ROF Dalmuir was an Engineering Royal Ordnance Factory

Royal Ordnance Factory

Royal Ordnance Factories 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....

 owned by the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 government during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The factory manufactured medium-calibre

Caliber

In guns including firearms, caliber or calibre is the approximate internal diameter of the barrel in relation to the diameter of the projectile used in it....

 guns, particularly anti-aircraft

Anti-aircraft warfare

NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...

 guns. After the war, the factory manufactured armoured fighting vehicles.

Formation of ROF Dalmuir

Part of the site of the former William Beardmore and Company

William Beardmore and Company

William Beardmore and Company was a Scottish engineering and shipbuilding conglomerate based in Glasgow and the surrounding Clydeside area. It was active between about 1890 and 1930 and at its peak employed about 40,000 people...

's Naval Construction Works at Dalmuir

Dalmuir

Dalmuir is an area on the western side of Clydebank, in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland.-Location:It is neighboured by the village of Old Kilpatrick, the Mountblow and Parkhall areas of Clydebank, as well as the town centre...

, Clydebank

Clydebank

Clydebank is a town in West Dunbartonshire, in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, Clydebank borders Dumbarton, the town with which it was combined to form West Dunbartonshire, as well as the town of Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire, and the Yoker and...

, Dunbartonshire

Dunbartonshire

Dunbartonshire or the County of Dumbarton is a lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Until 1975 it was a county used as a primary unit of local government with its county town and administrative centre at the town...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 was bought by the Ministry of Supply

Ministry of Supply

The Ministry of Supply was a department of the UK Government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. There was, however, a separate ministry responsible for aircraft production and the Admiralty retained...

, in January 1939, and it was converted into an Engineering ROF.

The Naval Construction Works had closed down in the January 1931, with much of the equipment and plant sold off by auction

Auction

An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...

. Some of the works' buildings were used by the new ROF, as they had already been converted by Beardmores for reuse as a locomotive

Locomotive

A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

 works, tank

Tank

A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...

 manufacture and artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

 manufacture. Other buildings were demolished

Demolition

Demolition is the tearing-down of buildings and other structures, the opposite of construction. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for re-use....

 and new buildings erected for the ROF.

World War II Production

ROF Dalmuir started production as a Royal Ordnance Factory under the control of the Ministry of Supply, it opened on 16 January 1941. In August 1941 it was handed over to William Beardmore and Company to run as an Agency Factory; and it returned to ROF Management control in September 1944.

It produced QF 3.75 inch AA and 4.5 inch (114 mm) gun

4.5 inch (114 mm) gun

The QF 4.5 inch gun has been the standard medium-calibre naval gun used by the Royal Navy as a medium range weapon capable of use against surface, aircraft and shore bombardment targets since 1938. This article covers the early 45-calibre family of guns up to the 1970s...

 anti-aircraft guns;

The main offices were hit in the Clydebank Blitz

Clydebank Blitz

The Clydebank Blitz refers to two devastating Luftwaffe air raids on the shipbuilding town of Clydebank in Scotland which took place in March 1941.-The air raids:...

 of 13 and 14 March 1941 and burnt for three days; but the factory reopened in three week

Week

A week is a time unit equal to seven days.The English word week continues an Old English wice, ultimately from a Common Germanic , from a root "turn, move, change"...

s.

Post-war Production

In 1951 ROF Dalmuir was converted to manufacture armoured fighting vehicles and this continued until 1957 when the site was leased to Babcock and Wilcox

Babcock and Wilcox

The Babcock & Wilcox Company is a U.S.-based company that provides design, engineering, manufacturing, construction and facilities management services to nuclear, renewable, fossil power, industrial and government customers worldwide. B&W's boilers supply more than 300,000 megawatts of installed...

 of Renfrew on a 15 year lease.

Closure of the ROF and the site's reuse

Babcock and Wilcox stopped using the ROF site in 1969 and the Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)

The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....

 sold the site in 1970. Many of the buildings were demolished between 1971 and 1973 and Clydebank Industrial Estate was created. Part of the site is now occupied by the Golden Jubilee Hospital

Golden Jubilee Hospital

-Specialities:The Golden Jubilee Hospital occupies the north bank of the River Clyde at Dalmuir, but receives referrals from across the country. The Clydebank hospital is Scotland's flagship hospital for reducing patient waiting times...

 and the Beardmore Hotel

Hotel

A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...

.