He invented the explosive bullet that destroyed the German Zeppelins and he devised and executed the smoke screen used during the Zeebrugge Raid on 23 April 1918, an attempt by the Royal Navy to block the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge during the First World War.

[10][11][12] Brock was a member of the Admiralty Board of Invention and Research and founded, organized and commanded the Royal Navy Experimental Station at Stratford.

[19] On the night of 22/23 April 1918, the Zeebrugge Raid began when an armada of British sailors and marines led by the old cruiser HMS Vindictive, attacked the Mole at Zeebrugge in Belgium, to block the mouth of the canal and negate the serious threat to Allied shipping, that was being posed by the port being used by Imperial German Navy U-boats and light shipping.

[23] Given that the Victoria Cross citation for Lieutenant Commander Harrison makes no mention of a sword fight, there are those who believe that Brock was the British officer killed by Künne.

[26] His wife erected a memorial at Brookwood Cemetery, which commemorates him and her sisters two deceased husbands, all three of whom had served in the Royal Navy as officers.