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King Armored Car

1916 WORLD WAR 1

History of the King's Armored Vehicle

In the summer of 1914, when World War I began, nations scrambled to use a variety of weapons to achieve the ultimate victory. Armored vehicles were a young concept at the time, essentially combining a heavy armored superstructure with an existing vehicle chassis to create a mobile weapons platform. While sound in concept, these creations have often proven problematic in practice, promoting a top-heavy presence that, despite their beefed-up suspension and engine, is unable to traverse even the most basic of rough terrain terrain. However, armoured vehicles are valued for the protection they provide for their occupants, protection against small arms fire and artillery jets - key qualities that warhorses (used heavily during the war) cannot provide.

In addition, the motor vehicle's ability to transport troops and supplies over long distances and provide a fire support vehicle for forward combat is arguably its most important quality on the battlefield. Great Britain, France, Germany and Russia became big proponents of armoured vehicles throughout the war and quickly modified all types of cars in this way.

From 1915 to 1916, the United States Marine Corps (USMC) partnered with Detroit's Armoured Motor Company (AMC) to design and produce armoured vehicle systems based on King brand luxury car chassis. U.S. Marine Corps authorities envisioned a squadron of such wagons to provide machine gun fire to advancing enemy forces, eventually overpowering the enemy and driving them out of the trenches. The hull structure was designed by Captain W.A. Ross, for whom AMC produced the overall concept.

The superstructure cooperates with the chassis of the King's vehicle to form the "King's Armored Vehicle". From the outset, the vehicle will be used on an experimental basis to meet requirements and test concepts in the process.

The Americans had not officially entered the war in 1915, but some U.S. authorities did not abandon their inevitable plans to enter the war.

Two prototype King armored vehicles began testing on roads outside of Philadelphia in 1915 and became the first Armored Fighting Vehicle (AFV) of the U.S. Army. Preliminary evaluations found that the design was underpowered even on ideal roads, and the weight of the body counteracted the manual transmission, resulting in a sluggish vehicle response. The original balloon rubber tires proved unwieldy in overall handling, resulting in the latter pair being replaced by a stiffer twin-tire configuration to offset the extra weight while increasing ground contact.

A slightly modified version with a new turret followed, which was ordered by the US Marine Corps in 1916.

The King's design was traditional at the time, using 6 rubber-tyred spoked "balloon" type wheels (with spares on the sides) in a 4x2 arrangement, a box-shaped armored superstructure and a manually movable turret and a Front engine. The vehicles were piloted by two to three personnel, with one responsible for overall operations (including steering) and the other responsible for the armored turret mounting and manual traversal functions for the provided machine guns. In addition to the primary weapon, the crew also relies on any personal weapon as a carrier, eg.

B. Pistol sidearm. The superstructure provides protection against small arms fire (as evidenced by .45 pistol shots at close range) as well as artillery spray.

The front and sides of the structure are provided with armored viewing windows, and the turret locations are located on the flat roof of the superstructure. External shelves are installed along the sides of the hull to support various equipment.

The round headlamps typical of the era were retained, although mounted behind hinged door-like horizontal armor panels that could be manually closed before combat. The engine grille is also covered in this way by a series of vertical hinged armored doors.

A steel barrier breaker was added to the front of the hull. Construction involved riveting along large armored steel plates, with a range of up to 200 miles and the ability to wade 14 inches deep.

King armored vehicles are designed with portability in mind, as they can be disassembled before transport and reassembled after being moved.

King armored vehicles were delivered at the end of World War I - although no one saw action in the conflict due to General Pershing's opposition to such a US Marine division. If the war continued beyond 1918, the U.S.

Marine Corps planned to ship the cars to France further reducing America's reliance on foreign equipment in the war. However, the few completed examples remained in the United States, forming the "1st Armored Vehicle Squadron" of the US Marine Corps, which served in Philadelphia before being transferred to Quantico. Only eight were built, with five in service with the U.S. Marine Corps and at least two in the U.S. Army.

USMC tokens live longer than their US Army brethren, ready to invade Tampico, Mexico from Galveston, Texas (delivered by USS Hancock) under the 8th Marines flag oil fields, if they need to. Beginning in 1919, five were shipped to the U.S. Marine Corps for active use in operations in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, before their final retirement in May 1921. From then on, the 1st Armoured Car Squadron was officially disbanded and fully retired in 1927.

The remaining examples were sold to private owners or scrapped.

The

King Armoured Car was officially produced in two models - the "Model 1915" in 1915 and the facelift "Model E" in 1917 - albeit with several modifications between the two main designs. Additionally, some proposed changes have been dropped entirely.

Model 1915 had a Benet-Mercier .30 caliber machine gun in the turret and a 70 hp King Motor Cars V8 liquid-cooled gasoline engine. The car has a top speed of 45 mph and is suspended from the front axle via a conventional leaf spring system with steering.

A similar Model E was done with a .30 caliber Lewis machine gun and a modified turret and a 79 hp liquid-cooled V8 petrol engine from King Motor Cars. On ideal surfaces, the top speed on the road is now increased to 65 mph.

Additionally, the Model E was able to physically differ from earlier production brands by using new wheels with new tires and a sloped rear fuselage surface.

The only surviving example of the King's armored vehicle can be seen today at the Virginia Marine Corps National Museum in southwest Washington, DC. This specimen has a "dimple" on its lateral frontal armor (near the left front tire) - a round test of .45 caliber pistol steel.

The example also features a unique four-color camouflage scheme - based on photos taken while the vehicle was being tested in 1916.