Royal Naval Armaments Depot

A Royal Naval Armament Depot (RNAD) was an armament depot (or a group of depots) dedicated to supplying the needs of the Royal Navy (as well as, at various times, the Royal Air Force, the British Army and, by arrangement, foreign/commonwealth governments); they were sister depots of Royal Naval Cordite Factories, Royal Naval Torpedo and Royal Naval Mine Depots.

Most RNADs were located near to Royal Navy Dockyards to facilitate the transfer of armaments between the depot and the warships; but not too close to minimise the risk of any accident or explosion in the depot causing damage to warships.

Today, the term RNAD is no longer in use, except for RNAD Coulport which is the UK Strategic Weapon Facility for the Trident Missile System.

The earliest Naval Ordnance Depots, which later became RNADs, were built by the Board of Ordnance (an autonomous office of the state, based at the Tower of London). The Board of Ordnance was responsible for all forts and armaments within the United Kingdom as well as the British Empire; it provided ordnance and ammunition for both naval and military uses.

In the Tudor period, the Board maintained 'gun wharves' close to each Royal Navy Dockyard and Anchorage where cannons, shot, small arms and other items were kept available ready for naval use. Gunpowder was stored separately (initially in nearby fortified structures such as Portsmouth's Square Tower, Plymouth's Royal Citadel and Upnor Castle on the River Medway). After 1671 the gun wharf at Woolwich Dockyard was extended to the east and by 1700 ammunition was being assembled on the site, which soon expanded to become the Board's principal manufacturing facility (later named the Royal Arsenal).

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