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United Kingdom - Miscellaneous Vessels |
Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development (DMWD)
The Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development (DMWD), also known as the Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapon Development and colloquially known as the Wheezers and Dodgers, was an Admiralty department responsible for the development of various unconventional weapons during World War II.
DMWD was responsible for a number of devices of varying practicality and success, many of which were based on solid fuel rocket propulsion. As might be expected of a small, dynamic and highly experimental group, their output encompassed both resounding successes and sublimely comical failures.
Failures
Panjandrum rocket-propelled beach defence demolition weapon
Hajile, a rocket-powered alternative to parachutes for dropping materiel.
Kentucky Minstrels A scheme to camouflage bodies of water, used as navigation markers by bombers, was undertaken by a group named "Kentucky Minstrels".
It involved spreading coal dust from a ship, ironically named "HMS Persil". The scheme failed due to the actions of wind and tide but did produce some confusion when the coal-covered waters were mistaken for tarmac in the blackout.
Successes
Its successful and important developments included the
Hedgehog anti-submarine weapon
Squid anti-submarine mortar,
Holman Projector, the development of an Army anti-aircraft rocket battery designed to be mountable on naval vessels
The system of degaussing used to protect ships against magnetic mines
Mulberry Harbour instrumental role in developing parts of the Mulberry harbour used in the D-Day landings.
Hedgehog was developed after the Lt-Col Blacker's spigot mortar weapons were shown to the DMWD by MD1 ("Churchill's Toyshop").
Several experimental weapons were trialled at Brean Down Fort, a satellite unit of HMS Birnbeck (Birnbeck pier taken over as a base for DMWD) in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset. Some of the better known weapons trialled were the seaborne bouncing bomb designed specifically to bounce to a target such as across water to avoid torpedo nets,
anti-submarine missile AMUCK
The expendable acoustic emitter (designed to confuse noise seeking torpedoes).
DMWD was responsible for a number of devices of varying practicality and success, many of which were based on solid fuel rocket propulsion. As might be expected of a small, dynamic and highly experimental group, their output encompassed both resounding successes and sublimely comical failures.
Failures
Panjandrum rocket-propelled beach defence demolition weapon
Hajile, a rocket-powered alternative to parachutes for dropping materiel.
Kentucky Minstrels A scheme to camouflage bodies of water, used as navigation markers by bombers, was undertaken by a group named "Kentucky Minstrels".
It involved spreading coal dust from a ship, ironically named "HMS Persil". The scheme failed due to the actions of wind and tide but did produce some confusion when the coal-covered waters were mistaken for tarmac in the blackout.
Successes
Its successful and important developments included the
Hedgehog anti-submarine weapon
Squid anti-submarine mortar,
Holman Projector, the development of an Army anti-aircraft rocket battery designed to be mountable on naval vessels
The system of degaussing used to protect ships against magnetic mines
Mulberry Harbour instrumental role in developing parts of the Mulberry harbour used in the D-Day landings.
Hedgehog was developed after the Lt-Col Blacker's spigot mortar weapons were shown to the DMWD by MD1 ("Churchill's Toyshop").
Several experimental weapons were trialled at Brean Down Fort, a satellite unit of HMS Birnbeck (Birnbeck pier taken over as a base for DMWD) in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset. Some of the better known weapons trialled were the seaborne bouncing bomb designed specifically to bounce to a target such as across water to avoid torpedo nets,
anti-submarine missile AMUCK
The expendable acoustic emitter (designed to confuse noise seeking torpedoes).