Bureau of Ordnance

The Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) was a United States Navy organization, which was responsible for the procurement, storage, and deployment of all naval weapons, between the years 1862 and 1959.

The Bureau of Ordnance was established as part of the Department of the Navy by an act of Congress, on July 5, 1862 (12 Stat.

BuAer's work on "pilotless aircraft," or drones, conflicted with BuOrd's development of guided missiles.

[1] It was heavily criticized during the Second World War for its failure to quickly remedy the numerous issues with the Mark 14 torpedo which had an over 70% dud rate.

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Archives and Records Administration.