The V-2 only came into use after the V1-Rocket.  There were several new improvements; first, it had a longer range (190 miles), it did not need a launching ramp, but was fired from a table easily carried on a truck.   It was almost 47 feet tall and had a take-off weight of slightly over 12 tons. The warhead was filled with high explosive amatol, which, by itself, weighed one ton. The rocket itself weighed 3 tons and the fuel (grain alcohol & 25% water and oxygen) weighed 8 tons.

    The warhead on the V2 was located in the nose. After the warhead was the controlling mechanism, followed by the alcohol tank and then the glass wool insulated oxygen tank, with the alcohol pipe leading downward through its center.  Under the oxygen tank was what the British called the "power bay", housing the thrust equipment. The motor and equipment for combining the two liquids were stored there. The liquids were combined using two centrifugal pumps powered by a steam turbine, which received heat from a steam generator (essentially a pressured container into which potassium permanganate and high strength hydrogen peroxide (85 percent hydrogen peroxide and 15 percent water) were sprayed). Reacting to the permanganate, the peroxide decomposed into water and free oxygen, releasing so much heat that not only the water formed by the decomposition but also the water present as an "impurity", were turned into steam.  Before the liquid entered the motor it went through a cooling jacket because the metal could not withstand the head that was produced.

    When the rockets were being used for warfare, there were grouped into "batteries", making a road line.  Each vehicle that took part in the convoy carried one rocket.  One carried alcohol, and another carried oxygen.  The vehicles were called (Meiler-Waggons). There were also several other trucks for the firing crews, and staff cars; so that one battery consisted of about ten vehicles.  When they reached the firing site the launching tables were placed on the ground. These were circular steel rings, about five feet from the ground. Each ring rested horizontally on four adjustable legs. A rocket stood vertically on each table. A steel pyramid between the legs of the table, hollow and filled with water, was used to part the rocket's blast; this was called the blast deflector. The rockets were then placed on the tables and fueled. An ordinary fireworks pin wheel was inserted into the exhaust nozzle as the ignition device.

    With the order "Fire!" the pin wheel was electrically lit. Then the fuel valves were opened so that the fuel could flow from the tanks into the motor. This was called the preliminary stage and served to check the proper burning of the motor. The thrust generated during this stage was about seven tons, not sufficient to lift the 12-ton rocket. When the firing officer saw that the motor burned properly he switched the fuel pump assembly into action. Within three seconds the pumps ran at full speed, forcing the fuels into the rocket at the rate of 275 pounds per second. The thrust jumped from 7 to 27 tons and the rocket, balancing on its fiery exhaust, rose slowly into the air. In the first second, it traveled hardly its own length but accelerated steadily. Four trim tabs in the stabilizing fins and four graphite rudders in the blast itself balanced the rocket to keep it on a vertical course for several miles. Then the guiding mechanism, operating the graphite rudders, slowly tilted the rocket's nose in the direction of the target. After 52 seconds the rocket moved upward at an angle of a little more than 45 degrees, still accelerating. For another 13 or 14 seconds it continued on this tilted path under power, then the motor was shut off. At this instant the rocket was about 20 miles high, about 20 miles from its take-off point, and moving one mile per second. It then traveled like an artillery projectile, on momentum only, to crash into the target area 340 seconds after take-off. Since it moved about 21/2 times as fast as sound, its coming could not be heard; but occasionally people near the impact point saw one.