OLD DEVONPORT . UK
www.olddevonport.uk
 

ROYAL DOCKYARD

ROYAL NAVAL ARMAMENT DEPOT

On and as from December 23rd 1918 the Naval Ordnance Store Department was re-titled the Armament Supply Department and its work included that of supplying torpedoes and mines, which had previously been done separately.

Thus the Naval Ordnance Depot at Bull Point, Saint Budeaux, Devonport, which was part of the Royal Dockyard, became a Royal Naval Armament Depot in 1920 and the War Department gave up their part of the site, as well as the Gun Wharf in Devonport, in 1941.

The worst of these raids occurred on the night of April 28th/29th 1941, when six laboratories, a small arms ammunition store and many other buildings were damaged.  The main office building received a direct hit from an high explosive bomb, resulting in the deaths of 46-years-old Mr Alexander McMillan McHutchon, an Armament Supply Officer who came from Argyllshire in Scotland, and 42-years-old Mr Joseph Wilson, a Messenger who lived at Somerset Place, Devonport, who were both on fire watching duty.  Four barges moored in the river were also destroyed by incendiaries and the "SS Moncousu" laden with French ammunition was sunk at her mooring.  The Depot recovered from this damage and took its active part in the preparations for D-Day.

As from January 1st 1965, when the Ministry of Defence was formed from the Admiralty and War Department, the supply of armaments was taken over by the Royal Navy Supply and Transport Service (RNSTS), which in turn ceased to exist as from April. 1st 1994.

The Bull Point site was closed in 2009.