Anexplosive ROF was aUK government-ownedRoyal Ordnance Factory (ROF), which specialised in manufacturingexplosives during and afterWorld War II. InWorld War I, the name used in the UK for government-owned explosives factories was National Explosives Factory; thecordite factory atGretna was known asHM Factory, Gretna.
These Second World War factories were built for theMinistry of Supply with theMinistry of Works, in all cases exceptROF Irvine, acting asagent. Explosive ROFs specialised in producing eitherhigh-explosives, such as TNT (trinitrotoluene) orRDX; orpropellants, such as cordite, but there were minor exceptions to this demarcation. The products from these explosive ROFs were shipped tofilling factories for filling intomunitions.
Pyrotechnics, such asfuses and screening smokes, tended to be made at theFilling Factories and filled directly intomunitions.
A number of UK World War II explosives factories were built and owned byICI. These privately owned explosives factories were not considered part of the ROF organisation and they were not called ROFs. ICI also managed numerous munitions factories constructed with Ministry of Supply funding; these were known as agency factories. ICINobel's Ardeer site and its World War II agency factories produced, for example, 35% of the combined ROF and Agency Factories output of Cordite and 15% of the combined output ofTNT.[1]
In both World War I and II theRoyal Navy had its own government-owned factories producing propellants and explosives, for naval guns. These were theRoyal Navy Cordite Factory, Holton Heath (RNCF),Dorset (World War I & World War II), and theRoyal Navy Propellant Factory, Caerwent (RNPF),Monmouthshire (World War II only), respectively. They both were closed as explosive manufacturing sites after World War II. Naval propellants were then manufactured atROF Bishopton and filled atROF Chorley, and laterROF Glascoed.[citation needed]
To be expanded