General "fighting" specifications for the big tank were laid down by the British general staff at the conference at British headquarters at which American officers were present. It was agreed that this big tank, known as the Mark VIII, should be of Anglo-American design and construction. Arrangements were made for producing 1,500 of this type. To do this, Great Britain and the United States entered into a working agreement that provided for England to furnish the hulls, guns, and ammunition, while the United States was to furnish the power plant and driving details of the monster. Roughly speaking, each tank would cost about $35,000, of which $15,000 represented the American part of the job, on which some 72 contractors were at once engaged. About 50 per cent of the work on these tanks had been completed when the armistice was signed, and the first units were undergoing trials.
It was confidently expected that all of the 1,500 contracted for would have been completed by March, 1919. While these Anglo-American tanks were in the process of construction there were also being built here 1,450 all-American tanks of the large English type, and for this all-American tank 50 per cent of the work had also been done at the signing of the armistice.
In December, 1917, a sample French tank of the Renault type reached this country along with detailed drawings and a French engineer. Much difficulty then ensued in getting American concerns to take on production of this machine, because of the difficult nature of its manufacture. Considerable time, too, was taken up in changing the drawings from the French metric dimensions to the American dimensions, and this involved redesigning many parts.
In the manufacture of the armor built for the Renault type of tank the French made no attempt to adhere to simple shapes, and for this reason practically a new source of supply for this kind of armor had to be developed. Contracts for 4,440 of the Renault type of tanks were finally made. The approximate cost of each one of these machines was $11,500. Manufacturing activities for the various parts had to be divided up among more than a score of plants, so that many plants were turning out parts for these machines, while the assembling was done at only three plants, which also made a portion of the parts.
The three assembly plants were the Van Dorn Iron Works, of Cleveland, Ohio; the Maxwell Motors Co., of Dayton, Ohio; and the C. L. Best Co., also of Dayton.
Finished machines of this type started to come through in October. When the armistice was signed 64 of these 6-ton Renault tanks, each designed to carry two men and a machine gun, were completed, while up to the end of December the number of those finished amounted to 209, with 289 in the process of assembly. There is every reason to believe that had the armistice not been signed, the entire original program would have been completed by April.
During the summer and fall of 1918 our tank program had been augmented by the development of two entirely new types of tanks. One was a two-man tank weighing 3 tons, built by the Ford Motor Co. and costing in the neighborhood of $4,000. This tank, mounting one machine gun, has a speed of about 8 miles an hour. Of this type 15 had been built; and, up to the 1st of January, 1919, 500 were to have been finished, after which they were to have been turned out by the Ford Co. at the rate of 100 a day.
SIX-TON TANK BEING MOUNTED ON A 10-TON TRAILER.
