Rolls-Royce Armoured Car
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The Rolls-Royce armoured car is a British armoured car developed in 1914 and used during the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
,
Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War (; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United Kingdom but within the British Emp ...
, the inter-war period in Imperial Air Control in Transjordan, Palestine and Mesopotamia, and in the early stages of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
in the Middle East and North Africa.


Production history

The
Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty (United Kingdom), Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British ...
(RNAS) raised the first British armoured car squadron during the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.Willmott, H. P. (2003), ''First World War'',
Dorling Kindersley Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media cong ...
, p. 59
In September 1914 all available
Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
'' Silver Ghost'' chassis were requisitioned to form the basis for the new armoured car. The following month a special committee of the Admiralty Air Department, among whom was Flight Commander T. G. Hetherington, designed the superstructure which consisted of armoured bodywork and a single fully rotating
turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...
mounting a regular water-cooled .303 in () Mk I
Vickers machine gun The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a Water cooling, water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more me ...
. The first three vehicles were delivered on 3 December 1914, although by then the mobile period on the Western Front, where the primitive predecessors of the Rolls-Royce cars had served, had already come to an end. Later in the war they served on several fronts of the Middle Eastern theatre.Rolls S.C. (1937). ''Steel Chariots in the Desert''. Leonaur Books. Chassis production was suspended in 1917 to enable Rolls-Royce to concentrate on
aero engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Aircraft using power components are referred to as powered flight. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbin ...
s. The vehicle was modernized in 1920 and in 1924, resulting in the Rolls-Royce 1920 Pattern and Rolls-Royce 1924 Pattern. In 1940, 34 vehicles which served in
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
with the 11th Hussars regiment had the "old" turret replaced with an open-topped unit carrying a .55 () Boys anti-tank rifle, .303 in () Bren light machine gun, and smoke-grenade launchers. Twenty Rolls-Royce armoured cars in service with No. 2 Armoured Car Company RAF in Egypt and Iraq received new chassis from a Fordson truck and became known as Fordson armoured cars. Photographs show them as equipped with what appear to be turrets fitted with a Boys anti-tank rifle, a machine gun and twin light machine guns for anti-aircraft defence. In addition to RNAS and Tank Corps-supplied armoured cars, the RAF had Rolls-Royces built to equip its armoured car companies. This was done independently of the War Office. They were designated Car, Armoured, Rolls-Royce Type A. Shaped like the 1914 RNAS car, they were fitted with the 1920 turret.


Combat history

Six RNAS Rolls-Royce squadrons were formed of 12 vehicles each: one went to France; one to Africa to fight in the German colonies and in April 1915 two went to
Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...
. From August 1915 onwards these were all disbanded and the
materiel Materiel or matériel (; ) is supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commerce, commercial supply chain management, supply chain context. Military In a military context, ...
handed over to the Army which used them in the Light Armoured Motor Batteries of the Machine Gun Corps. The armoured cars were poorly suited to the muddy
trench A trench is a type of digging, excavation or depression in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a swale (landform), swale or a bar ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or trapping ...
filled battlefields of the Western Front, but were able to operate in the
Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...
, so the squadron from France went to Egypt. Lawrence of Arabia used a squadron in his operations against the Turkish forces. He called the unit of nine armoured Rolls-Royces "more valuable than rubies" in helping win his ''Revolt in the Desert''. This impression would last with him the rest of his life; when asked by a journalist what he thought would be the thing he would most value he said "I should like my own Rolls-Royce car with enough tyres and petrol to last me all my life". In the
Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War (; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United Kingdom but within the British Emp ...
(1922–1923), 13 Rolls-Royce armoured cars were given to the
Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...
government by the British government to fight the
Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...
. They were a major advantage to the Free State in street fighting and in protecting convoys against guerrilla attacks and played a vital role in the retaking of Cork and
Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...
. Despite continued maintenance problems and poor reaction to Irish weather, they continued in service until 1944, being withdrawn once new tyres became unobtainable. Twelve of the
Irish Army The Irish Army () is the land component of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Defence Forces of Republic of Ireland, Ireland.The Defence Forces are made up of the Permanent Defence Forces – the standing branches – and the Reserve Defence Forces. ...
examples were stripped and sold in 1954. At the outbreak of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, 76 vehicles were in service. They were used in operations in the Western Desert, in
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
, and in
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
. By the end of 1941, they were withdrawn from frontline service as modern designs became available. Some Indian Pattern cars saw use in the
Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...
and
Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...
.


Variants

* 1920 Pattern Mk I – thicker radiator armour and new wheels. * 1920 Pattern Mk IA – commander's cupola. * 1924 Pattern Mk I – turret with commander's cupola. * 1921 Indian Pattern – based on the 1920 Pattern. Had extended hull armour to provide extra space and a domed turret with four ball mounts for machine guns. * Fordson – based on a 1914 Pattern. Some vehicles in Egypt received new chassis from Fordson trucks. A single experimental vehicle had the turret removed and replaced by a one-pounder automatic anti-aircraft gun on an open mounting. Some cars had
Maxim machine gun The Maxim gun is a Recoil operation, recoil-operated machine gun invented in 1884 by Hiram Maxim, Hiram Stevens Maxim. It was the first automatic firearm, fully automatic machine gun in the world. The Maxim gun has been called "the weapon most ...
s instead of the Vickers gun.


Survivors

* ARR-2, ''Sliabh na mBan'', 1920 Pattern Rolls-Royce was retained by the
Irish Army The Irish Army () is the land component of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Defence Forces of Republic of Ireland, Ireland.The Defence Forces are made up of the Permanent Defence Forces – the standing branches – and the Reserve Defence Forces. ...
and is generally accepted to be the car that was accompanying the Commander-in-Chief of the National Army, General Michael Collins, on the day he was killed. It is the world's oldest serving armoured vehicleCombat Camera, Issue 8, May 2014, Page 14 & 15 and one of only two original Rolls-Royce armoured cars still running today. It is regularly aired during parades and open days, often being driven under its own power. It has recently undergone a complete refurbishment, which involved a complete strip down and rebuild. It is maintained by the
Irish Defence Forces The Defence Forces (, officially styled ) derives its origins from the Irish Volunteers. Whilst the Irish for ''Defence Forces'' is , as Ó Cearúil (1999) points out, the Defence Forces are officially styled . is used in other contexts (e.g. ...
Cavalry Corps in the Curragh Camp. * A Rolls-Royce 1920 Pattern Mark I is on display at
The Tank Museum The Tank Museum (previously the Bovington Tank Museum) is a collection of armoured fighting vehicles at Bovington Camp in Dorset, South West England. It is about north of the village of Wool and west of the major port of Poole. The collectio ...
in Bovington,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. The vehicle is displayed in the museum's inter-war years gallery. David Wiley, curator of the museum, called it "one of the best exhibits we have" * One of the 12 sold (ARR-1 ''Danny Boy/Tom Keogh'') survives with a collector in England. This vehicle carries replica bodywork. * A 1920 pattern Rolls-Royce armoured car is displayed in sand colour at the
RAF Regiment The Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regiment) is part of the Royal Air Force and functions as a specialist corps. Founded by Royal Warrant in 1942, the Corps carries-out security tasks relating to the protection of assets and personnel dedicated ...
Heritage Centre at RAF Honington. It had previously been on display at the RAF Museum at
Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...
. The armour is a facsimile of the original, built on an original Rolls-Royce chassis in the 1960s. * A Rolls-Royce armoured car replica is on display at Eaton Hall,
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
, home of the
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, and can be viewed at charity open days of the Hall. * A Rolls-Royce 1921 Indian Pattern is on display at Cavalry Tank Museum at
Ahmednagar Ahmednagar, officially Ahilyanagar, is a city in, and the headquarters of, the Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India. Ahmednagar has several dozen buildings and sites from the Nizam Shahi period. Ahmednagar Fort, once considered almost impre ...
, India. * Haynes Motor Museum has a 1914 pattern Rolls-Royce with replica bodywork, restored to resemble the Desert Rolls that accompanied Lawrence of Arabia.


See also

* Number 1 Armoured Car Company RAF * Number 2 Armoured Car Company RAF *
RAF Regiment The Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regiment) is part of the Royal Air Force and functions as a specialist corps. Founded by Royal Warrant in 1942, the Corps carries-out security tasks relating to the protection of assets and personnel dedicated ...


References

* I. Moschanskiy - ''Armored vehicles of the Great Britain 1939–1945 part 2'', Modelist-Konstruktor, Bronekollektsiya 1999-02 (И. Мощанский - ''Бронетанковая техника Великобритании 1939–1945 часть 2'', Моделист-Конструктор, Бронеколлекция 1999-02). *


External links


Armoured Cars in Action by Peter Lewis, ''Rolls-Royce Owner'', Issue No.1, October 1963



Tankmuseum.co.uk



Tank encyclopedia
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 World War I armoured cars World War I armoured fighting vehicles of the United Kingdom Armoured Car World War II armoured fighting vehicles of the United Kingdom World War II armoured cars Armoured cars of the United Kingdom