United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation
UKWMO Emblem-of-Arms
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| Department overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1957 |
| Dissolved | 1992 |
| Jurisdiction | United Kingdom |
| Headquarters |
Cowley Barracks, James Wolfe Road, Cowley, Oxfordshire (Co-located with HQ 3 Group Royal Observer Corps) |
| Annual budget | £4 million per annum (in 1990) including Royal Observer Corps running costs |
| Department executive |
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| Footnotes | |
| Funded by F6 Emergency Planning Division of the Home Office. | |
The United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation (UKWMO) was a British civilian organisation operating to provide UK military and civilian authorities with data on nuclear explosions and forecasts of fallout across the country in the event of nuclear war.
The UKWMO was established in 1957 and funded by the Home Office and utilised its own premises which were mainly staffed by Royal Observer Corps (ROC) uniformed full-time and volunteer personnel as the fieldforce. The ROC was administered by the Ministry of Defence but mainly funded by the Home Office. The only time the combined organisations were on high alert in the Cold War was during Cuban Missile Crisis in October and November 1962. The organisation was wound up and disbanded in November 1992 following a review prompted by the government's Options for Change report.
Its emblem-of-arms was a pair of classic hunting horns crossing each other, pointed upwards, with the enscrolled motto "Sound An Alarm", a title also used for the latter of two contemporary public information films (the earlier one was called "Hole in the Ground"). Members of the UKWMO qualified for the Civil Defence Medal for fifteen years continuous years service, with a bar for each subsequent twelve years.
The United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation had five main functions in the event of nuclear war. These were:
Headquarters UKWMO was located in a converted barracks building at Cowley Barracks in Cowley, Oxfordshire, and was headed by a Director and Deputy Director supported by a small administrative staff. Five professional Sector Controllers and five Assistant Sector Controllers were co-located at the five UKWMO Sector Controls.
At each of the twenty five UKWMO group controls the UKWMO was represented by volunteer and specially trained members. In the event of war the senior UKWMO volunteer present would command the group as Group Controller. Assessing the nuclear burst and fallout information and data provided by the ROC was a team of ten or more Warning Officers led by a Chief Warning Officer.
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