page_title: Cultivator No. 6
section_title: Design
hierarchical_section_title: Cultivator No. 6 / Design
caption_attribution_description: English: A view of the Land Excavating Trenching otherwise known as White Rabbit No. 6, Cultivator No. 6 or Nellie. This machine was an underground tank developed in 1939-1940 and designed to travel across no man's land in a trench of its own making. Nellie engine compartment.
context_page_description: Cultivator No. 6 was the code name of a military trench-digging machine developed by the British Royal Navy at the beginning of World War II. The machine was originally known as White Rabbit Number Six; this code name was never officially recognised, but it was said to be derived from Churchill’s metaphorical ability to pull ideas out of a hat. The codename was changed to the less suggestive Cultivator Number Six to conceal its identity. The name was later changed to N.L.E. Tractors. Winston Churchill sometimes referred to the machine as his mole and the prototype machine was dubbed Nellie. It was lightly armoured and carried no weapons. It was designed to advance upon an enemy position largely below ground level in a trench that it was itself excavating. On reaching the enemy's front line, it would serve as a ramp for the troops and possibly tanks following in its trench.
  Cultivator No. 6 was an enormous machine and was planned to be built in substantial numbers. The overall weight was 130 tons and the length was 77 feet 6 inches.
context_section_description: Cultivator was designed to cut a trench 7 feet 6 inches (2.29 m) wide and 5 feet (1.5 m) deep and it would dispose of the spoil on banks either side of the cut trench. It could dig at 0.42 or 0.67 miles per hour (0.68 or 1.08 km/h) or travel at 3.04 miles per hour (4.89 km/h) on the surface.
  When configured in digging order, the overall length of the machine was 77 feet 6 inches (23.62 m). The machine came in two parts that were hinged together. The head of the machine did the excavating and could be raised or lowered for ascent or descent.
  The head of the machine was 30 feet 6 inches (9.30 m) long and 7 feet 3 inches (2.21 m) wide and 8 feet 7 inches (2.62 m) high and weighted about 30 tons. The head had a plough blade for cutting the top part of the trench to a depth of about 2 feet 6 inches (0.76 m), raising the excavated soil and pushing it to the sides of the trench. The lower part of the trench was cut to a depth of 2 feet 6 inches (0.76 m) by a cylindrical cutter superficially resembling the cutting blade of a cylinder lawnmower. Conveyors raised the excavated soil which was added to the plough's deposits at the side of the trench. The overall depth of the trench was 5 feet (1.5 m) and the spoil provided an additional cover of about 2 feet (0.61 m).
  The body of the machine came in two-halves so that it could be divided for transportation, the front portion of the body was 23 feet 4 inches (7.11 m) long, 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) wide and 10 feet 5 inches (3.18 m) high and weighed about 45 tons; the rear portion was 28 feet 4 inches (8.64 m) long, 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) wide and 8 feet 7 inches (2.62 m) high and weighed about 55 tons.
  The body was driven by two 2-foot (0.61 m) wide tracks and on the surface steering was possible by means of dog clutches on the gear-box output shafts. When digging, only small changes in direction were possible by means of hydraulically operated steering doors, one on each side of the machine. There was an arrangement to draw an adjustable amount of spoil back into the trench and under the vehicle's tracks so as to counter any tendency to heel over.
caption: Nellie's engine compartment
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