Royal Ordnance Factory

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Royal Ordnance Factories (ROFs) was the collective name of the UK government's munitions factories in and after World War II. Until privatisation in 1987 they were the responsibility of the Ministry of Supply and later the Ministry of Defence.

The ROFs were built in the Re-armament period just before the start of the 1939-45 World War to enhance the capacity of the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, the Royal Gunpowder Factory (RGPF) Waltham Abbey, Essex and the Royal Small Arms Factory, (RSAF) Enfield. These were sited in or near to London and were considered to be vulnerable to aerial bombing from continental Europe.

The Royal Arsenal designed many of the ROFs and was also the agent for the construction of all of the Rifles ROFs, the Medium Machine ROF and the Small Arms Ammunition ROFs. The Ministry of Supply, the Ministry of Works and two other private companies were agents for the construction of the remaining ROFs (Kohan, 1952).

Contents

[edit] ROFs, Agency Factories, Royal Navy Factories and other factories

A number of UK government-owned Explosives Factories and Filling Factories were built in the Great War. These were known respectively as National Explosive Factories (NEFs) or National Filling Factories (NFFs) rather than ROFs, which term came into use in the 1930s. One NFF was reopened as a World War II Filling Factory under the name ROF Hereford.

In both World Wars the Royal Navy used its own government-owned factories to produce explosives and propellants, for naval guns. These were the Royal Navy Propellant Factory, Caerwent (RNPF), Monmouthshire, and the Royal Navy Cordite Factory, Holton Heath, (RNCF) Dorset. Both factories closed as explosive manufacturing sites after World War II; and, naval propellants were then manufactured at ROF Bishopton and filled at ROF Chorley and ROF Glascoed.

Other World War II munitions factories in the UK were built and owned by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). These ICI Nobel Explosives owned factories were not considered part of the Ministry of Supply's Royal Ordnance Factory organisation and they were not called ROFs. ICI also managed munitions factories constructed with Ministry of Supply funding. These were known as "Agency Factories" and three of them became part of Royal Ordnance upon the ROFs' privatisation.

Some of the ROF Filling Factories built later during World War II were government-owned but managed, as Agency Factories, by private companies unconnected with the explosives industry. For example Joseph Lyons & Co ran ROF Elstow throughout the war. Other Filling Factories were run by Imperial Tobacco Co Ltd, Courtaulds Ltd, The Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS), Metal Closures Ltd and Lever Brothers.

[edit] Siting and building the ROFs

The new ROFs were to be built in areas which regarded as "relatively safe", which until 1940 meant from Bristol in the south and then west of a line that ran from (roughly) Weston-super-Mare in Somerset northwards to Haltwhistle, Northumberland; and then northwestwards to Linlithgow in Scotland. The South, South East and East of England were regarded as "dangerous" and the Midlands area, including Birmingham as "unsafe". This definition of "safe" area was later changed, and in 1940 ignored in the case of ROF Chorley (see Hornby, 1958, Chapter IX).

Siting of the individual ROFs north and west of this line was of vital importance. ROFs involved with explosive manufacture or filling needed, on safety grounds, to be located away from centres of population. However they needed access to good transport links, such as railways; the availability of adequate workers within reasonable travelling distance; a plentiful guaranteed supply of clean process water; and (to avoid the danger of frozen explosives) tended to be located at or just above sea Level. Some ROFs located in Wales and Scotland were the result of political lobbying as these areas had high unemployment rates in the 1930s.

The ROFs were guarded by what was to become the Ministry of Defence Police Force.

[edit] Types of ROFs

There were six generic types of Royal Ordnance Factory:

The three main types were: Engineering, Filling and Explosives.

The largest ROFs tended to be the Explosive ROFs and the Filling Factories as these needed an explosives safeguarding zone around the perimeter of the factory; as well as separation, or reduced separation and traverses, between buildings. ROF Bishopton occupied over 2,000 acres (8 km²) and ROF Chorley was 900 acres (3.6 km²).

Each ROF tended to be self-contained, apart from its raw materials: with their own coal-fired power stations, for generating steam for heating and process use, and electricity via high-pressure steam turbines if needed; engineering workshops; plumbers and chemical plumbers; leather workers; electricians; buildings and works departments; housing and hostels for workers; canteens; laundries and medical centres.

The UK's ROFs were set up and operated as production factories. The design of explosives, propellants and munitions was carried out at separate government-owned research and development establishments such as the Research Department, which was initially based at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich and then Fort Halstead, in Sevenoaks, Kent; and at PERME Waltham Abbey, Essex, which later moved to became RARDE Fort Halstead.

[edit] Post-war fate of the ROFs

Some of the ROFs were designated "temporary" for use during the war's duration only. They closed shortly after the end of World War II. Other ROFs were designated "permanent" and they continued working until quite recently. Some closed in the late 1950s (after the end of the Korean War) and other in the 1970s. The remainder were privatised in 1984 and became Royal Ordnance PLC.

Temporary ROFs, or ROFs which closed in the 1950s and 1970s, tended to be used by other Government Departments. Some closed ROFs, such as the Royal Navy Propellant Factory, Caerwent, were retained by the Ministry of Defence as ammunition storage areas; others became Government Industrial Estates or Trading Estates; others were used as sites to build Prisons or Open Prisons. Part of ROF Thorpe Arch became the Boston Spa depository of the British Library; and a Hostel at ROF Swynnerton became a Training School for the General Post Office (GPO) Telephones, which later became British Telecom. Now called Yarnfield Park Training and Conference Centre and run by Accenture.

As part of privatisation process in the 1980s Royal Ordnance took over some of the formerly separate UK Government-owned research and development capability and moved this capability into the ROFs. Other parts of the UK Defence research and design capability were closed down, remained with the UK Ministry of Defence, or they became part of QinetiQ.

The small number of ROFs involved in nuclear weapons production, ROF Burghfield and ROF Cardiff, were removed from ROF management and did not pass over to Royal Ordnance upon privatisation. They were transferred to AWRE; which later became the Atomic Weapons Establishment.

The Ministry of Defence Police left most of the ROFs on or within a few years of privatisation.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Bowditch, M.R. & Hayward, L. (1996). A Pictorial Record of the Royal Naval Cordite Factory, Holton Health. Warham: Finial Publishing.
  • Hay, Ian. (1949). R.O.F.: The Story of the Royal Ordnance Factories: 1939 - 48. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office.
  • Hornby, William. (1958). Factories and Plant. History of the Second World War. United Kingdom Civil Series. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office and Longmans, Green and Co.
  • Kohan, C.M. (1952). Works and Buildings. History of the Second World War. United Kingdom Civil Series. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office and Longmans, Green and Co.
  • Nevell, Mike, Roberts, John & Smith, Jack. (1999). A History of Royal Ordnance Factory, Chorley. Trowbridge: Carnegie Publishing.
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