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An arsenal is a place where
arms and
ammunition are made,
maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether
privately or
publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly regarded as synonyms, although subtle differences in usage exist.
A sub-armory is a place of temporary storage or carrying of weapons and ammunition, such as any temporary post or patrol vehicle that is only operational in certain times of the day.
Etymology
The term in English entered the language in the 16th century as a loanword from french: arsenal, itself deriving from the it, arsenale, which in turn is thought to be a corruption of ar, دار الصناعة, , meaning "manufacturing shop".
Types
A lower-class arsenal, which can furnish the
materiel
Materiel (; ) refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context.
In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the specif ...
and equipment of a small army, may contain a laboratory, gun and carriage factories, small-arms ammunition, small-arms, harness, saddlery tent and powder factories; in addition, it must possess great storehouses. In a second-class arsenal, the factories would be replaced by workshops. The situation of an arsenal should be governed by strategic considerations. If of the first class, it should be situated at the base of operations and supply, secure from attack, not too near a frontier, and placed so as to draw in readily the resources of the country. The importance of a large arsenal is such that its defences would be on the scale of those of a large
fortress.
In the early 21st century, the term "
floating armoury
Floating armouries are vessels used to store military grade weapons. Being in possession of military-grade weapons in most jurisdictions is highly controlled. In the early twenty-first century, piracy in international waters became a serious issue ...
" described a ship storing weapons to be supplied to merchant vessels in international waters subject to
piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
, so that the weapons do not enter territorial waters where they would be illegal.
Operational subdivision
The branches in a great arsenal are usually subdivided into ''storekeeping'', ''construction'' and ''administration'':
* Under ''storekeeping'' the arsenal should have the following departments and stores: Departments of issue and receipt, pattern room, armoury department, ordnance or park, harness, saddlery and accoutrements, camp equipment, tools and instruments, engineer store, timber yard, breaking-up store, and unserviceable store.
* Under ''construction'': Gun factory, carriage factory, laboratory, small arms factory, harness and tent factory, gunpowder factory, etc. In a second-class arsenal there would be workshops instead of factories.
* Under the head of ''administration'' would be classed the chief director of the arsenal, officials military and civil, non-commissioned officers and military artificers, civilian foremen, workmen and laborers, with the clerks and writers necessary for the office work of the establishments.
In the manufacturing branches are required skill, and efficient and economical work, both executive and administrative; in the storekeeping part, good arrangement, great care, thorough knowledge of all warlike stores, both in their active and passive state, and scrupulous exactness in the custody, issue and receipt of stores.
Frederick Taylor introduced
command and control
Command and control (abbr. C2) is a "set of organizational and technical attributes and processes ... hatemploys human, physical, and information resources to solve problems and accomplish missions" to achieve the goals of an organization or en ...
techniques to arsenals, including the U.S.'s
Watertown Arsenal
The Watertown Arsenal was a major American arsenal located on the northern shore of the Charles River in Watertown, Massachusetts. The site is now registered on the ASCE's List of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks and on the US Nationa ...
(a principal center for artillery design and manufacture) and
Frankford Arsenal
The Frankford Arsenal is a former United States Army ammunition plant located adjacent to the Bridesburg neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, north of the original course of Frankford Creek.
History
Opened in 1816 on of land p ...
(a principal center for
small arms ammunition design and manufacture).
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See also
* Armorer
Historically, an armourer is a person who makes personal armour, especially plate armour. In modern terms, an armourer is a member of a military or police force who works in an armoury and maintains and repairs small arms and weapons systems, ...
* Arsenal Academy
The Arsenal Academy was a military academy in Columbia, South Carolina, originally established in 1842 as an independent school by the state of South Carolina. In 1845, the academy became a component of the South Carolina Military Academy (now Th ...
* Arsenal, Mainz
The Old Arsenal (Altes Zeughaus), also referred to as ''Zum Sautanz'', was the central arsenal of the fortress of Mainz during the 17th and 18th century. In his function it was succeeded by the new arsenal. Currently the renaissance building is us ...
* Dresden Armory
The Dresden Armoury or Dresden Armory (German: ''Rüstkammer''), also known as the Dresden Historical Museum (German: ''Historisches Museum Dresden''), is one of the world's largest collections of ceremonial weapons, armour and historical textile ...
* Eddystone Arsenal Eddystone Arsenal was a Baldwin Locomotive Works subsidiary located in Eddystone, Pennsylvania that produced military hardware for the Allies of World War I. As orders from combatants exceeded the production capacity of Baldwin's Philadelphia factor ...
* Frankford Arsenal
The Frankford Arsenal is a former United States Army ammunition plant located adjacent to the Bridesburg neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, north of the original course of Frankford Creek.
History
Opened in 1816 on of land p ...
* Halifax Armoury
* Harpers Ferry Armory
The Harpers Ferry Armory, more formally known as the United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, was the second federal armory created by the United States government. (The first was the Springfield Armory.) It was located in Harpers Ferry ...
* Imperial Arsenal
The Imperial Arsenal ( ota, Tersâne-i Âmire) was the main base and naval shipyard of the Ottoman Empire from the 16th century to the end of the Empire. It was located on the Golden Horn in the Ottoman capital, Constantinople (modern Istanbul).
...
(Ottoman Empire)
* Kremlin Armoury
The Kremlin Armoury,Officially called the "Armou/ory Chamber" but also known as the cannon yard, the "Armou/ory Palace", the "Moscow Armou/ory", the "Armou/ory Museum", and the "Moscow Armou/ory Museum" but different from the Kremlin Arsenal. ( ...
* Magazine (artillery)
Magazine is the name for an item or place within which ammunition or other explosive material is stored. It is taken originally from the Arabic word "makhāzin" (مخازن), meaning 'storehouses', via Italian and Middle French.
The term is als ...
* Naval Group
Naval Group is a major French industrial group specialized in naval defense design, development and construction. Its headquarters are located in Paris.
Heir to the French naval dockyards initiated in 1631 by Cardinal Richelieu and to the Direc ...
(France)
* Picatinny Arsenal
The Picatinny Arsenal ( or ) is an American military research and manufacturing facility located on of land in Jefferson and Rockaway Township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, encompassing Picatinny Lake and Lake Denmark. The Ar ...
* Pine Bluff Arsenal
The Pine Bluff Arsenal is a United States Army installation in Jefferson County, Arkansas, about eight miles northwest of Pine Bluff and thirty miles southeast of Little Rock.
Pine Bluff Arsenal is one of nine Army installations in the United ...
* Rock Island Arsenal
The Rock Island Arsenal comprises , located on Arsenal Island, originally known as Rock Island, on the Mississippi River between the cities of Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois. It lies within the state of Illinois. Rock Island ...
* Royal Arsenal (UK)
* Royal Armouries
The Royal Armouries is the United Kingdom's national collection of arms and armour. Originally an important part of England's military organization, it became the United Kingdom's oldest museum, originally housed in the Tower of London from ...
(UK)
* Spandau Arsenal
* Springfield Armory
The Springfield Armory, more formally known as the United States Armory and Arsenal at Springfield located in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, was the primary center for the manufacture of United States military firearms from 1777 until ...
* Venetian Arsenal
The Venetian Arsenal ( it, Arsenale di Venezia) is a complex of former shipyards and armories clustered together in the city of Venice in northern Italy. Owned by the state, the Arsenal was responsible for the bulk of the Venetian republic's ...
* Watertown Arsenal
The Watertown Arsenal was a major American arsenal located on the northern shore of the Charles River in Watertown, Massachusetts. The site is now registered on the ASCE's List of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks and on the US Nationa ...
* Watervliet Arsenal
The Watervliet Arsenal is an arsenal of the United States Army located in Watervliet, New York, on the west bank of the Hudson River. It is the oldest continuously active arsenal in the United States, and today produces much of the artillery fo ...
* Zeughaus
The Zeughaus (English: Arsenal) is a listed building and the oldest structure on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic centre of Berlin. Erected from 1695 to 1706 according to plans by Johann Arnold Nering, Martin Grünberg, Andreas Sch ...
(Berlin)
References
External links
{{Authority control
Military installations