The historical reform began with Jellicoe's efforts in 1905-1907 and 1910, then accelerated after Dreyer became Director of Naval Ordnance in March 1917. Trial orders followed by May, new filling practices and harder penetration standards were in place by September, and mass production began in December. Large-scale fleet issue followed in April 1918, giving a practical reform interval of about fourteen months. Dreyer applied the same pragmatic technical management associated with his fire-control work, turning a committee's diagnosis into specifications, factory changes, trials, and fleet ammunition.
Chapter · 24:19-28:44
Dreyer's rapid wartime shell-reform programme
Frederick Dreyer's 1917 programme shows how revised trials, shell construction, fillings, and fuzes could move from diagnosis to fleet issue in roughly fourteen months.