 | |
| Establishment overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1947 |
| Dissolved | 1959 |
| Superseding agency | |
| Type | Establishment |
The Admiralty Underwater Weapons Launching Establishment was an Admiralty research department dedicated to torpedo and mine launching gear. It was formed at West Howe, Bournemouth in 1947 and later became part of the Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment in 1959.
The Admiralty's production of and research and development into launching gear for torpedoes and mines was originally carried out within facilities at HMNB Portsmouth from 1914. During World War II, with the threat of German air raids, all research and production of launching gear was moved to new premises at West Howe in 1941. Although production was relocated again in 1947, the establishment at West Howe continued to undertake research and development work. That year it was given the name the Admiralty Underwater Weapons Launching Establishment. An outstation at Horsea Island was used to conduct trials. [1]
The establishment was closed in 1959 with the formation of the Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment at the Isle of Portland. The new establishment was an amalgamation of a number of Admiralty research sites, including the Launching Establishment, the Underwater Countermeasures and Weapons Establishment at Havant and the Torpedo Experimental Establishment at Greenock. [2]
Following its closure, the West Howe site was purchased by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority as an additional facility in connection with the Winfrith Atomic Energy Establishment. The site was sold again to the General Post Office in 1967. [3]
The United States Atomic Energy Commission, commonly known as the AEC, was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by U.S. Congress to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S. Truman signed the McMahon/Atomic Energy Act on August 1, 1946, transferring the control of atomic energy from military to civilian hands, effective on January 1, 1947. This shift gave the members of the AEC complete control of the plants, laboratories, equipment, and personnel assembled during the war to produce the atomic bomb.
The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) is the United States Navy's full-spectrum research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support center for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, and offensive and defensive weapons systems associated with undersea warfare. It is one of the corporate laboratories of the Naval Sea Systems Command. NUWC is headquartered in Newport, Rhode Island and has two major subordinate activities: Division Newport and Division Keyport in Keyport, Washington. NUWC also controls the Fox Island facility and Gould Island. It employs more than 4,400 civilian and military personnel, with budgets over $1 billion.
The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of fusion energy. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for aircraft production, and the Admiralty retained responsibilities for supplying the Royal Navy. During the war years the MoS was based at Shell Mex House in The Strand, London.
The Admiralty Mining Establishment originally known as the Mine Design Department was a technical department of the British Royal Navy responsible for both the design of naval mines and the development of suitable countermeasures from 1915 to 1951
National Defence Complex (NDC), also known as National Development Complex, National Development Centre, is a Pakistani state-owned defence and aerospace contractor which is a division under the National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM). It is based in Fateh Jang, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Winfrith Atomic Energy Establishment, or AEE Winfrith, was a United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority site near Winfrith Newburgh in Dorset. It covered an area on Winfrith Heath to the west of the village of Wool between the A352 road and the South West Main Line.
Dragon was an experimental high temperature gas-cooled reactor at Winfrith in Dorset, England, operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. Its purpose was to test fuel and materials for the European High Temperature Reactor programme, and it was built and managed as an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/Nuclear Energy Agency international project. It operated from 1965 to 1976.
The Admiralty Research Laboratory (ARL) was a research laboratory that supported the work of the UK Admiralty in Teddington, London, England from 1921 to 1977.
Dorset Innovation Park is a science and technology park which is owned by the Homes and Communities Agency. The site was the former UKAEA Winfrith Atomic Energy Establishment which was in service from the 1950s to early 1990s. The Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor was also developed at the site.
Major General Kenneth David Nichols, also known by Nick, was an officer in the United States Army, and a civil engineer who worked on the secret Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb during World War II. He served as Deputy District Engineer to James C. Marshall, and from 13 August 1943 as the District Engineer of the Manhattan Engineer District. Nichols led both the uranium production facility at the Clinton Engineer Works at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and the plutonium production facility at Hanford Engineer Works in Washington state.
John Robert Vernon Dolphin was a British engineer and inventor, who joined the Secret Intelligence Service and then became the Commanding Officer of the top-secret Second World War Special Operations Executive (SOE) "Station IX", where specialist military equipment was developed. During his time there his inventions included the Welman submarine and the Welbike.
The Admiralty Research Establishment was formed on 1 April 1984 from various Admiralty establishments. It became part of the Defence Research Agency on 1 April 1991.
The Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment was an Admiralty research department dedicated to underwater detection systems and weapons. It was formed at the Isle of Portland in 1959 and later became part of the Admiralty Research Agency (ARE) in 1984.
HMS Osprey was an anti-submarine training establishment located at the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. It was active between 1924 and 1941, and again from 1946 to 1999. The helicopter station RNAS Portland formed part of the establishment from 1959 to 1999.
High Explosive Research (HER) was the British project to develop atomic bombs independently after the Second World War. This decision was taken by a cabinet sub-committee on 8 January 1947, in response to apprehension of an American return to isolationism, fears that Britain might lose its great power status, and the actions by the United States to withdraw unilaterally from sharing of nuclear technology under the 1943 Quebec Agreement. The decision was publicly announced in the House of Commons on 12 May 1948.
Sir William Richard Joseph Cook, was a British civil servant and mathematician.
The Anti-Submarine Division its original name, was the former anti-submarine warfare, planning and prevention Directorate of the Admiralty Department from 1912-1963.
The Admiralty Surface Weapons Establishment (ASWE) and later known as the Admiralty Research Establishment (ARE) was a department of the British Admiralty and later Navy Department responsible for research and development, into the design and testing of devices, equipment, and techniques in-regard to naval communications, electronic counter-measures, radar missile control and other related fields it was based at Portsdown Hill, Hampshire, England from 1959 to 1984.
The Torpedo Experimental Establishment (T.E.E.) also known as the Admiralty Torpedo Experimental Establishment was a former research department of the British Department of Admiralty from 1947 to 1959. It was responsible for the design, development and production of torpedoes for the Royal Navy. In 1959 its work and staff merged with the Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment. The department was administered by the Superintendent, Torpedo Experiment and Design.
