A first-class arsenal, which can renew the _materiel_ and equipment of a
large army, embraces a gun factory, carriage factory, laboratory and
small-arms ammunition factory, small-arms factory, harness, saddlery and
tent factories, and a powder factory; in addition it must possess great
store-houses. In a second-class arsenal the factories would be replaced
by workshops. The situation of an arsenal should be governed by
strategical 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. The usual
subdivision of branches in a great arsenal is into A, Storekeeping; B,
Construction; C, Administration. Under A we 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,
magazines, raw material store, timber yard, breaking-up store,
unserviceable store. Under B--Gun factory, carriage factory, laboratory,
small-arms factory, harness and tent factory, powder factory, &c. In a
second-class arsenal there would be workshops instead of these
factories. C--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 labourers, 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. For fuller details the reader is referred to papers
by Sir E. Collen, R.A., in vol. viii., and Lieut. C.E. Grover, R.E., in
vol. vi. _Proceedings of R. Artillery Institution_. In England the Royal
Arsenal, Woolwich, manufactures and stores the requirements of the army
and navy (see WOOLWICH).
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