Mark I Tank - Development

Development

The Mark I was a development of Little Willie, the experimental tank built for the Landships Committee by Lieutenant Walter Wilson and William Tritton in the summer of 1915. It was designed by Wilson in response to problems discovered during the development of Little Willie. A gun turret above the hull would have made the centre of gravity too high when climbing a German trench parapet (these were typically four feet high), so the tracks were arranged in a rhomboidal form around the hull and the guns were put in sponsons on the sides of the tank. The reworked design was also able to meet the Army requirement to be able to cross an 8 ft (2.4 m) wide trench.

A mockup of Wilson's idea was shown to the Landships Committee when they viewed the demonstration of Little Willie. At about this time, the Army's General Staff was persuaded to become involved and supplied representatives to the Committee. Through these contacts Army requirements for armour and armament made their way into the design. The prototype Mark I, ready in December 1915, was called "Mother", (previous names having been "The Wilson Machine", "Big Willie", and "His Majesty's Land Ship Centipede"). Mother was successfully demonstrated to the Landships Committee in early 1916; it was run around a course simulating the front including trenches, parapets, craters and barbed wire obstacles. The demonstration was repeated on 2 February before the cabinet ministers and senior members of the Army. Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War, was sceptical but the rest were impressed. Lloyd George, at the time Minister of Munitions, arranged for his Ministry to be responsible for tank production.

The Landships Committee was re-constituted as the "Tank Supply Committee"; under the chair of Albert Stern; Ernest Swinton, who had promoted the idea of the tank from the Army angle was also a member. General Haig sent a staff officer Hugh Elles to act as his liaison to the Supply Committee. Swinton would become the head of the new arm, and Elles the commander of the tanks in France.

The first order for tanks was placed on 12 February 1916. Fosters were to build 25 and Metropolitan Carriage and Wagon 75. One hundred and fifty of the Mark I were built.