# Z Battery

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For the Royal Horse Artillery unit of the same name, see [Z Battery Royal Artillery](/source/Z_Battery_Royal_Artillery).

British Anti-aircraft rocket launcher

Gunners of the Royal Artillery load a mobile multiple launcher, June 1941

A **Z Battery** was a short range [anti-aircraft weapon system](/source/Anti-aircraft_warfare), launching 3 in (76 mm) [diameter](/source/Diameter) [rockets](/source/Rocket) from ground-based single and multiple [launchers](/source/Rocket_launcher), for the air defence of Great Britain in the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War). The rocket motors were later adapted with a new warhead for air-to-ground use as the [RP-3](/source/RP-3).

## Development

[Home Guards](/source/Home_Guard_(United_Kingdom)) load a rocket launcher on a static 'Z' Battery on Merseyside, July 1942

The [solid-fuel](/source/Solid-fuel_rocket) 3 in (76 mm) rocket used by the Z Batteries was known as the UP-3 ([Unrotated Projectile](/source/Unrotated_Projectile)) and had been developed in the late 1930s by the Projectile Development Establishment at [Fort Halstead](/source/Fort_Halstead) in [Kent](/source/Kent) under the direction of [Alwyn Crow](/source/Alwyn_Crow). The naval weapon had been enthusiastically backed by [Winston Churchill](/source/Winston_Churchill) when he was [First Lord of the Admiralty](/source/First_Lord_of_the_Admiralty) at the outbreak of war. By June 1940, Churchill was [Prime Minister](/source/Prime_Minister_of_the_United_Kingdom) and he requested "large supplies of [rocket] projectors" for the anti-aircraft defence of the mainland. The development of British rockets was under the control of Professor [Frederick Lindemann](/source/Frederick_Lindemann%2C_1st_Viscount_Cherwell) and he enthusiastically backed Churchill's suggestion.[1]

The naval weapon was intended to bring down low-flying aircraft with a trailing wire, at the end of which was an explosive mine; the land-based system was intended to have a high explosive [warhead](/source/Warhead), detonated by a specially designed [photoelectric](/source/Photoelectric) (PE) [proximity fuse](/source/Proximity_fuse). The rocket was propelled by special solvent-free [cordite](/source/Cordite), which was initially manufactured at [ROF Bishopton](/source/ROF_Bishopton) in Scotland; in December 1940, a new propellant factory was commissioned at [Ranskill](/source/Ranskill), which was in production by the start of 1942.[1] By August 1940, more than 7,000 rocket projectors were available to [Anti-Aircraft Command](/source/Anti-Aircraft_Command) but the output of rockets lagged and by April only 18,600 had been made, of which Anti-Aircraft Command was allocated 8,400, preference being granted to the [Admiralty](/source/Admiralty_(United_Kingdom)); the command was only able to operate 840 launchers with ten rockets apiece.[2]

In October 1940, an experimental Z Battery became operational at [Cardiff](/source/Cardiff) in South Wales under the command of Major [Duncan Sandys](/source/Duncan_Sandys), Churchill's son-in-law.[a] Trials against a radio-controlled [Queen Bee](/source/Queen_Bee_(aircraft)) target aircraft were successful, although the Director of Artillery at the [Ministry of Supply](/source/Ministry_of_Supply) suspected that the results were "fixed". Despite this Churchill and Lindemann drove the project forward and by 1942, 2.4 million rockets were being produced annually.[3]

## Service

Z Battery manned by the Home Guard on Merseyside in July 1942

The first Z Batteries were equipped with a single-rocket launcher, the **Projector, 3-inch, Mark 1**.[4] It was soon found that the rockets did not perform as accurately as the trials had suggested and that the proximity fuses were rarely effective.[5] [Salvo](/source/Salvo)-fire was introduced and projectors capable of firing an ever-larger number of rockets were developed. The **Projector, 3-inch, No 2, Mk 1** was a twin launcher and the **No 4 Mk 1 and Mk 2** fired ripples of 36 rockets.[4]

On Sunday 18 August during the [Battle of Britain](/source/Battle_of_Britain), in a surprise attack on [RAF Kenley](/source/RAF_Kenley) by [Dornier Do 17](/source/Dornier_Do_17) bombers, AC2 David Roberts brought down one of the two attacking aircraft that were destroyed, using the RAF's newest anti-aircraft weapon, a line of twenty-five rockets that deployed a barrage of 500 ft (150 m) cables suspended on parachutes. This weapon, the naval version of the Z Barrage, was an example of the motley of weapons issued to the RAF in the early war years.[6] The other Dornier 17 was shot down by Corporal John Miller of the [Scots Guards](/source/Scots_Guards), using a [Lewis gun](/source/Lewis_gun); both men were awarded the [Military Medal](/source/Military_Medal).[7]

From early 1942, the manning of Z Batteries began to be transferred to the [Home Guard](/source/Home_Guard_(United_Kingdom)), as the equipment was comparatively simple to operate and the rounds were lighter. The age limit for Home Guards to work on Z Batteries was 60, whereas it was 40 for those posted to conventional anti-aircraft guns and coast defence batteries, because of the heavier ammunition.[7]

## Ground attack version

The No 2 and No 4 projectors were used in the [North African Campaign](/source/North_African_Campaign), mounted on converted [QF 3-inch 20 cwt](/source/QF_3-inch_20_cwt) gun trailers.[8] The emergency use of a No 4 projector against an Axis infantry attack in that theatre provided the inspiration for the No 8 Projector, better known as the [Land Mattress](/source/Land_Mattress), a surface-to-surface rocket system, used by the [Canadian Army](/source/Canadian_Army) in 1945.[9] The UP-3 rocket was also developed into the [RP-3](/source/RP-3) air-to-ground anti-tank rocket.[8]

## See also

- [AA Mine Discharger](/source/AA_Mine_Discharger), a Japanese anti-aircraft mortar.

- [Holman Projector](/source/Holman_Projector), a steam-powered anti-aircraft grenade launcher.

- [Henschel Hs 297 / 7.3 cm Föhn-Gerät](/source/Henschel_Hs_297), a German anti-aircraft rocket system.

- [Bethnal Green disaster](/source/Bethnal_Green_tube_station#Wartime_disaster)

## Footnotes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Sandys had been injured in the recent [Norwegian campaign](/source/Norwegian_campaign) while with the 51st (London) HAA Regiment.

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEEdgerton2012108–110_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEEdgerton2012108–110_1-1) [Edgerton 2012](#CITEREFEdgerton2012), pp. 108–110.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTECollier2004278_2-0)** [Collier 2004](#CITEREFCollier2004), p. 278.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEEdgerton201211_4-0)** [Edgerton 2012](#CITEREFEdgerton2012), p. 11.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBishop2002176_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBishop2002176_5-1) [Bishop 2002](#CITEREFBishop2002), p. 176.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEEdgerton201210_6-0)** [Edgerton 2012](#CITEREFEdgerton2012), p. 10.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEOliver20025_7-0)** [Oliver 2002](#CITEREFOliver2002), p. 5.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTELongmate197493_8-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTELongmate197493_8-1) [Longmate 1974](#CITEREFLongmate1974), p. 93.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBishop2002177_9-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBishop2002177_9-1) [Bishop 2002](#CITEREFBishop2002), p. 177.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEEdgerton2012111_10-0)** [Edgerton 2012](#CITEREFEdgerton2012), p. 111.

## Bibliography

- Bishop, Chris (2002). *The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II*. Metrobooks. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-58663-762-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-58663-762-0).

- [Collier, B.](/source/Basil_Collier) (2004) [1957]. [Butler, J. R. M.](/source/James_Ramsay_Montagu_Butler) (ed.). [*The Defence of the United Kingdom*](http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-Defence-UK/index.html). History of the Second World War United Kingdom Military Series (facs. pbk. repr. Naval & Military Press, Uckfield ed.). London: [HMSO](/source/HMSO). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-845-74055-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-845-74055-9). Retrieved 21 October 2016 – via Hyperwar Foundation.

- Dobinson, Colin (2001). *AA Command: Britain's Anti-Aircraft Defences of the Second World War*. London: Methuen. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-413-76540-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-413-76540-7).

- [Edgerton, David](/source/David_Edgerton_(historian)) (2012). *Britain's War Machine: Weapons, Resources, and Experts in the Second World War*. London: Penguin Books. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-14-102610-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-14-102610-7).

- Longmate, Norman (1974). *The Real Dad's Army: The Story of the Home Guard*. Amberley. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-84868-914-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-84868-914-5).

- Oliver, Kingsley (2002). *The RAF Regiment at War*. Barnsley: Pen & Sword. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-85052-852-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-85052-852-6).

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Z Battery](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Z_Battery).

- [A Brief Assessment of the role of Fort Halstead in Britain's early Rocket Programmes and the Atomic Bomb Project](http://services.english-heritage.org.uk/ResearchReportsPdfs/049_2010WEB.pdf) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20141108011350/http://services.english-heritage.org.uk/ResearchReportsPdfs/049_2010WEB.pdf) 2014-11-08 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine)

- [BBC : "Z" Battery, Rocket AA in Hyde Park by Lionel Francis](https://archive.today/20130419210618/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/49/a3486549.shtml)

- [Memories of the Home Guard](https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/11/a4432411.shtml)

- [Underground Kent - Z Rocket](http://www.undergroundkent.co.uk/z_rocket.htm)

v t e British Commonwealth artillery of World War II Tank guns QF 2-pounder QF 3-pounder QF 6-pounder QF 75 mm QF 3-inch howitzer QF 17-pounder 77 mm HV QF 95 mm howitzer QF 32-pounder Anti-tank guns QF 2-pounder QF 6-pounder QF 17-pounder QF 3-inch 16 cwt Field guns and howitzers 75 mm Gun M1917 QF 18-pounder 25-pounder Gun-Howitzer 25-pounder Short QF 4.5-inch howitzer Medium and heavy guns and howitzers BL 4.5-inch medium field gun BL 60-pounder gun BL 5.5-inch medium gun BL 6-inch howitzer BL 6-inch gun Mk XIX 155 mm Long Tom BL 7.2-inch howitzer BL 8-inch howitzer BL 9.2-inch howitzer 240 mm howitzer M1 Mountain guns 75mm Pack howitzer M1 3.7-inch mountain howitzer Mortars SBML 2-inch mortar ML 3-inch mortar ML 4.2-inch mortar Anti-aircraft weapons Z Battery 20 mm Oerlikon 20 mm Polsten QF 1½-pounder Mk III QF 2-pounder naval gun Bofors 40 mm QF 3-inch QF 3.7-inch QF 4.5-inch Mk II QF 5.25-inch Mk II Coast defence QF 6-pounder 10 cwt QF 12-pounder QF 4.7-inch Mk I–IV BL 6-inch Mk VII & Mk XXIV BL 7.5-inch Mk VI BL 8-inch Mk VIII BL 9.2-inch Mk X BL 14-inch Mk VII BL 15-inch Mk I Railway artillery BL 9.2-inch Mk XIII railway gun BL 12-inch Mk V railway howitzer BL 13.5-inch Mk V railway gun BL 18-inch railway howitzer

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Z Battery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_Battery) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_Battery?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.