O Battery (The Rocket Troop) Royal Horse Artillery
Encyclopedia
O Battery Royal Horse Artillery are the Headquarters Battery of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

's 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery is a regiment of the Royal Horse Artillery in the British Army. It currently serves in the armoured field artillery role, and is equipped with the AS-90 self-propelled gun...

 They are currently based in Assaye Barracks in Tidworth
Tidworth
Tidworth is a town in south-east Wiltshire, England with a growing civilian population. Situated at the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain, it is approximately 10 miles west of Andover, 12 miles south of Marlborough, 24 miles south of Swindon, 15 miles north by north-east of Salisbury and 6 miles east...

.

Current role

Provide support to 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery is a regiment of the Royal Horse Artillery in the British Army. It currently serves in the armoured field artillery role, and is equipped with the AS-90 self-propelled gun...

. Logistics/clerical/Command & control, a Meteorological Troop and a Radar Troop.

Battery structure

The Commanding Officer and the hierarchy of 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery are all administered within O Battery.

History

General Congreve had developed the Congreve rocket
Congreve rocket
The Congreve Rocket was a British military weapon designed and developed by Sir William Congreve in 1804.The rocket was developed by the British Royal Arsenal following the experiences of the Second, Third and Fourth Mysore Wars. The wars fought between the British East India Company and the...

, and in 1813 two troops of Artillery were raised. One of these was disbanded in 1816, but the 2nd Troop absorbed most of the soldiers.
  • 1813 - The Battery fought as the only British Army unit present at the Battle of Leipzig
    Battle of Leipzig
    The Battle of Leipzig or Battle of the Nations, on 16–19 October 1813, was fought by the coalition armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden against the French army of Napoleon. Napoleon's army also contained Polish and Italian troops as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine...

    . They were attached to the bodyguard of Bernadotte, Crown Prince of Sweden
    Charles XIV John of Sweden
    Charles XIV & III John, also Carl John, Swedish and Norwegian: Karl Johan was King of Sweden and King of Norway from 1818 until his death...

    . During the battle Captain Richard Bogue, the troop Commander was killed in action. The troop were awarded the battle honour Leipzig but this ceased, when the Royal Regiment of Artillery were awarded the battle honour Ubique. During the Eve of Battle Dinner (17 October) the Battery toasts "the King" [of Sweden] with akvavit
    Akvavit
    Akvavit or aquavit is a traditional flavoured spirit that is principally produced in Scandinavia, where it has been produced since the 15th century....

     and on the anniversary of the battle the reigning monarch of Sweden sends greetings to the battery.
  • 1815 - The Battery fought with its rockets at the Battle of Waterloo.
  • 1854 - The Battery fought with its rockets at the Battle of Inkermann


During the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...

, Second Afghan War
European influence in Afghanistan
The European influence in Afghanistan refers to political, social, and sometimes imperialistic influence several European nations have had on this historical development of Afghanistan.-Rise of Dost Mohammad Khan:...

, the Boer War
Boer War
The Boer Wars were two wars fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics, the Oranje Vrijstaat and the Republiek van Transvaal ....

 and World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 the troop fought as a normal gun battery.

Cold War

  • 1951 - The Battery served with 2RHA in BAOR.
  • 1958 - The Battery deployed to Malaya
    Federation of Malaya
    The Federation of Malaya is the name given to a federation of 11 states that existed from 31 January 1948 until 16 September 1963. The Federation became independent on 31 August 1957...

    , as an independent Gun Battery.
  • 1961 - The Battery moved to Colchester.
  • 1964 - The Battery was deployed to Cyprus
    Cyprus
    Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

     as part of UNFICYP.

Recent and current conflicts

  • 1972/1973/1975/1977/1987 - The Battery deployed to Northern Ireland under Operation Banner
    Operation Banner
    Operation Banner was the operational name for the British Armed Forces' operation in Northern Ireland from August 1969 to July 2007. It was initially deployed at the request of the Unionist government of Northern Ireland to support the Royal Ulster Constabulary . After the 1998 Belfast Agreement,...

  • 1978 - The Battery moved to Dortmund
    Dortmund
    Dortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....

    .
  • 1980 - The Battery moved to Larkhill
    Larkhill
    Larkhill is a garrison town in the civil parish of Durrington, Wiltshire, England. It is a short distance west of Durrington village proper and north of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge. It is about north of Salisbury....

    , as part of the AMF(L)
  • 1982 - The Battery moved to Münster
    Münster
    Münster is an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also capital of the local government region Münsterland...

  • 1989 - The Battery deployed to Cyprus
    Cyprus
    Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

     as part of UNFICYP
  • 1990 - The Battery deployed to the Persian Gulf on Operation Granby
    Operation Granby
    Operation Granby was the name given to the British military operations during the Gulf War. 53,462 troops were deployed during the conflict. The total cost of operations was £2.434 billion of which at least £2.049 billion was paid for by other nations such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia; £200...



The troop merged with Headquarters Battery in 1993 to form O Headquarters Battery (The Rocket Troop) Royal Horse Artillery.

Balkan Wars

  • 1994 - The Radar Troop deployed to the Former Republic of Yugoslavia
    Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
    The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...

     as part of UNPROFOR
  • 1996 - The Battery deployed with 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery to Bosnia
    Bosnia and Herzegovina
    Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

    .
  • 1998 - Once again, the Battery deployed with 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery to Bosnia.
  • 2000 - The Battery deployed with 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery to the Balkans
    Balkans
    The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...

    , as the Pan Balkans Regiment.
  • 2002 - The Battery deployed to the Balkans for a final time.

Operation TELIC in Iraq

  • 2004 - The Battery deployed on Op Telic 4
  • 2007 - The Battery deployed on Op Telic 10

See also

  • British Army
    British Army
    The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

  • Royal Artillery
    Royal Artillery
    The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...

  • Royal Horse Artillery
    Royal Horse Artillery
    The regiments of the Royal Horse Artillery , dating from 1793, are part of the Royal Regiment of Artillery of the British Army...

  • List of Royal Artillery Batteries
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