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The Royal Navy Propellant Factory, Caerwent, Monmouthshire, UK, (later RAF Caerwent) was dedicated to the manufacture of explosives or the storage of ammunition from 1939 to 1993. It is a large military site and is situated north of the A48 road five miles (8 km) west of Chepstow and east of Newport. Since 1993 it has been used for a variety of military and civil purposes, including field exercises, car rallying, storage and breakdown of railway vehicles, nature preservation, and playing Airsoft. The site has its own standard gauge railway system (linked to the national network), many private roads and a wide range of buildings, from small earth-banked stores to large four storey lightly built brick buildings. It is about two miles (3 km) east-west, and north-south. The perimeter road inside the security fence is, on its own, over seven miles (11 km) long. ==1939 to 1965== The site was created as a Royal Navy propellants factory in 1939. Note: The Royal Navy Propellant Factory, Caerwent, like the Royal Navy Cordite Factory, Holton Heath, were never part of the Ministry of Supply/Royal Ordnance Factory management chain; they were controlled by the Admiralty. However, they were functionally very similar to Explosive ROFs. In the summer of 1936 the site requirements for a new factory were drawn up. The main priorities were: *the establishment should not be vulnerable to air attack; *should not be located in an industrial area, but sufficiently close to a populated area to provide an adequate workforce; *should be close to a railway and to main roads; *should be located on rough grassland with a gravel on sand subsoil with good natural drainage and a slope of about 1 in 30 to provide maximum safety in the highly dangerous nitroglycerine manufacturing and handling areas; *the higher part should not have an elevation of not less than above the lowest part to limit the internal gradients. Like all explosive factories of this type, a capacious supply of water was required for use in the manufacturing processes. To manufacture 150 tons of cordite per week the factory would need 3 million imperial gallons (14,000 m³) of drinking quality water per day. In the final quarter of 19th century, the Great Western Railway (GWR) had undertaken the engineering feat of constructing the Severn Tunnel under the River Severn.〔Walker (1888).〕 One of the major difficulties encountered underground was the 'Great Spring', which necessitated the pumping of over 9 million gallons (41,000 m³) of water per day, at Sudbrook, from the western end of the tunnel, conveniently located only three miles (5 km) away from the proposed site at Caerwent.〔Walker (1888), Chapter 10: "The Means Taken to Deal with the Great Spring".〕 Even during the great drought of 1934 the lowest daily return was 9.1 million imperial gallons (41,000 m³). The GWR used about 1.5 million imperial gallons (6,800 m³) per day themselves, so there was always a guaranteed daily surplus of 7.5 million imperial gallons (34,000 m³).〔 The total area acquired was of land, a total of were enclosed within the factory fence. It was connected to the Great Western railway at Caldicot Junction, near Sudbrook by way of a private branch line, sometimes known as the MoD Caerwent sidings; and a number of transfer sidings were laid out inside the factory fence. The site consumed the village of Dinham which was located at the northern edge of the RNPF Caerwent. By the end of 1940 the Main Office block was complete, and in December of that year the Unit 1 Sulphuric Acid Factory went into production with acid mixing for the Nitrocellulose and Nitroglycerine manufacturing. Five months later, the Pressure Oxidation Plant for the manufacture of Nitric acid came on stream. In August 1941 the Nitrocellulose and Nitroglycerine plants were operational and were soon working 24 hours a day on a three-shift pattern. At the same time, Unit 2 of the factory was almost completed, so RNPF Caerwent was now virtually operational. A total of £4.7 million was spent on buildings and roads, and £2.5 million on plant and equipment. Early in the 1960s a Parliamentary working party recommended that propellants for the three branches of the armed services should be concentrated at the Royal Ordnance Factory at Bishopton. The decision to close RNPF Caerwent was announced on 25 March 1965. Production continued during the following two-year rundown phase. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Royal Navy Propellant Factory, Caerwent」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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