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Vocabulary of Army Ordnance Stores (VAOS) was the British Army system of cataloguing parts that started to be superseded in 1956 when the United Kingdom adopted the NATO Codification System.
The origins of VAOS are a result of the lessons learnt from the Crimean War, when the supply system especially the provisioning and purchase of stores was found to be haphazard and as a result the process for the acquisition of military stores was formalised by the British Board of Ordnance. The Board devised a system of inspectors with an understanding of the military's requirements, who based on the patterns and specifications would negotiate for the provision of quality goods at the right price. [1] Issues with the Board of Ordnance performance in the Crimean War and its disastrous provision for operations during the Russian winter of 1854, brought about out the Board's demise in 1855 and the role of the inspectors was passed on the Boards successor the newly formed Military Store Department. [2] [3]
The Inspectors of the Board of Ordnance, who having established a credible system, were absorbed into the newly formed Military Store Department. The Military Store Department employed clerks to manage day-to-day administration, whilst commissioned officers underwent specialist training learning not just the detail of stores, but the technical aspects of in service equipment. So respected was their knowledge it was often said that the Military Stores Officers knew more about weapons and ammunition than the end users.
The Director of Stores maintained notes on all the in service equipment and kept track of changes in patterns of equipment and stores. This list was updated and circulated on a regular basis. In 1860 updates were published six monthly, but with progressive and rapid development of equipment, lists of changes were issued quarterly in 1861 and by 1868 monthly. A price list of stores was printed in 1866, and two years later a more comprehensive edition was published. The new publication, which was amended quarterly, required that units use the exact nomenclature that appeared in these Vocabularies. By 1893 the vocabulary was printed in books in tabular form with each section based on a commodity group. [1]
The Vocabulary system used by the British Army for close to ninety years until it started to be displaced by NATO Stock Number (NSN) system in 1956. [4] [5] [6] The VOAS system was also unitised by the New Zealand Army into the 1970s, when it was replaced by the NSN system. [7]
The Board of Ordnance was a British government body. Established in the Tudor period, it had its headquarters in the Tower of London. Its primary responsibilities were 'to act as custodian of the lands, depots and forts required for the defence of the realm and its overseas possessions, and as the supplier of munitions and equipment to both the Army and the Navy'. The Board also maintained and directed the Artillery and Engineer corps, which it founded in the 18th century. By the 19th century, the Board of Ordnance was second in size only to HM Treasury among government departments. The Board lasted until 1855, at which point it was disbanded.
The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich carried out armaments manufacture, ammunition proofing, and explosives research for the British armed forces at a site on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich in south-east London, England, United Kingdom. It was originally known as the Woolwich Warren, having begun on land previously used as a domestic warren in the grounds of a Tudor house, Tower Place. Much of the initial history of the site is linked with that of the Board of Ordnance, which purchased the Warren in the late 17th century in order to expand an earlier base at Gun Wharf in Woolwich Dockyard. Over the next two centuries, as operations grew and innovations were pursued, the site expanded massively; at the time of the First World War the Arsenal covered 1,285 acres (520 ha) and employed close to 80,000 people. Thereafter its operations were scaled down; it finally closed as a factory in 1967 and the Ministry of Defence moved out in 1994. Today the area, so long a secret enclave, is open to the public and is being redeveloped for housing and community use.
A commissariat is a department or organization commanded by a commissary or by a corps of commissaries.
The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and domestic materials such as clothing, furniture and stationery and the supply of technical and military equipment. In 1965 its functions were divided between other Corps and the RASC ceased to exist; subsequently, in 1993, they in their turn became the "Forming Corps" of the Royal Logistic Corps.
The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equipment, ammunition and clothing and certain minor functions such as laundry, mobile baths and photography. The RAOC was also responsible for a major element of the repair of Army equipment. In 1942 the latter function was transferred to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) and the vehicle storage and spares responsibilities of the Royal Army Service Corps were in turn passed over to the RAOC. The RAOC retained repair responsibilities for ammunition, clothing and certain ranges of general stores. In 1964 the McLeod Reorganisation of Army Logistics resulted in the RAOC absorbing petroleum, rations and accommodation stores functions from the Royal Army Service Corps as well as the Army Fire Service, barrack services, sponsorship of NAAFI (EFI) and the management of staff clerks from the same Corps. On 5 April 1993, the RAOC was one of the corps that amalgamated to form The Royal Logistic Corps (RLC).
The Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps (RAAOC) is the Corps within the Australian Army concerned with supply and administration, as well as the demolition and disposal of explosives and salvage of battle-damaged equipment. The Corps contains clerks, operator supplies, petroleum operators, parachute riggers and ammunition technicians. Members of the Corps are nicknamed Roaches.
The NATO Codification System is a Standardization Agreement approach to identify, classify and number items of supply. This is applicable to items that are repetitively used and stocked. The System has been agreed by all signatories of the NATO and sponsored non-NATO nations for use in identifying equipment and supplies. The result is a unique identification and a data set that can be easily shared and understood by a wide range of users. The data set may be shared in the form of printed catalogs, on line systems, electronic data exchange, etc. Users include logisticians and manufacturers.
The ANZUK Ordnance Depot was established in 1971 to provide logistical support to Australian, New Zealand and British forces stationed in Singapore and Malaysia as part of ANZUK Force. It was commanded by a Royal Army Ordnance Corps officer of the rank of lieutenant colonel and staffed by Australian, New Zealand and United Kingdom personnel and Locally Employed Civilians. This organisation operated for only a short period. Australia changed Government in 1972 and the incoming Labor Government decided to withdraw Australia’s commitment to the region. This took effect in 1974 and was followed later by the withdrawal of the British forces. It was then decided that New Zealand should form its own Advanced Ordnance Depot, designated the New Zealand Advanced Ordnance Depot (NZAOD). This was the start of a commitment which was to last until December 1989.
A Royal Naval Armament Depot (RNAD) is an armament depot dedicated to supplying the Royal Navy. They were sister depots of Royal Naval Cordite Factories, Royal Naval Torpedo and Royal Naval Mine Depots. The only current RNAD is RNAD Coulport, which is the UK Strategic Weapon Facility for the Trident Missile System.
A NATO Stock Number, or National Stock Number (NSN) as it is known in the US, is a 13-digit numeric code, identifying all the 'standardized material items of supply' as they have been recognized by all NATO countries including United States Department of Defense. Pursuant to the NATO Standardization Agreements, the NSN has come to be used in all treaty countries. However, many countries that use the NSN program are not members of NATO. A two-digit Material Management Aggregation Code (MMAC) suffix may also be appended, to denote asset end use but it is not considered part of the NSN. In the United Kingdom it is known as a Domestic Management Code (DMC).
The Commercial and Government Entity Code, or CAGE Code, is a unique identifier assigned to suppliers to various government or defense agencies, as well as to government agencies themselves and various organizations. CAGE codes provide a standardized method of identifying a given facility at a specific location.
The McLeod Reorganisation of Army Logistics was a major reorganisation of the British Army in the 1960s, principally affecting the Royal Engineers (RE), Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) and Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC). Its principal outcome was the disbandment of the RASC and the creation of the Royal Corps of Transport (RCT). The Committee was established at the direction of the Army Council in March 1963 and it was led by General Sir Roderick McLeod. The Committee worked quickly and its recommendations, with few exceptions, were officially notified to Parliament on 22 April 1964.
The Federal Stock Number (FSN) was the codification system used by the U.S. federal government from 1955 to 1974.
The Royal New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps (RNZAOC) concerned itself with the provisioning of troops with the means to fight; specifically uniforms, weapons and equipment. Ordnance functions go back hundreds of years; the first Ordnance Officer in the British military appeared in the year 1299. Designated "Keeper of the King's Wardrobe", his duties included the care and accounting of heavy equipment such as battering rams and catapults.
The Defence Stores Department was a department of the New Zealand Defence Department responsible for the purchase, receipt, issue and repair of stores, initially for the Armed Constabulary and then the Permanent and Volunteer Forces of New Zealand from 1862 to 1917.
The Military Store Department (MSD) was a British army supply organisation that supplied the British Imperial Forces in the Colony of New Zealand from 1840 to 1870.
From four Stores Depots in the main centres of New Zealand at the beginning of the 20th century, the Royal New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps (RNZAOC) expanded and shrank to meet the operational needs of the NZ Army, Ordnance units have been deployed worldwide and across the breath and width of New Zealand.
With the adoption of the Singapore strategy in the 1920s as a key cornerstone of Imperial Defence, Singapore and Malaya became the major British bases in the East, not only to defend British possessions in Asia, but also the Dominions of Australia and New Zealand, who also contributed a large portion of the construction costs.
The New Zealand Army Ordnance Department (NZAOD) was the organisation of commissioned officers who were responsible for the supply, maintenance and repair of equipment, small arms and all stores required for the Defence Force from 1917 to 1923.
The New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps (NZAOC) was a Corps whose function was to provide, receive, store, repair, maintain, and issue: ordnance stores, vehicles, ammunition, foodstuffs, and ammunition. Ordnance Organisations had previously existed in the Royal New Zealand Artillery and the New Zealand Defence Stores Department, who for the Territorial Army established a temporary Ordnance Deport organisation and trained staff in Ordnance functions for the 1913 and 1914 Annual camps, so that on the eve of the great war a cadre existed within the Territorial Army to establish an Ordnance Corps to support the NZEF.