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'{{Infobox government agency |type = Department |agency_name = Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development |motto = |logo = {{flagicon|UK|naval|size=125px}} |logo_width = |logo_caption = |seal = |seal_width = |seal_caption = |preceding1 = |jurisdiction = [[Government of the United Kingdom]] |headquarters = Admiralty Building<br />[[Whitehall]]<br />[[London]] |formed = 1941 |dissolved = 1945 |superseding = |employees = |budget = |chief1_name = |chief1_position = |chief2_name = |chief2_position = |parent_agency = [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] |child1_agency = |website = }} The '''Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development''' <ref>{{cite web|last1=Archives|first1=The National|title=Admiralty Miscellaneous Weapons Development Department : anti-submarine multi spigot projector|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3673606|website=discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk|publisher=National Archives, 1941-1945, ADM 116/5256|access-date=2 March 2017}}</ref> (DMWD), also known as the '''Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapon Development''' and colloquially known as the ''Wheezers and Dodgers'',<ref>{{cite web|last1=Robinson|first1=Sarah|title=Vivid memories of daring Dam Buster raid told by last surviving member 'Johnny' Johnson|url=http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/home/vivid_memories_of_daring_dam_buster_raid_told_by_last_surviving_member_johnny_johnson_1_4752395|website=Weston Mercury|date=31 October 2016|publisher=Weston Mercury, 31 October 2016|access-date=2 March 2017|language=en}}</ref> was a department of the [[British Admiralty]] responsible for the development of various unconventional weapons during [[World War II]]. ==History== The Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapon Development was a temporary wartime body which developed in 1941 from the '''Inspectorate of Anti-Aircraft Weapons and Devices''', set up in 1940 (an office of Admiral [[James Somerville]]) <ref>{{cite web|last1=Richardson|first1=F. D.|title=Sir Charles Goodeve|url=http://www.chem.ucl.ac.uk/resources/history/people/goodeve_cf/cfg_bio.html|website=chem.ucl.ac.uk|publisher=University College London, reproduced from the Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society Volume 27, November 1981|access-date=2 March 2017}}</ref> which was corrupted to "Instigator of Anti-Aircraft Wheezes and Dodges" to advance [[radar]] and other devices for anti-aircraft and other purposes. [[Charles Goodeve]] was responsible for its expansion from an Inspectorate and widening of its role.<ref name="auto1">{{OGL-attribution}}{{cite web|last1=Archives|first1=The National|title=Admiralty: Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapon Development: Reports and Papers|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1985|website=discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk|publisher=National Archives, 1940-1946, ADM 227|access-date=2 March 2017}}</ref> "Its research and experiments were carried out by officers based in universities, in research establishments, and in the directorate's own experimental establishment, {{HMS|Birnbeck}} at [[Weston-super-Mare]], and [[The Frythe]] at [[Welwyn]], which it took over from the [[Station IX|Inter-Service Research Bureau]] in 1945. It undertook anti-aircraft research, providing devices such as vertical rocket mountings; anti-submarine research, producing radar deflectors and decoys among other things; and amphibious assaults research, producing nets for landing craft etc. It also investigated camouflage for vessels."<ref name="auto1"/> "In 1944 some of its staff were detached to set up a Directorate of Admiralty Research and Development in India, which undertook liaison between the East Indies Fleet and technical Admiralty departments, and provided some scientific and technical advice. After the war the directorate amalgamated with Coastal Forces Material and Combined Operations Material Departments to form the Craft and Amphibious Material Directorate. Responsibility for the Admiralty Experimental Station, Welwyn, was transferred to the Director of Aeronautical and Engineering Research in 1946."<ref name="auto1"/> Among the staff were [[Lieutenant-Commander]] N. S. Norway, [[Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve|RNVR]] (better known by his [[pen name]], [[Nevil Shute]]); Lt-Cdr [[Edward Terrell]] RNVR, who developed [[plastic armour]] for ships and tanks and who left in late 1941 to join the First Sea Lord's staff; renowned motor racing photographer [[Louis Klemantaski]]; and [[Barnes Wallis]], inventor of the [[bouncing bomb|Upkeep]] dam-busting bomb. ==Directors of Miscellaneous Weapons Development== Included: * Captain G.O.C. Davies (known as Jock Davies), 1941-1943 who came from the [[Ministry of Supply]].<ref>Terrell ''Admiralty Brief'' p107</ref> * Captain F.W.H. Jeans, CVO, ADC, 1943-1945 who came from the Admiralty in Washington. (1)(5). ==Projects== 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, notable among which were the [[Panjandrum]] rocket-propelled beach defence demolition weapon and [[Hajile]], a rocket-powered alternative to parachutes for dropping [[materiel]]. A scheme to camouflage bodies of water, used as navigation markers by bombers, was undertaken by a group named the "[[Kentucky Minstrels]]". It involved spreading [[coal dust]] from a ship, ironically named HMS ''[[Persil]]''. The scheme failed due to the actions of the wind and tides, but did produce some confusion when the coal-covered waters were mistaken for tarmac in the blackout. The most successful and significant developments of the department included the [[Hedgehog (weapon)|Hedgehog]] anti-submarine weapon and [[Squid (weapon)|Squid]] anti-submarine mortar, as well as the [[Holman Projector]], the development of an Army anti-aircraft rocket battery designed to be mountable on naval vessels, and the system of [[degaussing]] used to protect ships against [[magnetic mine]]s. Above all, it played an important role in developing parts of the [[Mulberry harbour]] used in the [[D-Day]] landings. Hedgehog was developed after the [[Stewart Blacker|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 [[Birnbeck Pier|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 net]]s, the [[anti-submarine missile]] AMUCK, and the expendable acoustic emitter designed to confuse noise-seeking torpedoes. ==References== {{Reflist}} ==References== *''This article contains some copied text from a compatible Open Government Licence for: Admiralty: Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapon Development: Reports and Papers, The National Archives, 1940-1946, ADM 277, http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1985. '' *{{cite book | last = Terrell | first = Edward | title = Admiralty brief: the story of inventions that contributed to victory in the Battle of the Atlantic | publisher = Harrap | year = 1958 }} *Admiralty Miscellaneous Weapons Development Department: anti-submarine multi spigot projector, discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk,National Ar chives, 1941-1945, ADM 116/5256. ==External links== *[https://archive.org/details/secretwar193945007234mbp The Secret War 1939-1945, Pawle, Harrap, London, 1956] *[http://www.goodeveca.net/CFGoodeve/cfg_bio.html Biography of Sir Charles Goodeve] *[http://www.nevilshute.org/nsn_dmwd.pdf Nevil Shute and the DMWD] presented at the Nevil Shute Reunion meeting York, May 15–16, 2004 * [http://www.victorianforts.co.uk/pdf/datasheets/breandown.pdf Victorian Forts data sheet on Brean Down Fort] {{Admiralty Department|state=collapsed}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development}} [[Category:Admiralty departments]] [[Category:World War II naval weapons]] [[Category:Weapon development]] [[Category:1941 establishments in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:1945 disestablishments in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Science and technology in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II]] [[Category:Government agencies established in 1941]] [[Category:Government agencies disestablished in 1945]]'