Defence Munitions (DM) Glen Douglas is a military munitions depot located near

Loch Long Loch Long is a body of water in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The Sea Loch extends from the Firth of Clyde at its southwestern end. It measures approximately in length, with a width of between . The loch also has an arm, Loch Goil, on its weste ...

Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute ( sco, Argyll an Buit; gd, Earra-Ghàidheal agus Bòd, ) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod (14 July 2020) ...

, in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It is operated by

Defence Equipment & Support Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) is a trading entity and joint-defence organisation within the UK Ministry of Defence. It began operating on 2 April 2007, following the merger of the MoD's Defence Procurement Agency and the Defence Logistics ...

, part of the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

. It was formerly known as

RNAD A Royal Naval Armament Depot (RNAD) is an armament depot (or a group of depots) dedicated to supplying the Royal Navy (as well as, at various times, the Royal Air Force, the British Army and foreign and Commonwealth forces). They were sister d ...

Glen Douglas.

History

The facility was built between 1962 and 1966. As of 1989, it served

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

as a pre-positioned wartime

ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

depot, storing around 40,000 tons of

missiles In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket i ...

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...

s, and conventional shells. It is now used only by the UK. The depot lies in

Glen Douglas Glen Douglas ( gd, Gleann Dùghlais) is a glen in the southwest Scottish Highlands. It is drained by the Douglas Water, which discharges at the village of Inverbeg at its eastern end into Loch Lomond. The glen is followed by a single-track roa ...

, a

glen A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower ...

through which the Douglas Water flows east to

Loch Lomond Loch Lomond (; gd, Loch Laomainn - 'Lake of the Elms'Richens, R. J. (1984) ''Elm'', Cambridge University Press.) is a freshwater Scottish loch which crosses the Highland Boundary Fault, often considered the boundary between the lowlands of Ce ...

. The depot itself is near the glen's head, less than a mile from

. Arrochar is the nearest village. In the 1970s, a jetty was built at Glen Mallan on Loch Long, linked to the depot via a Ministry of Defence (MoD) road. It was known as NATO Armament Depot Glen Douglas and was used for munitions storage by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, the United States and the Netherlands. In 1993 the US withdrew from the site and the capacity was taken up by

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

munitions which were previously based at

RAF Chilmark Chilmark is a Wiltshire village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish of some 150 houses straddling the B3089 road, west of Salisbury, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Mooray and Portash, both close to the south of Chilmark vi ...

in Wiltshire, the RAF's last munitions depot prior to its closure in 1995. In January 2003, the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

docked at the Glen Mallan jetty to stock up on supplies ahead of the impending

invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Ba'athist Iraq, Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one mont ...

. With the tacit backing of trade union

ASLEF The Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) is a British trade union representing train drivers. It is part of the International Transport Workers' Federation and the European Transport Workers' Federation. At the end of ...

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

based EWS drivers working on a MoD contract refused to transport munitions to the depot, in opposition to what they branded a "rush to war". The drivers' action was supported in an Early Day Motion in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

signed by 25 MPs.

Facilities

The depot covers an area of and contains 56 magazines built into a hillside, capable of storing 40,000 cubic metres of

conventional weapons The terms conventional weapons or conventional arms generally refer to weapons whose ability to damage comes from kinetic, incendiary, or explosive energy and exclude weapons of mass destruction (''e.g.'' nuclear, biological, radiological and ...

, typically bombs, various types of ammunition, explosives and pyrotechnics.

Northern Ammunition Jetty

HMS Queen Elizabeth Leaving Glen Mallen MOD 45168227

The Northern Ammunition Jetty (also known as Glen Mallan Jetty) is located on the edge of Loch Long, around 3 miles south of the main depot, to which it is connected by a

military road {{Use dmy dates, date=November 2019 The following is a list of military roads worldwide. Australia * Part of the A8 (Sydney) between Neutral Bay and Mosman * Military Road, part of Route 39, Melbourne * Military Road, off Wanneroo Road just nort ...

which climbs along the western flank of Craggan Hill. The jetty is capable of accommodating a variety of

and

Royal Fleet Auxiliary The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) is a naval auxiliary fleet owned by the UK's Ministry of Defence. It provides logistical and operational support to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. The RFA ensures the Royal Navy is supplied and supported by ...

vessels so that they can be loaded and unloaded with munitions as well as other provisions such as food and spare parts. The explosives license for the jetty allows up to 440 tonnes of explosives to be handled there. In 2020-21 the jetty was rebuilt to serve the s.

Rail connection

The depot is served by a branch railway line to the

West Highland Line The West Highland Line ( gd, Rathad Iarainn nan Eilean - "Iron Road to the Isles") is a railway line linking the ports of Mallaig and Oban in the Scottish Highlands to Glasgow in Central Scotland. The line was voted the top rail journey in th ...

at the former

Glen Douglas Halt railway station Glen Douglas Halt railway station was known as Craggan in the line's construction reports, also Glen Douglas Siding, Glen Douglas Platform (Private), Glen Douglas (Private) and finally Glen Douglas Halt. Opened by the North British Railway in 18 ...

References

External links