The tank was developed during World War I to break the bloody stalemate of trench warfare. Sir Ernest Swinton and the 'Landships Committee' (supported by Winston Churchill) designed an armored vehicle that could cross 'no man's land,' crush barbed wire, and traverse trenches using continuous caterpillar tracks. The first prototype was called 'Little Willie.' To maintain secrecy, the machines were shipped in crates labeled as 'Tanks' (intended to hold water for the front), and the name stuck. The tank's debut at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 marked the beginning of mechanized warfare, making horse-mounted cavalry obsolete and forever changing the face of land-based combat.