-belt-like tracks over its wheels that could break
through enemy lines and traverse difficult territory. The men
appealed to British navy minister Winston Churchill, who believed
in the concept of a "land boat" and organized a Landships
Committee to begin developing a prototype. To keep the project
secret from enemies, production workers were reportedly told the
vehicles they were building would be used to carry water on the
battlefield (alternate theories suggest the shells of the new
vehicles resembled water tanks). Either way, the new vehicles
were shipped in crates labeled "tank" and the name stuck.
The first tank prototype, Little Willie, was unveiled in
September 1915. Following its underwhelming performance--it was
slow, became overheated and couldn't cross trenches--a second
prototype, known as "Big Willie," was produced. By 1916, this
armored vehicle was deemed ready for battle and made its debut at
the First Battle of the Somme near Courcelette, France, on
September 15 of that year. Known as the Mark I, this first batch
of tanks was hot, noisy and unwieldy and suffered mechanical
malfunctions on the battlefield; nevertheless, people realized
the tank's potential. Further design improvements were made and
at the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917, 400 Mark IV's proved
much more successful than the Mark I, capturing 8,000 enemy
troops and 100 guns.
Tanks rapidly became an important military weapon. During World
War II, they played a prominent role across numerous
battlefields. More recently, tanks have been essential for desert
combat during the conflicts in the Persian Gulf.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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