Page "Royal Arsenal" Paragraph 16

Staff from the Royal Arsenal helped design, and in some cases managed the construction of, many of the new second World War Royal Ordnance Factories ( ROFs ) and ROF Filling Factories.

Much of its former ordnance production was moved to these new sites as the Royal Arsenal was considered vulnerable to aerial bombing from mainland Europe.

The original plan was to replace the Royal Arsenal's Filling Factory with one at ROF Chorley and one at ROF Bridgend.

It was then realised that many more ROFs would be needed.

Just over 40 ROFs were opened by the end of World War II, nearly half of them Filling Factories, together with a similar number of factories built and run by private companies, such as ICI's Nobels Explosives ( although these explosive factories were not called ROFs ).

Even so, some 30, 000 people worked at the Royal Arsenal during World War II.