World War II


World War 2

   By the end of 1940, due to the orders form the Admiralty, turnover was double that of 1937. Over 1,000 men from the works had enlisted for the Home Guard, air raid wardens, firewatchers aircraft spotters and first aid workers. Their periods of duty were carried out in their spare time after a hard day’s work, often after long periods of overtime.

   In 1941 the Ministry of Agriculture placed an order for Model M tractors to be spread over a two year period and in 1942 Marshalls received a congratulatory telegram from Whitehall upon the completion of the 4” twin gun mountings contract. New orders were received for from the Admiralty for 4” single gun mountings.

   Following on from a prototype that had been built by Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness, the Admiralty placed an order with Marshalls for two midget submarines, known as X Craft in 1943. These were built in Marshalls in No. 1 Yard, (numbers X24 & X25) of which X24 survived the war and is on display at Gosport Museum.    Marshalls produced several hundred portable steam engines, many finding their way to the Forestry Commission who performed work of great importance by minimising timber imports. Both steam and diesel road roller production was also continued, as they were in great demand for airfield and airstrip construction preparatory to the invasion of Europe.

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