10 – 1914 Construction progress at the outbreak of war

In Germany, deepening of the Kiel Canal between the North Sea and The Baltic had been completed in July 1914. This saved 250 nautical miles for warships entering and leaving the Kiel naval base instead of going around the Jutland Peninsula. This not only saved time but also avoided storm-prone seas and having to pass through the Danish straits.

The threat of war became a reality when war with Germany was declared on August 4th 1914.

At Rosyth, construction work was still on schedule, but the dockyard was far from completion.
The submarine basin was complete, but still surrounded by its clay dam. The electricity generating station and pumping stations were complete, but there were no access roads, railways or a water supply.

The North wall and Graving docks No.1 & 2 were complete and No.3 was well advanced, but they could not be used because the main basin had not yet been excavated or the emergency entrance completed.

The channel through Dhu Craig rock for the entrance lock had been excavated, but construction of the floor and walls had not started, nor had the entrance channel been dredged.

Most of the monoliths round the inner basin were in position, and much of the sea-wall for the inner basin sea wall had been constructed. About half of the monoliths for the entrance pier were in place.

A labour shortage

The main contract allowed for an extension of time in the event of war, but clearly that was not a viable option. Construction material became difficult to procure, and the enlistment of men into the Army depleted the supply of labour. It was not possible to maintain the planned rate of progress.

The Admiralty had to decide whether to more or less stop work on the basis that the enlistment of fighting men would shorten the war (in August 1914 it was all going to be over by Christmas) or to adopt a revised plan proposed by the contactors to accelerate the works and make some part of the dockyard usable during the war.

They decided to adopt the contractors’ revised plan. This brought the submarine basin into use almost immediately for use by small craft, with the main basin and its associated docks being usable by early 1916.

Bringing the submarine basin into service

On 12th August 1914 water was pumped into the submarine basin, and by 20th August it had been flooded to mean sea-level. On 25th the clay dam was breached and it was completely removed by September 25th 1914, allowing the basin and jetties to be used as a base for small craft.