UXO risk in Clydebank

Why was Clydebank targeted and bombed in WWII?

Clydebank, located next to the city of Glasgow in Scotland, was subject to two major bombing raids and several smaller raids due to the presence of heavy industrial facilities in the town – including shipbuilding and munitions manufacture.

There were numerous key targets in Clydebank. The famous Singer Sewing Machine Factory, a 46 acre site at Killbowie, was switched to munitions production during the war, and suffered severe damage that resulted in the loss of over 390,000 square feet of the facility.

John Brown’s Shipyard (now Queens Quay) constructed a large number of warships such as the battleships HMS Duke of York and HMS Vanguard, the battlecruisers HMS Hood and HMS Repulse, and the aircraft carrier HMS Indefatigable. The Luftwaffe reportedly ‘levelled’ the shipyard and all of the tenements around it. Eye witnesses reported ‘blocks and blocks of rubble’¹.

The Beardmore Engine Works (now the Golden Jubilee Hospital and Beardmore Hotel) reformed as the ‘Royal Ordnance Factory Dalmuir’ and manufactured medium-calibre guns – primarily anti-aircraft. The factory was targeted on at least two separate occasions.

At Dalnottar, eleven huge tanks were destroyed at the Admiralty oil storage depot, with others severely damaged. Millions of gallons of fuel were lost and the resulting fire burned for two weeks. When the area was finally cleared and inspected, ninety-six bomb craters were counted and recorded.

Home Office Bombing Statistics for Clydebank

Details recorded by the official Home Office bombing statistics, indicates the quantity and type of bombs that fell on the Parliamentary Borough of Clydebank during WWII (excluding incendiary bombs).

A total of 375 bombs fell on Clydebank, equating to an average of 170.8 items of ordnance recorded per 1,000 acres.

However, this does not account for any bombs that fell unrecorded during these raids. These unidentifiable items, falling unnoticed are what pose a potential risk to construction today.

Major bombing raids in Clydebank

The largest raids on Clydebank, referred to as the ‘Clydebank Blitz’, occurred on the nights of the 13th and 14th March 1941. The town suffered the worst destruction and civilian loss of life in Scotland during WWII. Over these two nights, Clydebank suffered 528 killed and 617 seriously injured, with a further 647 killed in neighbouring Glasgow².

On the 13th March, 236 aircraft attacked the town, reportedly dropping 272 tons of high explosive bombs and 1,650 incendiary canisters. The following night, 203 aircraft dropped 231 tons of high explosive bombs and 782 incendiary canisters. These raids completely destroyed an estimated 4,000 houses and out of the 12,000 houses established in the town – only 7 were left undamaged³.

According to German sources, a total of 503 metric tons of high explosive bombs and 2,412 containers of incendiaries were dropped over the two raids.

Some of the other major attacks on the town occurred on these dates:

• 7th April 1941
• 5th and 6th May 1941

Below is an example of Clydebank bomb mapping, showing the locations of bomb strikes on Jellicoe Street and its surrounding areas during the 13th/14th March raids (obtained from the National Records of Scotland). Individual H.E. bombs during the raid were recorded by number to better track incidents across the town.