Ordnance Corps (United States Army)

Colonial Period to War of Independence

In the British colonies in America, each colony was responsible for its own supply of ordnance materiel. The first written record of an ordnance officer in British colonial America was Samuel Sharpe in the Massachusetts Bay Colony appointed in 1629 as Master Gunner of Ordnance. By 1645, the Massachusetts Colony had a permanent Surveyor of Ordnance. He was responsible for the supply and maintenance of weapons and munitions.

Prior to forming the Continental Army on 14 June 1775, the Second Continental Congress appointed a committee on 27 May to study methods of arms and ammunition procurement and storage and to appoint a Commissary General. On 19 July 1775, Ezekiel Cheever was appointed by General George Washington as Commissary of Artillery Stores, soon to be called Commissary of Military Stores with Major General Henry Knox, the Chief of Artillery. During the course of the American Revolution, each major group of American forces in the field had a Commissary of Military Stores to support the soldiers.

In 1776 the Board of War and Ordnance was created for issuing supplies to troops in the field, and in 1777 a powder magazine was established at Carlisle, Pennsylvania and a foundry at Springfield, Massachusetts. In January 1777, General George Washington appointed Benjamin Flower as the head of the Commissary General of Military Stores. Benjamin Flower was given the rank of Colonel and served in that capacity throughout the American Revolution. The Commissary General of Military Stores was an echelon above the Commissary of Military Stores in the field.

In 1794, the Springfield Armory would become the first national armory, producing arms and ammunition until its closing in 1968. Harper's Ferry armory began production in 1798.

Continental Expansion and Civil War

Part of the War Department since 1789, Congress created the separate Ordnance Department, supervised by the Secretary of War, on 14 May 1812, as part of the War of 1812 preparations with responsibility for arms and ammunition production, acquisition, distribution and storage. The act also created a new position, the Commissary General of Ordnance. On 5 February 1815 Colonel Decius Wadsworth, the former Commissary General of Purchases was chosen as the Commissary General of Ordnance. The act also directed the new Commissary General of Ordnance to "enlist artisans and laborers to direct the inspection and proof of all cannon and small arms to direct the construction of gun carriages equipments implements and ammunition to make estimates and contracts for and purchases of ordnance supplies and stores and to issue them to the army to exact from armories and arsenals quarterly returns of property and to receive from all responsible officers reports of damages to ordnance materiel to establish ordnance depots to prepare regulations for the government of the Ordnance Department and forms of returns and reports".

In order to improve and reform the military's organization following the end of the War of 1812 the Army Reorganization Act of 3 March 1815 was passed, that among many other important changes modified the responsibilities of the Ordnance Department "to include the procurement of arms and ammunition, supervision of the Army's arsenals and armories, and recruitment and training of artificers" with the responsibility to arm and equip the militia from the permanent appropriation of $200,000 per annum provided by the law of 23 April 1808.

In 1821, all officers assigned to the Ordnance Department were re-commissioned into the artillery branch. The Ordnance Department would continue to function with officers from artillery. In 1832 an act of Congress would re-establish the Ordnance Department.

On 3 August 1861, an Act of Congress added to the Ordnance Department the actual title of Chief of Ordnance "with the rank pay and emoluments of the Quartermaster General(132)". On 1 January 1861, Brigadier General James Wolfe Ripley was promoted over the current Commissary General of Ordnance Colonel Henry K. Craig to become the first formally recognized Chief of Ordnance.

During the American Civil War, the Ordnance Department procured and provided massive amounts of weapons and supplies, and with the establishment of Sandy Hook Proving Ground, New Jersey, in 1874 the Army acquired its first full-scale testing facility. The Spanish–American War was the first conflict in which the department deployed materiel overseas and provided close combat support.

World War I

At the start of World War I, the Ordnance Department was "charged with supplying the Army with arms, equipment, and ammunition … establishing and maintaining arsenals and depots for the manufacture, repair, and safe-keeping of ordnance, and provide horse equipments and field outfits for Soldiers, such as canteens, tin cups, knives, forks, and spoons".

During World War I, the Ordnance Department mobilized the United States industrial base, jointly developed weapons with European allies, and established overseas supply depots and Ordnance training facilities. In 1919, testing was moved from Sandy Hook Proving Ground to the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.

World War II

By 1940 all Ordnance training, officer and enlisted was moved from Raritan Arsenal, New Jersey to the Aberdeen Proving Ground, forming the Ordnance School.

World War II expanded the Ordnance Department's responsibilities to include production, acquisition, distribution, and training missions for the Army Ground Forces, the Army Air Force, and, in some categories the Navy. In August 1942, the Ordnance Department assumed responsibility for procurement and maintenance of all wheeled and motored vehicles.

Typically, the Ordnance Department was responsible for getting weapons and ammunition to the combat troops at the divisional level. Materiel was delivered in theater to depots, which mainly supplied other supply installations, and Ammunition Supply Points (ASPs), which primarily distributed ammunition to combat troops. Although the precise organization structure was always adjusted to field conditions, there were usually two ASPs per division. World War II Army divisions usually had one Ordnance Company. As the ammunition supplies were distributed down the organizational hierarchy, their transportation and allocation increasingly became the responsibility of the combat units themselves.

Beginning in 1942, with the authorization of the Chief of Ordnance, a computing branch at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering was established as a substation of Aberdeen Proving Ground under the code name “Project PX”. On 15 February 1946, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), the world’s general-purpose electronic computer, was formally dedicated. ENIAC was designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army Ballistic Research Laboratory. The ENIAC's first use was in calculations for the hydrogen bomb.

In August 1945, Colonel Holger Toftoy, head of the Rocket Branch of the Research and Development Division of the US Army’s Ordnance Department, offered initial one-year contracts to German rocket scientists as part of Operation Paperclip, a program used to recruit the scientists from Nazi Germany for employment by the United States; 127 of them accepted. In September 1945, the first group of seven rocket scientists arrived at Fort Strong, New York and then moving to Fort Bliss, Texas in January 1946.

In 1949, the German scientists were transferred from the White Sands Missile Range Fort Bliss Range Complex to the Redstone Arsenal Ordnance Rocket Center.

Korea, Vietnam, and the Cold War Era

The Ordnance Department was renamed the Ordnance Corps in the Army Organization Act, 28 June 1950. In both Korea and Vietnam, the Ordnance Corps provided materiel supply and maintenance, characteristic of its tradition of "service to the line, on the line, on time," and was active in the development of rockets, guided missiles and satellites.

In 1962 the Ordnance Corps was renamed the Ordnance Branch and was placed under the Logistics Branch of the Army Materiel Command. It was separated from Logistics and renamed the Ordnance Corps in 1985.

War on Terrorism

Under the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) authorization, announced in 2005, the U.S. Army Ordnance Center and School was directed to relocate from Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland to Fort Lee, Virginia.

Branch insignia

The Ordnance Corps branch insignia is represented by the "shell and flame". Its use by the Ordnance Corps dates back to 1832; it is considered to be the oldest branch insignia of the Army. Similar insignia had been used by the British Army. After its adoption by the U.S. Army, the design was used by the Artillery as well as the Ordnance until 1834 when the crossed cannon were adopted by the Artillery. In 1835, the shell and flame was used on a button for members of the Ordnance Corps and the design had been used in various items worn on the uniform since it was first adopted. The simplicity of the shell and flame harmonizes with the armament of days gone by, while the action it connotes is applicable with equal force to the weapons of today.

Branch plaque

The plaque design has the branch insignia, letters, and rim in gold. The background is crimson.

Regimental insignia

The regimental insignia for the Ordnance Corps was approved on 25 March 1986. It is gold color metal and enamel device 1 1/8 inches in height overall consisting of two gray antique cannons in saltire on a white disc behind an encircling scroll in the form of a buckle red belt with, between the intersecting cannons and the belt, a black antique bomb, its scarlet flames issuing at the top of the device from behind the belt, which bears the inscription "ORDNANCE CORPS U.S.A." in gold letters.

The crossed cannons are representative of the Ordnance Corps's early relationship to the Artillery. The flaming bomb, also known as the shell and flame, represents the armament of days gone by, while the energy it connotes is applicable to the weapons of our own day. The cannoneer's belt, which encircles the flaming bomb and crossed cannons, is embossed with the words "ORDNANCE CORPS U.S.A." and represents the traditional association between munitions and armament. The white background symbolizes the Ordnance Corps' motto, "ARMAMENT FOR PEACE".

Ordnance Soldier's Creed

As an Ordnance Soldier of the United States Army, I will utilize every available talent and means to ensure that superior mobility, firepower, and communications are advantages enjoyed by the United States Army over its enemies. As an Ordnance Soldier, I fully understand my duty to perform under adverse conditions and I will continually strive to perfect my craft. I will remain flexible so that I can meet any emergency. In my conduct, I will abide by the Soldier's code. In my support mission in the field, I will use every available skill to maintain superiority; I will always be tactically and technically proficient As an Ordnance soldier, I have no greater task.

Army Ordnance Song

The words and music to Arms for the Love of America were originally composed by Irving Berlin and published by the Army Ordnance Association in 1941. It was dedicated to Major General C.M. Wesson, the Chief of Ordnance from 1938 to 1942.

The Ordnance Order of Samuel Sharpe

On 26 February 1628 the Court of Assistants in London, England directed that "five pieces of ordnance and a great quantity of other arms and great shot" belonging to a settlement near modern-day Salem, Massachusetts be placed under the control of Mr. Samuel Sharpe, making him the first European "Master Gunner of our Ordnance" on the American continent.

Chiefs of Ordnance

In 1962 the Office of the Chief of Ordnance was abolished and all ordnance-related administrative functions were performed by other Army agencies. The position was re-established in 1983, as a proponent agency for all ordnance related occupational specialties and career management fields. The Ordnance Corps would join the regimental system of the U.S. Army in 1986, with the Chief of Ordnance as the head of the Corps.

Commissaries General, Commissaries General of Ordnance, and Chiefs of Ordnance listed below:

Commissioned Officer Areas of Concentration (AOC)

Warrant Officer Military Occupational Specialties

Schools and museums

During World War I the Ordnance Department established schools at a variety of locations including universities, civilian factories, armories, arsenals, and field depots. Much of the training was consolidated at the Ordnance Training Camp at Camp Hancock, Georgia. In 1940 the United States Army Ordnance School was established at Aberdeen Proving Ground. In 2008 the school was moved to Fort Lee Virginia.

The United States Army Ordnance Munitions and Electronic Maintenance School' (OMEMS) was operated at Redstone Arsenal from 1952 until it merged into the United States Army Ordnance School in 2011. Its mission was to train military and civilians to safely disarm and dismantle explosives and repair and maintain electronics, missile and ammunition systems.

The United States Army Ordnance Museum was formed at Aberdeen Proving Ground in 1919. In 2010 the museum was closed and reformed at Fort Lee as the U.S. Army Ordnance Training and Heritage Center.