Ernest W. Moir about armors for the troops
This letter was written by Ernest William Moir (1862-1933), comptroller of Munitions Inventions, on 27 november 1915 from the Ministry of Munitions, Princes Street, Westminster S.W. (UK), to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Letter
- November 27th, 1915.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, LL.D.,
- Windlesham,
- Crowborough,
- Sussex.
- Crowborough,
Dear Sir,
I am in receipt of your letter of the 18th November with reference to armour for the troops in the field. The great difficulty is the weight which would have to be carried. To be bullet-proof a plate of the highest grade would have to be 7 mm. thick and would weigh about 12 lbs. per square foot of area protected. A shield would have to be say 1'-6" x 2'-6", i.e., 3 3/4 square ft., which would mean a weight of say 45 lbs. This in itself would be a very heavy weight for to carry in an advance in addition to equipment. Then to this is to be added the suggested shoulder plate, which would probably weigh another 6 lbs., and the greaves probably 12 lbs. each, say a further 30 lbs.
Altogether, therefore, the proposed extra weight to be carried over extremely rough ground would be somewhere in the neighbourhood of 75 lbs. without the fifty bombs, pistol and clothing.
I would also point out that the helmets now supplied are only intended as a protection against fairly low velocity shrapnel and spent bullets, and are for use particularly in the trenches. Therefore additional weight would have to be added to the helmet to make it bullet-proof.
I should be glad of your views on the subject now that you have the information before you — perhaps you had the idea of not completely bullet-proof armour, but armour of some lighter character? As far as this is concerned the matter of lighter shrapnel proof armour is under constant consideration. The great difficulty in this case that such armour is readily penetrated by bullets, and the wounds so caused are generally of a more dangerous character than is the case where there is no protection.
- Yours faithfully,
- E. W. Moir
- Comptroller of Munitions Inventions.
